I and A Mag Sep19
Telford Magazine
Telford Magazine
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Things That Go<br />
Bump in the Night<br />
How to protect your<br />
tech from disaster<br />
Ghosts aren’t the only thing we need to worry about<br />
over Halloween: there’s also the ever-present risk of<br />
dropping or damaging your device. Whether it’s lumps,<br />
bumps or ending up underwater, all kinds of horrors can<br />
affect our phones, tablets <strong>and</strong> laptops.<br />
One way to prevent problems is to look for hardy<br />
hardware in the first place. For example, many<br />
smartphones (e.g. a recent Samsung Galaxy or iPhone)<br />
now boast what’s called IP68 certification, which means<br />
they’re water <strong>and</strong> dust resistant. If you have an older<br />
phone, you can buy protective cases that promise IP68<br />
protection for around £15.<br />
It’s important to underst<strong>and</strong> what IP68 <strong>and</strong> its sister<br />
rating, IP67, actually mean – <strong>and</strong> remember, water<br />
resistance is not the same as waterproofing. IP67 <strong>and</strong><br />
IP68 tell you that a phone can be immersed in a specific<br />
depth of water for a specific amount of time: one metre<br />
deep <strong>and</strong> half an hour for IP67, rising to one <strong>and</strong> a half<br />
metres for IP68. This means that when new, your phone<br />
can be dropped in pure water <strong>and</strong> survive for a short<br />
time.<br />
Pure is important, because chlorine in swimming pools<br />
or salt in the sea is very corrosive. Repeated exposure to<br />
either will eventually wear away the seals <strong>and</strong> damage<br />
your phone’s water resistance.<br />
One of the biggest dangers for devices is being dropped<br />
or scratched. Solve the former with a protective case,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the latter with a screen protector. Plastic screen<br />
protectors are harder to fit properly because of air<br />
bubbles, but glass ones can crack <strong>and</strong> can be hard to<br />
remove when they’ve been scuffed.<br />
Protective cases come in a variety of flavours, styles <strong>and</strong><br />
prices. The trick is to think about what kind of protection<br />
you want, so for example if you’ve got kids it’s worth<br />
looking for a relatively thick case with very large lips,<br />
so when – <strong>and</strong> it’s a case of when, not if – the device<br />
gets dropped, the case keeps the screen well away from<br />
the floor. Some kids’ cases include carrying h<strong>and</strong>les that<br />
make them less likely to be dropped in the first place.<br />
For grown-ups, it’s about striking a balance between<br />
substance <strong>and</strong> style: you want protection, but not so<br />
much protection you can’t fit it in your bag or pocket.<br />
Slim cases can still do a very good job of protecting your<br />
phone’s back <strong>and</strong> sides, but they do leave the screen<br />
relatively exposed: it’s a good idea to look for one that<br />
still has a bit of a lip around the screen <strong>and</strong> to put a good<br />
screen protector on too.<br />
No matter what protection you use, it’s designed for<br />
relatively minor things – so for example most protective<br />
cases are designed to protect from drops of a few feet,<br />
not from the top of a ladder. If the worst happens <strong>and</strong><br />
your phone is seriously <strong>and</strong> expensively damaged, check<br />
your home insurance: it may well cover the damage<br />
to your phone. If you have a bank account that offers<br />
various rewards for a monthly fee, you may have phone<br />
insurance in there too.<br />
Images top to bottom:<br />
Samsung Galaxy S10 phone<br />
iThrough waterproof case<br />
screen protectors for iPhone<br />
Amazon Kindle case for kids<br />
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