When Samsung finally ditched the plastic for the metal-and-glass unibody of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, we knew there was no turning back. The Korean smartphone maker would have to use the same premium look and feel akin to Apple's iPhones for its other flagship devices, as the market demand for expensive-looking smartphones has forced Samsung to do so.
Earlier this month, Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy Note 5 in all its aluminum and glass glory, making it the first device in Samsung's line of big-screen Note smartphones to finally do away with the cheap plastic build. Naturally, comparisons were made, with the nicer-looking Note 5 always coming out on top of its predecessors.
One guy, however, took his comparison to the next level with a series of drop tests to see just how the new phablet will fare when dropped compared to the Note 4, Note 3, Note 2 and Note 1 all wrapped in their plastic cases.
YouTube channel TechRax has posted a video demonstrating the drop tests and their results. There are 10 drop tests all in all, two for each of the five smartphones. These consist of a side drop test, during which the phone is dropped on its side, and the more fearsome front-facing drop test, where the phone is dropped on its Gorilla Glass-covered face on the floor. All tests are done from five feet off the ground, a height which TechRax believes is reasonable for drop tests.
The results are surprising. The Note 5, being the latest and supposedly most durable phone in the series, suffered just a couple of cracks on its screen. The back is another story, which isn't so surprising, since glass is a brittle material that breaks easily.
However, the phone did not do so well when dropped on its face. Although the screen shows the least number of cracks among all five smartphones, there appears a huge, white, triangle of space on the lower right of the display. And though the phone can still be powered on and off, the drop has rendered the Note 5 useless, as there is pretty much nothing that can be done with the damaged display.
The same holds true for the first and second-generation Notes, which both displayed color distortions on the side tests before going on to become useless after the front drop tests. The Note 1 and Note 2 also suffered more cracks than the Note 5.
What is unusual, though, and quite embarrassing for the Note 5, is that the Note 3 and the Note 4 remain wholly functional after both drop tests. Although both phones suffered more cracks on the screen than the Note 5, there are no color distortions on the display and they still work fine even after being dropped five feet off the ground.
Among all five smartphones, the Note 3, the middle child, actually bested out all the other handsets, having acquired the least number of cracks and remaining in perfect working order after the drop tests.
Check out the video below to see just how badly damaged the Note 5 was.
