Have you ever wanted to see if your iPhone 7 or Galaxy S7 could live up to handsets from back in the day? Seriously, mobile phones from the early 2000s such as the Nokia 3310 have an iconic stature among the curb kickable. That handset could survive a drop from a jacket pocket, hit the ground and still work. And what’s most surprising was the fact that it hardly had a scratch on it. So imagine being able to test the robustness of modern handsets in a drop test. How would you do it?
iPhone 7 vs. Galaxy S7 drop test
If you Google the phrase “drop test,” you will find plenty of results, many of which were created by crazy people looking for ways to go viral. However, what if you had a crazy idea and two modern smartphones to trash? Would you do a drop test?
That’s exactly what the people/person at UnlockRiver did; they had been frustrated for years, wanting to see how a modern smartphone would compare to the legendary Nokia 3310 in a drop test. But if you watch their video on YouTube, it’s clear that this is no ordinary test.
Now you didn’t read the above headline incorrectly, this is what happened. The gentlemen in the video tied the iPhone, S7 and 3310 to a drone and then dropped them… from 1,000 feet!
Some science
A few years ago, Wired did some work and came up with terminal velocity numbers for the iPhone. After crunching the numbers, the figure they came up with was 60 miles per hour. So when dropping one of the latest iPhones from 1,000 feet, it shouldn’t take long to come crashing down.
The Wired calculations were done on the iPhone 5s, ahandset with a significantly smaller size than the handsets in the UnlockRiver drop test. The iPhone 7 measures 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm, and the Galaxy S7 measures 142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9 mm. Will their different sizes make any difference to this test, and will the iPhone 7 fall at 60 MPH?
The drop test
Tied together by a piece of string, the iPhone, Samsung and 3310 are sent to the heavens by a drone. When the drone reaches 1,000 feet, a countdown of ten seconds is seen, and the handsets are released on zero. Having watched the video many times, we estimate that it took all three devices 12 seconds to hit the tarmac. Both of the modern devices came through it in almost one piece. The rear of the iPhone was bent, but its display was OK. Even the glass on the screen survived the fall, which was a surprise.
The Galaxy S7, however, didn’t come off so lightly. It landed and cracked its rear plate, and some of the front glass was shattered. Fortunately, its touchscreen still worked. Overall, both handsets stood up to the test far better than was expected.
Unfortunately, Unlock River has not allowed the video to be viewed on other websites, so if you want to watch the test for yourself, go to YouTube.
