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Comment by k-mcgrady | Hacker News Reader

When people _need_ a case to protect your product from breaking you have a problem. Until the iPhone 5s I never had a case I rarely dropped my phone. The 5s is like a bar of soap. If I were to use it without the case I doubt I'd get more than a few weeks without a smashed screen. It's a major usability issue imo.

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My iPhone 4 would literally slide off slightly uneven tables all on its own given enough time (made a great bar trick). I'm not sure how you could have only started to have problems with the 5S.

Never buying a phone with a glass back ever again.

The glass gripped to my hand better than the metal but I did have the uneven table issue.

Honestly I miss plastic. So slandered, but it grips nicely, doesn't tend to shatter, and is really cheap to replace if it does break. It also takes more of the brunt of a fall than metal or glass, saving the glass on the other side more effectively.

I am unfortunately still using a glass backed phone (Nexus 4), though. Wish I'd waited for the Nexus 5.

I didn't need a case for my phone before I had children.

Your use case isn't everyone's.

I think you're missing my point. I've never needed a case for any phone until the 5s. I think the device is just so slippery it's almost unusable without a case. And for a company that prides itself on the design of it's products making it so slippery that a case is necessary is silly. Why spend so much money creating such a nice looking product when your customers have to cover it up?

I think we're talking past each other. There's nothing about the iPhone 5s I find especially slippery, but I need a case for purposes orthogonal to yours.

I got your point - I just don't understand how anyone can not find that device slippery! :)

I don't find it slippery.

Isn't that essentially what bumpers on cars are for? To prevent the product from breaking?

Yeah, but they come with it.

It's not something you have to remember to pick up and install yourself on the way home from the dealership.

I use a snap on case so that if I drop the phone or set it on a table the contact/impact surface isn't the glass. If someone put raised rubber bumpers on the 8 corners of a phone it might negate the need for a case for the majority of users and preserve the aesthetics.

As mikepurvis said the phone doesn't come with a case and the one Apple offers is quite expensive. I've never used cases with my phones but the 5s really is so slippery I can't risk it.

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