iPhone 4 is the most reliable yet breakable smartphone out there

10 November, 2010
SquareTrade, the largest independent warranty provider, rated some of the most popular smartphones out there by their reliability and as it turns out, Apple's iPhone 4 suffers from the least non-accident malfunctions...

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • wfx
  • 10 Nov 2010

Anonymous, 10 Nov 2010For every 25 iphones sold, one unlucky loser is gonna have ... moreThen again some bugs in UI are impossible to fix I guess huh

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • IaH
    • 10 Nov 2010

    The iphonefever is proved wrong again!! Utterly utterly Amateur, even for a Apple hating BLOG.

    I know who the knowledgable public will agree with more.

    As for "ultra Durable glass" The clue is in the glass part of the description. DUH. If it had been plastic, then dropping it on concrete would have been a more appropriate test.

    Some absolute numptys go and "test" the phone this way and then say Apple lied? Only to fit their narrow minded agenda!!

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • sxw
      • 10 Nov 2010

      For every 25 iphones sold, one unlucky loser is gonna have his glass phone shattered to pieces. There goes your money. Luckily for android users, software problems are cheaper to fix.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • Kg%
        • 10 Nov 2010

        iphone user, 10 Nov 2010Sorry to be a real pain in the butt but I don’t drop calls.... moredid you buy your phone to play games? lame...

          • i
          • iphone user
          • i5B
          • 10 Nov 2010

          Sorry to be a real pain in the butt but I don’t drop calls. Yes I would agree about the wisdom in making a phone that is made mostly out of glass but it does feel good in the hand. I do have case but I didn’t get one because I was dropping calls I got one because I like to keep my phones in top condition. I had the Htc desire before and I decided to move to the iphone as the Htc desire was simply unreliable and very laggy and had too many bugs to mention here. Simply put the iphone works and some of the apps and especially games wipe the floor with Android. I would challenge someone to even come close to Epic Citadel when it becomes a full game. Android has nothing even close yet.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • wfx
            • 10 Nov 2010

            of course its more breakable, its made from glasss!!!! wow... headlines... glass is more breakable than plastic or aluminium!!..omg
            who would thought!!! what a joke

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • wfx
              • 10 Nov 2010

              Post 'antenna-gate', Apple-haters have a new myth. This morning's anti-iPhone info-blip sees claims that the "iPhone 4 breaks 82 percent more than iPhone 3Gs". Which sounds like quite a headline -- particularly given the mind-share wars between Apple and Android -- except it isn't strictly true. These claims are based on data from a firm called SquareTrade and is based on claimed analysis of 20,000 iPhone warranty customers. But this is a storm in a teacup -- though likely to attract the usual critics.


              [This story is from Computerworld's Apple Holic blog. Follow on Twitter or subscribe via RSS to make sure you don't miss a beat.]

              SquareTrade analyzed iPhone accidents for more than 20,000 iPhone 4s covered by one of its plans and found an 82 percent jump in reports of broken screens in the device’s first four months, compared to the first four months after the iPhone 3Gs release.

              Described as '82 percent' of course this sounds like a big deal, but in reality it means 3.9 percent of 20,000 iPhone 4 owners reported a cracked screen rather than 2.1 percent of 20,000 iPhone 3GS owners.

              Before rolling with these figures, do consider the fact that the iPhone 4 has glass on the back as well as the front of the product, while the iPhone 3GS carried it only on the front of the device.

              It would be easy to conjecture that Apple should be seeing cracked screens twice as often with the iPhone 4 than with the iPhone 3GS. /it isn't. This makes for a small testament to the strength of the aluminosilicate Gorilla glass used in the new iPhone.

              As for the extent of the problem, we're looking at just 427 iPhone 3GS broken-screen claims and 771 iPhone 4s.

              Squaretrade's figures show "at least a quarter of the broken glass claims involved the back screen". This makes for 193 incidents out of 771 broken-glass iPhone 4s, leaving the front screen to blame for most cracks.

              Face(time) this -- the front screen is the place where all the action happens, the most touched part of the device and the most likely point of failure in any touchscreen smartphone.

              Despite these screen problem claims, SquareTrade also notes, "It's important to take the accident rate into perspective. Overall, the iPhone is still a very well constructed device, with a non-accident malfunction rate much lower than most other consumer electronics."

              Indeed, a previous (November 2008) study by the company declared the iPhone to be more reliable than BlackBerry and Palm Treo devices.

              "We will be updating this report soon, and we'll have data on the latest Android phone models. It may yet be seen that even with the double glass, the iPhone has an overall failure rate that is still better than the competition," the company promised.

              In any case, if you know your iPhone's made of glass doesn't it make sense to be a little more careful with the device?

                • C
                • Chococo
                • vj1
                • 10 Nov 2010

                How bout the Nokia 5110? Its the most reliable phone ever. The signal's excellent. The hardware's superb. You can do everything in a phone's essential.

                Come on, we all know that the iPhone has its flaws but with this kind of news? I no agree with this. I'm no basher or something but this news is cr*p. In the smartphone niche, I can't believe iPhone won this.

                  • j
                  • jjsoviet
                  • j{e
                  • 10 Nov 2010

                  Glad I jumped ship to Android.

                    • j
                    • john
                    • Sgv
                    • 10 Nov 2010

                    @bless, you are being very polite calling it dumbfone,i would have called it something that would get me banned.

                      • b
                      • bless
                      • mXS
                      • 10 Nov 2010

                      You have to protect fruitfone from bad hardware,protect it by not tapping or bashing it and protyect it from thieves..How can you enjoy a dumbfone when you spend all your time protecting dumbfone.

                        • b
                        • bless
                        • mXS
                        • 10 Nov 2010

                        Anonymous, 10 Nov 2010This is such bull lol, I work in a phone shop, have done fo... moreThe iphone was fixed by giving away a free bumper,haha its 2010 and apple has to give you another piece of hardware to cover up BAD HARDWARE.Stupid iphone sick of hearing about it,its on this programme its in this mag its in whsmiths its everywhere,why so much promotion cause its crap and for simpletons.Its not a smartfone its a dumbfone.

                        Friutfone=dumfone

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • Y}x
                          • 10 Nov 2010

                          such a crappy report,based for first 12 months lol.iphone4 had been launched in june/july.lmao.

                            • b
                            • bnxnd
                            • ttw
                            • 10 Nov 2010

                            what about nokia
                            its the most reliable. u can throw it from roof and some times it still works. ..& cant be done with any other

                              • E
                              • Eh
                              • MT2
                              • 10 Nov 2010

                              Am I right in thinking this is an invalid test? Comparing say a group of phones htc make etc against a single phone (ip4) is not valid.

                              OR is it the average of phones in each group?

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • M8T
                                • 10 Nov 2010

                                Anonymous, 10 Nov 2010This is such bull lol, I work in a phone shop, have done fo... morePlease run that bullc*ap story somewhere else. If you worked in a phonestore or had even half a nugget of technical common sense you would know that iPhone 4 still has signal problems because it is hardware issue. The antenna in solded into the metal strip which does not do so well when directly in contact with the human body electricity leading the signal away.. You can not patch or update hardware issues with a software update. Less people are reporting the problem cause 90% of them have a "rubber" case that protects electricity travelling between your fingers and phones messing up the reception.

                                Go drink o coke and stop being a poser..

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • t7X
                                  • 10 Nov 2010

                                  Phone seller, 10 Nov 2010Hahaha so true, nothing is more reliable than old school no... morei remembered the time I dropped my 3200. The cover and battery disengaged from the unit. I just put it back together, in front of other people.

                                    • T
                                    • TC
                                    • 0Tq
                                    • 10 Nov 2010

                                    I hope IPhone5 is released soon, because 4 is really ugly with the plastic "cover" that is used to "fix" the issue with dropped calls. The edges of the glass should have been protected behind the metal frame the glass is strong but its edges ae always week and should be protected.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • M8T
                                      • 10 Nov 2010

                                      How many people reported in a total failure in dropping calls and loosing signal on the iPhone 4? Business Week reported earlier that 47% of the new owners returned their iPhone within 1-2 weeks and exchanged it for a another phone, and these were loyal Apple customers.

                                      Garbage prediction..

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • M3s
                                        • 10 Nov 2010

                                        Anonymous, 10 Nov 2010I work in the industry and the most complained about phone ... moreThis is such bull lol, I work in a phone shop, have done for years. I used to like blackberry's before I started working in the phone shop and had millions of people complain about problems with the software, I dont know anyone who has claimed on an iphone 4 for anything except accidental damage. I also know that the iphone 4 is hated by people who have never used it or dont have one lol What ever I dont really care anymore on other peoples thoughts on it because I have my iphone 4 since release and I never had a problem, the signal thing was fixed with a patch not a case lol