Repair Shops Are Stoked That the Samsung Galaxy S8 Is the Most Fragile Phone Ever Made (vice.com) 161
Smartphone repair companies are expecting to fix a lot of those beautiful, cracked Infinity Screens, the headline feature of the Samsung Galaxy S8. From a report on Motherboard: The Samsung Galaxy S8 is expensive, popular, and fragile. Its parts can also be sourced relatively inexpensively, which means that third party repair companies are salivating over the prospect of you fumbling the phone and bringing it to them for a screen repair. "The price point is good, the repairability is there," Justin Carroll, owner of the Richmond, Virginia-based Fruit Fixed smartphone repair shop told me. "Durability-wise, it's definitely going to break, no question about that." Soon after its release, electronics insurance company SquareTrade put Samsung's new flagship phone through its breakability test, a series of drops, dunks, and tumbles. It was deemed the most breakable phone of all time: "S8 is the first phone we've tested that's cracked on the first drop on ALL sides," SquareTrade wrote in a video demonstrating the drops.There's an obvious reason for this, of course. The S8 is made almost entirely of glass, and has barely any top or bottom bezel, which is why the phone is marketed as having an "infinity screen."
I laugh at smart phone fragility (Score:3, Informative)
My original Motorola RAZR is still going strong and I pretty well drop it onto a hard surface every other week. The back snaps off, the battery falls out. But the screens have never been cracked or damaged. And last week I got it so wet that it wouldn't turn on, so into the bowl of rice it went and the next day it was as good as new!
Re:I laugh at smart phone fragility (Score:5, Insightful)
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Still, I like having all the extra functionality.
I sit in front of computer for my day job, so I don't need the extra functionality there. I do have an iPad for watching media at home, but for everything else all it takes is a little organization. After all I survived for a great many years without a cell phone - including multiple trips around the world.
Re:I laugh at smart phone fragility (Score:5, Funny)
It is almost like different people have different use cases!
Re:I laugh at smart phone fragility (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, exactly! If people would simply use cases for their smartphones they would be better protected!
Re:I laugh at smart phone fragility (Score:5, Insightful)
It is almost like different people have different use cases!
Yes .. and my use case is to be able to drop my phone and still have it work!
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Caterpillar make some nice smartphones that will meet that use case.
Counterfeit (Score:2)
It's like the difference between a bayonet style combat knife and a Swiss Army Knife. The former is more durable
Well, if you source your "Swiss Army Knifes" from China...
But the rest of the comparison is spott-on :
Just like a combat knife is - well - a knife designed for combat, whereas a Swiss Army Knife has only "army knife" in the name* and is basically designed to be a toolbox-combo-with-kitchen-cutelry-drawer that fits in your pocket (and a very useful one at that),
similarly a classic phone is mainly designed to be a portable phone, whereas modern smartphone are mostly designed to be "computers that fit into you
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Wow, cool! A 3G phone with a .85 megapixel screen and the world's shittiest camera! Thanks for the advice, grandpa!
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My original Motorola RAZR is still going strong and I pretty well drop it onto a hard surface every other week. The back snaps off, the battery falls out. But the screens have never been cracked or damaged. And last week I got it so wet that it wouldn't turn on, so into the bowl of rice it went and the next day it was as good as new!
What network are you on? Most networks have killed off all the legacy shit that the RAZR supports, making it pretty fucking useless.
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What network are you on? Most networks have killed off all the legacy shit that the RAZR supports, making it pretty fucking useless.
I'm on T-Mobile
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Are you still going to claim that your "original Motorola RAZR is still going strong"? The original RAZR no longer works on T-Mobile, which has shut down their 2G network.
Are you thinking of the Droid RAZR? This is a Android phone from about 6 years ago that was rebranded as the "Motorola RAZR" for certain SKUs / carriers.
The original Motorola RAZR was a flip phone from 2003 or so. It sold well over 100 million units across its variants. When the remaining RAZRs started going dark a year or two back (du
RAZR2 (Score:2)
Are you thinking of the Droid RAZR?
In between was also the RAZR2.
That one had a 3G variant in Europe.
The one I inherited from my brother kept working very well as a back-up phone until it got lost/stolen in a train.
And there are still cell towers able to fall back to GPRS in Europe (a.k.a. "2.5G") so a RAZR could get even internet connection in some regions.
Re: I laugh at smart phone fragility (Score:2)
Re:I laugh at smart phone fragility (Score:4, Funny)
Some say you can throw a classic Nokia 3310 at a brick wall and it will be undamaged.
But it's not true. There are known cases of damage where you can see chips or nicks in the brick wall.
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They know the big screen will sell more. After that it's your problem.
Let's hope none of the buyers find out about protective cases. We wouldn't want all those repair shops to miss out.
C'mon (Score:4, Insightful)
Only an idiot uses their $750 phone without a good case. I received my Otterbox Defender for the GS8+ two weeks before I got the phone. I've dropped it several times with no problems.
- Necron69
Re:C'mon (Score:4, Insightful)
I see people taking their super thin phones and stuffing them into a bulkcase case. And here I am with my medium thickness smartphone that people think is too big, yet without a case it no larger and it survives fine. (and costs half as much)
I would think that people who get a nice looking phone that breaks all the time would probably stop repairing/replacing it after a while and get something less conservative. If people behave how I think they behave then that can only hurt sales of the GS8.
Re:C'mon (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally, I don't consider thinness of a phone to be a great feature. I'd much rather have a bigger battery. Phone thicknesses are fine, and the rubbery case makes it much easier to hold onto. I haven't needed a thinner phone since my first Galaxy S model.
Thinness is a pure marketing gimmick, and contributes to the fragility problem.
- Necron69
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I have this conspiracy theory that it is possible to make thin phones that are not fragile, but it is more profitable to make ones that break. Plastic screens are possible, they aren't great, but they are possible. A steel framework (triangle shapes) for the body, surrounded by a titanium or carbon fiber shell would be rigid but thin and light. I think if this were an aircraft or spacecraft part that engineers would have been able to solve the issue, but since it's cheaply made consumer electronics there is
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There's also not much point overdesigning something so it lasts forever, when most people will toss it in a few years, either. Sure it feels good, and you'll make the couple of people who use their devices until it's not just obsolete, but the company doesn't exist anymore.
Sure, somethings should last fore
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Some fragile smartphones already are $1K or more.
Re:C'mon (Score:4, Funny)
It's just a hobby right now. We hope it goes viral and brings a lot of viewers to our YouTube channel.
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As an ex-smoker, I don't see the point of having something thinner than a pack of cigarettes.
I carried those things around for years and learned not to crush them in my pockets.
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Personally I do and have yet to have a problem with frailty or battery life. One man's gimmick is another man's desired feature.
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My main criterion for a phone is that Seidio makes a case for it. I love their case and belt clip combination. I don't get the whole "make it so very very thing" nonsense, either.
I don't know if this applies to the S8, as I haven't touched one, but as much as I like Samsung Galaxy phones, they make them out of the slipperiest substance this side of greased teflon. It's easier to hold onto a wet bar of soap. That's another reason I want a case for them. I've had no trouble holding onto my S3 or S6 since
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Yep. I got a $60 android phone (unlocked) a year ago and I probably drop the thing daily. The cheap plastic bezels have bent a few times, but it's easy enough to bend it back into shape. The worst damage it's suffered is a small scratch to the screen (from one of the many times I put it in my pocket with my keys, no doubt).
And if I bust it, a replacement is only another $60. :P
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The ideal is to have a phone that doesn't need a case to survive a drop or two. I had an iPhone 4, and it stayed intact because from day 1, it lived in an Otterbox case.
With the engineering needs, such as heat dissipation, having larger, thinner phones is just natural phone evolution. Because people want faster CPUs that require a larger heat sink, pretending that larger and more delicate phones are what customers what only makes sense. So, it isn't a surprise phones are getting more delicate.
I would say
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Unless your phone is built into a General Products #4 hull it's going to get cosmetic damage without a skin/case. Some people don't care.
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so how is that 20 pound phone now?
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About 9.07 kilograms.
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Only an idiot uses their $750 phone without a good case. I received my Otterbox Defender for the GS8+ two weeks before I got the phone. I've dropped it several times with no problems.
- Necron69
Otterbox? WEAK protection. I keep my phone in a roll behind Pelican case.
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Is that the reason why they have to get slimmer and slimmer so you can buy bulkier and bulkier cases required to protect the more and more fragile phones?
Re:C'mon (Score:5, Funny)
That's good to know your Otterbox Defender survived several drops with no problems. But what about your GS8+?
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I have never understood the logic of paying $800+ for a premium device that YOU KNOW will be worth less than 25% of it's original price in 3 years, and sticking that device in this crazy ugly giant case. It would be like taking your brand new car and covering it in thick foam shrink-wrap before driving it around, to "preserve it", even though it's value will drop regardless.
Myself? I abuse the hell out of my phone, and use an ultra-think case that is JUST ENOUGH to keep it from shattering on drop. Phone is
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Duh, you don't DROP a car
Tell that to the guy I just (*) saw driving his car over a ca. 18 inch high ledge
(*) okay, two hours ago.
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Or maybe we have $750 to burn. Or maybe they are actually cheap to fix. Or maybe people actually like the look of their device sans case.
Only an idiot would think that everyone is in the same situation as themselves and call others idiots for it.
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Only an idiot uses their $750 phone without a good case. I received my Otterbox Defender for the GS8+ two weeks before I got the phone. I've dropped it several times with no problems.
- Necron69
Only an idiot buys a $750 phone when a $375 phone is just as good, if not better. Sorry, not sorry.
My Nexus 5X has taken a few tumbles and is no worse for wear.
I'm also not a klutz that goes around dropping stuff contently, in the 18 months I've had it, I've dropped it twice.
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-- DickBreath
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By signing his comment he is proving his identity so that you know it is really him.
Then he should PGP sign it.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.1 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org/ [gnupg.org]
GuvfvfnsnxrCTCfvtangheriD8DBQE5Pf 40WyoKbftXl6kRAsWJAJ4hj7FzPX8M9MWZ av9u6yjbHXWGKwCfSiKA wTaJ/lfY1ETv3R/uJrtGTbI=
=BDOH
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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Stop replying to him with signed messages, you're upsetting him!
- DontBeAMoran
I'm not upgrading (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not upgrading from my waterproof, durable S5 with easily replacable battery, SD card slot, and headphone jack, until they (Samsung or Apple) make a product that actually improves on it.
I really don't understand why people will buy "newer" products that are actually inferior. I mean, I get the "it's newer it must be better" people who don't have time to evaluate. But when you're spending $600+ on something, how can you not notice the LACK of features from your previous phone? Am I the only one who has to be careful with my financial purchases?
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I'm not upgrading from my waterproof, durable S5 with easily replacable battery, SD card slot, and headphone jack, ...
My Kyocera Hydro VIBE has all that, so ditto.
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You're a few years out of date my friend (or perhaps not from the US)...most cell providers have gone the route of separating the phone and service prices these days.
They will also finance it over 2 years for you but the effect is the same and you can pay it off any time.
Besides that, the phones were never free. You just paid more each month to cover it...and continued to do so once you were out of contract as well.
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I coasted all the way down to ~$5/mo while platinumtel was around. I just needed to be reliably on-call, very rare need for data.
If you guys favor a reliable alacarte, it's not like I'm contracted to anything.
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I went to Kyocera to replace my Galaxy SII. It's not the brand-new-bells/whistles phone, but at some point I realized I didn't really need or even want all of the latest bells and whistles, I wanted a durable, reliable phone that just always works.
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Google tried and unfortunately "people don't want that".
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Why even stick with Samsung? LG's flagship phone (G6) is far better. Durable, has headphone jack and SD card, and wireless charging (which I didn't really see the convenience to until I got it - saves wear on USB port). Unfortunately it's the first one to not have removable battery, but I'd been carrying one of those USB recharger things around anyway, better than a spare battery since the same unit can recharge whatever USB device dies first. Not worried about battery death since my Samsung Galaxy S3 b
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Right there with you, for all the same reasons. And with a third-party firmware, I'm current on Android 7.1.
No phone since the S5 has been able to sell me on being an improvement/upgrade. Apparently phone makers don't want my money.
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Yes.
According to Facebook, the rest of us are all wealthy, happy, beautiful people with astonishingly sexy partners, well-adjusted children, at least 2 pets that are CONSTANTLY making adorable faces for our instagram feeds and who not only have spare time to go out to dinner/clubs every night, but to also fill our weekend with delightful fun family projects (that always work out) and take fun vacations at least three or four times a year.
If you are not ALLof those, well, you are clearly a desperately unhapp
Re: I'm not upgrading (Score:2)
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It's worse, people will DEFEND the new product when you point it's actually inferior. Utterly baffling.
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Not really baffling. Society has slowly shifted towards associating purchases with self worth and social exclusivity. While this was always true to some extent it has gotten much worse in recent years. They've become more important than more objective criteria like performance and reliability.
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I'm with you. I am still rolling along on my S5, having seen nothing that improves on it.
It is getting a little slow with the latest updates, but now I'm waiting for a 600MHz phone so I can get gigabit with T-Mobile next year.
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I'm not upgrading from my waterproof, durable S5 with easily replacable battery, SD card slot, and headphone jack, until they (Samsung or Apple) make a product that actually improves on it.
I really don't understand why people will buy "newer" products that are actually inferior. I mean, I get the "it's newer it must be better" people who don't have time to evaluate. But when you're spending $600+ on something, how can you not notice the LACK of features from your previous phone? Am I the only one who has to be careful with my financial purchases?
But they are better. They make more money for Samsung, which is the bottom line.
OH - you meant better for you! Good luck with that my friend, I think we will be waiting a long time.
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how can you not notice the LACK of features from your previous phone?
Depends. Do you use every single feature your current phone has to offer? I'm sure there's a few features on the S5 that I couldn't care less about. Removable battery is one of them.
So what would I miss going from the S5 to the S8:
USB-B I'll need a new cable.
What would I get with the S8 that I don't have on the S5:
Faster CPU
More memory
Dual SIM
Better screen
Better camera
Updated version of Android
Samsung Pay
Far better waterproofing
Bluetooth 5
Iris scanner
Barometer
SpO2 meter
Not messing with the stupid water cap
Fashion over function (Score:5, Insightful)
"The S8 is made almost entirely of glass, and has barely any top or bottom bezel, which is why the phone is marketed as having an "infinity screen."
An infinity screen.
You know what else goes to infinity these days? Marketing fashion over function to the ignorant masses who love that shit.
So much for common sense design.
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>So much for common sense design.
[[Lithium battery heat intensifies.]]
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More like common dense design.
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"The S8 is made almost entirely of glass, and has barely any top or bottom bezel, which is why the phone is marketed as having an "infinity screen."
An infinity screen.
So much for common sense design.
Could be worse. Could be made with an Infinity Stone - holding *that* would be a bitch.
SquareTrade Video (Score:3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
It has a high dislike ratio and comments are disabled, which are often major red flags. Anyone know why?
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Because they don't want 5000 Apple fanboy comments about how that Android phone sucks, ignoring the fact that Apple's phones are fragile too.
I wish people would drop the childish mentality that "plastic is crap". The toughest phones out there have plastic cases.
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Fashion over function is hardly limited to "these days".
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You know what else goes to infinity these days? Marketing fashion over function to the ignorant masses who love that shit.
So much for common sense design.
Well, in a world where silliness sells, silly design *is* common sense design.
For years cell phones rudimentary, and data services over the air were bad, proprietary, and costly. You had to pay for an add-on service on some carriers to get your photos off your phone. Then Steve Jobs picked the weakest carrier that was big enough -- in the US that was AT&T -- and made them an offer. That's how the stranglehold of carriers on phone features was broken, and the results were for many people a revelation.
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Marketing fashion over function to the ignorant masses who love that shit.
So much for common sense design.
Sounds fine to me, what do the masses need a bunch of function for?
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Marketing fashion over function to the ignorant masses who love that shit.
So much for common sense design.
Sounds fine to me, what do the masses need a bunch of function for?
I keep asking myself that same question every time a new smartphone model is released, and we find the manufacturing marketeers decided that 4K capability was absolutely necessary on a 6" screen, along with 200 other battery-draining, privacy-sucking "functions" consumers never asked for.
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Oh, I think consumers did in fact ask for silly resolution that looks "as good as real life." They don't have a use case for it, but they've been asking for that since we were drawing with our fingers on the cave walls by firelight.
Personally, what I want is electronic tools that designed are designed as tools with features targeted at my use cases. I'll just go ahead and laugh at myself for that and save the manufacturers the trouble!
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and beyond!
Buzz Lightyear could not be reached for comment.
so much for all that testing... (Score:2)
that Samsung plastered over our screens earlier this year.
If the thing is that fragile could they have another Note 7 on the cards?
If it is that bad, I'd expect an awful lot of returns and their warranty costs will skyrocket.
What dropping the phone not covered by the warranty? That will do their reputation a lot of harm and after the note 7 fiasco, it could be a financial disaster for Samsung.
Now, if the forthcoming iPhone 8 is as robust as others then a lot of people will be heading in that direction rathe
Glass is good (Score:2)
It doesn't melt and burn like plastic. So this phone should be relatively fire resistant.
What's Infinity? The number of pieces it becomes when you drop it?
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While I agree that six feet (~183cm) is too high for a drop test, in my opinion three feet (~91cm) is way too low. Unless you're a midget, of course. I just measured and while using my phone I'm holding it at around four feet (~122cm) from the ground.
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Oh right, I forgot that a few people still use their smartphones to make phone calls.
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Oh right, I forgot that a few people still use their smartphones to make phone calls.
Even not so tall women will drop their phones from 6 feet when it slips while making a duckface selfie.
fast fashion (Score:4, Insightful)
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Amazing that 98% of users buy glass back phones and cover them with ugly cases. So what was the point of glass back? $5 plastic cover was too durable?
Spot on. My S6 is "gorgeous", glass back, aluminum frame, looks awesome. Too bad I'm scared to death of breaking it and keep it in an "ugly" otterbox. On the plus side, when by case gets ratty I can spend another $30 for a new one. Even if the phone didn't have the fancy glass back or thin bezel I'd still probably have it in a case, just for the piece of mind.
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Amazing that 98% of users buy glass back phones and cover them with ugly cases.
98% of people buy covers for their phones? Where do you live, bubblewrap city?
I know someone with an S7 (Score:2)
Smartphones are accessories (Score:2)
Supervillain phone (Score:2)
"I did it because of the kids! They called me Mr. Glass!"
Comment removed (Score:3)
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You basically want a Galaxy S5, 2017 edition.
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LG G4?
The battery is only 3000 mAh (which given the new efficiencies in Android is plenty), but it has everything else.
Not to mention the most explosive (Score:2)
Peak Fumble (Score:2)
[repost 'cause no one reads my shit anyway]
MARKETING! STAT! New product and campaign. Moshi moshi.
New phone rounded edges and corners thinner no buttons.
Like all our other phones?
No, different. Quadrilateral yet not rectangular. This shape.
That is a coffin shape. Looks like.
Yes I drew it much to show, but real angle here no more than 5 degrees off vertical.
But everything we make is rectangular! People want display go to edge.
Make people want this instead. Put button or something in edge part, new shape is i
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Samsung offers two distinct smartphone lines to choose from:
A) Screen shatters on the slightest tap,
B) Sets you on fire.
Both product lines are extremely popular. Scientists, neurologists, sociologists, and psychologists need to research this phenomenon to better understand the failing in consumer choice before capitalism collapses in a heap of broken flaming smartphones.
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The results of that research will make you depressed. Very, very depressed. Which will cause you to look down. You'll notice you haven't bought new shoes in a while. And then you'll decide to go buy new shoes to make you happy.
And that's the beginning of the end.
Thanks! (Score:2)
I really did need new shoes, I found a hole in the one by looking down. Good call!
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Checking porn in bed, duh.
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Consider yourself lucky. That's more action than most Slashdot readers have ever experienced.
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Don't worry! In about a week your new phone will look so crap that nobody will want to steal it.