If a handheld device cannot withstand being dropped, it’s planned obsolescence

That phrase doesn't mean what you think it means.

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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/250912.The_Waste_Makers

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Drinking glasses. Not planned obsolescence but a way to remove klutzes like me from the pool.

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To be fair, you'd have to drop an awful lot of bubbles to not be let back in the pool.

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I wouldn't say a drinking glass is a device, a simple tool yes but not a device.

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- They could still make them unbreakable. Yet they choose not too. Its all a plot by big glass.
  
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Not really. Unless you think dishes are planned obsolescence.

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I crashed my boat into a rock. PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE.

Yeah this one was easy to break. I originally up voted the post, but quickly changed my mind.

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Now that you mention it, we live in the future! Where are my indestructible, microwave-safe, and machine-wash safe plates? Don't say plastic, those get weird with high temperatures.

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- Superfest made them. None of the glass makers and distributers would buy them because they were practically indestructible, so they couldn't see infinite sales.
  
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Hmm... maybe. You should look up East German Superfest glass. Big dishware producers refused to use it because it meant not selling replacement dishes.

Though, OP's argument is just dumb.

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You transport the dishes, sure, but do you eat from them while standing? I was specifically referring to handheld devices.

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- Wine glasses, yeah. And other drink glasses too. But yeah, I assume you mean handheld electronics, which even that is a stretch. Handheld CD players, camcorders, cameras, are all pretty fragile and I wouldn’t say they’re planned obsolescence. You just gotta be careful with fragile things. We use our phones way more often than any electronic device from the past, so more chance to drop them and notice how fragile they are.
  
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Bro just dropped his brand new Galaxy Fold/Flip/pixel from way too high and found out they need a case.

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Hell, I even have protectors on the camera lenses.

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- The 2 has a MASSIVE camera tumor. Glad the newer ones are easier to enshroud in a hard case
  
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Humans will break anything and everything that we use regardless of size shape or function just depends on how fast. Long as every piece is replaceable and repairable then it doesn't matter if it breaks

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A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

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- There's a constant race between inventors and the universe. Inventors are trying to create idiot proof devices, and the universe is creating better idiots.
  
  The universe is winning.
  
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There's always a trade off when it comes to any device.

Fast or slow, lots of features or basic, cheap or expensive, thin/stylish or ruggedized, water or other ingress resistant standards. All of these have to be weighted against each other.

Also what constitutes a drop? 4 feet, 40 feet, 400? (sorry if I turned on anyone with a foot fetish)

It is absolutely possible to create a mobile phone with most features people want that survives multiple 4 foot high drops, but it will be encased in a few cm of rubber, the touch screen will be under a noticeable screen protector, and reception might suffer a bit, and it won't have wireless charging unless you're ok if that stops working after a unlucky drop. It will also probably be expensive, even more so if you then want to use more premium materials in order to try and slim it down some.

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I mean, my mobile phone was like 350aud, has survived literally dozens of drops from 4ft+, on a variety of surfaces from carpet and lino to gravel, concrete and bitumen. Literally every function of the phone works fine and there's no case, just a screen protector. It didn't come with wireless charging so I don't know how fragile that would be, but current phones are tough as shit.

The chassis of my phone is dented and smashed in dozens of places and everything it could do new it can do now just the same, except for looking pretty.

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I wonder what these would look like if Apple made them:

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- Does anyone remember these?
  
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Uh, not really what planned obsolescence is.

Though I do wonder how much more durable they would be if corning made it 1 mm instead of 0.4 mm thick.

Manufacturers can also improve durability by recessing the screen slightly into a plastic frame, that way when the phone drops on its corner or side on a hard object, it will reduce the likelihood of it cracking.

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Uh, not really what planned obsolescence is.

You’re right, but I couldn’t think of a short term for this. I found ‘bad’ design too broad, and it’s not ‘hostile’ design either.

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- Probably just designed to fail maybe?
  
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If the parts that break are either unavailable or incredibly difficult to replace then I agree. (Held in by glue I'm looking at you ya bastard)

But just because it breaks doesn't mean it's planned obsolescence.

Where I work in the freight industry we have little handhelds we're supposed to use that get dropped all the time. Occasionally the screens break or the cameras break. Both of them are held in by screws and are swappable in that event.

Fairphone is a device I'd love to get as they are very easily fixable but they still break when dropped. The parts are readily available for purchase as well. It's just not easy if you're outside of the EU.

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I agree that there should be phones that prioritize sturdiness for clumsy people, but I see things like sturdiness and waterproof capabilities used as an excuse to get rid of useful features, and I don't like it. I've had cell phones for over 2 decades, and I've never dropped one; having an SD card slot and headphone jack is much more important to me than durability, since I rarely hold it over water, and always make sure to keep a solid grip regardless of the circumstances.

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I've had cell phones for over 2 decades, and I've never dropped one

Pressing X to doubt.

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- Meh, I can see that, my dad is the same way, the trick is he hardly uses one and treats it like an OSHA situation when he's operating it.
  
  TBH it's not the worst habit to have.
  
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- I got my first cell phone in middle school, and I knew that if it broke I wasn't getting another one, so I made sure to hold it securely when using it, since I didn't want to drop and break it. When I eventually upgraded to a smartphone a few years after they started getting popular, I held it even more securely, since it was even more expensive, and even more fragile. At this point it's just second nature to me to handle phones like I'm transporting fine china.
  
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Samsungs have been advertising water resistance to 10m for yeeeears with headphone jacks and sdcard slots. It's not exclusive.

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- I agree that the features are possible while still making the phone sturdier, which I wholeheartedly support, but I also understand that capitalism doesn't usually let us have upgrades, only tradeoffs, and usually bad ones.
  
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For you maybe, I drop my phone at least once a week.

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- That's exactly my point. Different people have different needs, so while OP is right that there should be phones for themselves and yourself that address the fact that a significant portion of the population drop their phones regularly, my own needs follow a different hierarchy that benefits from a separate set of features.
  
  The fact that phones are all kinda just the same, with any changes made to one model frequently rippling through to other models from other manufacturers in time, is an issue. The customization to phones shouldn't only apply to external features like cases and dongles.
  
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- Me too, and I feel like I'm pretty careful. But when you're always holding/moving a fragile thing, accidents happen over time
  
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I call bullshit.

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having an SD card slot and headphone jack is much more important to me than durability

por que no los dos? i drop my phone on nearly a daily basis, because i am clumsy af, but the screen is more scratch and impact resistant than any screen protector i could purchase, and it's still fine after a couple years of that abuse. it still has a headphone jack and removable sim/sd tray, and if it ever gets dirty i can wash it in the sink. i do wish it had a removable battery and a better camera, but nothing's perfect i guess. there's no reason sturdiness or waterproofness need to get in the way of any functionality.

the trick is though, they don't market these sorts of phones to clumsy people, they more aim them at construction workers.

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Permanently Deleted

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Yeah, no. The forces of suddenly being stopped even after a few feet can be extremely difficult to mitigate. Most electronics can survive being dropped once, but few are able tp be dropped multiple times, and 'withstand being dropped' sounds like it would cover multiple drops.

The surface matters too. Most electronics are fine dropped on carpet, but fail on concrete because the surfaces are different.

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I’m using my old Nokia to this day. And why? Because “suddenly being stopped even after a few feet” wasn’t “difficult to mitigate” for Nokia. In the last 15 years this thing must have survived more than 100 drops, sometimes down a staircase. When I pick up the back cover, the battery and the SIM card, it’s as good as new.

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With phones, like with other things, a bit of protective covering goes a long way.

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I dropped my handset a bunch of times - came out second in a fight once and wrecked some nerves in my hand - but it survived every time.

It's when we were abroad and trying to rent those funny little scooters that I dropped it on cobblestones and it was insta-dead. And me having already done arrive-can with my info stored on my phone that's now unusable. Wheeee.

I don't think even an otterbox would have saved it, though. The universe has a sense of humour and it's a very dark one.

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You used your phone in a fight? Did you have those brass knuckles case or something?

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- He went all out and got the Katana case.
  
  Still lost though, as the other guy had a nunchuck case and fucked up his strong hand.
  
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