I am extremely  conscientious and careful when handling any kind of machine or device. But I have to confess that cellphones are the exception. Without intention, I seem to single these things out for crass abuse. (And I wonder what Freud would say to that.)

In the past, I’ve subjected my cellphones to extreme heat and cold, vibrating motorcycles, beach sand and salt, sunlight, x-ray scanners, high humidity and a great number of bumps and falls. And yesterday I took my torturous ways to new heights while shooting pictures in the Spacecraft Fabrication Facility (or Building 170) of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

I was on a catwalk at least 15 feet above the factory floor where I took this shot:

Using sophisticated machining tools, JPL's Spacecraft Fabrication Facility builds highly complex mechanical, developmental and flight hardware for unmanned spacecraft. Photo: Reinhard Kargl

Leaning against the handrail to stabilize myself, the phone was dislodged from its belt holster and entered into a free fall. I could watch it getting smaller and smaller on its way down. Good-bye! Producing a most unpleasant sound, it smashed into the concrete floor beneath. I believe I even saw it bounce a few times!

Certain that this phone was wrecked, I didn’t even bother to climb back down to retrieve the debris before I finished taking pictures.

But when I finally reached the crash site, I was most surprised to find the phone not only (mostly) in one piece. It was still on! And …… working! The day after, I am still testing all the functions rather suspiciously — but so far there are no problems whatsoever.

According to my calculations, the phone must have hit concrete with a final velocity of 9.5 m/s (or 21.3 miles per hour, or 34.28 hm/h), after a free fall of almost one second. Not bad!

My Noka 6085 after surviving a head-on collision with a concrete floor with over 21 mph.

Given my dysfunctional relationship with communication devices and after having read and learned that Nokia makes some of the most robust standard cellphones on the market, I’ve been strictly a loyal Nokia guy since birth (or the dawn of the cellphone age, whichever came later).

Sure, Nokia no longer makes the coolest phones on the market. That distinction clearly belongs — in my personal opinion — to the iPhone line. But I figured that the short life expectancy of a “smart” (?) phone in my hands would not make it worth the investment. Because they are less robust than “bricks”, I’ve even resisted flip-phones until recently.

This little Nokia 6085 on the other hand left me impressed.

I hope that Nokia won’t even try to to be “cool”, but will simply offer phones that work: robust, functional, with good sound quality and replaceable batteries.

Reinhard Kargl

Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.