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My iPhone case saved my iPhone
There is a feeling you get. If you haven't experienced this particular feeling, count yourself lucky. But I know I'm not the only one, and many of you out there can identify.
ZDNET Recommends
It's the feeling you have as your phone slips out of your hand and you know its next stop is hard concrete. It's that pit-of-the-stomach sinking feeling when you watch your phone plummeting to certain death. It's that feeling when you know there's a big new unexpected expense coming up at 95mph and how are you even going to go to the store when so much of our world is closed down?
It's that feeling. Except, for me, it ended differently, at least this time.
I am not a phone dropper. I have lost control of my phone only three or four times in the 20-plus years I've been carrying a phone. You would think, with such a record, I'd have the confidence to go full free-shell.
But no. I always keep my phone in a case. That's probably part of the reason I lose my grip so infrequently. Raw phones are slippery, but I choose cases with lots of nooks and crannies that make for a solid hold for my big fingers.
These days, I'm rocking the Urban Armor Monarch case for my iPhone. The company claims it's been "military drop tested" with an "armor frame," "impact-resistant rubber," and a "polycarbonate shear plate."
Yeah. OK. Fine. Nice jargon. But what have you done for me lately?
Actually, lately, it's saved me a lot of money. Over the weekend, I was in the workshop, which has a concrete floor. Somehow, my phone slipped out of my hands and dropped about five feet to the floor.
As I watched in horror, I realized that it was worse than I first thought. My phone was about to hit right on the corner, requiring that corner to take all the shock of the landing. Corners on phones are like crumple zones in cars: They crumple.
I was looking at a full-blown phone catastrophe, happening right before my eyes. You can't look away from such things. All you can do is project the worst possible scenario into your brain, mere microseconds before you watch it play out in real-time.
Except, it didn't. My phone did hit right on the corner, but it just toppled over. When I reached down to pick it up, I was shocked and deeply relieved to find absolutely no damage. No cracked screen. No crushed spine. Nothing.
My phone was good as new. I have to credit the case with the save.
So, what's the moral of this story? It's simple. Get a case and keep your phone in it. I'm sure glad mine was sheathed up, safe, and saved.
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