StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Question for the board!

I have recently bought into the tablet craze, for a variety of reasons, chief of them being portability (they are quick for peeking at your e-mail and favorite sites without the hassle of booting a machine up) and the ease of use by children (my two year old can actually use a tablet to watch his favorite shows)

I bought a Galaxy Tab 2 because I like Android, and the iPad 3 seemed overpriced (though it has a superior graphics processor and thus nicer looking games, but that's not a major consideration).

But I missed researching one area, and there's a pretty major problem...

Apparently, all the Galaxy Tab cases suck.

I mean, the iPad 3 has the likes of Griffin Survivor, which I had the opportunity to peruse at my sister-in-law's. Since one of the primary users of the tablet is supposed to be a small child, having a shock-proof scratch-proof water-proof cover is essential.

I have looked around, but the Galaxy Tab has nothing comparable. At best, it has plastic snap-on covers which won't protect the innards from a drop.

So...I'm turning to you guys. Perhaps you know of better schemes than snap-on back covers and fiberglass scratchproofing. I do not care about aesthetics at all. Ideally, something on the level of the Survivor would be best, but failing that I'll take the next best thing...

The situation is similar for other tablets. Do you really need such cases? Is the device particularly vulnerable to damage? The number one thing that's going to break is the screen, and even those 'survivor' cases just have a scratch protector. I'm not really confident any cases can protect a tablet from common shit like 'drop that' or 'splats on corner'. That said, don't the Tabs have reinforced screens?

PS lol at buying the cheaper alternative when it has less third-party support. :V

Stark wrote:The situation is similar for other tablets. Do you really need such cases? Is the device particularly vulnerable to damage? The number one thing that's going to break is the screen, and even those 'survivor' cases just have a scratch protector. I'm not really confident any cases can protect a tablet from common shit like 'drop that' or 'splats on corner'. That said, don't the Tabs have reinforced screens?

As I wrote, my sister-in-law has an iPad 3 equipped with the Survivor. It managed to protect it from one spill and several drops, which is why I'm looking for similar stuff. I have the curious situation of two technology-addicted two-year-olds who can fight for the priviledge of using a tablet

Stark wrote:PS lol at buying the cheaper alternative when it has less third-party support. :V

Yeah...that wasn't really a major consideration, even if it is turning out that I probably made a suboptimal choice.

Yeah, and I'm not real confident that it'll save the screen if your kids end up sending it flying. Maybe you've got carpet! Anyway, the Tab DOES have super glass, so it's screen should be way less shatter happy than an iPad anyway.

I'm not sure why you're treating it like a toy and giving it to unsupervised kids, though.

Stark wrote: I'm not sure why you're treating it like a toy and giving it to unsupervised kids, though.

Well, in theory they're supposed to use it while supervised ; But shit happens, and this is EXPENSIVE shit.

That's what I mean. I've knocked my iPad around a fair bit and its okay, but kids play rough and these things cost hundreds of dollars. If you're just using it for media (ie they watch their shows), there are way safer ways of doing that. There are heaps of apps for kids, though, and I'd certainly like to hear about how your kids use and learn from a tablet.

I'll let you know as soon as I feel confident about its survivability

Some of my friends kids have messed around with mine, but I think you've already got more experience than me. It was pretty surprising how removing the barriers of keyboard, or even written language, from the device made it more accessible to kids.

Stark wrote:Some of my friends kids have messed around with mine, but I think you've already got more experience than me. It was pretty surprising how removing the barriers of keyboard, or even written language, from the device made it more accessible to kids.

I actually noticed the same thing, but with my smartphone at first ; My kid can operate it decently well to do what he wants to do (mostly watch pictures and video clips of himself and heavy construction equipment) despite not even being able to speak just yet. He figured out how to unlock the screen after a couple minutes trial and error...and he can play Angry Birds. The tablet shares the operating system with my phone, so he picked it right up ; And the bigger screen makes it easier for him, because his fine motor control isn't that good yet.

I'll try getting some more specialized kid's apps now that you've mentioned it (It honestly didn't occur to me before...) and see how that goes.

Is it the 10-inch or 7-inch version?

10 inch

Well, shoot. Otterbox makes their Defender case for the 7-inch, but not the 10-inch, and I can't find any other big protective cases like that for the 10-inch.

However, if you're more worried about your son spilling things on it than dropping it, you could put it in an AquaPac, they make one that size. It won't protect it from drops at all, but it's waterproof down to 5 meters and would also function as a screen protector. I have a phone-size one that I've used with my old Droid 2 and my Galaxy Nexus, I never go near a body of water without it.