The Nokia Lumia 920 drop tested (so you don't have to)

Seeing as how the Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 handset just launched a few days ago in the US, there is an understandable scarcity of accessories for the device. Some people might not mind given the Lumia 920’s beautiful appearance, but others like me probably feel like our phones are naked without a case. What would happen if we dropped it by mistake?

Luckily David Rahimi from PhoneBuff.com was brave enough to find out just that. He dropped the Lumia 920 from three different heights, simulating a variety of real-world dropping conditions. Head past the break for the drop test video and our own analysis of the results.

Wow, isn’t it painful watching a brand new and highly desirable device get abused like that? But the Lumia 920 holds up admirably to the tester’s simulated clumsiness. The first time, it picks up only one major scuff on one of its bottom corners. The second time, the phone bounces over Rahimi’s shoe after impacting the ground, picking up several new scuffs on its other bottom corner. The third and highest drop scratches up the left side of the Lumia a great deal, as you would reasonably expect from a fall of that height. The scuffs show up a bit more because of the phone’s white exterior, naturally.

The most encouraging aspect of the drop test results is that the Lumia 920’s screen shows no obvious damage even after three cataclysmic drops. Windows Phone Central’s own Daniel Rubino recently scratched his previous generation Lumia 900’s screen by mistake, but the screen on the Lumia 920 appears to be more resilient thanks to being made with the newly-developed Gorilla Glass 2. Sure, as our Lumia 920 review indicates, the new screen doesn’t quite match the Lumia 900’s wonderful black levels, but many would consider the increased durability a worthwhile tradeoff.

So take a deep breath, Nokia Lumia 920 owners, as you wait for new and more interesting cases to appear on the market. We’ll have reviews for several cases soon. And of course we’re working on getting multiple cases into the Windows Phone Central Store for Lumia 920 in addition to the general-purpose cases, screen protectors and other items we already carry.

Source: PhoneBuff.com; thanks to Peter Di Pasquale for the tip!

Paul Acevedo

Paul Acevedo is the Games Editor at Windows Central. A lifelong gamer, he has written about videogames for over 15 years and reviewed over 350 games for our site. Follow him on Twitter @PaulRAcevedo. Don’t hate. Appreciate!