The HTC One should be your smartphone of choice if you’re a butter fingers and tossing up between that and the Apple iPhone 5, or so the latest drop test to hit the net would suggest. General resilience is an increasingly hot topic amongst smartphone owners precious about their prized tech, but rarely are we given the opportunity to test out how hardy these devices really are in everyday situations before laying down our own cash. Step in Android Authority who were up to the task of subjecting both Apple’s and HTC’s respective flagships to three combative rounds of falling onto concrete and stone.
HTC One vs iPhone 5 Drop test: Round one
Starting with the iPhone 5, both handsets were subject to three sets of drops, with a bonus drop of the HTC One once the competition was over. Round 1 saw the pocket drop scenario. With the act of pulling your smartphone from your pocket there’s every chance that it could take a tumble if a corner snags on clothing or trapped headphone leads yank it from your grasp. So how did each handset fare in the first 2.5-foot drop test?
As you just saw, the iPhone 5, like so many iPhones before it said “Sayonara” to its strengthened glass covering the 4-inch Retina display. As has been demonstrated by many an unfortunate owner of these handsets and its predecessor, it’s always impressive to see that even when the glass is severely damaged, the touch capabilities endure.
Comparatively, the all-metal body of the HTC One served it well with the loss of lower speaker cover and some cosmetic scuffs but not much else.
HTC One vs iPhone 5 Drop test: Round two
Round 2, an in hold drop saw the iPhone suffer minor cosmetic damage from a corner impact but the phone remained wholly intact. Sans speaker cover, the HTC One took yet another corner impact on the same point and with the additional height of the chest drop, this resulted in a minor compacting of the phone’s metal back, but an altogether in-tact handset.
HTC One vs iPhone 5 Drop test: Round three
The final round truly shattered the glass on the iPhone’s frontage; the head height drop resulting in a functioning, albeit fractured Apple flagship. Throughout the previous two rounds, despite getting battered and bruised the HTC One’s 4.7-inch HD display had maintained its integrity and the final drop didn’t change that fact. Perhaps the weighting of the phone helped keep its screen perpendicular to the ground, but the denting in the bodywork, although exacerbated, still didn’t remove any functionality from the Android powerhouse.
Just for good measure, despite its overall victory, the scarred HTC then had to face one final trial: an intentional face down drop onto concrete to shatter the glass once and for all. Unsurprisingly, that’s exactly what happened, nonetheless, the display continued to work and the phone came out the other end fully functional.
Impressed? We certainly are. Despite the iPhone 5’s bad luck landing, the HTC One has pretty clearly proven itself as one of the hardier handsets out there. What do you think? All a fix? Incredible drop test? Give credit where it’s due if you liked it, check out Android Authority’s video and click like.
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