Acts Of Technology Destruction
Technology is designed to be our friend, whether it’s making a quick phone call to a friend or browsing the web. But we don’t always treat our devices with equal levels of respect or love, especially when we move on after an upgrade or new purchase.
So, much like in the latest Terminator flick, we end up giving our tech some atypically bad treatment, in what can only be seen as vandalism. But what are the worst bouts of technology destruction we’ve witnessed so far?
Smartphone drop tests
Normally the last thing we’d want to happen to our latest smartphone, dropping our large screened, fragile devices on the cold concrete tends to spell a death wish for our iOS and Android devices. In fact, it’s now a common sight to behold, with cracked smartphone screens easy to spot on your average daily travels.
However, drop tests put brand new smartphones through these rigours, all for our entertainment, with YouTube channels garnering millions of views. Of course, for us sane human beings this proves quite a hard video to watch, but one that’s equally interesting.
It seems that no phone is safe from this practice either, with videos varying from that of the latest iPhone, down to the notably hardy Nokia 3210. It does have a valid reason behind it, allowing you to protect your phone from such an event, but it seems odd when things are taken out of hand with ‘impossible to survive’ drops.
Water tests
It’s one thing to test a smartphone on the effects of gravity, but to test a phone against an effect as damaging as water is another matter altogether.
Whilst most phones should be able to bear the brunt of the odd pocket drop, few claim to be capable of taking a dip in the sink without adverse effects taking hold. However, for some reason, we still feel the need to splash them around until they find their way to smartphone heaven.
This isn’t the case for all phones, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z3+ are both holders of IP68 certifications. This means that both can last underwater for around 30 minutes without issue, of course when up against some more fragile phones, these tests prove very little.
Will it blend?
If gravity and water don’t quite meet the necessary levels of destruction, you can always tune into the much-loved Blendtec YouTube channel, which has built a reputation for blending technology. Of course, our typical smartphones aren’t designed to go through such a brutal task, and until now not one has survived such a challenge…
12 Apple products have taken on the blender so far, with no survivors… This doesn’t seem to stop us hoping for an eventual survivor story, but it does prove a great advertisement for the blender involved – which looks especially mean.
It’s not only smartphones which have undergone these kind of tests either, with wearables and tablets also viable test subjects, with none of these surviving either.
Unlike the other tests shown above, it seems that none of our devices will come out on the other side of this test in good shape, making it especially cruel.
Death by cooking
Blending is more based with food preparation, so if you fancy taking a step up from mixing your technology to a pulp why not go all out and cook it?
The most popular options showcased online tend to be using the microwave or the oven, both of which do a pretty impressive job of vandalising smartphones well past their limits. Typically, your average phone will survive up to a temperature of around 40 degrees Celsius, but if you surpass this then you’re likely to cause some serious damage.
Of course, microwaving your smartphone was a hoax craze which tricked plenty of people into thinking that it recharged their battery. However, as you’d expect it did the exact opposite, completely destroying people’s devices and even risking damage to the microwave itself.
Getting even more creative…
Let’s face it, we’re always going to find more creative ways to destroy things. Whether it’s shooting our smartphones or taking our trusty nine iron to them, destroying technology tends to have some underlying sense of fun to it.
Smash the Past
OnePlus let potential buyers smash their phones and pay just $1 for their new handset, with some imaginative ideas coming out…
In fact, fledgling smartphone manufacturer OnePlus jumped on this with its ‘Smash the Past’ scheme which accompanied the launch of its first handset. It asked potential buyers to smash their phones in some imaginative ways to get themselves a copy of the OnePlus handset for just $1.
As always, the general public came up with plenty of creativity, resulting in iPhones getting sawed in half, Nokias being driven over and one Samsung handset seeing the business end of a RPG-styled potato gun. It’s safe to say than none of these handsets came out of their tests unscathed…
So, despite not being a threat to us, it seems that our technology gets a bit of a bad rap from us. Of course, if you fancy avoiding this tactic you could always sell your old phone instead, then everyone’s a winner.
Grab yourself a nice shiny new smartphone from Mobiles.co.uk, and try to avoid the urge to get smashy.