Not bad. I have had a few phones that would power cycle, or one of the screens would just stop working after a drop on cement. Not to mention the dents that my phones received were much more than some slight scratches. The screen appears to be pretty scratch resistant as well. I am slightly impressed. I wouldn't mind seeing a video where they take "stress testing" a little further and a little harder actually.
I'd say the tests were pretty fair. Then again they shook it in the bag for what.. a few seconds? I guess given a year of that it might start to look a little less shiny. It's still a good sign for starters though. The drop testing was fair enough too though if it hadn't have survived i'd have been very unimpressed indeed - I've dropped phones (unintentionally) down a flight of stairs (both the bouncy way and the vertical drop way) and also out of my scooter at about 30mph and I'm pretty sure they both still worked afterwards (sure they were scratched) so although it's good that it stands up to it it's nothing more than I'd expect.
It's not a matter of treating a device hard (I'm pretty sure Mr Butterfield there wouldn't really want to do that with his own iPhone intentionally) it's more just a case of 'accidents happen' so it's always useful to know whether it's likely to stand up to it.
One of my friends got the Prada phone which is similar in design to the iPhone, had it in his back pocket, and sat down. It snapped in half. I wonder what the iPhone would do..
Nah. Phones go through some tuff shit man. My problem is I always forget its on my lap and get out of the car. Shit, I've had plenty of phones that could sustain a simple fall. Thats easy. I want to see what happens when it has a little momentum, you know, like what would actually happen in REAL LIFE. Not often does a phone simply just fall, as if it were dropped. Theres always something else. A little push, or fling whichever. Drop it for real, put some energy into it. Drop it sideways, upside down, on its face, from your ear, on the corner etc...
Its not that I treat devices hard, it what happens in day to day use. My current phone, dropped it once and now it has a nice battle scar to prove it. It was not let go from 4ft. It had some energy behind it, hit the ground and slid 10ft. Thats what happens.
I would say the test was fair, just not real world accurate. None the less a good start.
The only time I ever dropped a phone was when it was clipped to my belt as I was getting onto my Yamaha, actually it wasn't clipped properly and came loose as I took off. I felt a lightening at my hip so I looked back to see it sitting on the ground in the alley. It probably survived the 3-foot drop onto blue cobblestones but not the 1-ton delivery van that ran over it.
I make it a point now to use a firmly attached holster which, once attached to my belt, stays there and allows the phone to be lifted up and out with one hand. I looked everywhere for such a device for my Nokia and finally found a $7.00 Blackberry holster which fits perfectly.
A good case is so hard to find.
My job doesn't help my phone. Constantly in construction areas and attics 'n such. My problem though is forgetting its not in its case. I have GPS navigation on the phone so it is usually out, then forgotten, stand up, and whoops. Back when I had an iPod mini this happened a few time too. The mini was surprisingly tough. Took a fall from one of them big U-Haul trucks (like a Ford 350 Superduty), didn't skip a beat, and only a minor knick.
Well, I got to hold an iPhone for about 10 seconds last week, my boss brought one back from NYC.
It was still not registered though so all you could do was slide the lock/unlock option. D'oh!
And the whole unlocking procedure looks a bit raw at this moment in time so we didn't try that either.
It was not quite as big as I thought it would be. Was also impressed by how seamless the thing looks, not like most of the phones I've had where the screen is clearly just slapped inside a lump of plastic/metal.
From what I've heard, far from being "raw" the registration procedure is quick and painless. Some people had problems with porting phone numbers over from other providers but that's hardly Apple's fault.
Now if you are going to criticise the iPhone, this parody does it well.
Here's an interesting article from the WSJ on why the iPhone doesn't have a physical keyboard:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118532502435077009.html?mod=blog
That being the sole reason is a little far fetched, however Apple thinking has always been heavy on the sparse, elegant and simplicity side. That's why I was so horrified when I first saw a Lotus toolbar on a PC years ago. It must have had 200 icons spread over 3 rows right across the top of the screen and it was persistent and global, no matter which application was frontmost. Completely foreign to standard user interface guidelines and way overkill, but then, that's the way Windows thinking has always been.
Old news mate, this has been happening since day two after the release. The only problem with these and other hacks is that they tend to break after an update and need to be re-applied or modified then re-applied, all of which takes time and effort.
While this is no big deal with other gadgets like iPods, it's a little more concerning if you end up with a phone that's useless because of a hack and you have to spend the better part of a day restoring it then updating all your contacts etc.
In any case, it would have been more surprising if the clever Mac programming community hadn't come up with these. I'm still saving up for mine, when they hit down-under next year.
I haven't clicked the more link at all... I just clicked on the discussion on the main page. I know what you're saying though, there should be some kind of sensible pagination navigation.
Comments
What does it take to impress you? Or have you taken a dose of your namesake?
If Superman flew in and landed at your feet you'd probably say: "Not bad Clark, but could you do that with a half twist and land on one foot?"
If you treat such a device harder than this you don't deserve to own it. Sheesh!
Posted: Wednesday, 11 July 2007 at 2:49PM
I make it a point now to use a firmly attached holster which, once attached to my belt, stays there and allows the phone to be lifted up and out with one hand. I looked everywhere for such a device for my Nokia and finally found a $7.00 Blackberry holster which fits perfectly.
Posted: Thursday, 12 July 2007 at 9:00AM
Now if you are going to criticise the iPhone, this parody does it well.
Posted: Friday, 20 July 2007 at 9:00AM
That's why I was so horrified when I first saw a Lotus toolbar on a PC years ago. It must have had 200 icons spread over 3 rows right across the top of the screen and it was persistent and global, no matter which application was frontmost.
Completely foreign to standard user interface guidelines and way overkill, but then, that's the way Windows thinking has always been.
Posted: Friday, 3 August 2007 at 9:44AM
The only problem with these and other hacks is that they tend to break after an update and need to be re-applied or modified then re-applied, all of which takes time and effort.
While this is no big deal with other gadgets like iPods, it's a little more concerning if you end up with a phone that's useless because of a hack and you have to spend the better part of a day restoring it then updating all your contacts etc.
In any case, it would have been more surprising if the clever Mac programming community hadn't come up with these.
I'm still saving up for mine, when they hit down-under next year.
Posted: Monday, 27 August 2007 at 10:54AM
Methinks we have severe usability issue.