We had a chance to take a tour of Nokia's research and development facility in San Diego this week -- and while we're afraid to say we didn't see any Maemo 6-powered devices or Symbian^4 emulators lying around, we did see some pretty cool stuff, particularly in the product testing laboratories where engineering samples and final products are put through pure hell. The idea is to simulate years' worth of real-life product use in just a few days -- individual tests last anywhere from a few hours to three weeks or longer -- by pressing buttons, sliding sliders, actuating hinges, heating, cooling, wetting, drying, dropping, whacking, shaking, rubbing, bending, and generally defacing the phones in every way imaginable. Once a phone finally breaks, they look for obvious reasons -- cracked plastic, broken springs, and the like -- but if that initial analysis fails, they've got a well-equipped lab on site complete with a scanning electron microscope and CT scanner for taking microscopic looks at failed components in both two and three dimensions; from here, they can find broken connections on chips, incorrectly-fabricated materials, and the occasional ant eye magnified a couple thousand times (it's posted on the wall in the lab, and yes, it's scary). Follow the break for a cheerful montage of a few Nokia phones getting mercilessly beaten beyond recognition.
posted Oct 7th 2009 9:07PM
that is pretty cool
Where's the ant eye?
pretty nice,
but show us the ant eye, or it never happened.
Nokias are ok, but I prefer my Jitterbug J with LiveNurse.
lolz.
Too bad they don't have a machine that can test for market share.
I can't stand ignorant Americans like you... Nokia has 38% global market share, the largest of all manufacturers, read some facts before you make statements like that. Nokia doesn't give a shit about the USA because we have one of the most anti-consumer, anticompetitive mobile industries in the world. The enforced relationship between mobile devices and services that exists in the USA is ILLEGAL in most other first-world countries and prevents Nokia from selling there hardware here directly to consumers in mass the way they do in the rest of the world. Because of this, Nokia doesn't bother bringing new or advanced devices here because Americans are arrogant assholes like you that know nothing about the rest of the world and think that mobiles should be served to them on a silver platter via advertising, branding and subsidization.
markalvarpeck: Next time, just use the opportunity to open up a discussion.
markalvarpeck - peckermark - whatever your name is.. chill dude... you show your ignorance and immaturity by stereotyping an entire nation - you really feel that is necessary on a comment section of a technical/gadget blog? Maybe you should spend your time trying to get laid than trolling blogs jumping on any opportunity to blast Americans. Maybe you try, but are rejected - is that the reason for your aggression? Get a life and spout off your opinions to someone who cares. Really..
Cool video. Not that I am a huge fan of Nokia, but they obviously cares about the US market. If you bothered to read the first sentence - it reads "We had a chance to take a tour of Nokia's research and development facility in San Diego this week...". Where to you think San Diego is you ignorant fool....
@markalvarpeck
Greatly put. Also don't forget that US mobiles services are way behind in terms of technology. While other "first-world" countries are enjoying 7,2mbit and 14,4mbit connections with lots of software possibilities, some Americans are very happy with there new (2002 era) MMS features.
In general there is to little free market in the US and because of certain monopolistic policies the US citizens are falling behind in technology. Unfortunately some are to arrogant to realize that and they truly believe that they are ahead of the rest of the world.
Truly agree man!!! That's freaking truth and a bitter one! That's so sad that monopoly prevails over huge manufacturers of cell phones! I came from Europe and I can't believe there are no stores in the USA where you can buy hundreds of various phones unlocked and simply use 'em with any carrier you aspire without any bull..hit 2 year contract!!!
Why does nokia have so much market share?
Their original phones, the candybar, is still used in poor countries
What has nokia done lately? n97? Please...
Was the Salsa Music necessary? I mean I could not hear anything the guy was saying. For one second I thought Nokia was in Puerto Rico, run by a man called Juan Colon, and the next phone would be called the NSalsa.
hehehe, colon
It's just fun to say... "Salsa!"
i thought it was a good choice
colon, hehehehehe
wait wait, I think you got the WRONG colon.... I actually meant Colón lol like the uber popular PuertoRican Last Name, not the other colon that needs Activia for debugging.
Is your Colon Drive Backing Up? Plug in some Activia USB powered by Google to look for the virus and Norton to eliminate it. Comes in three colors: PeptoBismol Pink, AndroidBot Green and Twitter Blue.
heheh. diarrhea.
I know, right? I can tell when the music comes from iMovie too. Ever since my sister got a macbook for college I've been noticing that so many tunes from videos I watch are on the iMovie software.
Come on guys Nokia, Sonyericsson Samsung and other big manufacturers all do this.
that salasa music was so lame.
But the comment that said diareah got me thinking of Beavis and Butthead Diareah cha cha cha.. hahah LMAO
I was thinking, "When Harry Met Sally," or, "Mr. Rogers," myself, and the latter made me chuckle at the idea of, "Okay, children, let's go play with the cell-phones to test them for strength . . . "
I did enjoy the music, and would like to know the names of the songs. However, I also agree with you, the music was out of place, uncessary, and kind of peeved me because I wanted to know what he was talking about.
Engadget, please update this post with a unadulterated version of this video.
I do believe that the lab is actually located at Progress Island U.S.A.
less music more facts
agreed, they should have at least turned the music down when the guys were talking.
HeHe, Hepatitis
Agreed, wtf - i'd have been much more interested in what the guy was saying than some pish Salsa (which annoyed me so much I ended up muting it)
+kudos to anyone who can find the video with original audio
black magic!
You don't wanna know what they did to me in there...
Noooooooooo, not the Crisco! Anything but the Crisco!!!
But you made it out alive and we're together and that's all that matters :')
Get a video of Apple testing iPods and iPhones, then I'll be excited.
...on second thought, if Apple just *had* a facility for testing power their supplies, I'd be satisfied.
C'mon, Apple doesn't test for this kind of stuff. They only test focus groups' drool output when exposed to shiny products fresh out of the box. They could care less what happens to it after it's been touched by human hands.
BTW, my iPhone just got three more scratches on it because my cat looked at it the wrong way. And my iPod is feeling attention-starved so it's scratching itself (it's so emo).
+1 lol
The new iPhone's oliophobic coating is awful. It wears out from what I've heard, and makes the screen scratchable (older models were nearly impossible to screw with). Still, I'd take that over a Motorola phone like mine any time- Day one- hell, minute one= Biggest. Scratch. Ever.
...and from a plastic bluetooth headset that came in the box, no less. Apple could be doing a lot worse imo.
VIDEO BROUGHT YOU BY: Nivea Enriched Skin, Crisco Pure Vegetable Oil, Nivea Creme, Afta After Shave Lotion, Johnson's & Johnson's Baby Oil, Coppertone Sun Block, Suave Hair Spray, Olay Female Deodorant with Vitamin E, OFF! Bug repellent...
I mean, is the guy living there?
Now I know why my Nokia phones have always felt so.... soft to the touch.
I love my G1, but no way it would have survived that screen-slider test...likely break within 5min...
Im not surprised at all, my older nokia (6300) was built like a tank. Ive dropped it so many times (and on concrete) lol but everytime i did i had confidence it would work perfectly. Whether you like Nokia phones or not, Nokia really is a great example of a company that makes solid hardware, and other companies should take notice.
I can only agree, i have a N86, and it has a glass front, and i've already dropped it on concrete, but it didnt break!!
now take an iphone and drop it on concrete, in 98% of the time the glass will crack
apple hardware stability = none
I agree with you Trey. This video has reaffirmed the view I hold of Nokia as an excellent hardware manufacturer. I still have one of those Nokia that had a Flashlight on top in perfect condition - sometimes I grab it to play Snake on it.
| .
|______|
Man, I am going to dream now with that horrible Dell Adamo Snake... it had a Chucky Effect on me.
here here
@ tikiteko
I like your ascii art! Here's a taco for your enjoyment [)
The 7110 (the one with the Matrix-style sliding mouthpiece) was a load of junk. Not sure if they bothered stress testing it but it had two serious design flaws:
1) The slider for the mouthpiece was rubbish. You'd get maybe a month or two out of it before it took to launching itself a long distance from you at the slightest touch of the release button. You had to then do it all by hand.
2) The battery was the back cover, with a crummy excuse for an over sensitive release button. I lost track of how many times it got powered off because the release button got accidentally knocked whilst it was in my pocket or bag.
Other than that it was a great phone.
can't say I thought much of the 5610 XpressMusic either for that matter. Feels plastic and cheap.
The same with my old N95, i dropped it about 5 times from 1 meter on to concrete in the 2 years i have used it, the corners have visible dents, but the phone still works perfectly
Turn the music down, i cant hear a word he's saying
This would have made a great Engadget Show min episode like the one about Times Square. Wasted opportunity to further develop your show.
Rest assured, we've got some great things lined up for the Show -- stay tuned.
@ Chris Ziegler
huh
Flashback time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPMtTHz-LQQ
Flashback time, indeed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIAYxWCXF8A
@bureX
Thanks for that - pretty cool video. I like how the musics actually relevant to the film - pretty good for its age
@incognito
Umm ok - why did you post that? Besides finding it amusing watch a Luigi lookalike bash a car into shape it had nothing to do with anything - other than being an old video i suppose. Muchos randomness!
AHHGGG, the music! It burns us... And I can't hear the guy =[
I have dropped my e71 bunch of times and it still works like a champ. Only thing is my display internally cracked but that was like drop number 40 or something. :P I even got it wet and it died then fixed itself. :)
I've had my E-71 one year. I work in construction, never use a case and it doesn't don't have a single scratch!
Pretty damn impressive you'll agree!
I know the damn thing is made out of Wolverine's bones or something! My display cracked internally not even externally! just a single vertical line. Doesn't have a single scratch outside.
dear jesus that music got annoying fast.
Can agree iv dropped my n97 to the point where the metal face around it has a dent yet the phone works fine, and my used to be n95 still in hand has been dropped more times than i can count and it still works fine to this day.
I want the vibration table!
I had a friend whose Nokia phone fell down from the 4th floor of a building and landed on concrete. The back cover came out and the battery was thrown out. But once everything is put back together, it was still working as if nothing had happened.
Just curiosity I guess but just how do you drop your phone from the 4th floor of a building?
Unless I guess he is on AT&T and had to lean out of the window to get reception?!?
Thats exactly how much time they spend making the firmware as well........ Its also how much time spent to create the OVI store
What I want to know is where you found the Mr Rodgers music at the end of the video.
felt like i was watching porn for electronics.
You Horny Person
What an awesome job to have.
I've had Nokia's for years, probably 4-5 different models, back to before the 8008 I think it was (the slider from the matrix). I've dropped the lot from a good metre or more onto hard surfaces like concrete and tarmac. Sure they all get scratched a bit, but never did ANY function of the any of them stop working. My wife still uses my old Nokia (the one that has buttons in a circle it looked like they tricked out for the latest Terminator movie), its great if you drop it, it just seperates into about 4 pieces that clip right back together (designed to come apart for battery replacement and new covers etc). Dropped that more times than I can remember, still fighting fit...
2 weeks after getting an iPhone, it dropped 30cm onto concrete. The screen didn't crack, but the touchscreen function broke on one side of the screen.
I am very sorry if this is not concerning a Nokia product but the blog I wanted seems to be closed for comments. It's just that this Guy is so arrogant and so out of touch with reality that I do want to answer his comments on the " sidespread market" of final cut.
First of all , I doubt he ( Guy is certainly a man. Women are never so juvenile) knows 50 professional producers, of which just 2 or 3 use Final Cut. Well, I see no point in mentioning names but if Guy goes to Final Cut page he can read film directors and editors praising Final Cut. Now, these film directors and editors are in an utmost top level of professionalism and success, thing that Guy and his video producers friends will never achieve and can only dream about. I am saying all this because I ended up in Engadget looking for information about the new, and excellent, JVC HM 700. I was looking for technical information and have no time to waste with teenagers such as mr. "guy" . There is this writer who once wrote something like " Teenager is not a time of life, it's a disease" . Again, I am sorry for "invading" this space but some things can not be ignored.
did anyone else notice UCSD letters. Is UC San Diego now into Salsa, and testing
Maybe they test for durability, but the fit and finish of their phones in my experience have been really bad. The keypad and the buttons on the supposedly high end phones like the N96 feel very flimsy. Ironically, one of the more solid Nokia phones I've felt is the low-end 6300.
i had a nokia with tmobile, best service ever, and i dropped the phone in chic noodle soup and from a 2 story deck and in a sauna for hours and the thing never blinked, those things are tough, too bad virgin doesnt take to nokia... i know... im proud to be a virgin though!
o, and the musick, thats just their new ringtone!
Very cool video, they could make a great ad just by filming the phone shaker in slow motion.
if they did any of these with the iphone, the screen would crack instantaneously =(
Wow that is actually pretty interesting, although mute was definitely necessary for the video. I'm curious though, is this a qualification level testing. And by that I mean is this how they qualify designs as ready prior to launch? If so I'd assume they do this on a certain size sample prior to launch or full production. Do they do any kind of testing, acceptance level, on every product that then rolls off the line? Obviously it would be to a much lower degree, or do they simply rely on Quality Assurance checks and buy-off of the units during production?
while im not a avid nokia enthusiast, theres something really nice about this video, i know all companies do it, but the music just gives it an upbeat feel
Love teh tunes. :D
Gotta love the dancing machine at 2:04 :-D
But they don't test their software, which is really evident.
Pfft - talk about a waste of money. My teenage daughter could stress test their phones for them - she can break pretty much anything in under 3 months....
They are quality devices usually. Shame they dont come with Android on them yet! The Symbian OS they use is outdated and the UI just isn't that great.
Maemo OS is Nokia's future not a limited platform like Android.
I agree with yomachaser.. Maemo is going to be the OS that will kill the iPhone. Debian based and open source, with a real web browser based on the mozilla engine.
Ive had many nokia phone, the last ones being 3210, 7650, n80, n95,n96 and n97(pre ordered n900). Symbian has become more and more the down side of those phones, Symbian was great on the 7650 and the n80, but starting with the n95 you could feel the constraint of the OS. Nokia phones have been technologically more advanced than pretty much any thing on the US market for years. This was mainly because the US has been very far behind the rest of the world when it comes to Mobile phones. Nokia being mainly focused on European and the Asian markets had no interest in selling their highclass phones to people who didnt have access to up-to-date cell and data networks which support these phones. One example is mobile tv, there is no support here and ive sadly never been able to use it.
But now that the 3G network has finally gotten to an acceptable quality and coverage, the release of the n900 cannot be better.
Maemo is everything that a phone/internet tablet should be. Its fast, responsive, lightweight, easy to upgrade and very powerful.
I believe now that T-mobile may be selling the n900 and another unconfirmed nokia smartphone, the tide has turned on nokia's fate in the US. iPhone be ware..
I bet that every woman that watched this video want to sit on that vibration table! Hell, I do! I'd have to lay on my weiner though...
video would have been interesting if you could hear them talking instead of some ridiculously annoying music.
So did a shot of the magnified ant eye make it into the video? I didn't see one...
This video is a good example of why there are so many mechanical engineers in the electronics industry ;)
but, will it blend?
thats the question.