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Dolling out somewhere in the region of £500 for a brand new phone isn’t an easy task for many, and we all find ourselves treating our new and expensive phones like babies.
Unfortunately accidents do happen, and many of us are pretty clumsy (myself included!), which our phones usually take the brunt of. Unless you opt for one of the specifically ‘rugged’ or ‘tough’ smartphones out there, the chances are that your mobile won’t stand much of a chance in a fight against the floor when dropped.
The latest must-have smartphone is the Samsung Galaxy SIII, which although slim and light, features a large sheet of tough Gorilla Glass 2 to protect the screen and a scratch-resistant ‘hyper glaze’ to protect the back of the phone. But will those design features help it stand up to a drop to the concrete?
Independent warranty provider SquareTrade set about finding out just how tough the S3 is by carrying out a series of three brutal tests. First, the phone was dropped from head height to the concrete, which can happen all too often when making a phonecall.
Secondly, a young child mercilessly flings the phone up into the air and lets it plummet to the concrete. This one brought tears to our eyes, but SquareTrade says that 1 in 4 smartphones owned by parents have been accidentally damaged by their kids. We’re pretty sure our kids would be well conditioned to never touch our precious smartphones…
Finally, the handset is left on the boot of a car while the car pulls away, flinging the phone to the floor. It may seem like an odd test, but we’ve lost count of the people we’ve heard about leaving their phone on the car roof and driving off.
Check out the tests below, where the S3 is pitted against Apple’s mostly-glass iPhone 4S. It’s tough watching for smartphone lovers, and leads us to issue the following warning: Buy a case for your Galaxy SIII and love it like it was your child. Do not drop it!
You can also check out our “Compare Phone Prices” tool for the best Contract, Pay As You Go and SIM free deals by clicking the tab above.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
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