Study Measures How Well Smartphones Handle Real-World Problems
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- How does your smartphone measure up to the competition?
A new study focuses on real-world problems like dropping and dunking devices to see how durable they are.
The Breakability Score from SquareTrade puts to the test the top models including, "the Samsung Galaxy S5, the HTC One M8, the iPhone 5S, and the Nexus 5."
Jessica Hoffman with the extended warranty provider says they consider the materials that make up the device.
"As well as the size of it, the weight of the phone, and what we call the 'gripability' of the phone."
Along with water resistance, how easily it slides across a surface and how it fares when it's dropped.
"That's the biggest number of claims that come in."
The most durable? The iPhone 5S, which scored well after plummeting to pavement or taking a quick bath; it's also is easy to grip. Just behind Apple's flagship is the Galaxy S5.
"Samsung has notoriously done very poorly in our drop tests. I'm not sure if that's because the screen has always been so large or the way the screen was inset into the phone, but we see with this Samsung S5 design a real leap forward with regard to durability as opposed to previous models.
The Nexus 5 failed SquareTrade's drop and dunk tests, and HTC's newest model didn't do as well as its predecessor.