I saw the "Death by theft, water and gravity: Smartphone horror stories" piece and it reminded me of my recent similar story. Well, similar in the fact it made a plunge; except my iPhone 4S fell approximately 30 stories down an elevator shaft - and still worked!

Yes, I am that guy. I was talking with friends (apparently talking with my hands), getting off the elevator on the 25th floor when the phone slipped out of my hand and somehow, some way, aligned itself with the one inch crack of the elevator and the floor. I just stood there in awe, watching and hearing it crash to its imminent death. The doors automatically closing had to snap me back to reality. "Did that really just happen?" I said. It did. (I say 30 stories, give or take a floor, to account for the parking garage below the building)

So, I went to the lobby to ask them to retrieve it from the elevator shaft and the attendant said "you know there's not going to be anything left of it, right?" "Yes, thank you, I'm aware of that, I just need my SIM card, please." "ok..."

After looking at the photos, it is surprising that it didn't completely explode. Probably thanks to having a case on it. Once home, I considered selling it for parts because surely it couldn't be repaired, but I decided to plug it in anyway and see what happened. It worked. iTunes booted up and it began backing up! Then I called a local repair shop, The iPhone Doctor of Austin, to see if it could be fixed. The owner was skeptical (I imagined his face had the same expression as the attendant at the desk) but figured if it worked, he could do some tech surgery and put the internal parts into new housing. No promises. A week later, he produced a good-as-new phone.

I guess the tech gods were watching over me...and laughing.