Dropping in on dropped phones (pictures)

Verizon took CNET on a tour of its device-testing lab in Bedminster, NJ, this week, where it showed off some of the work it does to review smartphones and tablets before approving them for sale to customers, including drop testing, antenna testing and audio testing.

In this testing room, Verizon manager Sherif R. Sherif describes how Verizon reviews smartphones' speakers and microphones. The space is echo-free, also known as anechoic, and the room is built on springs to diminish vibrations from trucks along a nearby highway.

Here's a rubber-eared mannequin in the audio anechoic chamber.

In another testing room, Sherif talks about how Verizon reviews how well a phone can eliminate background noise, using speakers that blast sounds simulating a train station or busy restaurant.

Here a rotating yellow mannequin head is used to test the effectiveness of a phone's antenna.

On a monitor outside the room, testers can see how well the antenna performed, with round and red being good and concave and green being poor.

Verizon's Steve Manetta, who tests hardware reliability, prepares a phone for a drop test. Testers can then review the drops using a slow-motion camera.

Near the testing rooms, Verizon keeps dozens of old cell phones, dating back to the 1980s, in a series of glass cases.

Here are a few of the first consumer cell phones, including a 1989 Motorola model and a 1986 General Electric phone.