Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Haha. Tangentially - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Send_Me_to_Heaven -

"developed by Carrot Pop which measures the vertical distance that a mobile phone is thrown. Players compete against each other by seeking to throw their phones higher than others, often at the risk of damaging their phones."



My first phone was a RugGear RG930. If you think Nokia’s 3310 was built like a brick, then this thing may as well have been a rubberised titanium brick.

It was so solid I used to play ‘catch the phone’ with friends, and it ended up face down on concrete more times than I can count, but I don’t think it ever sustained so much as a scratch.

If the RG930 ran Android, I reckon I could go for the high score.


I had a rugged android phone from Blackview that was deemed to survive terrible stuff...I managed to drop it into the ocean.

Bought another one for my significant other after changing the screen of her samsung smartphone 3 times. She has used it for more than a year, it slipped from her jacket once from my motorbike. Someone found it 1h later in the middle of a roundabout face down with tire marks on the case. He saw it only because I was calling it and it has some notification lights at the back. Not a single scratch on the screen! Her only complaints is the quality of the photos taken with the camera.

I wish they were supported by alternative roms like lineageos or /e/os.


>I managed to drop it into the ocean.

Will survive being subducted under a continental plate?


We'll never know unless it would be ejected by a volcano a few millenia from now.


A colleague showed me their Caterpillar-branded phone, it was proper ruggedized like you see in construction radios and the like, big bumpers, plastic screen, he casually yote it onto the floor to demonstrate. Mainly so he can pass it to his kids if they're bored.

The current generation Cat branded phones look pretty regular, but are probably still much more rugged than most phones.


When I lived in Sierra Leone circa 2012, a lot of expats had phones like this. Ruggedized, could handle anything - dust, falling into a silty river, anything. Many a game of catch were played with them.


Also: Smackbook - https://stevenbock.me/Smackbook-Yosemite/ (more modern recreation or the original)

A way to switch virtual desktops on macbooks with a hard drive by slapping them on the side.


> NOTE: This script will not work with any Macbooks shipped with SSDs. This includes the Retina Macbook Pro and recent Macbook Air models.

"This update broke my workflow! Just add an option to reenable HDD smacking."

https://xkcd.com/1172


IBM had this sensor on their laptops too, around 2 years before Apple added it to theirs: https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/HDAPS#Other


Also iAlertU. It used the sudden motion sensor to make a loud noise like a car alarm. The fun part was that you could use the remote to turn it off and that kept up with the theme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4XZpU1zzWs&pp=ygUHaWFsZXJ0d...


Why would apple ban this? Seems like a great way to increase sales!


The sensor was only needed to park spinning disks when the laptop was in free fall. Without the spinning disks they no longer fitted the sensor.


applecare abuse


Seems like the solution is right there. "Your claim was denied because we found and app installed on your device that promotes physical abuse."


Do you mean a browser with a HN comment section open?


Postmodern decadence. Funny, yes. But more akin to slaves fighting in an arena. Yes, I know, machines have no feelings (yet), but it still seems excessive.


On the contrary, this is how humanity advances - one "hold my beer and watch this" moment at a time.


I had some smartphone, I think a Motorola, with a plastic screen instead of glass. Never shattered on me, but took scratches very easily. I think it may have died when it was dropped in a toilet? IDK, been a while, I think it was before nearly universal IPS waterproofing on phones.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: