It’s probably not too great when a phone billed as unbreakable is easily broken by a reporter, on video.
Sonim‘s XP line of phones are supposedly the “world’s toughest.” The company was at CES last week to demonstrate this attribute, where one of its phones promptly broke as soon as a BBC reporter whacked it against a fish tank
Sonim CEO Bob Plaschke just got finished proudly telling the reporter that the phone can be dropped from 10 stories, go 20 feet underwater for 30 minutes, that you can hammer a nail with it, and that it’s “basically unbreakable.” To go even further, Plaschke said Sonim is giving away free phones to anyone that can find a way to break one.
After Plaschke’s pitch ended, he challenged the reporter to do anything he liked to try to destroy the phone. With all of the possible ideas the reporter could have come up with: firing a bullet at it, running over it with a car, or dropping a piano on it, he chose to bang it against the corner of a fish tank with his bare hand. The phone’s screen broke after a few smacks. Free phones for all!
Plaschke attempted to use awkward laughter to cover up the fact that his company just got a whole lot of bad publicity. He really didn’t even seem all that surprised either. It’s a shame, because I’ve always wanted a hammer/phone combination, but now it looks like I’ll have to continue buying these items separately. Curse you, world.
Source: BBC
Published: Jan 13, 2010 12:01 am