Superman Test: Can The Sonim XP1 Withstand A 9mm Bullet? (video)
February 25th, 2009 6:24 AM | by Christen da Costa | 13 Comments
I’m in total awe of the Will It Blend guys. After all, they get paid to ‘blend’ (i.e. destroy) expensive consumer electronics to see if their Blendtec blenders can withstand the test. That’s when it hit me. Why not shoot stuff. Like in ’shoot stuff with bullets’. And what wouldn’t be more perfect than the Sonim XP1 cell phone.
The company behind the virtually indestructible handset has already put it through a myriad of tests with no failure in sight. But, and yes this is a big BUT, they’ve never shot the XP1. Now, for the record, the company claims that the handset can take a 9mm bullet and that’s where we came in. So, naturally we scored an XP1 and went on a mission to Inglewood, to the LAX shooting range. What happened next is anyone’s guess…that is until you hit the below video and watch us in all our tomfoolery.
Update: A lot of people have pointed out that we didn’t shoot it with a 9mm. Believe me, we had intentions of doing so until Sonim asked us to start with a 22. We should have made it more clear and if the phone had survived a 22 we would’ve shot it with the 9.
Thanks to the LAX Shooting Range and letting us use your facilities before and after hours.
Thanks to Techzulu for coming out and shooting (double entendre) the video.
Tags: 22mm, 9mm, guns, shooting range, sonim xp1, superman test, Videos
Cool, though a lot of stuff was misspelled and with bad grammar.
It is Sony isn’t it?
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So….where is the footage of the 9mm round ?
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Unfortunately, we never got to shoot it with a 9mm because the phone couldn’t get passed a 22. Wish I had…
I am not a firearm expert, nor have I researched the manufacturer’s claims in detail, but there are two oversights in your demonstration:
1) A handgun and a rifle of the same caliber can use the exact same ammuntion, yet the rifle shot will be a LOT more powerful than the handgun shot because the longer barrel will allow the hot expanding gasses to push the bullet forward for a considerably longer period of time before exiting the barrel. ie the bullet will be traveling a lot faster from a rifle than a handgun
2) The manufacturer’s claim might very well be genuine if a handgun were used in the demonstration. Distance of the phone from the muzzle of the gun when the shot was fired would almost certainly be a factor as well.
Thanks for the comment. The second time around we did use a handgun in light of this. Next time we’ll be much more diligent about keeping the variable consistant. At the end of the day, though, the phone wouldn’t of survived a .22 a .9 or probably a robust BB gun. The guys at the LAX range instructed us that the .22 would be far less powerful than the .9. In fact, I should get them to comment on this.
christen this is awesome. i dont get why you didnt start off with the 45 though.
Thanks Andy. We should have just done the 9mm and satisfied everyone’s lust for destruction. Next step is to get a Toughbook or something else that is supposed to be indestructible. Post a comment if you’ve got any ideas.
@Keith: No, it´s Sonim, as far as I know they´re a swedish manufacturer.
Sony would be “Sony Ericsson” if we´re talking about phones, and they have yet to claim that any of their models is bulletproof.
Thank you for clearing that up. Grammar, mispeling…someone needs to learn how to read better…err…well…oh whatever…learn to read.
we at mobil.nu did the same thing about a year ago.: check this out, at the end:
http://media.ncom.dk/index.php/video/id=642
Sonim is a U.S. company. Ironically, we cannot buy their phones in the U.S., except for gray-market. It appears that the big phone companies (ATT, Verizon) have strict “proprietary controls” that prevent smaller phone builders from competing with the big guys (Sony, Apple, Samsung), no matter how good the product might be. Somewhere in our Congress are lawmakers who got nice perks from a lobbyist in order to kill free-market capitalism.
Great test. It has actually been done about a year ago by a danish magazine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB5RIJugMsg
But still it is always fun watching phones get shot :)
LMAO
I just had to post after watching this, mainly because
the banner ad at the top was for one of those mail-in-your-used-cell-for-reuse programs.
Save the Enviroment, recycle your phone…
um, yea, about that… I think its supposed to be in working condition.
Oh well :D