Have you ever seriously damaged your phone?

[tatte]

This probably doesn't count as serious to most people, but did I drop my brand new, most expensive phone I had ever gotten (600€) within a week from getting it? Yes, yes I did. It was in a case, but it nonetheless managed to land on a sharp rock, denting the aluminium on one corner. Fine, can't have anything nice. I'm pretty sure it's my only metallic object that can be dented like that dropping from lap height.

 

Pretty confident it's the first time I damaged my phone too, but at least it wasn't the screen. It was also my first phone I used without a screen protector, because someone decided rounded edges are cool.

 

2 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

I've fucked up my Mi A1 pretty bad. Once I dropped it and it bent a bit.

My Mi A1 came bent from the start, I guess they might have a flaw.  Thankfully I wasn't accused of dropping it (or otherwise being at fault), I guess going back to the store within an hour was credible enough. They replaced it without issue.

[Straussy]

Ive never broken my phone other then a couple of minor scratch's on touch phone. I use to skim my Nokia e71 along the footy field when I was back at school still works today.

Was moving the other month and some how while in the draw my Iphone 5s split in half

[DesolationGod]

its rare these days but i used to do flooring installs so a cracked screen was not uncommon then lol

[mrmoyer]

I wear gym shorts a lot, and they don't have very tight pockets so my phone slips out alot. It aslo doesn't help that i drive a lifted jeep so if my phone does fall out of my pocket it's at least a 3 foot drop.

[Mykie]

My first phone is an iPhone 6s, got it new since it came out. Nothing damaged. I could probably even sell it as "like new". Everyone else's phone I know are already broken and or upgraded. At least I use a case and actually take care of the phone...

[Jarsky]

My first Android phone Xperia X10a back in 2009 i completely cracked the screen on when it was in my jeans pocket and i was wrestling around and it bent against my leg. It was pretty much the largest screen phone you could get back then so it wasnt something i'd considered. Phone cases werent really a thing then either for smartphones. 

[Dieterrr]

Till now i have had three smartphones, two of them on the cheaper side and my last purchase on the more expensive one.
From what i saw the cheaper phones broke fast even though i did not handle them in a rough way.

The more expensive one is still totally functional even though i handle it just like the other phones and only use the phone case that came with the phone.

[silentdragon95]

I only recently tripped on something with my phone in hand and of course I ended up falling on top of it while its display was facing downwards (I do use a case). Guess that's what you get for looking at your phone while walking though.

 

I have accidentally dropped my phone(s) before of course but got lucky each time. I once even dropped my cheap old LG several stories down a staircase, it didn't seem to mind though. Damn that thing was garbage, but completely indestructible.

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

before having the heat gun, tried to heatup the pcb (LG v10) with stove and it bends badly....

[FunkmastaFlex]

I used to have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with a red finish. I dropped it from my waist to a hardwood floor. The screen shattered and 3/4 of the screen was unusable.

 

I guess that's what happens when you use an unprotected phone.

 

Which was weird when some friends and I decided to drop a different phone (Samsung S4 without a case) off of a 3 story high abandoned building while recording. The phone was undamaged, maybe a scratch or two. We recovered it and I used the phone for another year or so.

[elfensky]

HTC Wildfire was perfect until I burned out my flash looking for something in the dark. Then again, by that time it was basically unusable.

 

My Nexus 4 survived the longest, about 3 or 4 years, but fell out of my pocket as I was cycling, destroyed the screen completely. It had a case on it, but that didn't save it from a screen-down fall :(. Replaced it myself, so I could use it as a backup phone.

Redmi Note 3 Pro survived fine, I had it for about a year, but then the Pixel 2 XL came out, and I got that, selling the phone.

I cracked the glass on my Pixel 2 XL like 2 weeks into my ownership as I was waiting for a case to arrive from China. (much sad). It worked fine for 1.5 years tho, I put a tempered glass screen protector on top of it and you couldn't even notice it. Then my camera stopped working, and I'm picking on a replacement from Google on Thursday.

Weirdly, had to replace glass on my phone before they'd send the replacement... Like, the phone's camera is borked, why do I need to fix the display?

Given shops charge 230-240 I chanced it and decided to do it myself. Somehow it's still in 1 piece and working.

[Loote]

Old Nokias? The power button didn't work after ~2 years of usage.

Sony Ericsson? Their multi purpose 'Fast port' was problematic, the connector became loose fast and the quality of headphone dongle was bad. Even though my W995 got lost by my sister after over 3 years of use which is the best of any phone I had. it had separate headphone jack, you could even connect 2 heaphones to it at the same time, it also had physical music control keys and I'm considering getting one as a music player.
Then I got some Huawei 4' smartphone that I dropped on concrete without the case, the screen broke, but it did not stop working.
I bought used iPhone 4, I got a nice case for it and nothing happened to it, sold it not much later because I preferred the broken Huawei with tape over the screen.
Then I got Oneplus One, the plastic case that I got with it was terrible, if fell multiple times, getting into worse and worse state, I broke the screen, got it replaced by some guy that took ages and I thought it got stolen, broke it again, replaced it myself, but the rest of the surface was in bad shape too, this phone looked like a war victim and finally died when it fell into water.
Redmi Note 4X -> with flip case and screen protector. The flip case is not a good idea, maybe some premium ones, but I always get the cheapest, the screen protector I bought got broken in transit, so at the start the screen got roughed up a bit, I stopped using the case because it was annoying and causing me to drop it a lot, it looks bad now, but works 100% fine.
OnePlus 6 -> I bought the phone with carbon case and glass screen protector, also ordered dbrand skin for it, used case from day 1, I replaced factory plastic screen protector after 2 months because it started looking bad, but the screen looked perfect, now I broke the glass screen protector and am using it this way, I believe that the phone would look like new if I'd take the screen protector and dbrand skin off, there's this issue where my case is higher than the screen, but not the screen protector, so when phone is facing down it gets scratched a lot.

 

Honestly I don't know how to keep a smartphone in a perfect shape, just keeping it in an otherwise empty pocket I managed to scratch the screen(sand got into it) and even break it(billiards, leaning on the table I guess, once I broke screen protector and once the screen, this is 2 problems in 10 times I played ). For me a bulky case with a proper screen protector and phone skin is the way to go, without the skin I got dust between the case and the phone and it got scratched ;/ The 2.5/3D screens look nice, but it's not something I can get, I need something compatible with screen protectors, because once every few months I'll do some hard work and forget to leave the phone in a safe place.

[xKyric]

Once I accidentally plugged a Sandisk MP3 charger into my iPhone 4s, the phone's screen went black and never turned on again.  

Aside from that, I've never seriously damaged a mobile device. I'm careful with my equipment, so I was rather shocked when my iPhone broke. 

[LogicalDrm]

Nope on both my smartphones, S2 and current S5. But the phones before that... Another thing. All except the Samsung E30 clamphone I still have as backup.

 

Nokia 3310, the legend. Fell on it while biking on icy road. Phone was under me, my keys hitting its screen. Broken screen.

 

Siemens something-something (we are talking about 2006-2008/9). Got dropped several times, on asphalt few times too. Broke piece near where battery is.

 

Nokia Xtreme Music (etc.). Another broken screen. Before that I had managed to break 2.5mm adapter to headphone jack. The screen was lost when I hit this in my pocket to sharp edge.

---

After that I've changed phones only to get something I need (email access with S2) or because old was slow af (S5). I have used cases on both smartphones, mainly because I fear for screen. I keep phone in same pocket with my keys.

[Bouzoo]

I mean, depends on what kind of damage we talking about. My old Nokia N70 dropped into a glass of water, and in a bucket of water, dried and kept working, until it died of corrosion. My Nokia 5130 literally broke into pieces after being dropped for god knows how many times (yeah, I broke a Nokia). My S3 also had issues due to corrosion or so they say, even though it was never in a wet environment, quite weird. Not gonna take a blame for that one. 

[Velcade]

Nope.  I've only ever owned Samsung Galaxy devices (for smartphones).  I've dropped them a couple times and corners get scuffed but I've never shattered a phone screen or done enough damage to ruin the phone.

[Andreas Lilja]

On 5/14/2019 at 11:23 AM, poochyena said:

I'm curious how often people damage their phone, such as cracked screen or completely destroyed.

My mom has an habit for leaving her's on her trunk.

 

Once it did not survive the highway. 

[Derrk]

my phone has a broken headphone jack & charge port. Now i can only use bluetooth and wireless charging. FUTURE

[Phentos]

I've never seriously damaged my phone, ever. I'm pretty paranoid about my electronics. 

 

I had one close call when I got out of a car and my phone slipped out of my pocket onto the sidewalk. But I had a pretty good case on it, so the phone was pretty much unscathed save for one tiny nick on the metal body toward the top right. I've since retired this phone.

[BigRom]

Dropped the OnePlus 3 many times, but I guess the Gorilla glass thing (and the case) works because I've only had to replace the tempered glass once in nearly 3 years?

 

Yeah I also have a case, but thats more to protect the aluminium back of the phone.

[Tog Driver]

Using an iPhone 4s, I've dropped it onto concrete and stuff, but the thing seems to be indestructible, it just takes whatever happens to it in stride. . . 

 

It might outlive me come to think of it. . .

[Rarity]

worst damage was to my old nokia n-90 (the cannot vibrate flip phone from nokia )..parked my car , walked out ,hit one of those poles at the curb..with my phone in the pocket broke the outer lcd screen , then in another incident i tripped , and the phone sort ot split open at the sides , was able to push it back together 

[Redrooster]

Out of the 9 or so years of having smart phones, I've never cracked a screen... Although I did accidentally pee on one when I was 10 back in 2010 (I was a bed-wetter until I was 11)

[dizmo]

I've cracked screens a couple times, and my last phone suffered catastrophic damage due to a mixture of weak aluminium and a not-so-great case.

Cracked screen #1 - dropped a Blackberry Bold from waist height, caught it on my shoe, it then fell 3 inches to the floor, cracking the screen. Brilliant.

Cracked screen #2 - girlfriend of the time jumped on my lap at the beach. Phone was in my back pocket, cracked the display.

Bent frame, dead flash - Phone had numerous bursts along it's seam due to weak aluminium and sitting on it. One day it restarted, never to boot again.

[vanished]

I'm not statistician so I could be totally messing up this analysis but it seems like this is a pretty strong case against the usefulness of cases:

 

My reasoning is the following:

• Of people who use phone cases, 43% have experienced damage, while of people who don't use cases, that number is only 27%.
• Of people who've experienced damage, 83% were using a case, while only 71% of people who've never experienced damage used a case.
• The number of people who've experienced damage despite a case is around double the number of people who've been fine, despite no case.

Of course there are other potential factors at play here, like people who are more careless might be more likely to buy a case to compensate, and/or that people without a case may protect their phone better through behaviour, so it's not like this result means that adding a case doesn't protect you more vs the control, but it is interesting.