640: Budget Phone Durability Champion

[realwarder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euOc6a0BZms

Survivability beats many phones... pretty impressive.

 

[Will Gilliland]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

My 640 fell of my road bike and hit the pavement doing 25mph and no case on it. It immediately separated to 3 pieces upon impact. I reassembled it and all was fine. Only a small scratch on the rear corner. I was going to put a screen protector and case on it, but why?

 

[libra89]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

This is very interesting. Didn't know that it was such a champ.

 

[Saijin_Naib]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

The way Nokia had designed their phones makes perfect sense. By allowing the phone to fall apart into the component pieces, you disperse the kinetic energy much more efficiently, which should lead to lower incidence of catastrophic failure.

That being said, mine gets case + screen protector because somehow I manage to mess my phones up despite babying them. Drives me insane.

 

[tgp]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

iPhones are notoriously fragile. Sometime try to take notice of how many iPhones you see around that are not in an Otterbox AND do not have a cracked screen. There aren't many...

 

[RumoredNow]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

I noticed there was no mention of water immersion for 640. They just totally blanked on it.

I know the Moto Pure has a water repellent coating, do the others?

 

[aybarrap1]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

Unfortunately they overlooked the water test for the Lumia. No surprise on the Xperia on this category as Sony has consistently made their phones either water proof or resistant out of the box. But then again, being water resistant (as advertised for the Pure) means resistant to splashes not dunks. I have the Lumia 640 and the Pure. The thing about the Pure is that the glass rounds considerably with no bezel to protect it. For those prone to dropping their phone and don't want to use a good case, the Pure is not for them. For drop durability both my 520 and 640 have survived multiple drops on concrete with only minor scratches and dents (no case or screen protector). They have always separated into three pieces and always worked after putting back together. For rough weekends (camping, hiking, biking, etc.) I will switch the sim card to my 640.

 

[Saijin_Naib]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

I wonder if they did actually test the L640 and it just died immediately? That's my suspicion, at least. Not a knock against the phone in the slightest as I don't generally expect my electronics to survive a swim.

 

[jrb363]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

Yep, the more I use my 640 the more I like it. I'm currently switching between my launch HTC One M7 -shocked the battery still gets me through the day 3 years later - and the 640 but the more I use Windows Mobile the more I'm falling in love with it.

 

[Saijin_Naib]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

The HTC One M8 Win has called to me since Day One, but I never moved on it. Unfortunately, it seems that it has been quite unfairly dead-ended much like the Samsung ATIV have been. It is such a shame...

The One M7 must have been a great phone for you.

 

[jrb363]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

Yes, it certainly has. It's a shame that the M8/M9 were fairly underwhelming by comparison. HTC really nailed the design and quality with the M7. It still looks sleek and modern which is difficult to do considering how quickly technology is changing.

Plus, the battery life...I mean, it's definitely not on par with more modern tech and it's smaller but for my uses (email and a few calls/texts) it gets the job done on a full charge. I'm sure it'll start really dropping off soon but HTC put together the perfect package in my opinion. It's a shame they couldn't capitalize on it.

 

[ven07]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

water immersion for 650

640 tho don't think the 650 could stand next to the 640 during these tests

 

[papasurf]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

iPhones are notoriously fragile. Sometime try to take notice of how many iPhones you see around that are not in an Otterbox AND do not have a cracked screen. There aren't many...

Truth to that. I was in Starbucks at my local mall and there was a guy behind me on an iPhone 6s Plus, no case or screen protection. I got my coffee and just as I sat down I hear the guys phone hit the floor. The screen was toast, cracked all over top to bottom. I was not expecting an iPhone 6s Plus, a $750 phone to break that easy.Two days earlier I had the same exact iPhone he had but I had sent it back to T-Mobile since I was going with Windows. Anyways now I own four of the Lumia 640 and one Alcatel Fierce XL Win 10 phone. Back ups galore if I ever need a backup or a family member needs a phone I have it covered. The Windows/Lumia phones are fine for everything I do and there is a fun element I did not have using the iPhone.

 

[Ryujingt3]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

iPhones are notoriously fragile. Sometime try to take notice of how many iPhones you see around that are not in an Otterbox AND do not have a cracked screen. There aren't many...

To be fair, you can pretty much just look at an iPhone and the screen will crack under pressure.

 

[TheChazas]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

Love the ending. "you can't judge a smartphone by its cover" and instantly thinking about mainstream L950/950XL "premium" dissing.

 

[TheChazas]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

640 tho don't think the 650 could stand next to the 640 during these tests

Of course not, because of so loved "premium" looks.

 

[libra89]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

iPhones are notoriously fragile. Sometime try to take notice of how many iPhones you see around that are not in an Otterbox AND do not have a cracked screen. There aren't many...

I don't get why people choose not to protect the screen (in general, but especially for the iPhone). They are playing with fire imo. Okay, no case is one thing, but it's another to also have no screen protector.

 

[aybarrap1]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

To me, any phone in which you pay more than $200 for, it is a good idea to use screen protection and case considering how cheap screen protectors and cases are. The cost to repair the phone, even with insurance, exceeds the cost of a premium case and screen protector (otterbox, lifeproof, ZAGG, etc).

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

Unfortunately they overlooked the water test for the Lumia. No surprise on the Xperia on this category as Sony has consistently made their phones either water proof or resistant out of the box. But then again, being water resistant (as advertised for the Pure) means resistant to splashes not dunks. I have the Lumia 640 and the Pure. The thing about the Pure is that the glass rounds considerably with no bezel to protect it. For those prone to dropping their phone and don't want to use a good case, the Pure is not for them. For drop durability both my 520 and 640 have survived multiple drops on concrete with only minor scratches and dents (no case or screen protector). They have always separated into three pieces and always worked after putting back together. For rough weekends (camping, hiking, biking, etc.) I will switch the sim card to my 640.

Just FYI, there's no such thing as 'waterproof'.

Most phones that make that claim are IP68 and are required to meet certain standards under test conditions specified by the vendor.

Also, IP68 does not mean you can dunk it in salt water or near chlorinated water. It's only fresh water. Most people don't seem to know that or understand it.

 

[aybarrap1]

Re: 640 beats the iPhone

Just FYI, there's no such thing as 'waterproof'.

Most phones that make that claim are IP68 and are required to meet certain standards under test conditions specified by the vendor.

Also, IP68 does not mean you can dunk it in salt water or near chlorinated water. It's only fresh water. Most people don't seem to know that or understand it.

True. Good point.