OT : bouncing mobiles

On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:57:46 +0100, Pete Fisher

[...]

There are three options:
a) manufacturers provide consumer-grade non-ruggedized electronics at an
appropriate price point, clumsy cunts who drop them routinely pay extra
for for more or less armoured casings
b) manufacturers provide consumer-grade non-rugeddized electronics with
additional cases included at a slightly higher price
c) manufacturers provide only ruggedized electronics at a vastly higher
price

In case a), they get complaints from non-insured casual droppers who want
their smashed handsets replaced on warranty claims

In cases b) and c) they get complaints from people who rant that they take
care of their phones, don't use them to smash windows and drive nails in
and why the hell should they pay additional price for the armouring which
they
don't need and which makes the phone larger and heavier.

Also, in the first case they usually get more money as warranty claims are
rejected and the CC in question has to buy another handset.

Market forces in action.

Me, I carry my Xperia in an aluminum, neoprene liner armoured box.

 

As I said up their I have dropped mobile phones 'routinely' for 10 years
without having one fail. They didn't seem to have armoured casings to
me, just reasonable quality ones and probably components.

Define slightly.

That's just silly.

Should a 2 foot drop on to hard surface 'smash' a handset?

Significantly larger and heavier?

This is clearly the motivation of the manufacturers ;-)

Now that's verging on anal.

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[...]

That would assume competence on the part of designers. IME consumer
electronics are as likely to fall apart during the warranty period as
after the warranty period. (The buggers count on customers losing their
receipts, obviously)

It's more of a lottery, some of my phones have sustained an amazing
amount of abuse.

You're probably quite right, I never drove to work with blood on
the tires of my armoured combat car.

 

<penny drops>

Now I understand the difference between "a ****" and a "bit of a ****"

 

On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:44:23 +0100, Pete Fisher

[...]

With non-ruggedised electronics dropping them is always a bit of a dice
throw.
My pikey Nokia once survived a two-story fall, and yet I've heard one story
of the same model breaking when it fell out of a pocket.

Slightly - cv. "a bit".

This is usenet, silly arguments are required by law. And come on, it's
pretty easy to imagine. The nanny state requires everybody to always carry
a cellphone-ID with them, "so you can call emergency services when you see
a drowning child!". Suddenly, IDphones start to routinely fall out of
pockets
onto concrete surfaces. The EU government requires all ID-phones to be
ruggedised and makes smashing one with a large hammer a criminal offence.
All
too plausible. ;-)

(Also, the ID phone has a GPS logger and automatically issues speeding
tickets, and calls the emergency services in case of a crash, so it's no
good having it accidentally fall out of your pocket while riding a
motorbike.
And motorbikes are going to be banned as unsafe at any speed anyway.)

Nah, it shouldn't. But you know some pikey **** who in drunk delirium threw
his phone against the wall while breaking up with his girlfriend will
then go to the vendor on the next day and claim that "it simply fell out of
my pocket, guv!". Either they take all cases of phones destroyed by an
impact or they have to employ some CSI guy who will determine from the
pattern of scratching whether it was a legitimate "fell out of pocket"
accident which should be replaced or a fraudulent "threw the phone at
a concrete wall and now I want a new one" claim. I can imagine that would
be inconvenient.

[...]

http://www.toughestphone.com/ - not exactly a small and delicate handset

Yeah, basically, a few disappointed customers are not worth the bother.
Unfortunately for you.

[...]

What can I say. I'm a clumsy **** and I like aluminum, especially when
it's powder coated black.

 

I guess I've just been lucky, or perhaps fortunate in my choice of phone
(though the first couple were provided by my employer).

A couple of quid, going on what you can get from Amazon. So why spoil
the ship for a ha-port of tar?

Sadly, not entirely implausible, but an implanted communicator chip is
the way to go shirley?

I see your point. Interestingly the LG droid claimed that their techies
would be able to tell if the fault was caused by damage. I await the
results of their detailed forensic report with interest.

I was thinking more of 'additional cases' capable of surviving a mere 2
foot drop.

Nah, gives me a chance to let of steam and give full flower to some
purple prose written in green ink. Can't decide which font to use yet.

'nuf said.

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| Voxan Roadster [ SPACE ! ] Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
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On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:57:51 +0100, Pete Fisher

[...]

Why are bikes sold without crashbars or crash bungs?

The manufacturer apparently can't be arsed, at least for low-level
phones. (My MDA2, the first smartphone I ever had, came with a
faux-leather case, completely useless but at least it was there)

[...]

Naah, implanted chips? That would make it a silly conspiracy theory.

[...]

They'll probably just flip a coin.

I had a Samsung that was dropped by my cat into a mug full of hot tea.
After the battery was removed and the phone dried out it worked perfectly,
until half a year later the keys started to stick. I sent it over to
the techies who disassembled it and cleaned it and then it worked perfectly
again.

So, a friend of mine with an identical model also sent it for a warranty
cleaning, since it had the same problem. They said it was immersed in
water and the warranty was void. The problem is, it never was.
(Well, mine wasn't either, since Earl Grey is not water :->)

CSI they ain't.

 

Not quite an exact analogy, but a good effort. Because it might make the
prospective purchasers think they were buying an evil handling,
impossibly high centre of gravity and heavy bike?

I still have a Psion Revo plus that came with similar case. Wait a
moment...

<Finds Psion. Drops on tiled kitchen floor from two feet whilst switched
on but not in case. Picks up. And lo it came to pass that it
miraculously still works>

Guess I'm just gifted.

First they came for the pet dogs...

I'll take 50/50 odds.

Well, in this scenario, they presumably have the recording of my amusing
conversation with the droid, so circumstantial evidence is already in
place.

TBF, I've got over the red mist now. That was largely brought on by the
attitude of the ape in the Orange shop who was spouting utter bollocks
with regard to Trading Standards legislation. It's become an amusing
diversion now. Never piss off semi-retired old gimmers who can afford
the price of a recorded delivery stamp. "I don't believe it..."


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| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster [ SPACE ! ] Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

It's generally not the electronic components that are ruggedised but
the housing/fittings. Most phones (even enterprise phones) use bog
standard components.

 

I know a bit about this. Now whilst I can't go into details, some
companies do have forensic teams that can differentiate between drops
and abuse. It's actually quite impressive what they come out with.

 

Heh, when machines come in for repair our repair centre, the guys take
pictures of all damage and water damage is quite easy to spot, without
any real skills.

 

On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:28:18 +0100, Cab

[...]

And aren't electronics nowadays supposed to have a piece of paper
inside them which changes colour when immersed, anyway?

Granted, this was a few years ago, but still, I was pretty amazed.

 

You've ridden a Moto Guzzi Quota? (in truth they steer quite well if
treated gently, but sprots bikes they most definitely are not)

 

Really? I'm pretty sure ours aren't. You must mean portable
electronics, but I've never heard of it.

What product?

 

As a minor example, there seems to be a slowdown in the P&S megapixel
race, with Canon launching new models with *fewer* megapixels than
previously, concentrating on other aspects instead. It's fairly
appropriate in the P&S sector, as too many mps/sq mm leads to lotsa
noise problems anyway.

 

Ah. Tested beyond design limits ...

Paul.

 

Nothing so complicated. It's a simple case of checking for water marks most
of the time.

 

I wouldn't doubt it. Even 'Piaggio' scooters are made there. Perhaps I
should have emphasised the 'cheap' rather than Chinese. My Chinese
ultrasonic cleaner is <fingers crossed> still working.

TBF to LG, their customer care system was good, in that I didn't have to
wait for ages to speak to a human, who gave me another number which was
answered quickly. On that number, the human was equally reasonably
articulate and polite. They said packaging to return it would arrive
quickly and it did.

Time will tell if they agree with my point of view as to how robust
their handsets should be.

I won't be stepping over the threshold of that particular Orange shop
again. In fact, the only Orange service or product I will be using in
future will be their network if no other is available. This is most
likely to happen in France, but fortunately there is a good SFR GPRS
signal at 'the chateau'.

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| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster [ SPACE ! ] Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

I sit corrected on two counts.

 

I still have anold 5310 flubbercased jobby which is damn near
indestructible.