Smartphone Durability Awards

Smartphone Durability Awards 2018!

Alright!

Today it’s time for the 2018 smartphone durability awards. I’ve tested quite a few phones this year, and most phones survived my durability test. There were a few that didn’t, like this iPad Pro didn’t quite make it. Now you might correlate Jerry Rig everything with cellphone destruction, probably because of the sound of my razor blade that is etched in your brain. But actually, just about every single one among these smartphones survived my durability test. Most of these phones are alive even after the durability test and the teardown.

In fact, about 40,000,000 people watch my teardown videos, the repair videos, to learn So smartphone build quality is improving, and that I hope my videos have a touch something possible, because that’s the goal. This year we only had one phone fail completely, and one tablet, but were just talking about phones this time around. Last year we had 2 phones fail. And the year before we had 3.

So smartphone build quality is improving, and I hope my videos have a little something to do with that. Manufacturers are paying attention, constructing their phones better, and it’s a win-win for everyone. People ask what phone is my daily driver, or what phone I use the most often. And currently I’m using the Galaxy S8 Plus – a phone that’s about 2 years old – as the phone that I carry around every day. I legitimately think that smartphones have been so good for so long that its 100% not necessary to upgrade every year every time something new and shiny comes out. 

Because each new upgrade is simply marginal over the previous one. But when it is time to upgrade, it’s good to choose a phone that can stand the test of time and survive as long as you need it to. Which brings us to this year’s durability awards. Let’s start with the most repairable phone of 2018. To be totally honest with you, 2018 was a terrible year for smartphone reparability.

Pretty much every single one of the smartphones on this table is glued shut, which is a win and a loss. Glued shut usually means that there’s water resistance which helps the phone last longer, which is our goal, but it also means it’s harder to repair when that time comes because screens do crack, glass backs do crack, phones get damaged, or batteries wear out and wish to be replaced. If I had to pick the easiest screen replacements of 2018, it would have to go to the Nokia.

Phones. The Nokia 7 Plus and the Nokia 6.1 are constructed in basically the same way. I ran out of time to make the full teardown of these phones, but basically the screen lifts off first, and there are just 2 screws and it’s done, the screen replacement is finished. There’s a metal plate under the screen that stops damage from happening to the internal components or puncturing batteries, and a screen replacement are often wiped out 10, quarter-hour. It’s pretty simple.

Generally speaking, with most glass backed sandwich phones, just like the majority we see here on the table, the screen comes off last, which makes it a little bit harder.

But Nokia has a very good design, and kept reparability in mind. So the Most Repairable Smartphones of 2018 go to Nokia. No manufacturer wants their consumers to get in and repair their smartphones. The longer a customer keeps their phone means the longer the manufacturer has to wait before they come back and buy another one. 

But there’s only one company that goes above and beyond to keep the consumer out of their device, and that’s Apple. Which brings us to the smallest amount Repairable Smartphone of 2018, the iPhone Xs Max. Yeah, the screen are often replaced which is good, but there are 4 different sorts of specialized screws. You need a special toolkit in order to repair the screen on the Xs Max. That’s fine. Definitely not ideal, but survivable. The problem with the Xs Max and all of the recent iPhones from this year and last year is the glass back is impossible to replace. 

Apple themselves can’t even do it. They replace the entire housing of the phone and charge people that are out of warranty $599 to replace the back glass panel if its cracked. That’s ridiculous. With the iPhone XR, its $399 to replace the back panel. But still, you'll almost buy a replacement phone for that This is an intentional decision on Apples part, just to get consumers to buy a new phone instead of repairing the old one.

And because of that decision, it effectively earns them the Least Repairable Smartphone of 2018. Congratulations. For example, just to prove my point, you'll replace the rear glass panel on the Galaxy S9 for about $17 on Amazon. Pretty simple. 

With the LG G7, it’s a little bit more expensive. You’re looking about $25 or $30. And with the Pixel 3, you’re looking at right around $100 to replace the back glass panel. All of these are normal, doable, sustainable repair prices for this back glass panel on all these phones. Apples price of almost $600 is downright outrageous. But you don’t get to be one of the richest companies in the world by being nice to the consumers.

Personally, I think the die-hard Apple fans are going to continue using the iPhones until they get burned a couple times, and then hopefully Apple, you know, changes the way they construct their phones. Because glass is glass, and it'll break eventually. Which brings us to the foremost Musical Phone of 2018: the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. That’s not a real award, I just wanted to do that again. For the Most Innovative Phone of 2018, it was a pretty tight race. 

We had a lot of unique phones coming out this year like the gaming phones from the Razer Phone 2, to the ROG Phone. And weird, quirky phones just like the red Hydrogen One with its holographic display. We even had some dual screened phones. One that folds in half: the Axon M, and one with the built-in screen on the back: the Nubia X. But my favorite phones this year are the motorized camera phones, like the Find X with its motorized camera that pops up out of the back.

And my favorite, the Vivo NEX S. Its motorized camera system is one of the most innovative things I’ve seen in 2018. I don’t think motorized camera phones are the way of the future. I think other solutions like under display cameras, or screens on the front and the back are going to take over. But I’m going to enjoy the motorized components while they’re here. And the Vivo NEX S wins the foremost Innovative Smartphone of 2018. 

So on my channel we have a few different things we do throughout these videos, one of which is Art Class with Jerry, and another one is we make smartphones transparent. So the Best Looking Phone From The Inside this year has got to go with the Pixel 3. With literally no modifications done to the internals of the phone, just removing the color on the outside of the glass, this is quite possibly one of the best looking transparent phones of all time, and that’s without Google even trying to make a clear phone.

Yeah, the Vivo NEX S with its motorized camera looked cool, but that one required a bit more modification than the Pixel 3. Runners up for the foremost Beautiful Phone on the within probably goes to the Razer Phone 2 with its massive water bed-like vapor chamber inside of the phone. Obviously the phone still works without the vapor chamber inside, it’s just less efficient. The copper and the liquid help keep things cool for the long term, and while it’s under heavy load from gaming. Another runner up for the foremost Beautiful Phone from the within would be the LG G7. 

This awesome color you see round the outside and therefore the frame continues everywhere the within of the device. The teardown of this phone was pretty beautiful. Now let’s get to The Most and Least Durable Phones of 2018. Starting with some of the budget phones. The Most Durable Budget Phone of 2018 was a tough choice because most smartphones are good lately, and even budget phones are behaving like flagships when it involves durability.

Personally, I desire a phone with glass on each side eliminates itself from the foremost Durable Smartphone because there are more things which will break. So even though the One Plus 6T is an absolute fantastic phone, but because it has glass on both sides, it’s not the most durable phone. We have phones like the Pocophone – super cheap, super powerful. But for The Most Durable Budget Phone of 2018, I’m going back to the Nokia lineup: the Nokia 7 Plus. 

It’s a pretty big phone. Not only is it one among the foremost repairable phones of 2018, but it’s also one among the foremost durable with metal on the rear, glass on the front, but a reasonably much unflexing rigid design. Nokia has yet to build a weak smartphone. Remember that with budget phones, any smartphone is budget if you just wait long enough. With smartphones as good as they are, even last year’s phones can’t compete with this year’s current lineup. If you’re tight on cash, buying a brand new 2018 flagship is not a very smart decision.

It depreciates very quickly, and a phone from last year, or the year before, can accomplish the same thing. So don’t feel like you have to buy the latest and greatest. One thing you don’t want to buy though is a weak smartphone. And that brings us to the Least Durable Phones of 2018. Strangely enough, Huawei had 2 phones that cracked during my durability test. 

They kept functioning, so technically they didn’t fail or end up on my Shelf of Shame. But it’s interesting that the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and the Huawei P20 Pro were both phones that cracked during my durability test. No other phones snapped during the bend test except for these two. The only phone that absolutely failed though, was the Oppo Find X. This little guy is the motorized smartphone with the camera, you know, that pops up out of the top, but couldn't hold its own during the bend test.

Yeah, the Oppo Find X was one of the most innovative smartphones of this year, but with how abused smartphones are, innovation doesn’t count for a whole lot if it can’t survive the test of time. One phone which will survive the test of your time though, may be a newcomer, one that i used to be not expecting. The Kyocera Dura Force Pro 2 is that the Most Durable Smartphone of 2018 and let me tell you why. Not only is the thing feature rich - watertight housing, wireless charging, headphone jack but it also has an almost scratch proof screen. 

You know how most of these smartphones, basically all of them, scratch at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7, the Kyocera has a sapphire display. Meaning that it won’t scratch until a level 8, both on the screen and the rear camera lens. The Kyocera Dura Force Pro is seriously one of the most premiumly built rugged phones I’ve ever seen, and wins The Most Durable Phone of 2018. Kyocera hasn’t been a mainstream name up until now, but I’m excited to see what they have in store for 2019.

Hopefully this wasn’t just a one hit wonder. 2018 was an awesome year for smartphones. A lot of those designs and features nobody saw coming. There were a lot of surprises. And 2019 is gearing up to be the exact same way. We don’t know what’s in store. And give me a thumbs up if you’re glad that my phones are the ones being tested and torn down so your phone can be protected.

Thanks a ton for watching, and I’ll see you around.

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