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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

3 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. 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'
  2. 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...