Traded in my older smartphone the other day for the Samsung S7 Edge, and I"m finding it a bit harder to deal with than I had expected. Because the screen wraps to the edge of the device, none of the cases I’ve found shield that edge, and don’t have a screen cover. The adhesive screen cover I found peeled up from the curved side edges within an hour of installing it, which appears to be a common complaint. From what I’ve read in reviews, most screen covers aren’t compatible with protective body cases.
Any other Edge owners have a good solution for how to protect the case and body, or is one side better to protect than the other, and I just deal with the lack of coverage?
It seems that most tempered glass screen protectors are deliberately made to only cover the flat portion of the screen, and the plastic membrane protectors have adhesion issues on curved surfaces (as you discovered)
My iPhone 7+ doesn’t have the extreme edge curvature of your Samsung, but the edges do curve to meet the rear bezel, my solution, albeit less than asthetically pleasing, is to use a tempered glass screen protector (Bodyguardz Pure2) and an Otterbox Defender, the Defender protects from drops, impacts and pocket carry damage (especially when snapped into the pocket clip screen-in), and the screen protector protects against scratches, scrapes and physical damage in the areas covered by the glass
There are small areas not covered by the glass (the extreme edges) but far less than a “naked” phone
Bear in mind, the purpose of a glass screen protector is to be a sacrificial layer, taking the impact instead of the screen, however, if a phone with a glass protector suffers an impact on any of the unprotected corners, the screen protector will not be able to protect the screen anyway
A glass protector should protect against a screen-down drop, landing flat on the screen, but landing on a corner, big unknown, more than likely the screen will crack, even with a glass protector
That’s what my Otterbox is there to protect, anything other than a flat screen-down impact
I looked at Otterbox when I got my S7 Edge, but didn’t find one with a belt clip, so I bought one of these instead. I’m very satisfied with it, but I’m not sure if it’s compatible with screen protectors.
Any case I’ve ever used, while mainly on the back & sides, wraps around just a bit over the front. Therefore, if the phone landed flat on it’s front, the case would be what touches the ground, not the glass. Similarly, if it lands on a corner or edge, the case is what hits first. Because of my case (not a S7 Edge phone, though), I don’t use a screen protector. I don’t like Otterbox though because I’m a big fan of kickstandcases.
I prefer the second style as it supports both portrait & landscape modes. It sits on my desk in the upright/portrait mode & doesn’t need to be lifted or moved to read any emails I get.
I’m running an Urban Armor Gear case on my S7 Edge with no screen protector. Spigen makes a couple decent Edge cases as well. The phone has survived fine so far, including one drop onto a sidewalk from about 5’ up. Because the sides of the case don’t wrap around the sides of the phone, it’s somewhat more vulnerable to having the screen land directly on the corner of something, but most falls onto the ground are going to contact the corner of the case first.
The S7 edge has a deserved rep for being very prone to terminal breakage if dropped requiring complete screen replacement because of the hard to protect and very vulnerable screen because the edge has to open and accessible from the side. The edge is currently on sale for almost half the contract price of the new non-edge S7 price on Verizon. IMO there’s a reason for this discount for what is nominally a more expensive phone than the non-edge S7. If you are careful no worries but my Galaxy S5 phone takes a beating and without the Otterbox commuter case and glass screencovers I would be SOL.
A wrap around screen is not a very good idea to begin with. A wrap around screen protector is. Something to protect the screen if you lay it face down.
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The issue there is that any truly protective case for a curved screen edge phone would have to somehow deploy and retract side edge protection which is not feasible for the limited tolerances required for useful, non bulky case. Glass screen protectors, contrary to popular perception, do not do a good job protecting the glass surface from damage if sharply impacted. They are great for scratch protection and “feel” better than plastic protectors but they will shatter easily and so will the underlying screen if hit just right. Plastic screen protectors while a bigger PITA to install and maintain are much better with respect to hard or sharp impact protection.
I guess it depends on how much you throw your phone around. I’ve had my S6 edge for a year and a half now, I think, with a minimal clear TPR case and no issues. The drops it’s been subject to haven’t been more than 3 feet, though, and onto wood floors. It’s in my pocket all day at work and in my commuter bag pocket when out and about. I always place it screen down on desks and tables, the top and bottom edges of the case keep the screen from touching the surfaces. If I roll the phone sideways, the case is still touching, not the glass.