Items tagged with SquareTrade
How resilient is your brand new Samsung Galaxy S10 to the rigors of daily use? SquareTrade recently conducted a drop “test” and noted that Samsung’s three new Galaxy S10 devices are all susceptible to cracking. Interestingly, SquareTrade concluded that Galaxy S10 performed better than the S10e and S10+. SquareTrade dropped the Samsung Galaxy S10, S10e, and S10+ from six feet both face down and face up. The camera lens and flash of the Galaxy S10e broke when it was dropped face up and the device was completely unusable when it fell face down. The Galaxy S10+ shattered after both drops but continued to remain somewhat functional. The S10 cracked after it was dropped, but it was...
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Late last month, Apple reinvigorated its 4-inch form-factor with the release of the iPhone SE. Although everyone saw the device as an updated iPhone 5s, the design of the smartphone actually dates back to the iPhone 5, which was released in 2012. So why did Apple go back to its archives to resurrect a nearly 4-year old design and update it with modern internals? Well, Apple had to quell the Apple faithful that balked at the larger 4.7- and 5.5-inch iPhone 6/iPhone 6 Plus series of smartphones and it needed a cheaper device to appeal to customers at the lower-end of the market. While the iPhone SE definitely cribbed some iPhone 6s goodness with its A9 processor, M9 Motion Engine and 12MP camera,...
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SquareTrade raised more than a few eyebrows last week when it posted a video showing a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge cracking under pressure during its torture tests. SquareTrade applied force to the center of the display, and began recording how much pressure was required to bend the device (110 pounds). The Galaxy S6 Edge’s display also cracked at 110 pounds (while still remaining functional) and the device gave out completely at 149 pounds of pressure. As someone who doesn’t put my smartphone in my back pocket (it always stays in my right, front pants pocket), I don’t really pay much attention to such tests, and consider them mere fodder for fanboy wars. Samsung, on the other hand, is downright irate...
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One of the toughest reader questions to answer when it comes to hardware recommendations is "Which vendor gives the best support?" In theory, as journalists, we have both direct access to corporate staff and a wide reader base to poll from. In practice, companies claim this sort of information constitutes trade secrets and lock it down tighter than Ft. Knox. Laptop Magazine recently set out to rank the various major laptop vendors (Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba). beginning with a set of three basic questions for each. Most people aren't aware of this, but Panasonic briefly experimented with a NotSoToughBook before settling on their current...
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Last month, SquareTrade—a company in the business of selling extended warranties directly to consumers online, with what it claims are better prices and coverage plans than store-bought options—released a report on netbook and notebook failure rates. Much of the discussion the report generated focused on the company's estimated failure rates for three-year-old systems, as well as the significant disparity between vendors. In focusing on that admittedly juicy section of the data, however, some of SquareTrade's other conclusions and the practical impact they may have on your wallet went mostly unreported. Study Methodology:SquareTrade's report is based on an analysis of 30,000 randomly selected...
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