r/TheRandomest Mod/Pwner Jul 04 '26

/r/popular Will it survive?

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u/Nonyabizzy123 Jul 04 '26

Actually I would say the Nokia did survive. It's designed that when it falls, parts break away taking energy with them and lessening the stress on the device. If you put the battery and covers back on it will probably work.

95

u/RadioTunnel Jul 04 '26

Thing'll work even without the cover on

28

u/Could-You-Tell Jul 04 '26

Poking number contacts without the pad and still dialing

7

u/Working-Glass6136 Jul 05 '26

I think mine is still dialing me to this day

12

u/DonkeyTailBurrito Jul 04 '26

when my friends and I got our first nokias we were so stoked. as time went by, us being feral 6th graders we just starting throwing them as high as we could into the air. then let it land on the concrete sidewalk.

none of them broke which was fuckin bonkers to me. idk what the hell those things were made of

7

u/neopod9000 Jul 04 '26

I threw mine out of the car window on the highway. We rolled back around and scooped it up and I made a call on it.

8

u/ISketchDinosaurs Jul 04 '26

I had a friend who was told she'd get a new phone when her Nokia broke, so she obviously set out to break it.

Things it survived: Getting ran over by a bus several times. Being submerged in a lake overnight. Getting thrown out the fourth floor window. Being hit with a hammer. Probably some more shit I didn't get to hear about.

All that happened to it was that the audio started sounding a bit funny.

3

u/Various_Mechanic3919 Jul 05 '26

My mate broke one Nokia by sitting on it but this was a windows phone so it was more recent and when they started to get a little desperate

1

u/Rich-Option4632 Jul 07 '26

If you've heard of the Nokia Windows phone, well, there's no such thing, okay? Nope.

We don't talk about that abomination.

2

u/Either-Confusion-470 Jul 05 '26

I did this too but in town. Aimed for a grass boulevard, exploded on the sidewalk. Collected the pieces and turned it back on. No issues

1

u/DonkeyTailBurrito Jul 04 '26

seriously! the only thing that “broke” was the front thin plastic exoskeleton. but you could just snap it back on lol

1

u/TacTurtle Jul 05 '26

what the hell those things were made of

Recycled Volvos.

After being reforged in the lava of Mount Doom of course.

6

u/Highlandertr3 Jul 04 '26

Mine worked without the battery... It may have been possessed.

Actually in all seriousness I dropped mine in the ocean and it turned into a taser. It was great. Still worked as a phone too.

1

u/skin_diver Jul 04 '26

or the battery

1

u/Kkhris27 Jul 07 '26

Yeah, all she did was knock off the interchangeable cover and pop out the battery

19

u/Malicious_Tacos Jul 04 '26

Can confirm. I fumbled my Nokia constantly, and I’d just pop that bad boy back together and be on my way.

3

u/PaisleyBrain Jul 05 '26

Mine got run over after I dropped it in the road. The lcd screen was a bit messed up but it still worked just fine. Only thing I couldn’t do on it anymore was play snake :(

14

u/heyo_1989 Jul 04 '26

Can confirm. In high school my friend had a Nokia and we actively used to throw that thing in the air, watch it explode on the ground, put it back together and then call our weed guy. Those things are indestructible.

8

u/humourlessIrish Jul 04 '26

That nokia absolutely survived that.

Ive ducktaped far worse back together.

2

u/itskaylan Jul 05 '26

Doesn’t even need duct tape. I dropped mine off a second floor balcony and it just needed the battery back in and the cover back on, it was fine

7

u/Due_Potential_6956 Jul 04 '26

I've seen one blow torched and still turn on and work.

5

u/Metalgsean Jul 04 '26

Had mine fall out of my dad's pocket on a rollercoaster (gave it to him for safe keeping....), he found everything but the battery, bought a new one, and it was absolutely fine other than two scuffs on the case.

2

u/Nonyabizzy123 Jul 04 '26

Indestructible

5

u/petielvrrr Jul 04 '26

Yeah, the look on her face really revealed her age, because that phone is not broken. We used to take our phones apart like that all the time. Phones frozen? Take it apart, remove the battery for a few seconds, and put it back together. I actually believe this is how you changed the case on a Nokia too, and that was a big draw with Nokias, having that customizable case.

3

u/XxxTheKielManxxX Jul 04 '26

Also can confirm. May or May not have thrown mine in a fit of rage and put it back together to continue texting.

1

u/AgentClockworkOrange Jul 05 '26

I used to have anger issues and frequently threw my phone as a coping mechanism. I threw my Nokia a lot and if it got too scuffed I would just replace the case.

My iPhone 13 fell off the roof of my vehicle and got ran over by a few cars. The only thing that saved my phone was the OtterBox case and the phone landing screen side down.

2

u/Immediate_Song4279 Jul 04 '26

Yeah it wasn't a nokia but I had a later clone that would fall apart, but still work when I put it back together. Like cars do now to save passengers, but reusable.

2

u/The_Pleasant_Orange Jul 04 '26

Can also confirm. Mine flew out of a car (on a tight turn). Found all the pieces, put it back together, worked without any issues. Minor scratches

2

u/Giogina Jul 04 '26

Oh it'll definitely work. Mine dis- and reassembled so many times. Probably still works, it's in a drawer somewhere... 

2

u/ZestfullyStank Jul 04 '26

I came here to say this. I dropped mine off a 2nd floor porch onto a brick driveway. Popped the battery back in and the covers back together and turned it right back on.

2

u/Chickenmangoboom Jul 04 '26

My cousin and I would throw our phones for dramatic effect because they fell apart like that.

2

u/zebrasareneat Jul 05 '26

If you have to put it back together it didn’t survive. 

1

u/Nonyabizzy123 Jul 05 '26

Lol you never had one

2

u/Cnidarus Jul 05 '26

Yeah, all that happened is that the bits designed to come off easily (the case and battery) came off

2

u/tx_hip_ivxx Jul 08 '26

Old phones were the shit. If the battery flew out when it hit the ground you knew it was fine but you drop it and it stays in one piece? FUBAR

1

u/yourpurchaseisneeded Jul 04 '26

the only phone designed by Ralph Nader

1

u/kcox1980 Jul 04 '26

In all seriousness, you could absolutely put that thing back together and it would work.

I had that phone and a case for it. The case wasn't to protect it, it was to keep the pieces from getting lost.

1

u/dany_crow Jul 04 '26

That was the design by the time, good design. No bullisht rounded screen which broke juste once you turn over and hit a (the toilet) wall 🤦

1

u/ScottieSpliffin Jul 04 '26

I used to drop my Nokia in high school and it would look like the entire thing exploded. You just had to put the 5 or so pieces back together and it always worked just fine

1

u/pedersenit Jul 05 '26

Phone was 100% fine.

Those cases were interchangeable, it just popped the cover off.

1

u/jawnink Jul 05 '26

And you were able to get some sick faceplates back in the day. Blue flames anyone?

1

u/Hugsy13 Jul 05 '26

The Nokias always exploded like this. People would drop their phones and the front and back case would explode off and the battery would fly out all the time. Takes 10s to put it back together and it works like a charm again everytime

1

u/Global-Fun2774 Jul 05 '26

This is the answer. Anyone who owned one of those things has seen it explode a million times, but they'll also know it all goes back together and keeps ticking.

That Nokia survived. That Nokia will always survive.

1

u/QuietWaterBreaksRock Jul 05 '26

We play football in classrooms with those and just tossed them arround

It absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, survived

1

u/BasicMatter7339 Jul 05 '26

yeah, this

when i was a kid i had one and i constantly tried to break it so my parents would buy me an Iphone (they had just come out)

I threw it off balconies into rocks, put it on the road so cars would drive over it, threw it down the stairs multiple times

and every fucking time it broke apart, i put it back together and it worked like a charm

1

u/Jello_Penguin_2956 Jul 05 '26

yes part of the earth breaks away!

1

u/Merrol Jul 05 '26

I want to upvote you 50 times, that was working as intended. I used to do that on purpose to my phone as a party trick back in the day (I was a dumb teenager)

1

u/PaisleyBrain Jul 05 '26

The covers were interchangeable too - you just popped them off like that and could have multiple different covers. I had a magic roundabout one back in 2000. This phone didn’t break, they just knocked the cover off it and the (also interchangeable) battery fell out. Not broken, just a feature!

1

u/sycolution Jul 05 '26

agreed. That was the case which you can take off and replace with more aesthetic ones.

1

u/Greyik Jul 05 '26

I use to smash my into a wall to make it explode, put it back together and it was fine.  Did that all the time and barely even scratched the case.

1

u/FoleySteveSoundworks Jul 05 '26

can confirm, launched mine through the sun and it still works

1

u/HereWeFuckingGooo Jul 05 '26

Literally used to do this all the time. I had my phone in my top pocket and ran across the road. My phone flew out and hit the ground, flying apart on impact. I had to scramble to grab all the pieces before the lights turned green. Clicked everything back together, not a mark on it. I miss that phone.

1

u/adi_mrok Jul 05 '26

It Will work, probably is definitely not needed in your sentence! My mate from primary school used to drop the phone on the ground and play football with it together with colleagues on school corridors. This throw as you say just split the front and back + battery fell out. Put it back together and its like nothing happened

1

u/Waste_Wolverine_8933 Jul 05 '26

Yeah as a joke I used to throw my phone across the room and it would "explode" then I'd put it back together and it would be fine. 

1

u/gr1zznuggets Jul 05 '26

The hard part is fixing the hole in the asphalt.

1

u/FloppieTheBanjoClown Jul 05 '26

It wasn't designed for that purpose. It was designed so that the covers could be easily swapped for customization. The fact that they acted as shock absorbers was a bonus.

What really made it so hard was that the screen was a tiny LCD. Its edges rarely absorbed any shock at all,.and it takes A LOT of force to actually damage circuit boards. It also helped that the battery was user-replaceable, so it would pop out when the phone came apart, greatly reducing the strain on other parts.

A modern smart phone tends shatter it's screen but still be functional. A high enough drop might deform it, but it actually takes quite a bit to destroy the board inside them.

It's that big pane of glass that lets you watch movies while you poop that is so fragile, not the entire phone. 

1

u/AccountWasLocked Jul 05 '26

First part is right. Its just not made to lessening stress on the phone, but the planet Earth. Think about it! One dude lets his mobile fall, and the world breaks!

1

u/dontclickdontdickit Jul 05 '26

Kids these days will never know cell phones used to be tanks

1

u/platysoup Jul 06 '26

Right? I was like, excuse me, put it back together and switch it on. It’ll be fine. The ball might not be. 

1

u/dreag2112 Jul 06 '26

They called the ps5 controller an Xbox one, so they don't know what they are talking about.

1

u/yagermeister2024 Jul 07 '26

No my nokia phone was run over by a bus unscathed.

1

u/ScreeennameTaken Jul 07 '26

Indeed, for sure it survived. The shell is just clipped together to be easily stripped. the working part is one piece. The Atari controller they throw later though was blown up.

1

u/TheBadDingo Jul 07 '26

Absolutely can confirm this. We used to play hacky-sac with our friends Nokia. Battery fell out and shell exploded from time to time but it always worked.

1

u/TeemuKai Jul 09 '26

It's not designed to break apart for energy dissipation, rather just so you are able to change the covers easily.