Dear Cell Phone She-beast

[NecessaryCatharsis]

I know I WILL drop it sooner or later, and I WILL fook it up eventually, even with an Otterbox or what have you

That`s it`s own kind of impressive! I dropped my IPhone, which was only three weeks old at the time, off 6 lifts of scaffold (around 30`) onto a concrete floor. It bounced higher than my coworkers head. Oh CRAP! I was panicked, it belongs to my boss, oh crap, oh crap! I`m not sure I`ve ever climbed down scaffold faster. Not a scratch on it. The catches on the otterbox actually broke, and I had to buy a new $80 box, but the $600 phone was perfect. Where are you dropping yours to break it in the otterbox ?

[Racket_Man]

Mr. Wheresmycar, paging Mr. Wheresmycar...

Seriously, do these dolts really think this is going to work?

Try being in the pizza biz. ANY hint of complaint and we just throw free shit at the customer CONTINIOUSLY. EVEN repeat scammers.

[mathnerd]

That`s it`s own kind of impressive! I dropped my IPhone, which was only three weeks old at the time, off 6 lifts of scaffold (around 30`) onto a concrete floor. It bounced higher than my coworkers head. Oh CRAP! I was panicked, it belongs to my boss, oh crap, oh crap! I`m not sure I`ve ever climbed down scaffold faster. Not a scratch on it. The catches on the otterbox actually broke, and I had to buy a new $80 box, but the $600 phone was perfect. Where are you dropping yours to break it in the otterbox ?

If something like that ever happens again, look into Otterbox's warranty. A few months back I called them figuring the answer would be "no" because I wasn't entirely sure when I bought mine, but I knew it was close to the one year mark, but all the tabs and hooks had busted, and the woman at the cell phone store suggested I call them instead of buying a new one. They replaced my case no questions asked. I had to fill out a little online form and submit a picture of the damage along with a picture of the part of the case that shows the model number, but that was it. I had my replacement in 4 days.

As for damaging a phone inside an Otterbox; I'm impressed. I drove over my iPhone after it fell out of my pocked when I was getting into my van. My son got pushed into a pool with his iPhone in his pocket. Both phones are still going strong.

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

Friend of mine is extremely hard on phones at his job, always gets insurance and either an otterbox or a lifeproof case and still winds up getting a replacement every other month or so. I never seemed to have that problem when I was working with him, but I did use a bluetooth headset rather than trying to pull the phone out of it's carrier.

Probably wondering what the job is, eh? My buddy is the team lead for a tower crew. He's had to use a shovel to retrieve a dropped phone before, freshly plowed farm surrounding the tower and the phone sunk in almost a foot. One of the repaired holes in their equipment trailer is from a phone, most of the rest are from tools. A socket wrench from 1200 feet up goes through sheet metal like a bb through a soda can.

One of the beer-thirty conversation topics that gets brought up by him is him wondering if the insurers will ever institute a maximum fall height for covered devices.

Probably wouldn't be much of a market for parachute deploying phone cases, but I'd love to build one for shits n grins.... Yep, think I just thought of what to make my buddy for his birthday in Nov.

[dalesys]

... parachute deploying phone cases...

Build the Polish Ukrainian redneck version: Parachute opens on impact... Bam! Poof!

(One DIL is Polish, the other's Israeli...)

[icmedia]

We have a specific area on the contract that the customer signs stating whether they opted in or out for insurance, and what the deductible is for their specific device. Before signing, we go over this specific area verbally with every customer.

I get yelled at, at least weekly, for the customer's decision to opt-out of insurance, or about the amount of the deductible; had a guy the other day claim that he was POSITIVE that he had insurance, 1,000,000%. Yes, a MILLION percent positive. Pulled his signed and dated contract and, lo and behold, he had opted out. Cue a 15-minute rant about how he never read those things (we shouldn't expect him to), we never went over it with him, etc.

I was actually really happy, in the end, that he was forced to pay $495 for a new handset. I smiled through the entire checkout process.

[EricKei]

Where are you dropping yours to break it in the otterbox ?

Heehee. Might wanna re-read my post This isn't something that HAS happened (well, not with a protective case, anyway x.x), it's something which I feel is inevitable in my case (big hands, poor eyesight -- which is why I don't generally play portable game systems) ~_~ If there's a way to break and/or dunk something like that, I'm sure I'll find it eventually.

I have also been known to "lose" a cellphone temporarily within my own car on more than one occasion -- just this past week, actually -- when it fell out of my pocket and wound up behind my back-support pillow on the driver's seat

[mathnerd]

I have also been known to "lose" a cellphone temporarily within my own car on more than one occasion -- just this past week, actually -- when it fell out of my pocket and wound up behind my back-support pillow on the driver's seat

This is why I love that "find my iPhone" app. Between me and the two boys that have phones, I use it to locate a missing phone several times a week. The nice part is that it plays the loud sound even if the phones are on silent.

[mathnerd]

I've only ever destroyed one phone. A neighbor pushed me into my backyard pool when I had my phone in my pocket. This was about 7 or 8 years ago, and it was one of those nearly bullet-proof Nokias, but they didn't really have cases for those phones back then, so I didn't have one. I didn't get a smart phone until two years ago, but I've always insisted on having good quality cases on them, as I've been known to be pretty rough with the old phones of average intelligence I've always had (but were a lot more capable of taking abuse).

Edited because I have been reminded by my oldest son that I have, in fact, destroyed three phones. The other two were destroyed after they fell out of my back pocket and into the toilet. Those were all in my pre-smart phone days as well.

[greek_jester]

I've only ever destroyed one phone. A neighbor pushed me into my backyard pool when I had my phone in my pocket. This was about 7 or 8 years ago, and it was one of those nearly bullet-proof Nokias, but they didn't really have cases for those phones back then, so I didn't have one.

How did that destroy it? My old Nokia (which I still have and use, despite also owning and using smart phone*) has been:

• Dropped out of a 1st floor (2nd for you Yanks!) window onto a concrete patio;
• Floated several meters in a stream before being rescued;
• Chewed on by a German Shepherd (had to replace the keypad);
• Driven over by a Ford Fiesta.

I'm genuinely surprised something as minor as a dip in a pool destroyed yours.

*Crappy local signal, they're on 2 different networks. It is very rare that both phones have no signal.

[Geek King]

Where are you dropping yours to break it in the otterbox ?

Well, in the case of one of our maintenance guys, while he had our iPhone in a full hard-case Otterbox, it will not save it from a dunk in a full paint can.

Phone still works, but the microphone pickup is filled with latex paint, so no one can hear him talk. Oy.

In the case of another maintenance worker, it was decided his dropped phone was unrecoverable after a drop into an open septic tank.

[mathnerd]

How did that destroy it? ...

I'm genuinely surprised something as minor as a dip in a pool destroyed yours.

Actually, I was also kinda surprised that the phone died, but it could take pretty much everything I could throw at it, including bouncing down a set of concrete stairs and falling off a third floor balcony (2nd floor for those of you on the other side of the pond). Maybe going for a swim was just the final straw?

[DGoddessChardonnay]

This is why I love that "find my iPhone" app. Between me and the two boys that have phones, I use it to locate a missing phone several times a week. The nice part is that it plays the loud sound even if the phones are on silent.

I've had to use that once or twice b/c I'd forget where I left mine. Once it was in the bathroom (guess it had to potty at the time.)

But yeah, that comes in handy. So far my brother hasn't used it for his yet but there's always that first time.

[Ophbalance]

I've lost one Nokia cell phone (early 2000's), broken the antennae on several flip type Nokia's (mid 2000s). But of all the smart phones I've had (HTC Touch, LG Optimus T and S, SG4, SG2)... I've yet to break a screen on them. I've lost 2 different PDA's to LCD damage (Dell Axim X5 and Axim x50v... but the kids killed those!), but the smart phones have been tough. I've dropped the LG's many, many times. The SG4 has also fallen a fair few times. I attribute their lack of destruction to having cases on that protect the corners on impact.

[taxguykarl]

Build the Polish Ukrainian redneck version: Parachute opens on impact... Bam! Poof!

Either that or Wile E. Coyote