Apple Event - 09 Sep at 10am PDT

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by holymadness

This is the most convincing bend test I've seen to date: http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/24/68...HM1RgQmUy_p9TC

The device clearly has a structural deficiency.

My mama always told me to never bend your dinner

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

My mama always told me to never bend your dinner

What if your mama was wrong

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Consumer Reports did some testing for themselves.

In that test the flex point is not at the buttons where the frame is weakest. The way it is set up the phone wouldn't bend where the frame is weakest.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

In that test the flex point is not at the buttons where the frame is weakest. The way it is set up the phone wouldn't bend where the frame is weakest.

Right, the bending seems to be towards the volume buttons region. It could be that the cut-out for the fruity logo is partially responsible for the structural weakness in the top third of the device.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by afv011

Right, the bending seems to be towards the volume buttons region. It could be that the cut-out for the fruity logo is partially responsible for the structural weakness in the top third of the device.

Take away metal and of course there will be a resulting weakness unless some kind of compensation is made.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by frahse

Take away metal and of course there will be a resulting weakness unless some kind of compensation is made.

So why does the plastic case of the Galaxy Note 3 not stay bent? I had a metal phone once and I never want another because of bending.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

So why does the plastic case of the Galaxy Note 3 not stay bent? I had a metal phone once and I never want another because of bending.

Somebody explained it earlier in the thread, it's the difference between plastic and elastic deformation - aluminium exhibits plastic deformation (does not recover the shape after the pressure is removed), whereas the material used in the Galaxy phone exhibits elastic deformation, i.e., recovers its original shape after the pressure is removed.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by afv011

Somebody explained it earlier in the thread, it's the difference between plastic and elastic deformation - aluminium exhibits plastic deformation (does not recover the shape after the pressure is removed), whereas the material used in the Galaxy phone exhibits elastic deformation, i.e., recovers its original shape after the pressure is removed.

I understand that, I was just replying to frahse's post that said if you remove the metal it would be weak. I much prefer plastic for phones because it's much stronger where it counts - it will bounce back from damage that metal can't bounce back from.

Originally Posted by frahse

Take away metal and of course there will be a resulting weakness unless some kind of compensation is made.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I understand that, I was just replying to frahse's post that said if you remove the metal it would be weak. I much prefer plastic for phones because it's much stronger where it counts - it will bounce back from damage that metal can't bounce back from.

My statement though true, doesn't mean that metal can't bend and then like a spring return back to its original position (or shape.) It means that metal is in a different category from rubber and some plastics. It doesn't have a lot of elasticity in general except for a few cases like spring steel, and in some cases very little. e.g. comparing rigid cast iron to wrought iron or steel.
Likewise all plastics aren't very elastic. i.e. phenolic

You can certainly have metal that bends like a steel spring, but that is not what Apple chose to use in the iPhone 6. Apple chose a light somewhat rigid aluminum that obviously isn't working out very well in the cases we have seen demonstrated particularly at the critical points where there is less metal. It could have made other choices such as using stronger strain hardened aluminum such as "half hard." (A helpful mechanical engineer introduced me to half hard aluminum when I was a young electrical engineer, to solve a design problem years ago.)

Or it could have used thicker aluminum.

Apple's main problem is one it introduced to the industry itself. That is the emphasis on making phones lighter and lighter, thinner and thinner. It has fallen on its own aluminum sword!

[frahse]

Personally as I have said and others as well, let us forgo a few millimeters in thickness and an ounce or so and have better battery life, and also "user replaceable batteries."

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by frahse

...Apple's main problem is one it introduced to the industry itself. That is the emphasis on making phones lighter and lighter, thinner and thinner. It has fallen on its own aluminum sword!

Time will tell if the aluminum sword will bend and not cause Apple lasting injury.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Time will tell if the aluminum sword will bend and not cause Apple lasting injury.

Apple is suffering from a common malaise that is everywhere.

For example, recently a Secret Service agent Carrie Johnson thought that the White House had been fired on with at least one Obama child present, but an "all clear" was called by a superior. She stood down. Then the next day during a meeting she felt she had to remain silent because the big wigs were rolling with the story that the gunfire was between two groups on the street.

Only when housekeeping discovered one of the bullets did the "authorities" start dealing with the truth.

White House Shooting

There was no Devil's advocate at the Apple design meetings, to say, "Hey wait a minute, how about?"

[Prestidigitweeze]

Where is the resiliently bendy metal and circuitry to complement the bendy screens that Samsung's been toying with producing? No use bending a device that breaks when you can create one that's made to mangle. It will be the functional smartphone version of Claes Oldenburg's deflated typewriter.