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Tablets are pricey. But what happens if you accidentally drop one?
In the worst case, this. Your iPad 2 is reduced to smithereens.
If you drop it from a height of 80 centimetres...
it'll reach a speed of 14 km/h by the time it hits the ground.
And from 1 meter 20 it's 17 km/h.
More than half a kilo, let's say 600 grams, comes to an abrupt stop.
And that energy needs to go somewhere. A car has a bumper.
But a tablet has a little aluminium and some plastic for a 'crumple zone'.
If the tablet falls, the screen will smash.
And if it falls hard you can't use it at all.
You're recommended to use a sleeve as it will absorb most of the energy...
and protect the tablet. But do sleeves offer enough protection?
We looked at two silicon sleeves, two portfolios and two bumper cases.
The silicon sleeves only protect the back and the sides.
They don't protect the screen but they have an edge so if it's upside down...
the screen won't touch anything, but it's unprotected.
The portfolios have a lid that closes over the screen and protects it.
The back is made of a different material, in this case it's plastic.
We also have one by Apple which is made of a kind of rubber.
It has a lid. It's pink at the request of our colleagues from Miss Perfect.
And last come the bumper covers. A more heavy-duty type of protection.
They have an extra layer over the screen to protect it but they're much heavier.
And it's harder to get your tablet in and out of it.
We have one by Gumdrop and one by Otterbox.
We dropped the tablets identically.
With the centre of gravity right above the tablets corner
It's dropped on a hard floor. The worst case scenario.
But it's also a method that we can predict and repeat.
First, we dropped an iPad without sleeve from 50 centimetres or table height.
And that cracked the screen.
If you drop it from 80 centimetres the screen is smashed but reparable.
We tested all the sleeves from 80 centimetres and the screen stayed intact.
But in some cases the corner of the tablet was dented.
This happened with Trust's silicon sleeve...
and surprisingly enough, with Apple's own portfolio.
We also tested the sleeves from 120 centimetres up.
If you were to drop it while you're standing up, that's about 1 meter 20.
In the case of all the regular sleeves there is damage to the corners.
Except for the bumper cases which kept the tablet free of damage.
Next, we tested the bumper covers from a height of 180 centimetres.
If it was to fall of a shelf that is up high...
it would reach a speed of 21 km/h by the time it hits the ground.
In the case of the Otterbox, there was only a scratch on the corner.
But with the Gumdrop, the tablet was dented in the corner.
Conclusion: Out of the silicon covers, the Tech21...
protects better than the cheaper Trust sleeve.
Out of the portfolios, the Speck is clearly better than Apple's sleeve.
And in the bumper cases the Otterbox performs better than the Gumdrop.
This is just a sequence in which we assess the covers, and it just one way of falling with one type of tablet.
If you want a proper judgement on how well the sleeves perform...
you'd have to drop the tablet in more different ways.
And try it with other tablets but that will be at the expense of many tablets.
Another important factor is the weight of the tablet. We chose the iPad 2.
It weighs 600 grams which is comparable to the weight of most ten inch tablets.
If the tablet is lighter, less energy needs to be dispersed when it falls.
Which should result in less damage. Smartphones are also lighter.
In the comparative test, we drop smartphones 50 times from 80 centimeters.
Most smartphones still work and the screen doesn't break.
Nevertheless, a sleeve will provide added protection.
Reviews of the sleeves will be published in Miss Perfect and the Digitaal Gids.
The test results are also on our website.
You can pose your questions at the bottom of this video.
