Samsung Focus S, fragile?

[chomsky11]

I have a unique perspective on this...my first WP7 device was an HD7. I dropped it from roughly shoulder height. It had significant damage to the metal housing, but no screen damage. I bought it from Amazon and decided to replace it with a Focus S since it has "4G" and a faster processor. About a week after getting the S...yep, I dropped it. This time it fell out of a hoodie pocket from waist height onto concrete. Total shatter to the Gorilla Glass on the bottom half of the screen and significant scratching of the housing. While the angle of the strike could have played a part, the Sammie fared much worse in my unofficial and unintentional drop test. My replacement S arrived today...while I love the phone and have no real qualms about it's design/materials, a Case Mate protective case is in the mail right behind it. Lesson learned, the hard way.

 

[E_man#CB]

Click to view quoted image

This phone is most definitely not fragile. In fact it has been quite durable I wouldn't go as far to say that it's bulletproof but it fares drops better than a iPhone and most androids

Most droids are made of similar build...

Almost all of Samsungs line is nearly identical in that way. LG is similar, Moto and HTC varies by device.

 

[VernonEL]

Yeah, I think the Focus S is the WP7 version of the GSII.

Correct.

 

[VernonEL]

Not So Lucky

I like the design of the Focus S. It is great to see some great hardware taking advantage of the Windows Phone OS. I, however, have had a dropping incident that proved to be disasterous.
Just a couple of weeks after getting my "S", I somehow dropped it on the sidewalk. It had survived drops before, but this time it cartwheeled, end over end. The screen was completly shattered, and didn't work at all. I had to use insurance to replace the device.
Needless to say, I now have a decent case for it, and although it does make it a bit bulkier, I have no problem with the combined weight of it.
When I know I will be within the safety of my home I still take the case off, because this phone is just so flippin' beautiful!

 

[Thrashman]

Re: Not So Lucky

I have to say I love my Focus S....but I am on my second shatter screen. Very careful with the phone and do have a small protective cover on the device. I have probably dropped the phone three times in the history of ownership...2 of the time trashed the screen now. I was holing out for the Ativ S because I truly love their hardware and never have any major problems with the equipment. I think this will push me to go ahead an buy the 920 off contract because another insurance claim on the focus S and they will drop me like a rock...

 

[mrsatellite]

2 weeks after I got my Focus s fell from one stair to the next ,1step and the screen shattered. Mind you steps are tile .Now after all of the drama with samsung to exchange the screen,now I have it completely rapped:shocked:.Now just need to getting working properly with my service provider (rogers canada). Love the phone otherwise

 

[snowmutt]

Wow. Must have hit that one step just right. Hope all is good now that all is fixed. While not fragile, apparently it isn't indestructible. Let us know how it is going!!

 

[mrsatellite]

Wow. Must have hit that one step just right. Hope all is good now that all is fixed. While not fragile, apparently it isn't indestructible. Let us know how it is going!!

Well now working fine just need to get it working properly on my provider

 

[dazza9075]

I used to have HTC phones since the year dot, they have always been solid devices, built to last. So when I got the Focus S I was concerned to say the least at how light it is. I wouldn't ay it feels cheap as others on here have, id say that we associate cheapness with the weight which isn't fair. The biggest issue I find isn't the weight its the fact that because its so small its very easy to pull it out the pocket and it slips out of your hands, so perhaps a more rubberised back would have been better.

As to the built quality, I dropped mine on solid concrete the other day, not a waist high direct drop, but a proper ballistic trajectory out of my chest pocket to approx. chin height (5 foot 5ish) and down to the floor landing a good couple of meters away.

absolutely bricked it! was convinced it was buggered, but the screen was perfect, the lower corner had a gouge taken out of the bezel towards the rear of the phone, which suggests the point of impact but other than that the phone was fine. I dare say if it had landed screen down it would have been buggered but im mighty impressed it survived that one.
so yes, CNET is speaking out of the arse.

thinking about it a bit more, its probably because its so light that it was able to take the hit, a heavier weight would have increased the kinetic energy moving through it when it landed

 

[fatclue_98]

I clicked on this thread to see if anybody else has the horizontal lines issue I have on my screen. It's annoying as h**l but it's not a deal breaker. All I see are posts about dropping phones. Geez butterfingers, they aren't meant to be dropped! Buy mil-spec phones if you're gonna play rock-em sock-em robots with them.
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