iPhone 4 Survives Fall From Skydiver's Pocket

tripleevenfall sent in a link with a story that is sure to be the basis for the next iPhone 4 commercial. From the article: "Jarrod McKinney's iPhone 4 — a notoriously fragile device — cracked when his 2-year-old knocked it off a bathroom shelf. So it's easy to see why McKinney, a 37-year-old in Minnesota, would be 'just absolutely shocked' when that same phone survived a fall from his pocket — while he was skydiving from 13,500 feet."

I loathe the smell of marketing in the morning.

[suso]

I've heard of dropped calls, but this is ridiculous.

Sponsored by Apple

[dokc]

"Sponsored by Apple" is missing at the end of the article.

Deja vu

[xnpu]

Didn't we have a similar story not too long ago?

Anyway, I think the consensus at the time was that there's a difference between falling on a rock hard bathroom floor versus a bush or even grassland.

Re:Sponsored by Apple

[AngryDeuce]

Yeah, I thought I was on CNN for a minute. They have their obligatory "Isn't Apple just great?!" articles daily.

Re:Surface

[slshwtw]

The phone was found on top of a building, so its a decent bet the landing wasn't so gentle. However, the summary omits the fact that the phone had a protective case (and that the glass on the phone was completely shattered and the UI inoperable).

Re:Terminal Velocity

[Deadstick]

Not so. A falling object will not assume a minimum-drag attitude unless it's aerodynamically stable. An arrow, yes. A badminton thingie, yes. A box, no, unless its center of mass is in just the right place. A skydiver can shape himself into a stable object for minimum drag, but an unconscious person will fall in something close to a maximum drag position. And a bullet will stay in the minimum drag attitude only as long as its rifling spin lasts: in a prolonged fall, it will go into a flat-spin mode which is the maximum drag condition.

When you say "It takes energy...", keep in mind that a high-speed air flow can giveth energy as well as taketh it away, and that energy couples into rotational motion in very complicated ways.

For an iPhone, the max drag condition would be horizontal; I just assumed an area of half what that would be. It would probably tumble, which would present about that much drag area.

rj