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The Toughest (And Weakest) Phones Currently On the Market (tomsguide.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the drop-test dept.

New submitter Daneel Olivaw R. shares a report from Tom's Guide: To measure each phone's toughness, [Tom's Guide] dropped it from both 4 and 6 feet onto wood and concrete. After each test, we recorded the damage to the phone. If a phone was rendered unusable -- the screen totally shattered, for instance -- then we stopped dropping it. [More details on the testing process can be found here.] Each drop was worth a maximum of 5 points; if a phone made it through all of the rounds unscathed, it would earn 35 points. The more severe the damage per drop was, the more points were deducted. If a phone was rendered unusable after a given drop, it would earn no points, and would not undergo any subsequent test. In total, there were seven tests. [...] If a phone died in the 6-foot edge drop, it was penalized an extra 10 percent. If it died in the 6-foot face drop, it was penalized 5 percent. And if it died when dropped into the toilet, it lost 2.5 percent. We then divided the total score by 3.5, to put it on a 10-point scale. Here are the scores of each device:

Motorola Moto Z2 Force - Toughness score: 8.5/10
LG X Venture - Toughness score: 6.6/10
Apple iPhone X - Toughness score: 6.2/10
LG V30 - Toughness score: 6/10
Samsung Galaxy S9 - Toughness score: 6/10
Motorola Moto G5 Plus - Toughness score: 5.1/10
Apple iPhone 8 - Toughness score: 4.9/10
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 - Toughness score: 4.3/10
OnePlus 5T - Toughness score: 4.3/10
Huawei Mate 10 Pro - Toughness score: 4.3/10
Google Pixel 2 XL - Toughness score: 4.3/10
iPhone SE - Toughness score: 3.9/10

17 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. iPhone X is a surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's still never leaving it's case.

    1. Re: iPhone X is a surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What a bullshit RNG test this was. They should have performed the same tests on at least twenty of each model for the test to have any meaning.

    2. Re:iPhone X is a surprise by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      It isn't a surprise it is where I kinda expected it to be.
      Despite the Slashdot hate of all things Apple, and MacRumors undying love of Apple. Apple actually makes a decent competing product that deserves to be in the price range that it is in. However it isn't #1 in any particular measure but near the top in most measures. Normally if there is any few particular aspect that you want out of a phone, there are normally phones better then the iPhone. But as an overall phone Apple tends to keep up with the rest, and stays at the top of the pack.

      The iPhone SE at the bottom of the list, is Apples budget phone, which is modeled off the iPhone 4 Released almost 8 years ago. So I don't expect it to be having the latest glass technology, but the cheaper stuff they used 8 years ago.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  2. Re:That's why you get a metal case by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

    Metal? Wouldn't it be better to have a rubber or elastic polymer case that can absorb shocks rather than just transmit them?

  3. Re:That's why you get a metal case by davecb · · Score: 2

    No, actually. You want a case that doesn't let the phone distort, which breaks stuff. Mere deceleration isn't all that evil for phones (unlike human heads (;-))

    --
    davecb@spamcop.net
  4. Fuck this summary/ad by HornWumpus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The ten toughest non-ruggedized phones.

    You'd think that would have made the summary.

    No I didn't RTFA....nobody saw me, can't prove anything.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  5. Chance... by Luthair · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well not exactly chance, but its all in how the phone hits the ground - a sample size of 1 can hardly be considered meaningful indicator.

    1. Re:Chance... by markdavis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ^^^ +1

      You can drop a phone JUST RIGHT only a few feet from soft ground and have it shatter, or the same phone from 5 feet on concrete and it survive fine. A sample size of 1 tells you almost nothing. I would venture it would take at least 10 drops, each test being a NEW phone, before you could get even a slight chance of knowing anything useful. And even then, it would only tell you about that height and that material it was dropped onto. Of course, that would be VERY expensive testing!

      Even discounting the sample sizes of just ONE phone, dropped REPEATEDLY, who actually carries a phone without at least SOME type of case? Nobody I know...

    2. Re:Chance... by Mr0bvious · · Score: 2

      This was a "test" done by Tom's Guide, their test was useful as a fart in a storm.

      --
      Never happened. True story.
    3. Re:Chance... by ericlondaits · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I carry my phone without a case, for the same reason I'd carry a baby without one... don't drop it.

      --
      As a Slashdot discussion grows longer, the probability of an analogy involving cars approaches one.
    4. Re:Chance... by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      You don't get a sample size of more than one, but you will likely drop your phone more than once. This isn't actually a bad test. They dropped the phones a number of times a number of different ways and assigned a score based on damage.

      who actually carries a phone without at least SOME type of case? Nobody I know...

      And? What are you testing, the quality of the case or the quality of the phone? The base quality of the phone has a lot to do with how well it will survive after you put a case on it. It may even have an affect on which case you chose to buy. In any case this is a baseline test.

  6. Nothing from HTC? by jfdavis668 · · Score: 2

    Did their market share sink so low that everyone forgot about them?

  7. Re:Just get something cheap and light by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

    It's like a bug hitting a windshield, not enough weight to go splat.

    Q: What’s the last thing that goes through a bug’s mind when it hits a windshield?

    A: Its butt.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  8. Re:That's why you get a metal case by burtosis · · Score: 2

    You want distance to slow down. Accelerating over a large distance and suddenly stopping is how hammers break stuff. Say you drop 6 feet and stop over the 0.01" your cellphone corner dents inward - the kinetic energy gained through acceleration is the same as deceleration so in a napkin calculation the g forces are simply the ratio of distances, in this case 7,200g which makes your phone screen shatter and plastically deforms the metal case. Give that an elastic component and you could add 3/16" to reduce this to a manageable 384g. Adding a rigid metal case helps with bending, not with impact unless it has an elastic component, though mostly just with phones that have a plastic internal frame.

  9. Re:That's why you get a metal case by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 2

    "Accelerating over a large distance and suddenly stopping is how hammers break stuff."

    Actually, it's just a practical way to exert a lot of force. A hydraulic press exerting the same force that builds up over weeks will break stuff just the same. The suddenly stopping has nothing to do with it. A common misconception. Neither does accelerating over a large distance. How would the material know what the hammer was doing before? Or whether it was accelerating or just moving by a constant velocity?

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
  10. Re:iPhone X is stronger than it appears by green1 · · Score: 2

    You should try a country with good mountain ranges.

  11. Umm...cases? by valnar · · Score: 2

    Most of this data is irrelevant unless you're a teenage girl who doesn't use a protective case so it'll fit in her back pocket.