Do You Protect Your iPhone? It's a Case Study That Divides Americans. (wsj.com) 177
As smartphones balloon in price, some pushing past $1,000, there is a debate between case haves and case have-nots. One side says it makes absolutely no sense to ferry such expensive gadgets unprotected -- especially one vital to modern living. From a report: Phone-case holdouts say their nervous pals are delusional, clinging to their bulky silicon prophylactics like a security blanket. Cases cause carelessness, they say, leading to phones dropped, slammed and stepped-on. Having no protective case "makes me pay attention," says Drew Davidson, director of Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center. "I have friends that break every phone even though they have cases."
If you have money to throw around (Score:4, Interesting)
... there is no reason to give up that wonderful thinness and slipperiness and state-of-the-art fragility for an ugly case. Or even a very good looking one.
It's not that much money (Score:2)
If you have money to throw around
What money though?
Phones do not shatter into a million pieces when dropped. All that happens is the screen (or bad) cracks.
It's not like repairing a cracked screen is THAT expensive, and you can even just keep using a phone for a while with a cracked screen in the event you do drop it...
If you have something like AppleCare, you usually even get a few free screen repairs... though of course, AppleCare itself does cost money. But if you think you might need more than one scr
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You must be American because that's the typical attitude. Eh, I'll just spend money to fix something rather than taking care of it in the first place. It's only money.
Reminds me of the people I see every day who have new cars (within the last 3 years) which look far worse than my car which is pushing a decade. Granted, it is always possible someone hit them and they're waiting for the insurance to pay out (HA!), but considering the number
Not that at all (Score:2)
You must be American because that's the typical attitude. Eh, I'll just spend money to fix something rather than taking care of it in the first place.
I've gone without a case most of the time I've been using smart phones, and have never had to replace a cracked screen. You can opt to take care of something by being careful, rather that opting to try and buy security.
Furthermore as I said in another post, having a case means the back can get scratched up with debris that accumulates inside.
It's just like a
Re:Not that at all (Score:4, Funny)
I've never replaced a cracked screen either, but that's because I keep using it with a cracked screen.
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This is a prime example of spending another person's money more carelessly than your own. You can't even be bothered to properly situate the person you're talking about.
For example, you're obviously not the high school student picking up the milk, eggs, celery and turnips while walking home from cello practice—lugging the cello your family can't really afford—on badly maintained sidewalks in a semi
You don't know true poverty (Score:2)
soon cure you of your babysitting Jobs delusion.
I get up dirt poor buddy so know far better than you the value of money and the day to day conditions of people without a lot of money.
But because I was poor I was also VERY careful of how I treated my stuff and what I spent money on, that has carried through to this day - which is probably why despite mostly not using a case on my phone, I have yet to crack a screen.
I have also walked a million wonky sidewalks in my lifetime thanks, the secret is you watch wh
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Maybe if you're regularly taking it to the beach.
I take my phone out of the case (Otter) occasionally to wipe off the minor amount of dust that seems to get inside (I guess I'm a bit of a clean freak). Never once have I noticed that the back of the phone has gotten scratched. I appreciate that the case provides enough friction that the phone doesn't slide out of my pocket or h
Re:It's not that much money (Score:5, Insightful)
You must be American because that's the typical attitude.
You must not be, because the typical American response would be to throw it away and buy a new one. This country throws away more useful items just because it "can't be repaired" or there is a newer, flashier model out.
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As a non-american I agree americans are all fat slobs with money to throw around ;)
To the previous guys response: he sounds like being willing to pay to repair means you have money to throw around and you don't take care of things. I find it's the exact opposite. People with cases toss their phones on the table, drop it frequently, put it in their back pocket and sit on it etc etc. Selection bias I suppose, but if you are the type that's very careful paying $30-50 for a nice case has a greater opportunity c
Re:If you have money to throw around (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not as if protecting the phone is the only reason to use a case.
I use a wallet case so I only have to remember one item when I'm leaving the house. As long as I have it, I've got my phone, transit pass, drivers license, debit card, etc.
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I got myself a thin transparent case. So for most people it seems like there is no case on it. However it is less slippery and can take some moderate impacts.
However I wish they stop making these tools like jewelry, especially with the high performance models. I don't need Gold and Glass backs, where I really need a rubberized plastic to protect the device.
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This is what I started doing this year, I've got a low profile slim case with black edges that blend in invisibly and a transparent back, and I really like it so much better, hopefully it should absorb all but the worst falls, but I'm not sure if it's the best of both worlds (slim and almost invisible but protective) or ..neither. But I generally do not drop phones, I treat them carefully.
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Bla Bla Bla Cell phones are so expensive....
Being that your Cell Phone today, for most people cover their Phone, Computer, Camera, Flashlight, GPS, TV, Radio... All in one tiny device. People are more apt to splurge on a nice one as it would be their primary tool for the next few years, on their person nearly all the time.
If I were to say in the 1990's that in 20/30 years nearly everyone will be carrying in their pocket a Linux (Android) /Unix (iOS) workstation in their pockets which will cover all these p
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The real problem is that phones are too expensive.
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How in the world did people come to consider those things to be advantages to a phone? The phone I used from 2010-2014 was 14mm thick due to its slide-out keyboard. Over 5 years of ownership, I dropped it 3 times. The phone I replaced it with was 8.6mm thick. I dropped it 3 times in the first two weeks I owned it (and almost-dropped it many more times). The disadvantage of a thinner phone was so stark and obvious that I bought a cas
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This trend to making phones thin and slippery is stupid. It increases the chances you'll drop and damage the phone, increases the chances you'll bend the phone, and forces a reduction in battery life.
You're looking at it wrong, increasing the chances you'll break the phone and decreasing battery life encourages people to buy a new phone, creating profits for business, increasing the GDP and making America great.
Re: If you have money to throw around (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yes I put a case around a sharp knife.
My Kitchen Knives I keep in wood block, where only the handle is exposed when not in use. This prevents me from reaching into a cabinet full of knives and hurt myself.
For knives that I may carry around, they will often fold up to protect it. Or put it in a sheath, so it isn't poking into my leg, or cutting my clothing.
For these knives you want to keep the blade sharp so having them covered helps protect them as well.
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Exactly, it's not London!
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Haha. Exactly. Haven't used a case for 3 yrs. Never had a scratch or a broken screen. Had an otter case but found that it made the phone less convenient to use and about doubled the weight and I'd never dropped it, so decided what's the point?
Depends how broke you make it should you drop it I suppose but if my mean time between drops is a few years and the replacement of a screen is about $100, meh I have money to throw around for a phone that takes up half the room in my pocket and doesn't have a piece of
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Are they saying you *shouldn't* buy a case? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Me, I've not left a phone un-cased since my Nokia 9000. If you put valuable data into it, then you are going to need to protect the device. Relying on having a synchronisation
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"Our condoms are HOLEY!"
"Don't you mean 'holy', Your Eminence?"
"I mean HOLEY!"
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You could use the same logic to justify not wearing a seat belt in your car, and saying "I'll just be a super-careful driver so I don't need it."
And you could also use the same logic to wear body armor with airbags when you cross a street. To each his own.
Re: Are they saying you *shouldn't* buy a case? (Score:3)
If that armor only weighed under 10 lbs and also stopped bullets and wasn't hot and cost a couple hundred dollars or less it might be worth it.
A phone case is under 15 bucks and easily doubles the distance you can drop the device without damaging it. Also tanks scratches.
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Re: Are they saying you *shouldn't* buy a case? (Score:2)
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Agreed, they should outlaw using a phone without safety measures.
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You mean you've never heard anybody make that claim about seat belts? This is absolutely the logic by which people rate themselves.
People are lousy judges of their own abilities because they use their performance under ideal circumstances as the model for how they are *all* the time, whereas their mishap rate is governed by their performance under the worst cases they regularly encounter. I had a guy who worked for me who regularly broke equipment in the field. I could watch him like a hawk in the office
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You could use the same logic to justify not wearing a seat belt
Not really. Because society doesn't incur a cost should you break your precious phone. We don't have an Affordable Care Act for iThings.
Or do we?
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You could use the same logic to justify not wearing a seat belt in your car, and saying "I'll just be a super-careful driver so I don't need it."
We can change the laws so that seat belts don't go around your chest, but round your neck. Now _that_ will make them drive carefully.
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It's just a balance between cost, convenience, protection, and even psychological benefits.
In this situation, it's cheap and convenient, so even if the protection is small, it makes sense.
Arguing against phone cases on the grounds they make the user less careful is like arging against seatbelts (or helmets) because in very rare circumstances they can do more harm than good. That's far more the exception than the rule, and statistically doesn't make a dent in the average benefits they otherwise provide.
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The thing is, as you use something every day, its cost isn't always apparent.
When Driving my Car Everyday I don't realize I am riding $20k worth of machinery. Or every morning thinking, I have a $1k device in my pocket.
We hear about experts getting in accidents all the time, because they let their guard down, because they felt too comfortable about doing the activity.
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Having no case makes people pay more attention? (Score:2)
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This means I've been very, very lucky during the past couple decades. Never dropped my phone from a height exceeding 2 feet, and the few times it happened, there was a carpet or parquet to dull the impact.
With that being said, I was forced to get a phone case exactly for the reason above. When my phone dropped, it was because its back was so slippery that it was simply sliding off tilted surfaces. The tilt angle was very narrow, mind you.
So i slammed a thin silicone case on it and that's all.
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The problem is that the phone owner is not in control of every situation all the time.
The vast majority of what you might call "accidents" are cases of carelessness from another person's perspective. Basically, anybody whose behavior would have actively prevented the situation.
For example, if you leave a glass of water on the very edge of a table, and somebody else bumps it off the table, a quality analysis will lead to the result that both people were uncareful and share responsibility.
It isn't like "meteorite fell on it" is a common cause of phone breakage.
Some people hold the phone in one
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Cause and effect (Score:2)
Maybe people who are by nature more fumble-fingered are more prone to buying cases, which for the Perfect Every Day crowd looks like having the case makes their friends fumble-fingered.
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Yeah, I was going to make that point. How many phones do you break by dropping them before you start buying a case that at least lets your phone survive a few falls.
Comically my phone has damage because of its case. I'm still using the leather sheaf case I bought four phones ago, which is just a teensy bit too big for my current phone, which resulted in it sliding out and hitting a rock in the Sahara desert. Nothing but sand anywhere in sight, except right where my bloody phone landed.
Without a case, it wou
Re:Cause and effect (Score:4, Funny)
I think the Universe is trying to tell you something.
I thought you were going somewhere else with tha (Score:2)
Without a case, it would've been fine. But without a case the screen would've been scratched years ago
I tried using a case all the time a year or two ago, but I found the back actually got scratched a bit because over time, some small particles get in between the case and the back of the phone!
A case really compresses things like that against a phone for a while, while having it loose means small bits of whatever in pockets are not as compressed.
And of course, the screen itself is not protected by a case, o
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A firm layer of leather between the screen and the car key in my pocket probably makes a difference.
Other people are probably sensible enough to use different pockets.
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I should think. Any pocket my phone goes into has nothing in it but the phone (I mean, heck, I got at least four if not more at any time). Keys and change are not good bedfellows for a smartphone unless you have a book-like cover. I used to, it was kinda cool but awkward for calls.
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Maybe people who are by nature more fumble-fingered are more prone to buying cases
Nope.
Re:Cause and effect (Score:4, Insightful)
Your elaborate and well-sourced response has completely changed my mind. Well done!
Yeah... no. (Score:2)
So? Accidents happen. You think your friends are all idiots who drop their phones on purpose?
If they buy iPhones, they got the first part down (Score:2)
alright.
"i", *does* stand for "idiot" after all.
Galaxy/iPhone/Flagship/USS John S. McCain (Score:2)
Not a full Otterbox style case, but a rubberized case that wraps around the back and has slight bumpers for the screen. Leaves the screen totally open.
Works for me, probably depends on how careful you are with yours. Also... the glass on a modern Galaxy is good enough to take some pretty serious abuse. I've repeatedly dropped the S7, S8, S9+, and have yet to smash a screen. I broke the back camera glass on the S7, but that was a dirt-cheap fix with a replacement glass from iFixit.
Do You Protect Your iPhone? (Score:2)
I use Android*, you insensitive clod!
* not true, I do use an iPhone, but the title might be offending to a lot of people on Slashdot.
We aren't. White knight somebody else. (Score:2)
Android users generally don't attach their ego and self-confidence to what is not a shiny trinket but another tool to them.
Oh, and we don't put cases around our phones either, because their prices start at $60 for a new one.
For me it depends on use (Score:4, Interesting)
For day to day living, I just go without a case. I like not having the bulk of it, and day to day most surfaces I am over most of the time are not really so hard I worry about drops - the few drops that happen on concrete or other hard surfaces modern phones handle pretty well.
But if I'm going on a trip, or somewhere elseI might be taking a ton of pictures - then I put on a case. With a large amount of use in strange areas, there is a lot higher chance that the phone will slip and hit something strange in an area I'm not used to. Also cases can offer additional functionality, one case I have has a wrist strap, another has a tripod mount on the back. If you're going to have a case anyway, might as well get some extra functionality out of it!
Absolutely (Score:2)
I actually work for a living, so my phones tend to be with me in less-safe environments. Even when they're in my pocket, they can get mashed or hit by things I'm carrying or moving. All of my co-workers who don't use cases tend to need new phones every few months. or end up carrying around gadgets with cracked screens.
I've also fallen off of a motorcycle and landed directly on my phone - but the case protected it (while leaving a perfect phone-shaped bruise on my leg).
That's not even mentioning the extra le
Don't worry (Score:2)
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From several weeks ago, we were told that as the top end for phones crept up, fewer people are buying them
I don't think it's fewer buyers, but buyers waiting longer between updates. You may have replaced your $500 phone after two years, but your $1200 phone better last three years at least.
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From several weeks ago, we were told that as the top end for phones crept up, fewer people are buying them
I don't think it's fewer buyers, but buyers waiting longer between updates. You may have replaced your $500 phone after two years, but your $1200 phone better last three years at least.
That may be. I still think it's likely that three years later, you realize the difference between the $500 phone and the $1000+ phone isn't as big.
risk (Score:2)
Designing fragile phone is engineering malpractice (Score:2)
A car analogy - if modern smartphones were cars, we all would be driving a 3-row SUVs made out of cardboard. Not everyone needs a giant SUV, and nobody wants to be in a crash inside one made out of cardboard.
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Designing fragile phones that are SLIPPY as heck is engineering malpractice. It is increasingly clear that phones are designed around the notion that someone will stick in in a case, which allows the use of polished metal and glass for the structure. Try and hold it with fleecy gloves or wet hands from rain or sweat and you can't help but drop most of them.
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Just make sure there's a hole in the case (Score:3)
to display that logo.
That's the real base of the argument here is to make sure everyone not only knows that you have an iPhone but WHICH iPhone you have.
Having something unidentifiable at a distance is more my way.....
Bad cases vs good cases vs shallow stupidity (Score:2)
I am pro case. I understand the arguments against, but laugh at their premises. There are three types of people.
The shallow that think thinness and appearance matter. They get no case.
The foolish that buy weak cases that make the apple product ugly, and thicker with no real benefit.
The smart that buy a real case that either extends battery life or offers real protection.
I have a unicorn beetle case on my ipad that absorbs the damage. I have dropped it accidental from 8 feet above the ground and nothin
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Translation: I'm a klutz. I need 2" steel plated armor to protect my phone.
Is personal preference a topic of debate? (Score:2)
Or just a personal preference?
Also: Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, like a cracked phone.
Yes, always (Score:2)
People drop stuff. I'm no exception.
I always buy a simple, ruggedized case for my phone (and tablet). It's saved me quite a few screen replacements or worse.
I don't know why it has to be a war or divisive! (Score:5, Insightful)
If you want to use a case, just use a case.
If you don't like cases, just don't use a case.
Big freaking deal? I use a case because I don't want to have to be careful with my phone. If I drop it, big whoop, the case absorbs the impact. But that's me. If someone else wants to use their phone caseless, who cares?
Same deal with the iPhone vs. Android phone debate; it's not a battle, it's not something to be proud of, just use what you like and let others enjoy what they like.
Because this is not news. This is clickbait. (Score:3)
It purpose is to trigger and enrage you, so you are made to blindly fight others, abd cause as much Buzz... as possible, to make as many people as possible see their article and ...Feed their ad machine.
Frankly, in my book, that is a 2-5-years-in-prison crime.
And if you're with us, we can make it one.
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It isn't and nobody gives a shit if someone else cases or not. This is Dicedot, News For Non-Nerds.
Re:I don't know why it has to be a war or divisive (Score:5, Funny)
You're clearly on the wrong side of the divisive issue as to whether everything needs to be divisive or not.
Data Point (Score:2)
Put me in the buy a case because I'm clumsy camp.
I'm hard on kit. It's not intentional; I just am. Knowing this, I carry cheap phones and protect them well. My current phone was $89, and is in a two part case with a (cracked) tempered glass screen protector. Adding the case and glass was about $20. My guess is they double the MTBF on my phones. If I keep it for a year that's a good run.
For what it's worth, I envy the people that can keep a phone forever. My sweetheart has kept an iPhone 6 for 5 years,
Of course! (Score:2)
It is so thinspired, ... I don't want to accidentially cut myself!
(Although, with a large chunk of Apple users, that might be a feature. ;)
It is your outlook on life. (Score:2)
Or are you someone that uses everything until it actually wears out or hits the unusable point in its life? Then you probably have a case.
Having disposable money comes into it too I guess, or if you are Mr. Fumbles.
Different situations? (Score:2)
What sort of question is this? Situations vary so peoples behavior varies. In one limit, someone who doesn't care about the cost of the phone, and who rarely exposes the phone to impact might well decide to go without a case to keep it small. OTOH, someone for whom the phone is a significant investment, and who sometimes drops it, might find a case useful.
Do whatever makes sense in your situation.
'Vital to modern living'? AAAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Score:2)
Don't hand me this bullshit line about smartphones of any kind being """vital""", because guess what? The human race and human civlization existed thousands of years before even wired telephones, let alone wireless phones or smartphones. You do not 'need' one you 'want' one. Learn the difference.
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Galaxy Active series (Score:2)
I removed my iPhone case (Score:2)
I carry around a ziploc baggie full of parts wired together. You have to be pretty paranoid to use a phone case these days, even the factory case is quite unnecessary.
First World Problem (Score:2)
And we have to make it into a controversy? Chill, people.
Bareback, always. (Score:3)
Putting a case on a phone ruins the feel of the thing, and even functionality. Ever had a case snag on the inside of the pocket, causing a fumble? Had that happened with the two cases I've ever tried, and both of those were in the iphone 4 days.
So other than those two trial runs, bareback, always.
Yeah I've dropped phones. Never broke one from dropping. Chipped the bezel, dinged the corners, etc.
It's an expensive, delicate instrument with optics and mechanical parts, and a neat little incendiary device as power source. Treat it as such, and not like a TV remote.
Cases are like that weird aunt we all have, the one with the plastic covers all over the furniture.
Always a case... (Score:2)
I have always used a case. Phones are thin enough that a case doesn't turn them into porkers, and are decent insurance. Yes, a phone can be resilient to damage, but I rather have all the scratches and scrapes on something that costs one, if not two orders of magnitude cheaper than the phone.
I also use cases that have more than one function. Extended battery cases for iPhones come to mind, back when I worked at a place that had multi-hour teleconference bridge calls. Or phone cases that can hold credit c
Mine Is A Book Case (Score:2)
That is, it has a front cover that closes like a book. Very useful to keep the phone from lighting things up when you don't want it to (I am an amateur astronomer, but anybody who is out in nature at night would find that highly desirable). Also I use a glass screen cover. Never had any damage to my cell phone screen.
Apple sucks (Score:2)
Apple: Lets make ultra thin phones that look expensive because umm "that's what people want" ... yea that's it.
Overwhelming majority of actual users: I'm just going to stick this thing in a cheap ass bulky rubberized case because I care about usability not Apple's bullshit.
They keep saying how strong their new screens are.. Gorilla glass 27 is so strong that somehow it manages to be even weaker than Gorilla glass 26. This model has the best battery ever when it barely lasts a day when brand new. Ports a
If you're breaking phones in cases... (Score:2)
You need a better class of case!
https://www.otterbox.com/en-us... [otterbox.com]
dumb line of reasoning (Score:2)
Having no protective case 'makes me pay attention,'
That works as long as you pay attention 100% of the time, which is something no human is capable of.
Yeah but who cares (Score:2)
I got an iPhone XS, it's in a black opaque TPU case. I like to protect my things, I don't care what the phone looks like, the only thing that matters is what's on the screen.
But I also understand people who don't want a case. Like my friend to prefers his Samsung to go naked in all its glory. It's none of my business what others prefer as long as they're happy with their choices, each to their own.
not a choice sometimes (Score:2)
Some phones, it isnt an option. I am using a Motorola x4, with a curved glass back. It is so slick, you could put it down on a flat table and it will slide off. The only way to use it is to put it in a case. This is the first phone I've put in a case however, for just this reason.
How do you display wealth? (Score:2)
smartphones nowadays (Score:2)
Bareback pleasure (Score:2)
Lots of reasons to use a case (Score:2)
Do you protect your iPhone? It's a case study that divides Americans
Not being an iPhone user or American, I guess I fall outside the parameters of the study.
I do use a case though, for several reasons. One, I have had an occasional drop, mostly during pocketing or unpocketing. My family members have dropped it as well.
I find excessively thin phones uncomfortable to hold. The case solves that problem. It would be unnecessary if the phone were thicker. (Which could allow for a bigger battery and/or other nice features.)
With screens going so close to the edge, I found just hol
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Yes, I have a case, and yes, I drop my phone a lot (Score:2)
I switched camps (Score:2)
Granted, I'm not an iPhone person. In 10 years (late to the party, I know), I've never broken a screen. I'm pretty good about not dropping my phone.
My current smartphone is my 5th, a Pixel 3 XL. It's my first phone that is very "iPhone-like", thin and glass-backed. It's also the first for which I've bought a case.
For me, it wasn't a rationale of "in case I drop it". It was more a feeling that I never had a great grip on the naked phone. With so little bezel around the screen, I had to hold it sort of dainti
don't have a case but (Score:2)
One advantage to a grippy RUBBER case is that these phones are the slickest substance known that will slide on a 0.001 degree surface.
Fuck iPhones, and fuck Apple (Score:3)
With that said, I protect my $150 Moto X4, let alone would I protect a $700+ iShowOff. My phone has glass on both sides, too. From day one I've had a cheapest-on-eBay TPU case and a glass screen protector. I've dropped it a bunch of times, mostly knocking it off of the table where it's charging and such, and it still looks like new when I clean the dust off of it.
Not putting protection on your phone is not like not putting protection on your dick. At least there's a payoff for that. What's the payoff for failing to protect your thousand dollar pocket computer?
I paid $200, and I can throw my phone against a wa (Score:2)
And actually did so. Usually one of dem horizontal ones, though.
Because it comes with an actual case. As in: The alumininimum and polycarbonered and ...*ehrm* rubber ... shell the electronics and screen are *screwed* ... to.
It never is slow, it never stutters, it never doesn't have enough memory, and I can never see the pixels too.
But it also never goes empty during the day, even after not charging it that night, or sometimes even the night before.
I never don't have good reception because of it.
It never lo