New Apple Patent Could Make iPhones Drop-Proof

[Mike Andronico]

Apple has patented an internal mechanism that could allow mobile devices to brace themselves before falling to the ground.

New Apple Patent Could Make iPhones Drop-Proof : Read more

 

[Ricofizz]

Thrust? Flying iPhones are coming!

 

[ohim]

Yey, less space for battery to cope with the guys that drop their phones, why isn`t there any company that makes smartphones able to come to the consumers like something very usefull besides 123123 megapixels and 213213 screen resolution... something like .. 4-5 days of battery life.

 

[Be0wulf22]

Yey, less space for battery to cope with the guys that drop their phones, why isn`t there any company that makes smartphones able to come to the consumers like something very usefull besides 123123 megapixels and 213213 screen resolution... something like .. 4-5 days of battery life.

dammit, grandpa, I told you to stay off my computer while I'm out getting your meds!

 

[teodoreh]

This is a very specific patent! [/irony]

 

[aldaia]

A rather complex and expensive way of making the phone drop proof. I wonder why no one has produced yet a rubber phone with a flexible screen.

 

[batkerson]

Unless the drop is 10 feet or so, forget it. Better to always keep your phone strapped to a cat. . .they always land on their feet!

 

[iogbrideau]

Lol "making it drop on a corner". From all the iphones I see broken where I work, it's the corners bending that shatter the glass mostly.

 

[Miharu]

Seem pretty useless at my opinion. First whatever the side or angle that the phone touch the floor, something will broke. Never seen a broken iPhone before? If they need to shift weight, this mean more weight in the product and more damage on the floor. Second, when you drop your phone, you drop it from a heigh less than 5 feets at a relatively high speed (he touch the ground in less 1 second). Imagine dropping your phone at that height face down in the most perfect condition, imagine the force needed to first spin the phone for miss the main screen. But one spin is not enough because you need to stop the rotation else you add force of rotation which mean more damage to your phone. So detect the fall and 2 rotations in less than 1 second. Good luck Apple! All that for not having a casing?
They should just install jetpack to the phone... /irony.

And by the way... if this new technology is half baked... I'll sue them. Good luck with that.

 

[jl0329]

This is exactly why the iPhone is THE BEST smartphone on Earth. Take it you non-believers!

 

[zakaron]

What if you were on an amusement park ride that puts you into a momentary freefall? I imagine it would feel uncomfortable in your pocket as the phone tries to flip itself.

 

[sunflier]

The headline says,

...iPhones Drop-Proof

. When I read that it tells me its impossible to drop the iPhone. Poorly written headline imo.

New headline,

"...iPhone Shatter-Proof..."

/fixed

 

[mortsmi7]

Why don't they just make a phone that isn't a cheap piece of crap?

 

[hetneo]

This patent sounds like it was designed by Apples marketing department. Any engineer will tell you, and anyone who graduated from high school should know, when an object is falling the very last thing you want to do is to impart angular movement to it. It will impact ground with more force than after stable free fall. Also this is very complicated solution for very simple problem, sounds like it was devised by person of extremely low IQ.

 

[DragoonRuin]

This patent is so broad and generic I'm amazed it got approved. Though, I guess that's what million dollar lawyers are for... US Patent system failure at its finest.

 

[billgatez]

By the time the phone detects a fall and adjusts it's self it will be to late.

 

[fixxxer113]

"estimates the distance of the surface below and automatically shifts itself in order to land"

"thrust mechanism that would use bursts of gas to reorient the device"

... so basically the next iPhone will be a thrust vectoring cat!

 

[krutou]

Patented doesn't mean valuable. Many patented inventions don't even work.

There are plenty of worthless garbage patents, this is one of them.

 

[Haravikk]

I want mine with a self-deploying parachute please!

 

[hannibal]

Soon every cover that can protect your phone get sued, if it not approved by Apple... This was so open patent that devious layer could make it... Fortunately it can not happen in real life... can it?