are torture tests overrated?

[THE W]

sure, you obviously dont want the phone to be absurdly delicate, but i see so many people watching various torture tests and saying a phone is fragile and cheap because it cant hold up to someone dropping it on concrete 5 times, or that it stops working correctly if you dunk it in water for 30 seconds, or it malfunctions if its left in a freezer or a sauna for 2 hours.


Drop Test: Samsung Galaxy S3 - YouTube


iPhone 4s Drop Test - YouTube

wow! so you mean to tell me if you drop these phones on concrete 3 or 4 times its gonna suffer major damage? this phone sucks!!! i want my money back!!

if these phones could talk(well actually they can but they're not sentient) they would say "you mean to tell me im gonna be owned by some moron who is gonna drop me 3 times a day, put me in a microwave, or drop me in the toilet? this user sucks!!! i want to be returned to the store!!!"

bottomline, no phone, or any piece of electronic equipment, was built to withstand frequent misuse and abuse. there is some value to these tests but nowhere near as much as people put on them in judging the quality of a device by how many times it can be dropped on concrete. even while watching these tests i think both companies have done a good job of making a product that can withstand at least SOME abuse but the fact is no matter what phone you get your gonna have to get the thing replaced if you dont take care of it no matter how durable its supposed to be.

my point is i think the quality of a device should not be judged on these tests as they have nothing to do with the user experience of a phone.

 

[ChennyChick]

everything is to the extreme these days. I agree with you in some parts that these tests can be ridiculous. But I also think the tests are partly to compare one phone to the other, say an iPhone to a S3, and the winner can have bragging rights, imo.

 

[THE W]

sure, but bragging right for what?

"yeah i can be more of clumsy buffoon with my phone than you can, lolololololololol"

k, good for you champ..

 

[Rxpert83]

Yeah, they're pointless, but as you can see, people watch them :thumbdown:

 

[HotRoderX]

I am going to go a little bit different route and say yes and no. I do agree dropping a phone 3 or 4 times on concrete is kinda stupid. Obviously there not designed for that kind of abuse. They do give you a idea of what kinda of a abuse a device can take and still function.

Obviously you have to take it and put it into real world context. I remember seeing a video awhile back where they dunk a tablet turned on for 30secs in water. They bring the tablet out and it still functions. What I take from something like that is if I spill something on it there is a 90% chance it will be fine. I am not going to go around throwing my item in pools thought.

How likely would you be to buy a device if someone dropped it from 3 foot on to a carpet floor and the screen broke on the first drop? Most likely you would never drop the device but accidents do happen.

Testing these devices on the maximum extremes is stupid but does have some purpose. The only time this does not hold true are test like this Lasers vs. iPad 3! - YouTube. I gotta admit thought Destorying a IPad does make me smile

 

[EarlyMon]

Exactly to all of the above.

Aside from making me lmao, this is rather pointless -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2NYtgWYefQ

 

[THE W]

Exactly to all of the above.

Aside from making me lmao, this is rather pointless -

HTC One X Used as a hammer--Hammer Time - YouTube

terrible,

HTC needs to make better phones. it barely got that nail in there...ha.

 

[jefboyardee]

The ultimate torture test: waterboarding Androids.

 

[matttye]

I don't expect them to withstand frequent drops, but I'd feel safer knowing that if I do one way drop it (which is almost inevitible), it's not going to be completely obliterated.

Haven't dropped my phone yet, but I dropped my iPad in mud!

 

[rui-no-onna]

I've dropped a few of my phones several times on hard surfaces. No matter how careful you are, accidents can happen. The mostly plastic LG Thrive (LG Optimus One) is surprisingly robust. Just some slight scratches after dropping it around 3' on hard concrete. The iPhone, I have in a case, which is probably the only reason I haven't damaged it yet considering the number of drops it's had.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Active, well it was designed to take abuse.

 

[!on]

Is it our job to test products beyond their breaking points? I don't have money to burn, nor am I that stupid.

That said however, I have now dropped mine accidentally many times, got it wet... I think phones with some resilience to shock & water are more useful now than they've ever been. I see more companies are jumping on this bandwagon. It's all in the percentages - if a phone lasts longer & has good OS, people will rave about it, it's cheaper for them to keep a tried & trusted line going than design a new thing. Question is, will apple follow suit?