Tech Goes Boom

Break Your iPod? Blame Apple!

After watching Ars Technica actively try and destroy an iPod nano, and seeing the lengths it took to break it, it's surprising to see a page like this pop up.

Looks like Matthew Peterson had the screen on his nano crack while in the watch pocket of his pants emulating his Steveness. He claims not to know how it broke, and that there was no impact great enough to cause the damage. He also goes on for many a paragraph framing his tale of woe. Apple told him the damage wouldn't be covered by warranty, he's convinced it's a design flaw and now he's looking for compadres.

In my stint as a Mac Genius, I can tell you I saw my fair share of cracked LCDs. Even the 60gb fat ipods can crack if the top is torqued in the opposite direction of the bottom (one hand on top, one on bottom and twist). LCD screens are pretty fragile in general, especially to flexing.

Seems to me there was a little too much flexing going on in that watch pocket. Screen protection aside, it's just hard keeping something that thin from flexing. I personally wouldn't recommend keeping a nano in that pocket without making absolutely sure it's not getting scissored between your hip and leg when sitting down. Is this a design flaw? I would say no. There are trade offs here between toughness and size.

I understand Matthew's frustration, but I don't think Apple is at fault here. I'd like to see better pictures of the screen. There does appear to be a white line over the blacked out section of the screen that could indicate an impact.

Maybe Ars Technica can sacrifice another ipod to science and test the torsional breaking point of the screen.

Update: Looks like he's already been beat up pretty badly, and the consensus seems to indicate a break from flexing, although Matt doesn't seem to find that acceptable. Shrug.

Update 9/28/05:
Looks like there was really an issue. Schiller copped to it. Kudos to Matthew for braving a lot of doubtful people (myself included) and getting a response from Apple. I'd like to see what exactly the issue was posted somewhere. Was it an assembly problem, or a defect in the LCDs? It would be good to know.