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iPhone 12 drop test confirms the new screen helps durability, to an extent
An iPhone 12 drop test has revealed that the Ceramic Shield really does work, although you won't want to rely too heavily on it.
SpaceX shows off a highlight reel of Crew Dragon parachute tests
As SpaceX continues its progress toward a Demo-2 launch of its Crew Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronauts aboard the company put together this reel of parachute tests. According to the tag, "SpaceX is returning human spaceflight capabilities to the United States with one of the safest, most advanced systems ever built." I didn't spot a clip from the failed test in April, but that's part of the reason why SpaceX is doing repeated tests from various heights and setups like the one it failed where one of the parachutes was intentionally disabled. It's all to make sure that the system works when it's called upon to provide a safe ocean landing for actual people. Boeing already announced the competing Starliner project has completed a qualification test for its parachute system, although both programs have faced technical issues, like the explosive incident SpaceX recently traced to an oxidizer leak.
Virgin Orbit's first rocket drop test was a success
Virgin Orbit's first rocket drop test has gone off without a hitch. The company's Boeing 747 launch aircraft (Cosmic Girl) successfully dropped a dummy LauncherOne rocket from its wing above the Mojave Desert, bringing it one step closer to launching real payloads into space. The focus after this is on launching a real rocket, according to Virgin -- and it might come soon.
iPhone 5s and 5c sorta, kinda pass chest-level drop tests
Android Authority is in Hong Kong with both the iPhone 5s and 5c. Like it has done in the past, the blog put the two phones through their paces in a classic comparison drop test. Joshua Vergara dropped the phones from a chest-level height and sent them to the pavement in the front-first, back-first and side-first positions. In the end, the iPhone 5s fared well in the tests with only minimal scratches and dings. The iPhone 5c passed with flying colors until a front-first drop shattered the screen. Bummer. You can check out the torture test in the video below.
G-Form takes iPhone case drop testing to a new height: over 100,000 feet
In the past we've seen some videos from G-Form showing their iPhone and iPad cases taking some incredible falls and surviving, but nothing beats this test. The company took one of their new XTREME cases for iPhone ($39.99) that will be introduced at CES next week, popped an iPod touch (fifth generation) into it, and attached it to a weather balloon which also carried a GPS tracking device and a sports action camera. The iPod touch in the iPhone 5 case is dangling below a yellow G-Form case carrying the "instrument package" in the image above. When the G-Form XTREME case and iPod touch reached an altitude of above 100,000 feet, the electronics package was released. Two of the cameras used during the drop shut down due to extremely low temperatures, estimated at -60°F. The devices were picked up unharmed about 41 miles from their launch site, fittingly near Area 51 in the Nevada desert. The cool thing about the new case is that it's much thinner than many competing cases. Like previous G-Form XTREME cases, the new line uses the company's Reactive Protection Technology as an inner core, adds a polycarbonate external shell, and features a third layer of TPE to absorb shocks. The new case is available for order on the G-Form site at this time.
iPhone 5 outperforms Galaxy S III in damage tests
Despite reports about the iPhone 5's aluminum back being easily scratched, Byte is reporting that tests of the iPhone 5 show that it is much more durable than its biggest competitor -- Samsung's Galaxy S III. Byte cited torture tests from three different sources: PhoneDoctors, Android Authority and SquareTrade.com. These sites did everything from dropping the phones and having a toddler toss one onto concrete, to throwing them into swimming pools. For the most part the iPhone 5 survived everything that it was subjected to. The Samsung smartphone? It wasn't so lucky. The three videos are included below for your viewing pleasure. iPhone fans will wince when the iPhone 5 takes a hit, but should smile when the Galaxy S III goes down for the count.
iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3 drop test
Android Authority bought an iPhone 5 and compared the Apple smartphone to the Samsung Galaxy S III in a durability drop test. The blog dropped both devices from three different heights in a way that simulates a fall under normal usage. They first dropped the devices from pocket level, then from about four feet (mid-chest level) and finally from about five and a half feet (head level). Not surprisingly, the plastic casing of the Samsung Galaxy S III didn't fare so well, with both the screen and the outer case cracking from a mere four-foot drop. In the five-foot drop, the S III's battery cover went flying and the damage to the screen was made even worse. The iPhone 5, however, survived all three drops (and even a higher, almost six-foot drop) with only minimal damage to the back and sides. You can watch the fine performance of the iPhone 5 in the YouTube video below.
NASA completes successful parachute drop simulation for Orion spacecraft
NASA has always used the desert as its own personal playground, and we'd imagine that its team had a blast in Arizona yesterday, as a mock parachute compartment of the Orion spacecraft was dropped from 25,000 feet above Earth. The dart-shaped object experienced free fall for 5,000 feet, at which point, drogue chutes were deployed at 20,000 feet. This was then followed by pilot chutes, which then activated the main chutes. As you'd imagine, these things are monsters: the main parachutes -- three in all -- each measure 116 feet wide and weigh more than 300 pounds. Better yet, the mission was successful. Naturally, all of this is in preparation for Orion's first test flight -- currently scheduled for 2014 -- where the unmanned craft will travel 15 times further than the ISS and jam through space at 20,000 mph before returning to Earth. Yesterday's outing is merely one in a series of drop tests, and yes, it's important to remove any unknowns from the situation: eventually, humans will be along for the ride.
LG unveils flexible plastic e-paper display, aims for European launch next month
LG has made no secret of its fondness for flexible e-paper, but those dreams became a reality today, with the announcement of a six-inch display that promises to "revolutionize the e-book market." The malleable plastic display sports a resolution of 1024 x 768 and can bend at an angle of up to 40 degrees. At just 0.7 millimeters thick, it's about one-third thinner than similarly-specced glass displays, and weighs in at 14 grams -- about half the weight of its glassy competition. LG also claims that the display is super durable, as evidenced by a series of successful drop tests from a height of 1.5 meters. The plan going forward is to supply the display to ODMs in China, in the hopes of bringing final products to Europe by "the beginning of next month." For more details, check out the full press release after the break.
Vita drop test goes surprisingly well if you're not taller than 4 feet
We've dissected the Vita from almost every angle imaginable, reviewing its hardware, software, design, mechanics and games, but there's one thing that we forgot to test out -- how well it will hold up during an earthquake. Or tsunami. Or anything that makes the ground unstable and people/tables prone to dropping things. Thankfully, these fellas above have that covered, conducting a thorough drop test on the Vita, which it somewhat surprisingly passes with flying colors. Er, flying Vitas.
Polymer Vision drops the ball on its flexible display, literally
Flexible displays may well be the future, but it's not hard to see that they won't truly be practical unless they're also as durable as they are flexible. Polymer Vision is well aware of that fact, of course, and it's now gone to some "extreme" lengths to demonstrate the progress it's made on that front. See the results for yourself in the video above.
iPhone 4 drop test yields results (video)
There's been a lot of fuss about the iPhone 4's Gorilla Glass "custom glass" comparable in strength to sapphire crystal but 30 times harder than plastic. Sounds incredible, right? But make no mistake, that front glass panel will still break if dropped. Ok, it took four deliberate attempts to accomplish what you see above but it still happened. Bottom line: like any cellphone, you'll have to worry about more than just scratches. See the destruction after the break.
