iPhone 4 Broken After One-Foot Drop

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A word of caution to anyone that just got their a iPhone 4 today, don’t drop it.

The back of it completely shattered. I'm convinced that this will be the first of many broken iPhone 4s. It appears to be functioning correctly but the glass needs to be replaced.
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They dropped it over and over again, of course something is going to break after you drop it so many times...
 
I'm still wondering what the point of a pretty sleek phone is if it requires a bulky protective case to keep the smallest of accidents from breaking it.
 
The iPhone 4 was designed to be a thing of beauty; its efficacy as a reliable and durable communication device does not look too good right now. Where was Apple's Quality Assurance Team during the development?
 
The basic rule that people need to get is this, right up front:

It's not how it falls, nor how far it falls, it's how it actually hits the ground that matters the most.

If it hits at the right angle, it's going to shatter, period. Consider - even in spite of this being a bad analogy on many levels - that humans have been known to fall great distances and land with consider force and yet still walk away "without a scratch" as the saying goes.

But I know of several people that were doing tasks on something as simple as a milk crate - a mere 1 foot tall milk crate - or a short stool not much taller that "fell" off and landed on flat ground and ended up being paralyzed from the neck down, or suffering broken bones, a broken neck in one case that led to their death, etc.

It's not how you fall, it's how you hit the ground when you do fall.

This is really not surprising considering the glass aspects. They can make glass really damned hard to scratch but, it's always going to be capable of shattering when it hits in just the right way. 1 foot, 10 feet, doesn't matter - if the "stars align" and it hits just right, it'll be done for.
 
my 3gs usualy makes it from the truck to the pavement atleast once a week when i get out and thats ~3' to cement/pavement and its never had an issue

good reason to stick with it i guess

they seem to make them for looks, then you need a 20-50$ case to protect them and they look like crap
 
Bahamut said:
But I know of several people that were doing tasks on something as simple as a milk crate - a mere 1 foot tall milk crate - or a short stool not much taller that "fell" off and landed on flat ground and ended up being paralyzed from the neck down, or suffering broken bones, a broken neck in one case that led to their death, etc.
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several people? wow man.. you know some clumsy people with bad luck.
 
niconx i wonder if thats common in alot of phones. i'm a lefty with dozens of phones (even ones that friends give me lol) i have worse connection. good find
 
MasterShake said:
They dropped it over and over again, of course something is going to break after you drop it so many times...
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The drop test you talk about is not the same.

This was a single accidental drop.

I've dropped my Droid from higher before (roughly 3 feet) by accident onto my parents tiled kitchen floor. Landed on a corner of the front screen. A slight scratch on the outer casing and nothing else. :)
 
My Motorola droid survives a 6 foot drop into a 1 foot puddle. No shorting and no damage to the phone.

Quality...
 
AshleyG said:
The iPhone 4 was designed to be a thing of beauty; its efficacy as a reliable and durable communication device does not look too good right now. Where was Apple's Quality Assurance Team during the development?
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Mezmorized by the shininess.
 
niconx said:
It's almost as if this phone was assembled by a low quality workforce. I doubt all these problems are design issues, Apple designed it you know.
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Exactly, Apple designed it. Apple doesn't design reliable or functional, Apple designs pretty. Pretty always wins out over form and function when it comes to Apple products.

Low quality workforce? Probably. Cause of the problems? Unlikely.

This and the antennae issues both look like design problems.
 
AshleyG said:
Where was Apple's Quality Assurance Team during the development?
Click to expand...
In the bar, having drinks. Now where did I put that...

Bahamut said:
The basic rule that people need to get is this, right up front:

It's not how it falls, nor how far it falls, it's how it actually hits the ground that matters the most.

If it hits at the right angle, it's going to shatter, period. Consider - even in spite of this being a bad analogy on many levels - that humans have been known to fall great distances and land with consider force and yet still walk away "without a scratch" as the saying goes.

But I know of several people that were doing tasks on something as simple as a milk crate - a mere 1 foot tall milk crate - or a short stool not much taller that "fell" off and landed on flat ground and ended up being paralyzed from the neck down, or suffering broken bones, a broken neck in one case that led to their death, etc.

It's not how you fall, it's how you hit the ground when you do fall.

This is really not surprising considering the glass aspects. They can make glass really damned hard to scratch but, it's always going to be capable of shattering when it hits in just the right way. 1 foot, 10 feet, doesn't matter - if the "stars align" and it hits just right, it'll be done for.
Click to expand...
Good analogy. It seems neither the iPhone 4 nor humans were Intelligently Designed. ;)
 
wtiger said:
I'm still wondering what the point of a pretty sleek phone is if it requires a bulky protective case to keep the smallest of accidents from breaking it.
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That's what's so stupid about the marketing. Who really cares what the hell the phone looks like? 99% of people will cover it up with a case.

I use a case on mine because, yes, it does bite the pavement. A Like-New phone that's been protected by a case is worth alot more money :D
 
TexUs said:
I use a case on mine because, yes, it does bite the pavement. A Like-New phone that's been protected by a case is worth alot more money :D
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Same here, I have an HTC Touch Pro2, and I've dropped mine quite a few times that make me think it'd be broken, but its still alive! For now. :p
 
I'll stick with my thin rubber / plastic shells on the back on my phones.

I don't need a piece of art for my portable web portal.
 
IRSmurf said:
I'll stick with my thin rubber / plastic shells on the back on my phones.

I don't need a piece of art for my portable web portal.
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Switcheasy cases FTW...
Alot of folks are crazy about Otterbox but they're so freaking bloated it's ridiculous. My Switcheasy case has taken plenty of drops and protected it just as well as an Otterbox without the downsides of one.
 
Sorry, I JUST saw an article where they dropped it at least four times and it eventually broke. Sorry!!
 
Good thing the back assembly is easy as cheese to replace. The front assembly...not so much.
 
If you drop your phone ... it is your fault. You have no one to blame but yourself.
 
I have a moto Q9c right here that's survived falling down a flight of stairs.

i just went down the stairs, picked up the battery cover, put it back on, dusted it off and put it back in my shitty holster for it and went on my way.

What it ironically did not survive unscathed was falling out of the same shitty holster at waist height and hitting a concrete floor. I now have two giant spots in the screen where the LCD stuff is apparently pouring out between the panel and the glass.

It seems there is no way to really measure what will finally break these things, as doing what should have been an obvious means of destruction doesn't do it. yet something very common happens, and you may as well have shot it with a 50 cal BMG.
 
Draax said:
If you drop your phone ... it is your fault. You have no one to blame but yourself.
Click to expand...

If you were to drive over it. But dropping a phone from shoulder or waist height is considered part of normal wear and handsets are normally designed with this in mind. The basic one is to have the screen slightly embedded and surrounded by an impact absorbing material. The iphone 4 doesn't even have that.
 
btw, so what does this mean? The casing breaks after a couple of times at 3 feet, while a fully functioning one breaks at 1?
 
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