If you’re on the go, you need protection
The leading cause of damage to phones is water, followed by throwing or dropping them
I wish I’d known just how fragile my technology was when I visited St. George, Utah, on a one-week tour of the state’s national parks. In a grocery store parking lot, my son accidentally knocked my new Pixel 2 phone out of my hand, sending it flying onto the hot pavement. The case failed to protect my device, and the screen shattered.
A 2016 survey by Verizon found that nearly half of American mobile phone owners have broken or lost a device. The leading cause of damage to phones is water, followed by throwing or dropping them; pets; and tripping and landing on them.
At about the same time, my son’s MacBook Air fell down a set of stairs in our vacation rental, leaving several dark stripes down the middle of the screen. That’s when I began to wonder if maybe there was a better way to shield sensitive laptops, tablets and phones from the rigors of the road.
There is. You can buy protective cases that make your gadgets virtually indestructible. There are also a few helpful strategies that can protect your devices even when they’re not encased in plastic. And, there are places you should never, ever take your devices when you’re traveling.
If you’re on the go, you need protection.
– Phones: I’d made the mistake of buying Google’s optional $35 case that, it claims, “fits like a glove.” Unfortunately, it also leaves the screen exposed. After paying for a new screen, I bought an Otterbox Defender ($49), which comes with a screen protector and drop-protecting technology that absorbs shock.
– Tablets: We own an Apple iPad. The optional case is flimsy and entirely unsuitable for travel. If you’re taking your iPad on the road, consider a more rugged case such as the Survivor Extreme ($89), which seals in the device and claims to protect it from falls of up to eight feet onto concrete.
– Laptops: Protecting a larger device such as my son’s MacBook is more of a challenge. Yes, you can buy cases such as the Presidio Clear ($79) for extra peace of mind, and while they can prevent accidents like the one we had, they also bulk up the machine. A computer backpack such as the Far Anti-Theft Backpack ($49), which has extra padding to shield your gadgets, can also protect your laptop.
Even these precautions aren’t always enough to avoid a broken screen, a busted processor or a cracked keyboard.
“Let’s be honest,” says Andrew Selepak, a professor in the University of Florida’s telecommunication department. “Technology breaks. But there is nothing worse than when technology breaks while we are traveling.” His favorite technology foul-up involves a trip to Paris several years ago. Thanks to a cheap current converter, his razor and white-noise machine were fried within 24 hours of arrival, leaving him scraggly and sleepless.
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