No protection? I drop mine from time to time and never experienced any damage
Only the edges are a bit scratched up.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/LG_Nexus...
I recently dropped mine by tagging by earphone wire and it landed on the top corner with a spectacular bang and cracked the whole screen.
Though it's the second phone I drop with consequences, after Ericsson A1018s.
Other people usually aren't that lucky.