To Case Or Not To Case

Slate’s Daniel Engber almost comes to the conclusion in this Slate article that cellphone cases and covers are a waste of money.

He draws back at the last minute (when his uncovered iPhone screen develops a 1.5-inch crack), but he raises the issue of what happens with a protective case mutes the aesthetics of a device.

I understand what Engber means - one of the best parts about buying a new phone (or iPod or Zune or digital camera) is admiring its sleekness when you unbox it. Cases hide the sleekness, the shininess, the newness of the device.

Still, Engber’s argument has one major flaw. He says:

“I never drop my phone.”

Really? Never? Or he just hasn’t dropped it yet? No one plans to drop their phone. It just happens. Like when you’re sitting at a Dunkin’ Donuts high-top table and it falls out of your pocket, shattering into several pieces on the tile floor.

So my (new and now-covered) Samsung Glyde might not look as nice as it did when I first took it out of the box. But it works - and that’s really the whole point, isn’t it?