The original iPhone, unofficially named the
iPhone 2G, was the start of it all about 10 years ago. With 8 gigabytes of capacity, I’m holding
the more deluxe of the two versions initially launched; the other having a whopping 4 gigabytes
of internal storage. Apple sold about 6 million of these original
iPhones. So let’s throw back and analyze how the
build quality was back in 2007. [Intro] Now obviously with a phone this old, it is
fairly difficult to find a brand new one like I always do with my regular durability tests. This phone does appear to be in original condition
though, well, at least it was before I got my hands on it. We’ll start with the scratch test. The original iPhone is using the first generation
of Gorilla Glass. This is basically tempered glass used on cell
phone screens. And as we know, most tempered glass is a 6
on Mohs scale of hardness.
But we are seeing some nicks on this phone
at a level 5, which never happens on the more recent Gorilla Glass versions, like Gorilla
Glass 4 or 5. So some things have improved in the glass
department since this phone was released. It’s almost interesting that you can almost
see the individual pixels on the screen. The home button does not contain a fingerprint
scanner and is made of plastic. But it does still have that satisfying physical
click that has been removed on the newer versions of the iPhone. Up here on the front facing camera…just
kidding, there’s no front facing camera.
That feature was not implemented into the
iPhone lineup until the iPhone 4. The earpiece is buried pretty deep under that
thick black glass. It appears to be of a nylon variety but it
does not pull out easily like we’ve seen on some of the other phones. I still think metal makes for the most ideal
ear piece on a cell phone and luckily that’s what we’ve been seeing in the later editions
of the iPhone. The back of the phone is pretty curious. Instead of antenna bands at the top and bottom
of the phone, we have more of an antenna chunk. This black plastic section of the phone makes
up a pretty large portion of the device body and is definitely not the most aesthetic looking
piece of tech, but it did get the job done way back in the day. Lucky for us the silver portion of the phone
is indeed real metal. Solid. Cold. And quality feeling in the hand. And look, it’s an apple tree. You can tell it’s an apple tree from the
apple there in the center.
It’s pretty neat. This incredibly small circle up here in the
top corner is the 2 megapixel camera lens for picture taking. The video capabilities were not introduced
until the iPhone 3GS, two years later in 2009. The interesting thing is that this camera
lens is made from plastic. The little lip along the edge probably doesn’t
offer much protection either. I am glad that Apple has improved on this
with later versions of the iPhone, delving into their own special blends of sapphire. There is no flash, so good luck with your
low light shots, and no flashlight either. The side volume buttons are made from plastic,
and even this mute switch is plastic. Now normally I’m an Android guy, but this
mute switch is actually a really good idea.
I find myself wishing that my Galaxy S8 had
one. I’d be more than happy to trade Bixby for
a mute switch. Take a look at that headphone jack. There are 9 years of innovation between the
release of these two phones, and I think it’s a bit funny that the smaller iPhone has plenty
of room for the headphone jack, but Apple claims that the bigger phone, which is almost
twice the size, did not have room. I think that there’s always room for jack
– if you make room. The power button is made from plastic. And the bottom of the phone near the charging
port is also plastic. There are a lot of different materials used
in the build of this phone.
The chrome looking metal around the screen
is much harder than the soft aluminum on the back. It is much more scratch resistant as well. And this is good if you were to ever set your
phone face down on something, or drop it. The lip around the screen would not be damaged
or flake away like what happened with the plastic lip on the Galaxy S5. The original iPhone has a 3.5 inch TFT LCD
display, with a 320 by 480 pixel screen resolution.
Proportionally compared to this 4K video you
are watching, the original iPhone screen resolution looked a lot like this, utilizing about 2%
of the total available pixels on screen. The iPhone7 currently has a bit better resolution
at 750 by 1334. And the Galaxy S8 is one of the higher resolution
phones in the industry with a 2960 by 1440 display. Remember, all of these sizes are just relative
to the 4K viewing window that YouTube offered. The phone lasted about 20 seconds under that
flame test. I think that the heavier and thicker front
glass panel helped keep the heat off the pixels for longer.
Luckily it did recover like the IPS screens
that Apple uses now. And the screen was totally functional a few
seconds after the heat was removed. And now for the bend test. With all the different materials used in this
phone it will be interesting to see if there are any failure points. The phone is so small, there’s almost not
even enough room to grab a hold of it with both hands. Even after flexing the phone, the plastic
to metal joint along the back is still holding very tight. I’m sure the small form factor along with
the body style is helping considerably with the rigidness.
Personally I’d be totally fine if smartphones
started trending thicker. I’d much rather have a larger battery that
could last a day or two over some arrow dynamic dainty piece of fluff. I use my phone has a tool and not a fashion
accessory, so the more features it has and how long the battery lasts are big selling
points for me. Apple did do a good job with this phone though,
minus the plastic camera lens. This phone definitely passes my durability
test. I’m excited to tear this thing down and
see what it looks like on the inside. Now that the phone is so old, I’m sure that
there are plenty of old broken phones or phones with dead batteries laying around just waiting
to be brought back to life. What other old phones would you like to see
tested or torn down on my channel? I think these throw backs are kind of fun. Thanks a ton for watching. I’ll see you around..