Watch the Nexus 4 Go Through a Drop Test
It's going to happen sooner or later. You might as well know what to expect when you finally drop your brand new toy.
While many people are still waiting on their Nexus 4 to arrive, the early adopters that have received their shipments are already putting the phone through its paces. We've already seen a tear down from the lovely team over at iFixit, and now we've got a drop test to go along with it.
For the clumsy among us, how does Google's latest Nexus device handle being dropped? LG really went all out in designing this device. Both the front and back of the Nexus 4 are glass. Though this certainly makes for an attractive device, it also puts us on edge, just a little. As soon as the phone as announced, we had flashbacks to the weeks immediately following the launch of Apple's iPhone 4. Many people dropped their brand new glass-on-both-sides smartphone and shattered the exterior way too soon after getting their phone.
So, how will the Nexus 4 fare when dropped sans case? Surprisingly, it does pretty well. Better than expected, according to fuchsphones.de, which carried out the test. Check the video below to see for yourself!
Like the caption says 'no scratches' after the first fall when the guy actually says "some light scratches on the plastic edge".
Realistically, we have had the ability to make electronics durable and non-breakable for a long time now.
The reason the industry skips pretty much on this is because they do things from a 'cost effective' point of view (even though from a resource point of view, we can make more than enough durable/non breakable products for everyone in abundance).
Some products might have higher durability ratio, but from a consumer-grade, its nowhere near of what can actually be done technologically/resource-wise.
I have a feeling the gorilla glass probably costs a pretty penny, you're not really protecting anything functional on the back like you are the front. So less durable materials = cheaper phone