Durability test video has a piece of bad news for Note 9 fans

Zach Nelson of the popular YouTube channel JerryRigEverything has recently applied his well-known test of durability to the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. As this phone can cost well over US$1000, you might expect it to pass with flying colors. This was the case...minus some unusual details.

Nelson started off his test by trying to scratch the Note 9's front, back and side-rails with Mohs test picks and razor blades as usual. The Gorilla Glass 5 panels held up as expected. However, during the 'side scratching' phase, Nelson found that the dedicated Bixby button popped out as he dragged the blade down the side of the phone. Further investigation revealed that the other buttons could be excised in a similar way.

Needless to say, the YouTuber found this unusual. He also pointed out that this brand-new flaw, heretofore unknown to Galaxy Note-line devices, could render such a phone unusable. There are no indications that the defect may take effect during normal usage; however, it may also be vulnerable to somewhat malicious tampering by third parties. Nelson was also (somewhat more predictably) able to snap the S Pen in half. This is not great news for Note 9 devotees either, but does give the viewer a look at the new internals that render the stylus Bluetooth-enabled.

On the other hand, the Note 9 in the video proved itself resistant to the standard 'bend test' stage of the video. In addition, the buttons' connectors appeared to be intact on removal; therefore, it's possible that they could be re-housed again easily. Nevertheless, it is up to each new potential buyer to decide if this is an acceptable compromise in such an expensive mobile device.

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