I don't find them useful. Unless you're talking about a huge sponge of a case, or those crazy corner ball ones, it doesn't really make a difference. If a phone is prone to cracks it's going to crack, with or without the case.

[–] Globulart@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's not really true. The most likely initial impact point is the corners, and the corners are always protected and take the brunt of the impact. A decent spigen case will save you from cracks pretty effectively.

[–] drathvedro@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Dunno, just my personal observation is that the heavier the phone is the more likely it is to crack, just from the sheer amount of mass the case has to dampen. I've seen heavy phones, in protective cases and even those marketed as "rugged" crack from minor falls, and lightweight cheap shit survive the nastiest of falls. What you're probably referring to is those cases with thick rubber pads on the corners, but most cases are like half a mm thick wraps, which, IMO, won't help squat in a fall.

[–] Globulart@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeha I'm talking about a decent spigen or something ideally. I can't really speak to the phone condom things but I'm sure there's some improvement even there, if only slight compared to a proper case.

Nothing is completely protecting your phone from everything of course, and if you drop it screen first on a rock you're probably gonna have a bad time, but those drops are much less common than dropping it on a flat surface where the corner will always take the initial impact.

[–] flashgnash@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just buy durable phones, I very rarely drop them nowadays but if I do the worst that happens is a scratch or dent. Last two times I've broken a phone have been jumping in a pool forgetting it was in my pocket (usually buy waterproof for this reason) and falling on a rock with it in my pocket

First one no case would have prevented short of one of the ultra rugged outdoorsey ones, second one only the cases with the front cover flap thing might have stopped

Only time I've broken a phone by dropping it is when I had an iPhone 4 handmedown, I swear those things were designed to break

[–] Globulart@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Fair enough, you might be surprised at what a case does to protect the screen too though, if it lands (or something lands) heavily on a corner it'll likely break the screen to the point it needs replacing. A case will absorb 99% of the force. .

My phone has fallen out of a pocket that I forgot to zip up while mountain biking on more than one occasion, so I wouldn't trust myself with a naked phone any longer than absolutely necessary.