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Video screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET
Torture-testing smartphones and tablets has become a joyous rite of passage with each new generation of flagship phones. Now that the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8 are roaming the wild, the folks at gadget warranty outlet SquareTrade dropped and dunked both, as well as the iPhone 5S and the Nexus 5 to test the relative toughness of these top flight contenders.
While the tests are far from scientific or comprehensive, the Galaxy S5 seems to survive this brief field test the best. However, SquareTrade also does a more thorough review “of key elements including front and back panel design, edge construction and materials, size, weight, friction quotient, water resistance and grip-ability” to come up with a breakability score for devices.
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As it turns out, the iPhone 5S has a slightly lower chance of being broken in everyday use situations by this measure than the Galaxy S5, which is second hardest to break, followed by the HTC One M8 and the Nexus 5, which is the most breakable of the four by SquareTrade’s scale.
This might not be all that surprising, given that the Nexus 5 is also the cheapest of the four, but I would have expected the HTC One M8 and its metal chassis to fare a little better.
Check out the drop-and-dunk test below and let us know in the comments how you’ve tortured these phones in real life and how they fared.
