Last Updated on August 31, 2015 by Mathew Diekhake
“Drop test” are a common way to understand how our devices will fair if they were to fall out of our hands, but they have always been very unofficial in the results because of several varying factors that we did not know how to change. For example, if one man is only 5’6 then his phone will result in a different result compared to another guy that stands over 6 feet tall. The ground that it is dropping on will differ as will the way and side it drops on. All of these ideas play a role in how the results would show so it could never be a true indication of what will happen if your handset were to fall.
However, thanks to a new machine, there is now a brand new way that gives us the most accurate results we have ever seen. It works by dropping them all together at the same time, from the same height and at the same speeds, all while landing in the same piece of tarmac. It will give us as true a result as we have ever seen before and the test is done with this years best premium flagship model so let’s check out the results.
Using our own knowledge, we will give you the results of past tests we have witnessed and then tell you how they went in this test. To confirm the results you can watch the video and see the full-length test yourselves.
Galaxy
– The Galaxy S5 has been poor/ to OK.
-This test, the S5 only had a few scratches.
Nexus
– The Nexus 5 I have seen dropped many a time and its impact is always dramatic when dropped on its’ face.
– Much of the same result this time around.
HTC
The M8 has been known to withstand a punch.
– This time the results reflected that.
Apple
– I’ve been lucky enough to witness this iPhone be shit with bullets, run over, and demolished it just about every way imaginable. The drop is impressive for most sides except the front.
– it came up trumps in this test also. Hardly a mark.
Inconsistencies
– You can see that even though it is dropped by machine it still didn’t fall well for all devices. The handset that looks to be the Nexus seemed to bounce off the machine on its way down and reviewing the final place before hitting the ground for all devices shows that they did not fall completely evenly.
The video was made by Square Trade and they were kind enough to extend the test to brand new categories that we have not seen done before. They have attempted to implement several measure and situations that we might find ourselves in the real world that could result in a fallen phone such as sliding off the desk. Again, to make the results as pure as possible, this has been done from the machine and not by hand. For argument’s sake, the Nexus slid the least and only went 1.7 feet. The iPhone 5S was next at 2 .5 feet, followed by the Samsung at 2.6 feet and the M8 at 2.9 feet. All of the handsets were released at the same amount of pressure so the results reflect what materials are used made to make them. The good news here is that if you own the Nexus 5 and were feeling bad about how it did in the last round, it is good to know that if it were to fall from a desk, it has the least chance of sliding off.
Next is the water test, where they have set up all handsets to be playing a video likely from YouTube and after being submerged we check out which stays working the longest. Water is a huge area for concern as it is by far one of the most common ways people ruin devices from dropping them in toilets, forgetting to take them out of pockets before starting the machine and leaving them out in the rain. The results indicate the Nexus 5 stopped working virtually ion impact. It does start working again, but the sound never comes back. The “All new One” never stopped working while being underwater, and is still working but with video only and no audio. The iPhone %S has picture and sound both working. The Galaxy S5 is also working, but that should be no surprise because it has a built-in waterproof cover specially made for this reason. That was one of the highlight features it had this year.