DailyDirt: Protecting Your Phone From Damage

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Thu, Dec 4th 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

One of the first things many people do when they get a shiny new smartphone is put a case and a screen protector on it. Some people do this because they want to customize the look of their phone, but others just want to protect the phone from the inevitable drop on concrete that'll put an annoying scratch (or worse) on the screen. A few folks prefer naked phones, and for those users, there may be some nifty ways to keep phones scratch & dent free in the future. Here are just a few examples.

Apple has a patent on a way to get a phone to fall like a cat -- so that it tries to land screen side up to minimize damage. Patent 8,903,519 describes ways to alter the center of mass of a device by using positioning sensors to control motors that could adjust the angular momentum of a phone in freefall. [url]
Jeff Bezos also has a patent on a way to protect a falling phone -- using a kind of airbag system. Future phones might also include tiny canisters of compressed gases to provide a bit of thrust that might allow the device to land more gently -- if manufacturers license US8330305 or wait until it expires. [url]
Maybe someday we'll just get sapphire displays that would take a diamond to scratch such a screen. However, it might be a bit difficult to get sapphire that's both scratch resistant AND tough enough not to shatter upon a hard impact. It's not easy to make sapphire screens economically, either. [url]
Until then, maybe Corning's new tougher Gorilla Glass 4 will be good enough. According to Corning, Gorilla Glass 4 can survive drops onto rough surfaces (such as sidewalks) up to 80% of the time. It's also one-tenth the cost of sapphire, almost two times lighter, and more transparent. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: airbags, fall protection, gorilla glass, jeff bezos, patents, sapphire, screen protector, smartphone
Companies: amazon, apple, corning

9 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 4 Dec 2014 @ 5:27pm

Why not just use a wrist strap like the original Nintendo Wii remotes?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- art guerrilla (profile), 5 Dec 2014 @ 6:17am
  
  Re:
  uh duh, *at least* half the reason for having smart phones is the coolness factor, wrist straps aren't cool... practical, but not cool...
  kind of like pocket protectors, very practical, but not cool...
  
  think it is sort of amusing we buy these ultra-hip, super-duper, thinner-is-better smart phones, then glob them up with a gronky case...
  
  i've done the same, went about a week with sleek smart phone purchased against my will (SWMBO handles that stuff), and nearly dropped it a dozen times, it was as slippery as a bar of soap, AND a PITA to hold to use it...
  so, got gronky green cover that makes it about two+ times thicker, but i can hold the grippy rubber, and does act as a shock absorber when dropped...
  hate carrying it in my pocket, though, and old cellyphone holster won't fit this little-over 3/4" thick not-so-smart phone, now...
  why don't they just make them with a rubber case to start with, then we wouldn't have to make them thicker...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - John Fenderson (profile), 5 Dec 2014 @ 8:20am
    
    Re: Re:
    I have an ultra-thin smartphone, but have never had a problem dropping it. I'm really happy that the case isn't like rubber -- I like that I can slide it into and out of my pocket so easily. However, I can see why people might want a less slippery case, too. Perhaps they need to make case options?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pixelation, 4 Dec 2014 @ 7:12pm

"Jeff Bezos also has a patent on a way to protect a falling phone -- using a kind of airbag system."

From one airbag to another...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Beta (profile), 4 Dec 2014 @ 7:48pm

decoupling
Why not just make the glass easily replaceable?

Oh, and if you want the latest, most expensive phone, and you want it to have a really big screen and be really thin, and the very first thing you want to do with it is put it in your hip pocket and sit on it, then maybe you'd be better off with some child-safe toys for a while longer.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 4 Dec 2014 @ 11:06pm
  
  Re: decoupling
  Some people like how the glass is bonded to the display which gives the phone a look that makes the pixels appear to be flush with the surface of the screen -- instead of set back a few millimeters deep away from the top of the glass. I suppose they could make the screen replaceable in its entirety, but that doesn't sound like what you're suggesting. And then, you'd basically get a modular phone... Which was the topic of a previous daily dirt not too long ago.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 5 Dec 2014 @ 8:27am
  
  Re: decoupling
  iPhone glass/lcd is cheap and easily replaceable. I haven't done a 6 yet but I have replaced screens in iphones 3-5c. New screen is about $15-$30. I have learned the mobile phones and high school students don't mix well.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 5 Dec 2014 @ 3:04am

Why am i not surprised that Apple patented something that existed for decades... and will probably brag about its innovation
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
AK, 5 Dec 2014 @ 4:22am

Apple's idea is obviously the coolest, as usual.

I always wanted a phone that slaps me right back.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]