[Anaxilus]

Here you go.  Enjoy your glass iPhones.  Watch out how you hold it!!  LOL!  
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WbCpqURN9A

 

[vernicex]

and I'm going to get Apple give me a new iphone tomorrow. or a free bumper, depends on what Apple give me.
 
even if we pretend to believe that Apple are trying (and maybe trying really hard), but there's just no point advertising the glass when it's weaker than the previous generation. 
 
guess I should stop here, don't want to turn this thread into another iphone bashing thread. conclusion : go for the 3GS, the iphone 4 is slower, scratch more easily, and more expensive. 
 

 

[Anaxilus]

slower?  Hadn't heard that one.  1ghz A4 and 512MB RAM...how is it slower?  Benchmarks show it just shy of the iPad.

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

Here you go.  Enjoy your glass iPhones.  Watch out how you hold it!!  LOL!  
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WbCpqURN9A

I'm sorry but that video is really stupid.  They look and act like morons, and they are performing a moronic test.  If the fact that a piece of electronic equipment breaks when you just stand there repeatedly dropping it on concrete is supposed to prove anything than you've lost me. 
 
I wonder how else we can try to make apple look bad.  I wonder how long it takes a macbook to break when a semi drives over it?

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

I'm sorry but that video is really stupid.  They look and act like morons, and they are performing a moronic test.  If the fact that a piece of electronic equipment breaks when you just stand there repeatedly dropping it on concrete is supposed to prove anything than you've lost me. 
 
I wonder how else we can try to make apple look bad.  I wonder how long it takes a macbook to break when a semi drives over it?

Well, many others have had their phones fly out of moving cars, dropped repeatedly, etc and still have a working phone.  Even other previous iPhone generation users report more durability than this piece of crap can endure.  And yes a phone that can't act like a phone is a piece of crap.  The OP asked about durability of the iPhone 4, the video is a demonstration whether you agree with it or not.  As for making Apple look bad, Steve Jobs does that better than anyone else could.  "Don't hold it that way."  Thats first rate customer support if I ever heard it.  Blaming everyone at the iPhone 4 unveiling for using wifi preventing the iPhone for working when the problem was HE WAS HOLDING IT WRONG!  Enjoy your bumper case.  I'm gonna be polite and refrain from justifiably railing against Apple any further.  Its funny you equate dropping a phone 3 feet to an impact w/ a semi.  I'd love to rail against the many failings in Macbook history too but I've already damaged your fragile psyche enough.  Nothing more Koolaid can't fix.
 
East Bay, CA I see.....uh huh. 

 

[bigshot]

I don't see any problem with the iPhone being any less durable than any other phone. But I have experienced the problem with the proximity sensor, and if I put my hand in the wrong place on the edge, signal strength drops a bit. Still much better reception than my old iPhone, even with my finger on the antenna join.

 

[NCT]

I used 3gs for almost one year and dropped it sometime but it still works very well. The glasses was hard to be scratched but sometime I forgot it with keys so I used a film protector. iPhone 4 look great but I am afraid about the back panel. Anyway, a great device

 

[vernicex]

Quote:

slower?  Hadn't heard that one.  1ghz A4 and 512MB RAM...how is it slower?  Benchmarks show it just shy of the iPad.

 

[size=medium]

not a 1ghz chip, probably 800mhz or so, that's why they did not advertise it as 1Ghz A4, they just said A4.
 
The screen is in much higher resolution, so the GPU and CPU have to process a lot more, hence the lag. It's really easy to see, everywhere, everytime you use the phone.
​

[/size]

 

[seven62]

i'm using an iphone 3g, i posted a while back looking for a fix, the headphone jack/vibrate switch are finished. no sound to the right 'phone, and if you wiggle the very loose jack, it will switch the vibrate on/off (so you walk, and the thing continually vibrates). just pressing on the case sets it off. the silver ring around the jack has completely failed and fallen off in several small pieces, cracking the case around it. and the plastic case back has a split in it, something i saw on a friend's iphone as well. the metal piece that pushes on the two volume control buttons also fell off, never to be seen again, so i have to keep a fingernail to adjust the volume by that switch. the screen became very scratched and many, many pixels are dead. i would estimate in excess of 50, five-zero. you can see splotches and strings of pixellated gray that do not go away, even with knox's stuck pixel app, which doesnt fix the live-but-stuck pixels. to top everything off it freezes/crashes more often than not and takes a while to reset. not good when it bugs out on an important call, locks up, and you have to wait to reset before you cal call back.
 
but, i've had it for almost 3 years now with very heavy and abusive use, so one could say its at the end of its service life. until the pixels and the trouble with the headphone jack & associates it has been a very good phone, survived many falls higher than 2-3 feet, and even an accidental toss by a stupid buddy... right the day that i got it. i really think you will have to replace that ribbon cable (google and you'll see it is a very common problem) but if you treat it like a PDA and not a cell phone, i think you'll be happy with it. durability wise it has taken a beating, but shown it as well. i guess it depends on how you treat it, it will survive mistreatment but not like your average joe phone would.

 

[warp08]

I have 3 iPhones, a 3G/3GS and now a 4.  All of them are in mint condition, because I use quality cases and treat them well.  Once my 3Gs mute switch broke off by itself.  The Genius at the Apple store replaced the phone in 3 minutes.  They are extremely well-built, complex products.  If you treat them right, they will last a long time and serve you well.
 
For me, there is no comparison of the overall user experience Apple products in general provide.  In case of the iPhone, even if it's out of warranty, there are plenty of spare parts available to repair them DIY or professionally without having to pay premium prices for Apple repair.  There is an entire ecosystem out there due to the popularity of these devices.  Yet another reason to go the iPhone route.
 
My 2 cents.

 

[Wired_Gargoyle]

The only difference between an IPhone and any other of the modern cellphones is when you sit on it, in my experience. They're more 'flexy' when you try and bend one and seem to crack alot easier than the Android and Blackberries I've tried. Dropping any of them without a protective case will more than likely end up breaking something. It's also been my experience that dealing with my cellphone provider for a replacement for a non-Apple cellphone has been much easier than dealing with Apple for an IPhone issue.
 

 

[chum_2000_uk]

Agree with all the positive comments. I've had mobile phones for probably 12 years now and apart from some of the early bricks, the iPhone 3GS I have now is one of the only ones I genuinely feel could last me a few years. I've had it for 12 months, I am probably going to go on a sim only contract for another 12 (or I may get an iPhone 4, haven't decided yet).
 
Its got a bit of a ding on the back (which could have easily been avoided with a decent case) and I've had a screen protector on it since I had it that I don't even notice being on, so the screen is perfect. 
 
I don't work in a phone shop, so don't know all the models that are currently out, but I've certainly had my fair share of phones and looked at what all my friends have in work etc. The iPhone beats most of them hands down. Like everything, I guess you could be unlucky and have problems with it, but I bet Apple get less problems with iPhone hardware than a lot of other companies.
 
On a side note, I am also very impressed with my Girlfriends HTC G2... she has had that longer than I've had my iPhone 3GS; it looks absolutely brand new and she has not had any hardware problems with it (and only little software niggles twice that were sorted with a factory reset). Android is a pretty nice OS too IMO from what I have seen. One of the guys I work with used to work in a mobile phone repair shop and he is always going on about how good the HTC's are FWIW.
 
Don't think you'll go too far wrong with either tbh.

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

 

[size=medium]

not a 1ghz chip, probably 800mhz or so, that's why they did not advertise it as 1Ghz A4, they just said A4.
 
The screen is in much higher resolution, so the GPU and CPU have to process a lot more, hence the lag. It's really easy to see, everywhere, everytime you use the phone.
​

[/size]

Yeah, forgot that its GPU is integrated into the CPU unlike the new HTC Droids that have dedicated graphics.  
 
Care and treatment goes a long way.  I've had my HTC Touch Pro2 for more than a year now and its pretty much flawless.  It is completely covered in Invisible Shield though.  

 

[rhythmdevils]

IMO, the iphone is more of a mini handheld computer than a cell phone.  And so it demands a bit more respect than a POS motorola freebie.  But if you plan on dropping it repeatedly on asphault, than you should probably get a POS freebie instead

 

[onef]

I hate to be a troll, but the amount of Apple fanboy-ism in this thread is astounding. Is the iPhone really that great? I mean really, considering the alternatives? Sure they're sleek and stylish and the earlier models had good build quality, but to yawp "Buy the iPhone 4" repeatedly without even really knowing about it's quality over time - especially looking at Apple's poor history of release date versus product issues- is ludicrous.
 
Getting back to the OP, if you want something that will last you for years, go with a company that's proven that they make long-lasting products. Nokia comes to mind, for one.
 
I got an iPhone for the same reason most people do, it looks cool, and it was only 99$US with a new contract. It wasn't until I sat down and tried to do anything above a monkey's workload with it until the buyer's remorse set in. Then the logic board failed six months after the purchase date.