[The Final Dakar]

So people are reporting the iPhone 6+ is bending (permanently) when stored in their front pockets. Ex:

[BadKosh]

WAAAA! People who bend them by putting them in their back pockets might just need to shed a few pounds off their fat butts too. Jumping into fads too early has some problems.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

front pockets.

Originally Posted by BadKosh 

putting them in their back pockets

Every. ****ing. Time.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Ars Technica notes a report that includes the 6 as well.

I mean, it may be that people coming from previous iPhones are trying to put them in pockets like the old phones, and they just don't fit. But if this is something that you can do with an HTC or Samsung phone but not an iPhone...then suddenly I'm not nearly as excited to get one.

[The Final Dakar]

Thanks, I didn't see the article on Ars.

A yeah, it's an enthusiasm killer.

[BadKosh]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Every. ****ing. Time.

This was discussed on our local radio station THIS MORNING where they went into more detail of the number of phones damaged from being put in ANY pocket. Most have been damaged by putting them in back pockets, front pockets etc. The bigger the phone the harder it is to carry around. Big cases don't seem like a good idea. Women put them in purses and have less damage.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by BadKosh 

This was discussed on our local radio station THIS MORNING where they went into more detail of the number of phones damaged from being put in ANY pocket. Most have been damaged by putting them in back pockets, front pockets etc. The bigger the phone the harder it is to carry around. Big cases don't seem like a good idea. Women put them in purses and have less damage.

It's reasonable if a phone bends from having 150+ lbs of pressure exerted on it. Not so much when it's in the front pocket.

[Chongo]

I hve this one for my 5S. This wil be the one I buy for the 6S or 6S+ when I am up for renewal.
Shell/Holster Combo for iPhone 6 | Verizon Wireless - Verizon Wireless

[andi*pandi]

if the phone can bend as easily as a credit card, then someone didn't do their job right.

[The Final Dakar]

Finally, the fusion of smartphones and flip-phones. My life is complete.

[Shaddim]

"You're sitting wrong."

[andi*pandi]

bent with bare hands:

Watch A Dude Bend His iPhone 6 With His Bare Hands – Consumerist

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

"You're sitting wrong."

Some asshole is way ahead of you, and serious.

But Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the advisory service Davies Murphy Group, thought that Apple should take a different tack.

"This is not an issue that Apple - or other phone companies - need to be compelled to respond to or fix. If anything this is a reflection of how people have started to use devices beyond what they were designed for," he said.

"Even the most recent smartphones are not designed to be put in trouser pockets - front or back - where they are going to be under the most chassis strain. And this just illustrates the fact that the public's desire for manufacturers to strive for ever thinner and lighter devices means that we are getting ever more fragile devices.

"Just casually sticking a £700 smartphone in your pocket is an increasingly reckless thing to do."

[osiris]

The time has come to hire phone caddies to carry around our large phones for us.

[mattyb]

Apple are so far behind the times:

Xperia Z1 frame bending for no reason, claim users

[badidea]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

if the phone can bend as easily as a credit card, then someone didn't do their job right.

I can bend a credit card with 2 fingers ... just tried it with my iPhone 6 with no success! Someone probably did their job right then?

Seriously, what do people think what a 7mm thin iPhone does when you try to bend it as hard as you can (as can be seen in the video - the fingers are shaking because of all the power used)?

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by badidea 

Seriously, what do people think what a 7mm thin iPhone does when you try to bend it as hard as you can (as can be seen in the video - the fingers are shaking because of all the power used)?

Yeah, a gif of the video I saw didn't impress me. But I still think it bending in the from pocket under certain factors is plausible. Just not widespread.

Sucks for those who like their iPhones naked, but if you use a case I imagine you're safe.

[Phileas]

I broke my old Nexus 4 by putting it into my back pocket, then sitting on it. Seem to me, sitting on phones is a bad idea.

[Chongo]

Originally Posted by Chongo 

I hve this one for my 5S. This wil be the one I buy for the 6S or 6S+ when I am up for renewal.
Shell/Holster Combo for iPhone 6 | Verizon Wireless - Verizon Wireless

I couldn't get the pic URL earlier.



I was at the Apple store by my house and I was told this case is available through Verizon only.

[OAW]

I still have an iPhone 5. Prior to that I had a 4, 3G, and the original iPhone. In all these years I have NEVER put an iPhone in my back pocket. It's just too easy to forget it's there, take a seat, and make a really bad day for yourself. If I'm carrying it around I will slip it in my front pocket while I'm up and about. But even then I RARELY leave it there when sitting. An iPhone 5 in my front pocket just isn't comfortable while seated and it generally gets taken out pretty quickly. So I can't even imagine putting an iPhone 6 in there and God forbid an iPhone 6 Plus! My inside pocket on a jacket/blazer is the best place to keep it ... and if I'm not wearing one I just keep it in my hand or put it on the table.

So suffice it to say that I'm am decidedly unsympathetic to anyone who sits down for long periods of time with a big ass phone in their pocket and it ends up damaged. And as for the guy who "bent an iPhone 6 with his bare hands" ... well if you are going to exert so much force that your hands are shaking just to get it to bend then the success of that click-bait is a reflection upon whom? That guy or those who apparently aren't bright enough to see through that foolishness.

OAW

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by OAW 

I still have an iPhone 5. Prior to that I had a 4, 3G, and the original iPhone. In all these years I have NEVER put an iPhone in my back pocket. It's just too easy to forget it's there, take a seat, and make a really bad day for yourself. If I'm carrying it around I will slip it in my front pocket while I'm up and about. But even then I RARELY leave it there when sitting. An iPhone 5 in my front pocket just isn't comfortable while seated and it generally gets taken out pretty quickly. So I can't even imagine putting an iPhone 6 in there and God forbid an iPhone 6 Plus! My inside pocket on a jacket/blazer is the best place to keep it ... and if I'm not wearing one I just keep it in my hand or put it on the table.

So suffice it to say that I'm am decidedly unsympathetic to anyone who sits down for long periods of time with a big ass phone in their pocket and it ends up damaged. And as for the guy who "bent an iPhone 6 with his bare hands" ... well if you are going to exert so much force that your hands are shaking just to get it to bend then the success of that click-bait is a reflection upon whom? That guy or those who apparently aren't bright enough to see through that foolishness.

OAW

The phone was already bent a little from being in his pocket, after only 2 days, as you can clearly see in the video. Eventually, it would have bent substantially on its own, he simply hurried the process.

Why is all this happening? Apple was being cheap, no magnesium substructure. Yay, beancounters! It's the same reason iPhones don't already have 2+ GBs of RAM and lagging behind all but the cheapest alternative smartphones. KBHD is 100% correct, no one was clamoring for a 7mm thick iPhone, if they'd made it a little thicker it would have been able to handle much more stress (and you wouldn't have the ugly camera bulge, either). This shit wouldn't have flown under Jobs.

[Face Ache]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

This shit wouldn't have flown under Jobs.

The sad truth.

[OAW]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

The phone was already bent a little from being in his pocket, after only 2 days, as you can clearly see in the video. Eventually, it would have bent substantially on its own, he simply hurried the process.

When seated there is a natural bend between the thigh and the torso. So it seems to me that if a phone is so large that it can't stay flat on your thigh and starts to rise up your torso then it simply isn't "pocketable". Sure you can try to force it anyway. But it's probably not a good idea. Just saying ...

OAW

IOW anyone trying to sit down with a big ass iPhone 6+ in the front pocket of regular pants just isn't the sharpest knife in the deck.

[Shaddim]

Other phones that size don't bend or break under equal stress, as shown in the guy's Note 3 video. Given how many people carry phones in their pockets, Cook even demonstrated that by placing it in his pocket twice at the launch event, you'd think they'd know better. I carry my phones like that every day.

"It still fits in your pants pocket, see? Oh wait, I've just been told that's a bad idea, don't do that."

[OAW]

^^^

Carrying it in your pocket is one thing. Sitting with it in your pocket is something else entirely. Tim Cook was most definitely doing the former in his demonstration.

OAW

[OAW]

A number of users across various forums, sites and Twitter have reported – and pictured – that their phones have become warped after they sat or bent down with them in front and rear trouser pockets.

The reports come just after an insurance company claimed that the new iPhones are the most robust ever – though its tests didn’t include bending.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus chassis is milled from a solid piece of aluminium alloy whose composition is secret. The weak area of the phone appears to be around the volume buttons, where the frame is at its thinnest and creates a fulcrum point around which the phone bends. Surprisingly, the screen does not break when the phone bends – though it does if the phone is then bent back to a flat profile.

Apple is not the first to have the problem of a large-screened metal-framed smartphone bending under use. Sony’s Xperia Z1, which had a 5in screen and a metal frame, saw users complaining that they bent in pockets, while Samsung Galaxy S4 users had similar complaints, as did BlackBerry Q10 users.

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus can bend in pockets, users complain | Technology | The Guardian

I think the track record and simple common sense clearly demonstrates that trying to bend or sit with a big ass "phablet" type phone in your pocket is just not the wisest move. Whether that phone is Apple, Android, or otherwise.
OAW

[Face Ache]

I haven't had a mobile phone since 1998. The idea that, in 2014, a mobile phone can't/shouldn't be put in your pocket strikes me as bizarre. Particularly when thinness is a "feature" but the camera sticks out.

Bad design.

[OAW]

^^^^

Here's another example that will hopefully illuminate my point. If someone sat down with a ruler in their pocket and it snapped in half ... would people be up in arms claiming that it was a design flaw on the part of the ruler? Or at some point would it simply occur to them that the object is simply too long to do that? Smaller iPhones are fine with this. Larger ones that are approaching the size of an iPad Mini tablet? Not so much! The problem here is that there are people who want "teh HUGE" new screen with the sleek metal and glass design but at the same time are expecting the same level of PORTABILITY as a device nearly half its size. And that simply defies the laws of nature.

OAW

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by Face Ache 

The sad truth.

I'm not convinced Jobs would have bowed to the peer pressure and gone for the big screens though.


On a barely related note:

I once had to repair a laptop (I think it was a PowerBook G4 but it may have been an earlyish MacBook Pro) which belonged to a chap whose friend had taken it upon himself to sit on the bag this laptop was being stored in while the owner was playing a sport of some kind and the sitter was spectating. The entire thing ended up curved like a banana. Putting it flat on a desk left both edges half an inch off the ground. Still worked just fine though. Cost the sitter £600 to have all the casing replaced.

[Doc HM]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

I'm not convinced Jobs would have bowed to the peer pressure and gone for the big screens though.


On a barely related note:

I once had to repair a laptop (I think it was a PowerBook G4 but it may have been an earlyish MacBook Pro) which belonged to a chap whose friend had taken it upon himself to sit on the bag this laptop was being stored in while the owner was playing a sport of some kind and the sitter was spectating. The entire thing ended up curved like a banana. Putting it flat on a desk left both edges half an inch off the ground. Still worked just fine though. Cost the sitter £600 to have all the casing replaced.

I had a similar one, I wish I still ad the photo I took. A client had a pretty bad car crash (but was OK). His black macbook was bent through at least 45 degrees in a graceful curve. It didn't still work though.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by Face Ache 

I haven't had a mobile phone since 1998. The idea that, in 2014, a mobile phone can't/shouldn't be put in your pocket strikes me as bizarre. Particularly when thinness is a "feature" but the camera sticks out.

Bad design.

Exactly the point. The whole concept that "other phones bend" is a fallacy, Apple is supposed to be different/better, right? That's why people pay such a premium for their devices. Not to mention, the others are phones that have shown a similar tendency towards bending after weeks, or even months, of regular use. Reports are streaming in that this is happening with the 6+ after a mere couple of days. What will they look like after 6 months or a year? Function is now following form, and in this case, for a device that receives as much regular abuse as a mobile phone, that's just bad engineering. A simple internal magnesium sleeve would have fixed this while only adding a couple grams and a half mm of thickness (it's what Sony did), at the same time it would have allowed for a slightly larger battery and would have fixed the camera protrusion issue.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

Originally Posted by OAW 

^^^^

Here's another example that will hopefully illuminate my point. If someone sat down with a ruler in their pocket and it snapped in half ... would people be up in arms claiming that it was a design flaw on the part of the ruler? Or at some point would it simply occur to them that the object is simply too long to do that? Smaller iPhones are fine with this. Larger ones that are approaching the size of an iPad Mini tablet? Not so much! The problem here is that there are people who want "teh HUGE" new screen with the sleek metal and glass design but at the same time are expecting the same level of PORTABILITY as a device nearly half its size. And that simply defies the laws of nature.

OAW

I don't want the new huge screen, I like the hand size of the older phones, I could care less about the crazy thinness. I do want to put the phone in my front pocket. With this one I'm going to have to by a case just to reinforce it and to be able to put it down on a flat surface. That negates the thinness.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by OAW 

^^^^

Here's another example that will hopefully illuminate my point. If someone sat down with a ruler in their pocket and it snapped in half ... would people be up in arms claiming that it was a design flaw on the part of the ruler? Or at some point would it simply occur to them that the object is simply too long to do that? Smaller iPhones are fine with this. Larger ones that are approaching the size of an iPad Mini tablet? Not so much! The problem here is that there are people who want "teh HUGE" new screen with the sleek metal and glass design but at the same time are expecting the same level of PORTABILITY as a device nearly half its size. And that simply defies the laws of nature.

OAW

No, it's vanity, they pursued "thinness" at the expense of durability and function, and now it's going to bite them.

[OAW]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

No, it's vanity, they pursued "thinness" at the expense of durability and function, and now it's going to bite them.

Well let's talk about function shall we? My point here is that the front pockets on a standard pair of pants are simply not deep enough to hold an iPhone 6+ while seated. It will not simply lay flat along the thigh. It will press up against the torso and the bottom of the pocket. The greater that pressure and the longer it lasts the more likely it is to bend. Would you try to sit down with a 3x5 photo frame in your front pocket? That's approximately the size of an iPhone 6+. Or would a little birdie tell you that's probably not a good idea? A front pocket is NOT very "functional" when it comes to holding something that large while seated. Side pockets on cargo pants? Sure ... have at it! Front pockets? Not so much!

There's an old song that's goes a little something like this ....

"If it don't fit, don't force it just relax and let it go."

I think that is a very apt observation in this situation.

OAW

[osiris]

Having a waterproof phone that lasts a week on a single charge would be amazing. This obsession with phone thinness is ridiculous and prohibitive, but then you shouldn't be sitting on the thing.

Maybe these things need to be made from solid industrial diamonds?

Of course spending time to improve and debug the phone's operating system is important.
Which didn't obviously happen, twice, in fact.

Steve Jobs would have heads rolling - maybe Tim is too soft.

[The Final Dakar]

Yeah, it'd be nice if they started focusing on battery life instead of thinness.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by OAW 

Well let's talk about function shall we? My point here is that the front pockets on a standard pair of pants are simply not deep enough to hold an iPhone 6+ while seated. It will not simply lay flat along the thigh. It will press up against the torso and the bottom of the pocket. The greater that pressure and the longer it lasts the more likely it is to bend. Would you try to sit down with a 3x5 photo frame in your front pocket? That's approximately the size of an iPhone 6+. Or would a little birdie tell you that's probably not a good idea? A front pocket is NOT very "functional" when it comes to holding something that large while seated. Side pockets on cargo pants? Sure ... have at it! Front pockets? Not so much!

There's an old song that's goes a little something like this ....

"If it don't fit, don't force it just relax and let it go."

I think that is a very apt observation in this situation.

OAW

The 6+ fits fine in my front pocket (I have one), even while I'm wearing "skinny" jeans, and if it were designed properly it wouldn't bend under normal carry circumstances.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by osiris 

Having a waterproof phone that lasts a week on a single charge would be amazing. This obsession with phone thinness is ridiculous and prohibitive, but then you shouldn't be sitting on the thing.

Maybe these things need to be made from solid industrial diamonds?

Of course spending time to improve and debug the phone's operating system is important.
Which didn't obviously happen, twice, in fact.

Steve Jobs would have heads rolling - maybe Tim is too soft.

Agreed, sitting on a phone is bad, I broke one myself doing that (keeping it in a back pocket). These aren't delicate treasures, or at least they shouldn't be, they're supposed to be much more robust than this, and in Apple's rush to make them "wafer thin" they ended up being flimsy.

[Phileas]

I do think this is a case of user stupidity. I carry my, considerably smaller, Nexus 5 in my jeans pocket when walking, but would not dream about leaving it there when sitting down.

You can't design out mis-use.

[osiris]

Originally Posted by Phileas 

I do think this is a case of user stupidity. I carry my, considerably smaller, Nexus 5 in my jeans pocket when walking, but would not dream about leaving it there when sitting down.

You can't design out mis-use.

Well there ya go - common sense. Except for the Nexus part. (I kid!)

[Shaddim]

It must be exhausting to worry about a phone that often, I can't imagine it. In fact, the whole point of the new Apple Watch (and all smart watches) is to allow you to keep the phone in a pocket and not have to pull it out all the time to check it.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

the whole point of the new Apple Watch (and all smart watches) is to allow you to keep the phone in a pocket and not have to pull it out all the time to check it.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

Can you imagine the biceps people will have from walking around with their forearm held up in front of their face?

[osiris]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

We'll also need a backpack with batteries/solar charger to keep momentum. It never ends.

[The Final Dakar]

???

[Hawkeye_a]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

It must be exhausting to worry about a phone that often, I can't imagine it. In fact, the whole point of the new Apple Watch (and all smart watches) is to allow you to keep the phone in a pocket and not have to pull it out all the time to check it.

If their strategy is co-dependent products, they're heading the wrong way. "If you want your phone to last longer, buy an iWatch for $350. I'd rather they make a great phone and a great watch and let me choose to but either one or both. (Such is definitely not the case with the iWatch)

Regarding "bendgate" ...... metal bends, and does not bend back unless forced to. Seems to me like the foaming fandroids have issues with the inherent properties of metals (probably because they couldnt find anything else to create a '-gate' about). Compare the iP6/+ to other devices of equal or less thickness subject to the same kinds of forces.

Could Apple have made a structure less prone to bending? Sure. It probably would have been bigger/heavier/uglier. That trade off would only be attractive if a significant number(IMHO >5%) of users subject the phone to the kinds of forces which cause it to bend.

[Shaddim]

It would have been fine at .5mm thicker, and that would have taken care of other issues as well. Apple apologists simply can't see that.

("Fandroids", really?)

[andi*pandi]

I keep my 4s in my front pocket all the time, nary a problem, sitting, standing, etc.

Maybe they thought by making the 6 thinner that would make it seem less bulky, but I don't need a phone that thin and would rather have more battery life too.

[OreoCookie]

I've kept my 4S and my 5 in my front and back pocket ever since I first got a smartphone. I've sat on them even. But it's clear that the larger the phone, the more difficult it is to have a stiff enough construction.

[ort888]

I'm surprised (not really) how far this has spread with such a small amount of information. We can estimate that there are currently about 2 million iPhone 6 Pluses out in the wild. We have confirmation that 2 of them have bent in the wild and a Youtube video of a guy bending one with a great deal of force.

The one bent iPhone 6 Plus we have information from comes from a guy who claims it was just in his pocket... but how do we know he didn't do something dumb and is just covering his ass? We just don't know. For all we know, Samsung bent it and paid some dude to put it out there. Or some blogger was looking for traffic, bent one and made the whole thing up. I'm not saying this is the case, because I'm not that tinfoil hatty, but stranger things have happened.

Until this starts happening all the time to normal people under normal circumstances, I don't see how this is a story.

The durka durka apple sux crowd is really going nuts with this one.