You knew it was going to happen. With all of the legal drama between Apple and Samsung (and the top slot that Samsung has taken in the Android market), people are pitting the Galaxy S3 and IPhone 5 against each other in every imaginable field. And with these two handsets dominating the competition, its no surprise why buyers want credible evidence towards which device they should purchase.
Consumers, more so than developers, want hands on practical tests done for these devices, to help them decide which handset may be better for their lifestyle. And to be honest, with each of these phones boasting similar internal stats, no one is really concerned with how each phone “performs” against the other. Instead, people want to see “real world” results, through things like drop tests.
And thanks to the folks over at Android Authority, we now know how the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Apple iPhone 5 stack up against one another in a “realistic” drop test. The representative from Android Authority claims that their drop test is much more realistic than others, since the company focuses on dropping each device from what they consider to be realistic heights. Both devices in the video were tested at “pocket level,” “chest height,” and “ear height.”
The video really needs to be “seen” to be truly understood, but the results seem to be the most surprising part. The iPhone 5, held up to a lot more abuse than I initially assumed it would. After being dropped four times total (once from about 6 feet up), the screen remained completely intact. There was minimal scratching and not a crack, or broken blemish in sight when it came to the retina display. The casing took a slight beating though, which was to be expected. Little dents and chipped pieces of plastic were about it though, and even after all of the abuse it appeared that the iPhone 5 held up exceptionally well to the testing.
The same thing could not be said for the Samsung Galaxy 3S though. By the end of the testing, the larger, slimmer phone had taken substantial damage. The screen had been seriously cracked, and although the touch-screen still worked, the display had a rather annoying set of cracks running from the top to the center of the device. It seemed that the Galaxy S3’s casing held up a little better than that iPhone 5’s, and there weren’t as many deep blemishes. Although, when the S3 was dropped from “ear height” the back plate did come springing off (it was not clear if it broke off or just fell off) It was also odd that the tester did not drop the Galaxy S3 from the same 6-foot drop that the iPhone 5 had been. There was no explanation why the Galaxy S3 was not submitted to this particular aspect of the test.
This is very interesting news to consider when purchasing your new handset this year. It wasn’t just the AA video that favored the iPhone 5 either. All of the “drop test” videos I reviewed on Youtube favored the iPhone 5 when dropped versus the Samsung Galaxy S3. It will be interesting to see if Samsung addresses this issue in the future or if they don’t see the videos as a “big deal.”
Photo Credit: Android Authority
