Poll: protecting your phone

Published by Adam Fraser on January 18, 2013

Poll: protecting your phone

In a world fraught with danger, it’s all too easy for our phones to meet their demise at the hands of the laws of physics and often our own carelessness. If we drop them, there’s a possibility they will break. But, we can limit the damage thanks to products such as Corning® Gorilla® Glass, found on the Nokia Lumia 920.

Additionally, if you followed much of the coverage from CES this year, you’d have noticed a company – Tech21 – promoting their wares and something named D3O. This material is what’s called a non-Newtonian material. For the most part, it’s a material that is fluid in its relaxed state. But, when a force is applied to it, it becomes solid.

Here’s a demonstration of a non-Newtonian fluid. This isn’t D3O, however. D3O is a lot less messy.

Tech21 have created an Impact Snap for the Nokia Lumia 920 that has been partially created using D3O. What this means is, that if you drop your Nokia Lumia 920, at impact, the phone case will toughen up and take the stress of the fall. Hopefully, resulting in an undamaged phone.

And when it comes to the Nokia Lumia 820, Nokia makes their own protective, interchangeable shells. This again stops a lot of the damage when your phone slips out of your hand and takes a tumble.

Last year, we also bought news of how Nokia is working on a Superhydrophobic solution to help protect phones against liquids.

All this is interesting and necessary if we’re to keep our phones alive for longer. But what are the best ways to protect your phone, what are the real-life dangers and have you ever damaged your phone beyond repair? We’ve got three – informal – polls to find out. Take part… now.

Mobile science

Bendy phones, space flight and graphene.

The science behind Nokia's products.

What do you use to protect your phone?

What are you protecting against the most?

Irreparably damaged your phone?

Thanks for taking the time to cast your votes, we’ll go over the results in about a week from now.

Image credit: Jim_K-Town

Comments

  • http://twitter.com/Hdrules Hradayesh Nimavat

    Thing with these ploycarbonat Lumias/N9 is that even after impact there won’t be any damages except some dent marks at corners….I think Nokia phones are always tougher and it is always corning’s gorilla glass which often doesn’t work as it is advertised in terms of scratches and shattered displays too as reported by some 920 users in communities….hope gorilla glass 3 will be a real deal.

  • http://www.clubnokiard.com/ Frankie Bloise

    Nothing but luck here, I really love the Lumia 920 design, so don’t really want to spoil that with a case :)

    • http://conversations.nokia.com/ Adam Fraser

      Same here, @fbloise:disqus. I tend to like the designs of the phone so much, I don’t like to cover them up. I’m super-careful with my phones, anyway.

  • Sidiq

    I’m really impressed with my lumia 920 Screen. I’ve dropped it once to the ground and the screen still seem as smooth as before and only have little scratch on the polycarbonat… This also happen for my N9

  • stevexml

    I dropped my 900 many times. Nothing. I did happen to put in my coat pocket that had some sheetrock screws in it…Darn. Two small scratches on the glass. I’ve had my 920 now for three weeks…nothing so far….though…I’ve chosen a non-worksite pocket for it to live.

  • erfanullah

    I have dropped my Lumia 800 few times. There are noticeable dents on it but I don’t care.

  • http://twitter.com/drupad_t Drupad

    I use Lumia 920. What are you on about with “protection”? This bad boy doesn’t need one.

    • http://conversations.nokia.com/ Adam Fraser

      Ha! That’s a very fair point, @twitter-324871039:disqus.

  • Stga

    “we can limit the damage thanks to products such as Corning® Gorilla® Glass, found on the Nokia Lumia 920.”
    Why didn’t you use it on the 820 then? What brand did you use instead?

  • http://www.facebook.com/kctanese Kimchuan Tanese

    i dropped my Lumia 920 recently frm belt level, just hurt the corner, the screen face down n slipped away, nothing happened to the screen, is amazing!… look foward to Lumia with gorilla class 3rd Gen.

    just to ask, if put on this tech21 impact snap, can the wireless charging works?.. Can the NFC works?

  • http://www.facebook.com/dan.morrall Dan Morrall

    what would be great is if you had case’s available when the phones launched

  • http://www.blackphoebe.com/msjen Ms. Jen

    There are 3 reasons to own a Nokia phone:
    1) Best camera phones in the world.
    2) Beautifully designed.
    3) Usually indestructible.

    For reasons #2 & #3, why would I cover it up with a case? Also, I have very small hands for an adult and most cases make it hard for me to hold the phone, esp. as the Lumia 920 is almost too big for my hands even without a case.

    I carry my Nokia 808 PureView, which as a wrist strap, with me everywhere and I bring the Lumia 920 when I have my purse for it to go in.

    Next time with top of the line Lumia? Make it less wide and put a leash hook on it so I can add a wrist strap.

    As for the case, leave them for the wimpy shattering iPhones of the world.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003635518214 Gustav Christensson

    But doesn’t the 900 also have Gorilla Glass?

    • http://conversations.nokia.com/ Adam Fraser

      Yes, it does.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003635518214 Gustav Christensson

        Odd. A crack appeared on the upper-right corner of my phone after a little slide on concrete… I thought it could resist nails and hammers… I’ve also seen other dents on my phone appear from nowhere.
        Secondly, finding a pouch for such a big/unknown phone is difficult. Still searching after 7 months. Time is ticking…

  • http://twitter.com/adityuck peanutbuttereggdirt

    920 Owner for less than a month here, dropped it once and it chipped on the upper corner and few shallow short visible scratches on the screen, must say kinda dissappointed, i trust youtube reviews too much :(

  • http://www.0101mj.blogspot.com/ Chris Yahya

    arr……uhm uhm, the polycarbonate is awesome but i accidentally scratch…. yeah it’s not so visible… now i’m considering find protective case!