The Essential PH-1 may have gotten off to a rocky start, including a delay, but with that in the past, what customers want to know is how long their phones will last.
At that, Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything has put his Essential Phone to the test — a drop test, to be exact.
Now it's worth mentioning that he doesn't do this kind of test often since it's too random and too expensive to get accurate results. Usually, what he does are torture tests that involve scratching, bending, and burning the latest smartphones in the market.
From the look of things, though, he made an exception for the Essential PH-1, just like for the Xiaomi Mi Mix before.
Essential PH-1 Drop Test
For a little background, the Essential PH-1 is built with a ceramic back, titanium sides, and a Gorilla Glass 5 on the front.
To record the drop test, Nelson used a Galaxy S8 and a Galaxy Note 8 to capture the experiment in slo-mo, and to get a good look at the Essential Phone's durability, he placed it in normal, everyday situations.
Starting things off, he let the phone slide off naturally from his lap, allowing it to land face first. Take note it's a Gorilla Glass 5, and yet it got noticeable cracks from the first drop. In the device's defense, it already went through Nelson's torture test, so it may have been compromised even before the drop test. Meanwhile, the back is unscathed.
Next up, he let it slide off from his lap again, but this time, it landed on its back. Still, no damage.
After that, he dropped it from a pocket height, and again, the ceramic back managed to stay intact. On the front, nothing much changed since the first drop.
Here's when things get exciting: He dropped the Essential PH-1 from a waist height with the back facing down, and both the back and front are doing okay. However, after a second drop in the same situation, the screen finally gave out, sending a chunk of glass flying.
Now that the front display is out of the game, the only contender left is the back panel. To really see how sturdy it is, he dropped it two times from head height, and yet it's still in A-OK condition.
The Takeaway
According to Nelson, he was expecting the ceramic to be the first to break since it has a higher rating in the Mohs hardness scale and, therefore, more brittle. On the other hand, the Gorilla Glass 5 should have lasted longer and not break on the first drop, but Jerry does say that drops are "so hard to predict," so it may have just been unlucky.
Now what the Essential PH-1 drop test tells us is that while it has an impressive durable ceramic back and a sturdy titanium frame, the front glass panel is pretty fragile. In other words, a screen protector and a case will go a long way with the handset — as is the circumstance for all smartphones.
Hit up JerryRigEverything's video below to see the test in action:
