iPhones: Built Like Tanks, Slippery Like Eels?

By  |  Friday, November 7, 2008 at 2:51 pm

iphone4Extended warranty merchant SquareTrade has released a study on iPhone reliability, based on data from folks who have bought warranties for iPhones and other phone models. The news is mostly good, but not entirely so. To summarize:

1) iPhones are significantly less likely to malfunction than BlackBerries or Treos during their first year, with 5.6% of owners reporting trouble (11.9% of BlackBerry owners did, and 16.2% of Treo owners did);

2) SquareTrade’s extrapolation indicates that they’ll also be less likely to have issues during the second year;

3) The most common iPhone problems relate to its touchscreen, followed by software/features and call quality;

4) iPhones are more likely to suffer accidental damage inflicted upon them by their owners, through actions such as being dropped–SquareTrade says it’s an “incredibly slippery” phone.

Herewith, some infographics from the SquareTrade report:

squaretrade-malfunction1

squaretrade-malfunction

squaretrade-probability

squaretrade-accidental

I’ve owned one or more examples of all three phones and been lucky, I guess: The only one that ever died on me was a Treo 650, and that was when it and I were caught in the mother of all rainstorms in Monte Carlo (the city, not the Las Vegas casino). But I can’t classify that particular Treo as a lightweight: Earlier, I managed to drop the Treo while running, and it skipped its way down the pavement like a stone and was just fine, except for a nick or two.

My BlackBerry 8780 felt pretty indestructible. And I’ve managed to drop my iPhone 3G multiple times with no issues; even the case looks mint.

Any tales of phone reliability–good or bad–on your end?

 
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