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Comment by ziml77 | Hacker News Reader

How do you propose making a device that people wouldn't feel the need to put a case on? You could make the whole thing out of rubber but that's still going to take cosmetic damage that people want to protect the device from. You could make it easy to replace that rubber... but at what point is that not just functionally the same as a case?

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One way would be to have an accelerometer detect that the phone is falling, and have tiny spring-actuated bumpers, wires, or feet extend from the corners of the phone to catch its fall. Little stainless-steel or Nitinol wires would do great.

Here's a patent for the idea which just expired this year: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7059182B1/

Apple also patented some versions of this, although I think not as nice as the 2005 one: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9571150B2

Back when the early iPods actually contained a spinning hard drive, they had something similar. If it detected a fall, it would quickly park the hard drive to avoid damage.

Same for ThinkPads.

And MacBook Pros.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_Motion_Sensor

Though I don't recall iPods having that feature, nor can I find anything online supporting that claim.

Macs had it as a machine feature. All others had it in the drives themselves.

That is not true

Lenovo/IBM have a Free Fall Sensor in the laptop.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/glossary/ffs/

Can't wait until the sensor is hacked and it becomes a remote controlled implement of pain.

I bought a cheap(£150 at the time) phone 3-4 years ago called "Ulefone" where in a sense the 'case' is built in to the phone. It is marketed as a phone for handymen or outdoor functions.

It is a bit bigger with protective shell around it is bulky, but withstood all the drops that a typical phone would break. There is some flaring around the screen and camera that it prevents most of scratches. The back has some sort of hard rubber but it held up well.

I've only had to replace the screen protector within 3 years as the scuffs and marks made it difficult to see in well-lit environment.

> How do you propose making a device that people wouldn't feel the need to put a case on?

If the screen were reasonably scratch + shatter proof, I think most people wouldn't feel the need to wear a case.

I don't use a case or screen protectors. My 15 Pro frequently falls on the floor. The back shattered on multiple occasions, but even then never became a cut hazard. The screen remains pristine.

Did you know there are cases that will prevent that damage and avoid the massive carbon footprint associated with the repairs you were fortunate enough to get?

What repairs?

That's been the case for several years now. Gone caseless with iPhone X, 12, and 13 Pros for years now and have gotten some scratches to the sides and a small crack on the back glass here or there, but no significant screen scratches or breaks. Some scuffing around the edges is it.

Last time I broke the front screen of a phone was an HTC Evo.

A few years back I fumbled my iPhone so badly that when I tried to catch it I knocked it further up in the air. It flew up dropped all the way down to the concrete subway platform I was on, landing face down. It was loud and worrisome, but the phone was perfectly fine outside of some scratches on the lip of aluminum around the screen.

So it seems like the screens are not easily broken anymore. Though that event did lead to me using a case on my next phone just to avoid chancing cosmetic damage on it.

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