SquareTrade tests build quality of iPhone 4S and Galaxy SII

[Megalobyte]

cute thread...

all the cups in my house are made of glass. so if i drop them, they break. do i consider that a fatal design flaw because they aren't made of plastic? no.

if you are too clumsy to handle a phone made of glass, that's a 'you' problem. some of us are big boys and know how to hold on to our phones.

have fun with your plastic droids.

Well, actually Steve himself argued this very point.

Personally I'd never own any smartphone unless I could put it in a protective case. I always put my iPhones in an incase slider and I have dropped them all more than once, on hard surfaces, I'm careful but things happen. I have yet to damage any of the 10 or so iPhones my wife and I have owned. I agree, without a case a 4 or 4s is fragile far as phones go, but like most people I know, for me, the point is rendered moot by using a good case.

 

[ZipZap]

Corning is Gorilla Glass.
Apple does not use Gorilla Glass.

There are no shades of gray on this product.

 

[deeddawg]

Corning is Gorilla Glass.
Apple does not use Gorilla Glass.

Apple uses an aluminosilicate glass. Gorilla Glass is Corning's brand name for an aluminosilicate glass. What's unclear is whether Apple is silently using Corning's product or something else. David Pogue had an interesting post here.

With all the marketing around Gorilla Glass, its understandable that people might believe they're the only game in town. They aren't. For example, Asahi has their Dragontail.

Still a moot point; buy whatever device you feel best fits your needs. If ruggedness is a concern, go with something that fits that need.

 

[Funkymonk]

just read the first page


I lol'd reading all the rationalizations

 

[mobutt]

The iPhone 4 build quality is the best available by far.

 

[the caveman]

OP proved there are 6 insecure iPhone 4S owners so far. Anything to see their own phone win in any argument. And if it doesn't win, the owners sit there and pout while thumbing down the post.

Let's be real. Glass is beautiful but this comparison is like dropping a plastic cup vs a shot glass. If everything in our house was made of glass, there would be shards everywhere. Hard plastic might seem "cheap", but it is more practical toward drops and reception.

The best build quality comes from HTC, in my opinion. They use alot of aluminum/metal along with a soft touch. Check out the build quality around the Sensation and its variations like the XE. Feels premium and sturdy. Now if only they had more responsive touchscreens, increase the speaker quality, and throw in the MyTouch Slide 4G camera quality on most of their top-end phones. Then they would be the very best Android/WP7 OEM out there. Samsung has taken their crown this year although HTC was the champ in 2010.

You know the build quality on HTC Sensation is so good that pretty much every single one struggles with dust getting under the screen within days if usage. Go over to xda sensation forum and see what i am talking about.

 

[Dbrown]

^ +1

that is like taking 2 cars and crashing them into a barrier to see which one survives the damage better. is that "build quality?" nope. that is structural integrity.

So materials have nothing to do with build quality?

 

[BigAus]

Casio>Rolex

 

[GWagon]

Casio>Rolex

A watch is strapped to your wrist, phones are not, so that argument is flawed.

 

[mark28]

This test has nothing to do with build quality. I can smash a Mercedes Benz into a brick wall and it's going to be destroyed. Does that make it badly built?

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Gorilla Glass is just Corning's version of this super strong glass. I believe Apple is using this: http://www.mobiledia.com/news/80436.html

Yes, any consumer cars are poorly build. Why do you think so many people die due to car related accidents. If you crash into a concrete wall at 200 mph / 320 km/h with a Mercedes or a Ferrari, you are dead.

If you crash into a concrete wall at 200 mph / 320 km/h with a Formula 1 car, you will easily survive that.

So Formula 1 car has a superior build quality over any sportscar such as a Ferrari or a Mercedes, it can handle high speed accidents

Formula 1 cars are build to survive crashes over 200 mph.

 

[Cod3rror]

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im sorry but how does this test build quality?

Agreed, IMO the build quality is tested throughout the years of daily usage and how a phone holds up, will it still feel solid? Will it rattle and fall apart? How will it wear out?

Dropping a phone is a very small part of a build quality test. And phones weren't designed to be dropped anyway.

 

[mark28]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)



Agreed, IMO the build quality is tested throughout the years of daily usage and how a phone holds up, will it still feel solid? Will it rattle and fall apart? How will it wear out?

Dropping a phone is a very small part of a build quality test. And phones weren't designed to be dropped anyway.

If dropping phones is something so irrelevant, then the people who manufacture iPhone protectors would be out of business.

So surviving drops is not a small part, since I see so many broken iPhones every week, and there being a market for iPhone protections.

 

[Tsuchiya]

I don't see how someone will base their decision to buy a smartphone on whether it can survive multiple drops onto a concrete floor

If you are worried about damage, get a case, if not then just be careful.

Also build quality isn't the same as durability, the SII may be more durable but the quality isn't even in the same league as the iP4

 

[Risco]

The tests prove that Galaxy SII build quality is way above that of iPhone 4S. They dropped both phones on concrete three times. SGSII survived all three falls whereas IP4S broke down in all three drops.

Check the video.

Lol, the iPhone is made of glass. How the hell does that test build quality? Besides only clumsy people with toes for fingers drop their phones.

 

[mark28]

I don't see how someone will base their decision to buy a smartphone on whether it can survive multiple drops onto a concrete floor

If you are worried about damage, get a case, if not then just be careful.

Also build quality isn't the same as durability, the SII may be more durable but the quality isn't even in the same league as the iP4

I certainly base my decision on this. Spending $1000+ ( Phone + contract ) on a device that will break if you drop it once. No thank you, I pass.

( My current Phone is in use for 5+ years, still in perfect condition. If Apple can't make a phone that has the same build quality in 2011, then I won't buy it )

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Lol, the iPhone is made of glass. How the hell does that test build quality? Besides only clumsy people with toes for fingers drop their phones.

Yet you wouldn't want to drive some poorly build Russian car that will kill you at 60 mph if you crash?

 

[ste1164]

Obviously the sgs2 must be miles better....

 

[BigAus]

A watch is strapped to your wrist, phones are not, so that argument is flawed.

Yeah guess so, I never undo the strap and take the watch off...thanks for pointing that out though

 

[ZipZap]

Apple uses an aluminosilicate glass. Gorilla Glass is Corning's brand name for an aluminosilicate glass. What's unclear is whether Apple is silently using Corning's product or something else. David Pogue had an interesting post here.

With all the marketing around Gorilla Glass, its understandable that people might believe they're the only game in town. They aren't. For example, Asahi has their Dragontail.

Still a moot point; buy whatever device you feel best fits your needs. If ruggedness is a concern, go with something that fits that need.

Pogue still did not dig into its use on an iPhone. Corning site does not include apple as a user. Basically, there is no confirmation anywhere that Apple uses Gorilla Glass.

I can think of NO reason for Apple to hide the use. And from what I have seen in damage tests to iphones....its not Gorilla Glass.

Do you have any confirmed information to the contrary?

 

[deeddawg]

Correct, there is no confirmation that Apple does or does not use Gorilla Glass. It would seem that Corning would want to advertise the fact; yet even Corning specifically states:

"Due to customer agreements, we cannot identify all devices that feature Gorilla Glass. Your favorite device may include Gorilla Glass, even if you don't see it listed."

Whether the iPhone aluminosilicate glass is specifically Corning's branded product or sourced from multiple / other vendors is unknown. One anecdote here, but as you mention there's nothing definitive.

There's an implied assumption that breakage would not happen with Gorilla Glass. Since there are plenty of posts across the web of Gorilla Glass equipped phones breaking, I'm unsure that this assumption is valid.

Whether Corning's branded product is used or not is moot; if you're prone to dropping your phone, you can choose a plastic housing phone or put a protective case on an iphone. Whether the backing is glass or plastic would seem to be a secondary consideration given all the other differences between phones.