Sometimes we forget that by making handsets super-slim and light, we may be trading off some durability. Recently CNET put the popular Samsung Galaxy S4 and Apple iPhone 5 smartphones through a horrific destruction test, and the video is on their website. The two handsets were “drowned, scratched, dropped and crushed.” In the dunk test, both the Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5 were simultaneously submerged in two separate water filled containers. It took the iPhone 5 just under 25 seconds to black out, but the Samsung Galaxy S4 lasted nearly 2.5 minutes before its screen also went black.
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Obviously, these are not tests you want to perform with your handset, and the only way to draw any significance would be to repeat these experiments a great number of times. But the fact that the Galaxy S4 lasted a full six times as long as the iPhone 5 underwater in operable mode is impressive. The phones were then removed from the water, thoroughly dried and placed in separate containers of dry uncooked rice. This is what you want to do if your phone ever becomes water damaged. After four days of the rice hopefully removing any moisture left on the handsets, the tester attempted to power both phones on.
The Apple iPhone 5 gave no impression that it was trying to turn on, even after repeated attempts. After recharging the iPhone 5 powered on, but continued to randomly power off. However, the Samsung Galaxy S4 powered up after a couple of seconds and operated perfectly. This included the fact that the S4 was not recharged after removal from the rice. A clear winner here in the water exposure test is the Samsung Galaxy S4. See actual video footage of the Galaxy S4 outperforming the iPhone 5:
“Keys, coins and sandpaper” were the next up to try and defeat the phones. We constantly pop our phones into our pockets and purses, where there are inevitably keys, coins and other potentially hazardous objects. The sandpaper was employed to see how beach-friendly the devices are. For 30 seconds each, a key, then a coin and then a sheet of sandpaper were scratched aggressively across the displays of the Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5. After the key and the coin, both handsets still looked great. However, the sandpaper sufficiently scratched both screens, and there is no clear winner here.
The lesson? If you return from the beach with sand in your purse or pocket, don’t put your smartphone there. Both handsets were then dropped from a height of approximately 10 feet, display down. The iPhone 5 display instantly shattered, rendering the phone useless. It took three drops for the Galaxy S4 display to shatter, and the lesson here is do not drop your phone. However, the lighter plastic framing of the Galaxy S4 may have absorbed the drop better, so a slight edge to that handset in this test. Both the Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5 were then supported vertically while they were crushed by the tire of an SUV. No winner here, as both phones were utterly destroyed. The overall take is that the Galaxy S4 appears to be more durable, and more capable of overcoming abuse.
