Galaxy Note 3 23 metre Drop Test!

The Note 3 as it was recovered at the scene

Yup, you read that headline right. I'm going to share with all of you the story of a Galaxy Note 3 that fell 11 stories right smack onto the concrete ground floor. This is from personal experience and is NOT a friend of a friend story.

The missing phone

It happened at a 12 storey hotel in Kuala Terengganu and the story starts when we realised the phone was mysteriously absent. I tried to call the phone, and the nice (automated) lady response machine said over the line, "The number you have dialled is unreachable". Uh oh. Could someone have swiped the phone whilst we went for a swim just half an hour ago? We started to retrace our steps, in our minds, at first. I recollected that I saw the phone being used just before we went to the swimming pool. At least we can be sure it's not lost in the hotel cafeteria.

We supposed that perhaps the phone was still in the room, though it's strange that the phone is lying in the room, without any reception. We were in the room, and searched high and low for the phone, but we could not find it. Only then did it dawn on us that perhaps the phone took a "leap of faith" off the hotel balcony, as one of us recalled seeing one of the kids tossing something off the balcony not long after we went up to the room (after the swimming session). We immediately went up to the balcony railing and looked down.

Sure enough, the phone was "resting" face down on the concrete floor. We could see the camera lens and the form factor of the Note 3 all the way from the 11th floor. That gave us 70% assurance that the phone has indeed been found, but in a less than ideal state. I raced down the floors, via elevator of course, to make sure.

The fallen phone

At the scene of the 'accident', this is what I found:

The phone is actually the one nearer the bottom of the photo

 It looks as if there were 2 phones, but it simply reflects the 2 separate phone casings that were in fact, installed together, as shown on Otterbox's website. I guess the force of the impact dislodged the harder polycarbonate outer shell from the softer synthetic rubber inner shell. They were probably forced apart by the fall to a distance of more than a metre, from what I could tell.

I picked up the polycarbonate shell first, just to lengthen the suspense on the actual state of the "fallen phone". I mean, if you knew it fell 11 stories, I'd think you'd be pessimistic too, right? I inspected the polycarbonate shell and I was surprised. It seemed absolutely intact. No broken pieces. No aberrations even. This gave me more hope, instantaneously, that perhaps the phone itself would be in a "not so bad" state as I previously thought it would be.

With much trepidation, I picked up the phone off the concrete.


The incredible fallen phone

The phone and its Otterbox casing

I was instantly surprised, because as I scooped up the phone off the concrete, it vibrated! And that's when I saw that the action keys also had its lights on. The screen itself was definitely cracked though, and it was as black as night. No response from the screen whatsoever. 

After taking some photos, which I've shared with you here, I went back into the hotel to look at it up close. I personally thought it was in a boot loop as it periodically vibrated. Perhaps the fall destroyed some component and as a result, it's failing to boot up properly.

So I took out the phone from its synthetic rubber shell and the back cover of the phone looked remarkably intact. The camera lens looked fine too. I took out the battery of the phone in order to kill the phone. That's when I discovered that the battery was very slightly bent out of shape.

The phone's exposed internals

A casual visual inspection of the SIM card and micro SD card revealed no issues. I proceeded to put the battery back in its place and immediately tried to turn the device on. It responded with a vibration and shortly after, the signature Samsung tune. So, the speakers are working too!

This was all good news, from a phone repair standpoint. If a lot of the components are working, then perhaps the phone can indeed be salvaged, and at minimal cost.

Indeed, the phone's famous S-pen was also found to be intact. It was not bent out of shape in any way or form.

I had a rough idea of where to take it for evaluation and quotation and that's exactly what I did the next day, upon our return to Kuala Lumpur.


I decided that the best place to get a quotation for the repair would be from its manufacturer: Samsung. Feel free to comment on another good repair center, if you know of any. Let's look at how Samsung promotes their new (it opened in February 2014) Samsung Premier Care and Experience Center:

So that's where I was, as I sent it in for a quotation, I told them it fell 11 stories to the ground. Some were immediately skeptical anything could be done to salvage the phone (especially the front desk staff). Finally, after a very brisk queue as there weren't many people at all waiting in line, I was given a verbal quotation telling me it would cost RM600.70 to repair the screen and bezel. They said if I opted to use a credit/debit card, they could lower the cost by 10% to RM540.63. I mulled it over and after a few minutes of consultation and deliberation, I agreed that they should proceed with the repair work.

They proceeded with the repair work and handed me a work order sheet at 1240hrs. They also suggested I could go for my lunch now since it would probably take an hour to complete the repair(s). I was on my way to lunch, but I had to handle a few things with regards to my job first, and just as I completed the items, I received a call on my mobile at 1315hrs telling me the repair has been completed and to the Technician, the phone looked completely fine. He even sounded surprised. I was indeed eager to have a look at this phone which got a new lease on life, but I opted to eat lunch first :)

The resurrected phone

I believe a photo of the newly repaired phone is in order:

Internally well preserved with a brand new exterior

Some people claim that a cheaper repair cost could be achieved by going to a reliable phone repair shop; I don't know exactly how much cheaper it would be, but I am sure that the peace of mind that comes with having the manufacturer repair the screen cannot be beaten.

The phone's survival

I'm certain that a few factors helped this phone to survive the 11 storey drop (or roughly 23.78 metres according to the height calculator here), presented in no particular order:

1. The build quality of the Galaxy Note 3 (we've all been amazed before at the reliability of Nokia phones before the "Smartphone Age", so why not be amazed at Samsung's build quality?)
2. The usage of a screen protector helped to ensure that the cracked screen stayed 'stuck' together as much as possible, helpfully preserving us users from injuring our fingers on the screen, and maybe even protecting from further damage to the internal components? 
3. A big help nonetheless came from the Otterbox Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Commuter Series Case. I will be writing to them to inform them about the inadvertent product test that they just passed!
4. The angle of the phone's impact with the ground probably helped a lot too. I didn't go as far as to get CCTV footage of the impact (if there was any) but all I know is that the impact managed to separate the 2 components of the Otterbox case (which usually requires some effort to manually remove). According to the article I linked to, a ±5°(degree in the angle of impact) may result in up to 36% difference in predicted internal stress!

If any of you have a similarly gut wrenching mobile phone or related device story to share, please sound off in the comments below!