We get it: you might prefer your phone “naked,” as you wish to admire it in all its glory. You also need others to know for sure what cool smartphone you have, as otherwise, why would you own a smartphone in the first place?
Jokes aside, for now! Keeping your phone in a case can be very important, especially if you’re the type of person who often takes his phone for a swim and deep dives involuntarily. A good case will protect your device from bumps, scratches, scuffs, dust, and debris.
It may be difficult to choose the right phone case, especially if you have never done it before. A lot of folks keep their phones “naked” for years, but they later conclude that a case would be good. Without further ado, let’s cut to the chase:
Step 1: Check the compatibility
You need to make sure that the case you consider buying is designed exactly for your phone model. Some sellers might try to make you buy a case that’s not exactly for your phone model but from one that’s very close in resemblance. You need to be extra careful before deciding which case to buy. Putting it on your phone for a few seconds as a test is the best way to figure out if a specific case is what you really need or not.
Step 2: Check the material
You also need to be well aware of what material you want for your next phone case. As for the common materials, there is Soft TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane), leather, hard plastic, or silicone.
If you want shock absorption, you should go for the silicone case, as it’s soft and flexible. It’s even easy to grip.
Hard plastic cases, on the other hand, can provide good protection against bumps and scratches. Even though you may not be a fan of polishing your nails on your phone’s cartridge, there are still plenty of ways you can scratch the phone by accident. For instance, leaving it in the same pocket as your case could do the trick just fine.
Leather phone cases are known to provide moderate protection while offering a somewhat premium look for your device.
Soft TPU, on the other hand, are flexible and shock-absorbant while they also offer a good grip.
Step 3: Beware of the protection level of the phone
You need to take into account how careful or non-careful you can be with your phone before deciding which phone case is best for it. For instance, if you’re a fan of making your smartphone perform stunts, you should consider a case with reinforced corners as well as features that have extra durability for impacts.
While some phone cases are designed for heavy-duty protection, others focus on slim and lightweight profiles.
Step 4: Find cases with raised edges
It’s always a good idea to look for cases that have raised edges around the display and camera, as those are the most important parts of a smartphone. As you’ve already guessed, such features will offer extra protection for the display and camera lenses when you place the phone face down.
If you’re wondering why you would want to place a smartphone face down, you need to know that a lot of phones will stop ringing if you simply perform this action. The function seems to have been implemented for those who have the urge to break their smartphones in the morning when the alarm starts to ring.
Step 5: Look for buttons and ports accessibility
You wouldn’t want to buy a phone case only to find out that you won’t have access to the buttons and ports anymore, as they are covered by the case itself. Any case that was designed for a specific smartphone model needs to have holes in the exact same spots where the buttons and ports are. Even if your phone has just two physical buttons, one for volume and the other for locking the phone itself, you should never buy a phone case that doesn’t have holes in those areas.
Optional: take the style and design into account
You may have your own personal style and color preferences. Cases are available in various designs, patterns, and colors, as they can allow the owner to decide what he wants. There are even phone cases that have pictures of anime, animals, movie characters, singers, and pretty much anything else that you can imagine on them. Therefore, feel free to choose your own favorite style and colors when you think about buying a smartphone.
We must always acknowledge the fact that using a phone case is an important aspect and that we should see it like that and not as a caprice and a way to be ‘cool.’ First of all, you need to make sure that the phone case you consider buying can protect your phone well. Only after that, can you take the colors and style into account.
While any phone manufacturer will probably recommend you use a case for such a device in order to foster protection, it’s important to keep in mind that you should choose a case that fits your device the right way and offers the right level of protection without having to affect the phone’s functionality.
Tim M. Hill helped bring Digital-Overload from a weekly newsletter to a full-fledged news site by creating a new website and branding. He continues to assist in keeping the site responsive and well organized for the readers. As a writer to Digital-Overload, Tim mainly covers mobile news and gadgets.