Sony Ericsson Tour: Part II

Editorial by Michael Oryl on Saturday October 30, 2004.

Part two of our tour of Sony Ericsson USA's testing labs deals with the rougher side of mobile phone testing. While the audio testing of the phones and their components can certainly cause a bit of racket, the stuff that goes on in physical durability labs is even noiser.

These labs put the handsets through all of the normal situations that any phone in the real world would go through. That is to say, they get dropped, kicked, smashed, rolled, tumbled, pressed, and sat upon. Or at least some simulation of those actions.

But let's start off with something tame for now. Keypad testing, for example. All of the keypad designs that are used on Sony Ericsson's mobile phones have to go through many, many hours of durability testing that simulates a couple of years worth of regular use. The two photos below show a S710a going through the tests. The machines are hooked up to compressed air tanks and can be adjusted for a light or extra heavy touch.

Sony Ericsson Keypad Testing
Sony Ericsson Keypad Testing