Yeah, you read that right. This past Sunday I was out for a casual round of golf and as I have done a few times already with my Pixel Fold review unit, I had the phone secured in my magnetic clamp that I keep on attached to the golf cart. Sure, the clamp is built for standard smartphones, but it had held the Pixel Fold on a few other occasions in the exact same way already, so I wasn’t the least bit concerned.
I got through 10 holes just fine, and then from the 11th tee box, I went to take off in my cart and the Pixel Fold was done with me, I suppose. I only got a few feet down the cart path when it broke free from the clamp, flew through the air for a second, and fell to the asphalt. Right on the corner as I watched in horror as it hit and then rolled to a stop. And it was precisely then that my heart stopped for a few moments.
I’ve dropped phones in far-less violent ways in the past. I’m sure you have as well and I’m sure many of you reading this know how easy it is to shatter a smartphone screen. In my mind, as I gathered myself, stopped my cart and went back to pick up the Pixel Fold, I fully expected to turn it over and see a shattered screen. And if that wasn’t the case, I just knew that the inner screen would be useless.
It felt a little like a miracle
To my absolute astonishment, the phone was perfectly fine. No bumps, no bruises, no scratches or scrapes were anywhere on the phone. In fact, it even took me a few minutes to figure out where the impact was on the case. Turns out, the phone hit ground on the uupper-left-hand corner and completely lived to tell the tale.
I obviously didn’t return it to the clamp and kept it stashed away for the rest of the round, but I really did expect to find some sort of issue with it later that evening. That was over 3 days ago now, and this phone is no worse for wear. As a matter of fact, I’d almost forgotten about the spill at all until I was on my way to the office this morning. Only a small scuff on the case marks what could have 100% been a major disaster.
Tougher than I expected
As I said, I’ve dropped less delicate phones in far more delicate ways and had far worse results. The fact that the Pixel Fold survived this drop in such stunning fashion may not be indicative of its actual durability, but I knew I had to share this. While other users have reported some fragility with the device, I’ve not treated it any more carefully than any other phone I’ve owned, and I don’t know that I’ve ever dropped any phone as violently as I did this one.
And it survived just fine. Part of that is likely due to the way this phone is built, and part of it is a nod to the case durability from Google’s in-house accessory line. I’m not sure which one gets the credit, but I’m here to tell you that if this phone can survive that drop, there’s a good chance it can hold up to more abuse than people are giving it credit for. Is this story anecdotal? Sure, but so are the ones where the Pixel Fold has failed miserably. In the end, all of our electronics are susceptible to damage in varying degrees, and sometimes the amount of abuse they can take does actually surprise us. In this case, I’m still a bit shocked by it, and I hope that gives some of you out there a bit more hope surrounding the durability of this complex little device.
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