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Iphone Idle

IPhone 4 Survives 1,000 Foot Fall From Plane 222

Posted by samzenpus from the self-writing-commercial dept.
tekgoblin writes "From the article: 'US Air Force Combat controller Ron Walker had lost his iPhone 4 from his aircraft during flight. He works as a Jump Master, which is where he would ensure the airplane was in the correct position when he sends parachute jumpers out. The plane was moving at 150 mph and while looking out the door of the plane to find necessary ground landmarks his pocket opened and his iPhone flew out. When he noticed his phone fell, he thought all was lost. Upon landing and sharing the story with friends he installed the Find My iPhone app on one of their phones and went looking for his phone. He expected it to be battered from the fall but found the phone to be 100% un-damaged from the fall. The phone was protected by a Griffin Motif TPU iPhone case but it isn't clear whether the case protected the phone from the fall or the fact that it was cushioned by the brush that it hit.'"
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IPhone 4 Survives 1,000 Foot Fall From Plane More

IPhone 4 Survives 1,000 Foot Fall From Plane

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  • Obviously (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 24, 2011 @08:32AM (#35597592)

    The pilot was holding it wrong.

  • "From the article" (Score:5, Informative)

    by fotbr ( 855184 ) on Thursday March 24, 2011 @08:35AM (#35597624) Journal

    That WAS the article, minus the last sentence.

    So we know now that the iPhone 4 can survive a 1000ft fall as long as it doesnâ(TM)t hit concrete, I wonder if Apple will talk about this at one of their next iPhone announcements.

    There, now you've read the entire article.

    • Here's the original article Tekgoblin refers to... http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/iphone-4-survives-1000-foot-tumble-from-plane/ [ilounge.com]

      • Re:"From the article" (Score:4, Insightful)

        by fotbr ( 855184 ) on Thursday March 24, 2011 @08:54AM (#35597848) Journal

        Fair enough -- I refuse to participate in the "follow the trail of blogs linking to other blogs in the hope you might eventually find an original source", and I've (obviously) given up on slashdot submitters to find real sources when their favorite blog has a two bit summary they can use almost in it's entirety instead.

    • Re:"From the article" (Score:4, Funny)

      by Woogiemonger ( 628172 ) on Thursday March 24, 2011 @09:13AM (#35598048)

      There, now you've read the entire article.

      I don't think you know the gravity of what you've done. You've just popped the cherries of millions of the 98% of long-time /. readers who have never once RTFA. Now that they've had a taste, could it be a dawn of a new era?

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by easyTree ( 1042254 )

        No.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fotbr ( 855184 )

        We're both assuming they've actually read the summary.

        So, no. It's not going to be a new era, unless you mean one in /. readers don't even read the comments, because that's about all that's left for them to ignore.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by garcia ( 6573 )

      The problem is that when it hits concrete (or the floor of a bus) from any height, including the 2 feet from my pants pocket to the floor, it will shatter the glass.

      After owning my iPhone4 for 71 hours I was at the Apple Store paying $65 ($29.99 for the replacement back and the rest of the Griffin case) to get it fixed.

      Yes, Apple ended up refunding the repair cost following a survey I took when I noted that NO PHONE SHOULD BE MADE ENTIRELY OF GLASS. They didn't agree but did refund the money because I had o

      • The problem is that when it hits concrete (or the floor of a bus) from any height, including the 2 feet from my pants pocket to the floor, it will shatter the glass.

        Two things:
        1) How tall are you? I've dropped my iPhone 4 onto the floor (be it hardwood, vinyl and concrete) five times so far, and the only time it's been from less than 3 feet was when it was in my shirt pocket and I was leaning over to tie my shoes (stupid)
        2) Despite having dropped it from a higher height than you claim will shatter the glass

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by garcia ( 6573 )

          including the 2 feet from my pants pocket to the floor

          1. Since you quoted me but didn't seem to understand what you quoted let me help you there. See, two feet (I was sitting).

          2. Being careful means putting it in my pocket when it's not in use.

          3. I was under the misconception that it was made of some sort of magic "hardened" glass. I didn't expect it to shatter.

      • You've had bad luck. I've dropped my iPhone 4 at least half a dozen times without any case onto a lino over concrete floor (hospital ITU). It has a couple of tiny scratches and one sub-millimeter chip on the glass back, and a tiny dent in the metal rim around the screen that you can't really see and have to feel for. It's fared much better than my 3GS which had a number of cracks and a chip in the plastic back within 6 months.

      • NO PHONE SHOULD BE MADE ENTIRELY OF GLASS.

        Oh please. Next you'll be saying people should be able to use removable storage, or swap out their batteries without disassembling the phone. You must take us all for fools.

  • Chinese quality (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 24, 2011 @08:36AM (#35597630)

    I always knew that the Chinese manufacture the best equipment in the world.

  • Big Deal (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 24, 2011 @08:36AM (#35597642)
    Big deal, I've lost my Nokia E51 from 4000 feet during parachute operations, same situation, fell into a bush. Only found it because of the anti-theft GPS Tracking software on it.

  • Nintendium (Score:3)

    by Even on Slashdot FOE ( 1870208 ) on Thursday March 24, 2011 @08:39AM (#35597680)

    But can your iPhone survive the building it's in being blown up by an RPG? The original Gameboy has. It still plays Tetris to this day.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tepples ( 727027 )

      But can your iPhone survive the building it's in being blown up by an RPG? The original Gameboy has. It still plays Tetris to this day.

      But does it play RPGs too? Or was Tetris melted into the cart slot?

  • Because mine didn't survive the 4 ft fall from my hand to the kitchen floor.

  • The guy it landed on is in pretty bad shape though (Score:3, Funny)

    by Liambp ( 1565081 ) on Thursday March 24, 2011 @08:42AM (#35597718)

    I'll probably get modded down for this but I can't help it. I am in a giddy mood today.

  • INTO brush. Isn't this going to be true of most gadgets with no moving parts?

  • Murphy's law (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Windwraith ( 932426 ) on Thursday March 24, 2011 @08:42AM (#35597724)

    An old laptop of mine resisted a car collision, but the screen cracked one time it fell ONE FOOT HIGH from the ground (and flat).
    There is some sort of law in electronics that makes a gentle caress the most common cause of electronics death. You can shot devices with a shotgun and not do as much damage as treating it with care.

    • There is some sort of law in electronics that makes a gentle caress the most common cause of electronics death.

      I believe you're referring to Electrostatic Discharge (ESD), the pertinent "law" would be Ohm's.

  • I'd heard that the iPhone 4 was prone to ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dusty101 ( 765661 ) on Thursday March 24, 2011 @08:44AM (#35597748)

    .. dropped calls.

    (Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week. If you're unlucky).

  • Terminal velocity? (Score:5, Informative)

    by redelm ( 54142 ) on Thursday March 24, 2011 @08:44AM (#35597756) Homepage

    Small objects have proportionately more drag for their weight so their terminal velocity may not be that fast, reached earlier (so overheight doesn't matter) and damage less.

    Another case of why there are no flying pigs -- weight increases as the cube of length, while drag increases as the square. So lots of flying bugs.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by adisakp ( 705706 )
      There are large animals that can fly. In the time of the dinosaurs, there were Pterosaurs [wikipedia.org] with 33ft wingspans

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by tist ( 1086039 )
      Terminal velocity is calculated as sqrt((2*w)/(rho*A*Cd)).
      w = weight
      rho = about 1.22 kgm**3
      A = Things fall in the orientation that causes the most air resistance (believe it or not) so that's the face area, about .07 ft**2
      Cd = Coefficient of drag for a rectangle is about .75

      So terminal velocity is about 50 MPH.

  • wow (Score:2)

    by Thud457 ( 234763 )
    WOW , now it's got super-powers! Is there anything it can't do?!!!

    Apple! IPhone! Apple! IPhone! Apple! Apple! Apple! IPhone! IPhone! IPhone! Apple IPhone!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Bigbutt ( 65939 )

      Apple Apple Apple Apple Apple Apple JoooOoobs JoooOoobs Apple Apple Apple Apple Apple Apple JoooOoobs JoooOoobs OoOooo Android! Android!

      [John]

  • I'd be more interested if Flight Safety contacted him about improperly securing dangerous FOD.

  • The phone was protected by a Griffin Motif TPU iPhone case but it isn’t clear whether the case protected the phone from the fall or the fact that it was cushioned by the brush that it hit.'"

    With any luck the brush it hit was a Taliban guy's pubic hair.

  • only logic can tell... (Score:3)

    by hesaigo999ca ( 786966 ) on Thursday March 24, 2011 @09:05AM (#35597958) Homepage Journal

    I guess these guys are not CSI, or even scientist for that matter....
    >or the fact that it was cushioned by the brush that it hit
    Of course if you found it in the bush, then it was cushioned, as anyone knows that some material to cushion the fall takes some of the impact away from the object, and that means as well that it landed on grass or dirt underneath, and not pure cement (i never seen a brush grow in the middle of a street)....so again another reason why it was ok, I am glad that his iphone is ok, as I have one, and could not live without it, but get a clue, it was not apple or the cell phone, it was the environment it landed in, ....

    If you really want a test.., try letting it fall from the plane into water, then go find it, then tell me that it is not wet, and its a miracle, then i will praise apple for creating the perfect phone, until then....

  • koolaid (Score:3, Funny)

    by Charliemopps ( 1157495 ) on Thursday March 24, 2011 @09:18AM (#35598108)
    I believe it was saved by the rush of apple users that threw themselves on the ground to cushion its fall.
  • it wasn't raining at the time though.

  • There's an app for that!

  • If you're going to drop an iPhone 1000 feet, aim for a bush.

  • There [wikipedia.org] are [wikipedia.org] plenty [wikipedia.org] of cases where people survived falls of 20,000 feet or more so I really don't see this as impressive.

  • I had left it on top of the car and forgot. It flew off into the road at some point and was picked up by a thankfully very honest person. Again, not a scratch. I believe this was one positive result of the monolithic design of the iPhone, in that it remained in on piece as it impacted. Another phone with a removable battery would have probably been in pieces scattered all over creation.

    Cheers

  • I realize that military attire regulations have changed to allow personnel to carry their pagers/phones, but seriously why did this idiot have a cell phone during training exercises?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Onuma ( 947856 )
      Because it is more cost effective to let every troop carry his phone on an FTX (or whatever kind of -X you want to call it) than to strap him up with a GPS beacon or ASIPS radio.

      That being said, he's a Jump Master and should have known better than to have it anywhere but in a very secure container/pocket.

  • Is the brush ok?!

  • ... for the next time I need to decide which phone to throw out of a flying airplane.

  • "but it isn’t clear whether the case protected the phone from the fall or the fact that it was cushioned by the brush that it hit"

    What, the brush was moving too? It (actively) hit the iPhone 4? That's one Fandroid bush!

  • I've dropped my (naked / unprotected) iPhone 4 from a height of roughly 5 feet onto a concrete sidewalk, and it's not even scuffed.

    YMMV...

  • "He was just trying to get a good signal"

  • Goddamned slashvertisements... of COURSE if something has a soft landing it's not going to explode into a million pieces. Terminal velocity and stopping distance are the deciding factors. There are numerous documented cases of aircraft pilots and gunners surviving 15000+ foot drops onto snow or foliage with little more than a sprain or minor fractures, which can happen just the same from a 10 foot fall onto a hard surface.

    Like the saying goes, it's not the fall that kills you, it's how you stop.

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