BBC Reporter Smashes 'Unbreakable' Cell Phone During CES 2010

by Caleb Johnson on January 11, 2010 at 01:30 PM

If you're going to market a cell phone as "unbreakable," you better make darn sure that it is, in fact, unbreakable. Otherwise, it's like painting a bull's-eye on your back and walking around town telling folks you're Superman.

During a CES 2010 demonstration, BBC News reporter Dan Simmons called one manufacturer's bluff, and felled its supposed cell of steel. In this hilarious outtake, Sonim CEO Bob Plaschke tells Simmons that he could drop the Sonim XP1 from a 10-story building, leave it under 20 feet of water for 30 minutes, and even hammer a nail with it. "If you find a way to break it, we're going to give you a free phone," Plaschke tells the reporter.

Simmons proceeds to dunk the phone into an aquarium, pulls it out of the water, and the phone's still ringing. Since that didn't kill it, Simmons goes one step further. He smashes the phone, screen first, into the sharp corner of the fish tank. As you might expect, the screen shatters, and Sonim's ridiculous marketing slogan along with it. [From: BBC News]

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=608278&pid=608277&uts=1263309932

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf

Oops, These Gadgets Exploded!

No matter how many times it happens, stories of exploding gadgets always catch our eye. Despite being (mostly) unassuming, we're always taken by surprise whenever a device spontaneously combusts. For your enjoyment, here are seven stories of exploding phones, iPhones, and other devices.

3G iPhone Catches Fire
On Saturday, February 28, 2009, Tim Colbourne, an Italian blogger based in Rome, plugged his iPhone 3G into his computer's USB port. Just a few hours later, it caught fire, resulting in one very dead iPhone. Fortunately for Colbourne, Apple replaced the handset.

Cell Phone Charger Blamed for Blaze in Delaware
In late summer 2008, a mobile home near Millsboro, Delaware caught fire, causing over $30,000 in damages. While details are slim, the culprit appeared to be a malfunctioning cell phone charger.

iPod Lights Man's Pants on Fire
Danny Williams, a Douglasville, Georgia native (he worked at a kiosk in Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport), suddenly looked down to find flames leaping up his chest. It turns out Williams's iPod Nano's lithium-ion battery had burst into flames; fortunately, he was uninjured and Apple replaced the defective Nano.

Michigan Boy Burnt By Pocketed PlayStation Portable (PSP)
Back in February of 2008 in Farmington Hills, Michigan, a PlayStation Portable overheated in a middle school boy's pocket, causing second-degree burns. Proving the cosmos has a sense of humor, the disc inside the PSP was a popular driving game called 'Burnout.'

iPod Nano Catches Fire While Owner Snoozes
In another case of incendiary iProducts, an iPod nano owner posted to the Nike Talk online messageboard that he was awakened early one morning by a screeching fire alarm, set off by his Nano bursting into flames.

Pregnant Woman's Nokia Phone Battery Explodes
A pregnant woman in India suffered mild burns when her three year old Nokia exploded ten minutes after she plugged it in to the charger. Nokia claims it was an isolated incident.

Cell Phone Battery Explodes, Kills Worker
On June 18, 2007, a 22-year old Chinese welder was killed when the battery on his cell phone (located in his shirt pocket) exploded. The battery's eruption cracked a rib and embedded the battery pack into the worker's heart; unfortunately the man died just after arriving at the hospital.

Related Links:

Tags: cellphone, funny, sonim, top

Comments

kayos592Jan 12th 2010 5:13PM

Neutral

if that's what happens with a fish tank...HOW ABOUT A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST!!!

Dislike

Report

toddJan 12th 2010 6:10PM

Neutral

You would think, after the titanic, marketers would have learned not to add the prefix "un", to exactly what your aiming for it not to do...... your just setting yourself up for dissapointment.

Dislike

Report

colleenJan 12th 2010 6:12PM

Neutral

Awkward!

Dislike

Report

BJan 12th 2010 6:22PM

Neutral

what an outrageously embarassing moment anyone would have nightmares about

Dislike

Report

avlJan 12th 2010 7:07PM

Neutral

EASY TO MESS UP CELL PHONES ARE WHAT THE CELL PHONE CO. WANTS. HOW CAN THEY CHARGE YOU FOR NEW PHONES IN CONTRACT IF THE PHONES DO NOT MESS UP IN WATER SHOCK ETC... LOOK AT HOW MUCH IT COST IF YOU MESS ONE UP.......

Dislike

Report

ReinhartJan 12th 2010 8:03PM

Neutral

Instead of claiming that your product is "unbreakable," which is quite impossible to accomplish as there will be ways to break anything, claim that your product is very durable instead and demonstrate it to that effect.

Perhaps even break a phone doing something so extraordinary that nobody would ever do such a thing in real life.

For example, "your phone will break only if you let a semi-truck run over it."

Dislike

Report

POKERjoe48Jan 13th 2010 10:41AM

Neutral

wow that is cool

Dislike

Report

zackJan 15th 2010 5:07PM

Neutral

Eh, not really fair. Nobody smashes their phone screen-first into sharp corners, especially not when the screen is surrounded by a pretty nice ridge.

Dislike

Report

jaynneJan 21st 2010 10:59AM

Neutral

Actually, my daughter has done the same thing; new phone in her pocket, rounded a corner, bumped into a cabinet, crackkkkkkkkk, there goes the screen of her brand new phone one day out of the box, twice! Needless to say, Sprint was unsympathetic :(

Sonim CEO Bob Plaschke owes BBC News reporter Dan Simmons a BIG thank you for that eye opener, lol. If Sonic keeps that guaranty in place, I will be their best customer!

Dislike

Report

AimeeAFeb 17th 2010 12:36PM

Neutral

During PEPCOM at the Mobile World Congress, eight tech reporters put Sonim's newest phone, the Spirit XP2, through a torture test. We worked with them to produce videos of the tests. Here's a link www.sonimtech.com/video.

Dislike

Report

nickfaithieMar 2nd 2010 11:07PM

Neutral

The reporter beat that phone for nearly an hour before he found a way to crack it. If the video started with a disclosure "frustrated reporter won't quit, so we cut 45 minutes out that were embarrasing to his family and the BBC" it might come off differently.

Dislike