Whenever a new smartphone is released there’s always someone asking the inevitable question: what happens when I throw it across the ground, or maybe dunk it in water or give it a few blows using a hammer?
At first it might seem like a silly question, because none of us are going to ever scrutinize something so expensive are we? Unfortunately, as so many of us have found out, it doesn’t matter how carefully you think you’re handling that high-end smartphone, there’s always going to be a few heart-stopping moments when it manages to wriggle from your grasp. Rigidity tests give us a reasonable idea of how well we can expect our phones to survive when the inevitable happens.
The latest phone to suffer the indignity of being on the receiving end of a drop / dunk / hammer test is the brand new HTC One M8, which was announced just yesterday, with the sizeable device being dropped onto what looks like a street from waist-height. If you’re of a nervous disposition, you might want to look away round about now.
For the sake of conducting a relatively scientific test, YouTuber David Rahimi decided to drop the handset thrice; once on its back, once on its edge and finally, once on its face. You’d imagine the screen-down fall would do the most damage, but with screens constantly increasing in size we’ve seen plenty of large smartphones shatter when landing on a corner for example, simply because of the stress such a landing can place on all that glass.
You might want to give the video a watch yourself if you have the HTC One on your shopping list, but for those that can’t bring themselves to watch it, the results are pretty simple and rather predictable. A landing on the back or edge of the phone results in scratches and scuffs here and there, though the screen does stay intact with no scratches to be seen either. The final blow to the front of the phone is too much for the One to handle though, with cracks and scratches galore. So yeah, don’t drop your new smartphone.
And what about dunking the HTC One M8 in water, and taking a few blows from a hammer? See for yourself:
Another high-end handset flies off to the great electronic recycling plant in the sky. And we barely knew him.
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