ALERT: The hard "protective" case sucks!
#1
So, unknown to me, my PinePhone slips under the seat, and ends up sliding between the passenger seat and the door.

I open the passenger door, and out falls the PhonePhone on to the street

Just look how much "protection" it gave

https://imgur.com/a/1gR27DP



And I just replaced the screen before getting this after a previous fall so another cracked screen would not happen again..

Something needs to be done about this


Here is a link to the offending product:

https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-har...46c16e2e66
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#2
I agree that the hard case is not very good. I ordered both a hard and soft case to compare them and like the soft case a lot better in terms of overall feel though it I doubt it provides more protection. I managed to crack my screen shortly after purchase. The phone was in the soft case at the time but had no screen protector installed. Damage was similar to yours. (I bought an extra screen in case it happens again.)

To really protect the phone it would need to be in some kind of full enclosure. The cases currently offered won't protect the screen from a frontal impact.
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#3
i like the soft case, it protrudes from the front of the phone so it at least offers limited protection vs. flat surfaces, though i wouldn't rely on it vs. gravel, etc
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#4
I normally put all my cell phones in cases like these

http://cdn.ww0.org/i/itm/f/37/28491_02.jpg

I wish I had the manufacturing knowledge to design something similar to that for the PinePhone
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#5
I agree that the hard case is kind of awful. The soft case is all around better.
That said, I don't think we can be mad at Pine64 for this;

On the one hand; I don't think any case Pine64 comes up with (especially for $10) would ever be able to protect your phone from a full drop. Really, most phone cases aren't designed to provide that level of protection. They really only protect you from scratching up the body of the phone and maybe light drops (less than 12 inches). A drop-proof case would be better left to a company that makes cases for a living, like Otter.

On the other hand; Aren't there different tiers of hardness/shatter resistance to glass? It would make perfect sense for the screen of a $150 phone to be easier to shatter than the $$$ "Gorilla Glass Victus" of Samsung phones or the "Ceramic Skin" glass of the latest iPhone.$$$
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#6
Just yesterday I had dropped another cell phone I have on the pavement. A cheap $50 USD ZTE. The glass sticks out well above the rear back cover. It hit at an angle on the side where the edge of the glass was the only part of the phone which hit the hard pavement. While it took cosmetic damage, the glass did not break at all. This ZTE fall was also more than DOUBLE the height fall of the fall which started this thread.

So yeah, after two broken screens on $200 vs zero on a $50, yeah we can be mad.
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#7
(03-20-2021, 02:06 PM)KNERD Wrote: So, unknown to me, my PinePhone slips under the seat, and ends up sliding between the passenger seat and the door.

I open the passenger door, and out falls the PhonePhone on to the street

Just look how much "protection"  it gave

https://imgur.com/a/1gR27DP



And I just replaced the screen before getting this after a previous fall so another cracked screen would not happen again..

Something needs to be done about this


Here is a link to the offending product:

https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-har...46c16e2e66

Try this  https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=13893
  Reply
#8
I suppose the case available is what it is, I personally try to acquire the huge heavy duty rubber and ABS plastic cases which often triple the thickness of a phone as in the past I have had to work in austere environments with little chance of resupply or repair parts.
I hope the keyboard case will be mechanically strong enough to both survive and do a great job protecting my pinephone.
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#9
I haven't tried out the soft and hard cases but, any cursory understanding of physics would inform one to purchase a soft case over a hard case. The damage done to a phone (or anything) on impact is going to be due to the power profile of the impact and, basically, power=energy/time. A soft case is going to increase the amount of time in this equation, hence lowering the power profile of the impact. There is other physics at play here, but that is the main issue with any concussive impact. So, take it from someone with a physics degree, tend towards a soft case unless you have irrefutable proof that a hard case will provide more protection.
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#10
(06-27-2021, 10:47 PM)adjf873_n-s Wrote: I haven't tried out the soft and hard cases but, any cursory understanding of physics would inform one to purchase a soft case over a hard case. The damage done to a phone (or anything) on impact is going to be due to the power profile of the impact and, basically, power=energy/time. A soft case is going to increase the amount of time in this equation, hence lowering the power profile of the impact. There is other physics at play here, but that is the main issue with any concussive impact. So, take it from someone with a physics degree, tend towards a soft case unless you have irrefutable proof that a hard case will provide more protection.
Yes this,
Another physics problem though is landing on a narrow point where the total force is expressed onto a very small inflexible surface area.
The ideal case would have an outer 'armor' of a hard material to spread out the force, probably also a stiff closing cover over the fragile and nonflexible glass, to protect against a point impact event spreading the force onto adjf873_n-s's described soft inner armor to extend the ∆v over time reducing the peak Gs experienced.
I have an Otter brand hard/soft case like this for my Nokia N900 and a Trident brand hard/soft case for my Asus/Google Nexus-7 2013 which have served me well over the years with damage only occurring to the tablet when out of the armor The N900 is so small there was never an event where the fall had enough mechanical advantage to damage the uncased metal bezel screen or slider rails.  All of my N900s died from either PCB flex de-balling the modem IC or USB port breaking solder points form the PCB(new lead free solder and weak solder pad only anchored microUSB design) never impact, maybe one or two from static discharge into the USB.
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