Tough As A Rhinoceros Hide

One of the most common reasons for mobile phone insurance claims is a cracked or broken screen usually after the phone has been accidentally dropped. Most Smartphones screens are made from Gorilla Glass, a fine, light, toughened glass with ‘damage resistance’.
Despite this, many iPhone users live with a cracked screen according to a survey carried out by iPhone earlier this year. About 25% of those polled had cracked screens and of those 31% had no intention of getting the screen replaced in the next six months mostly because they couldn’t afford it ... and presumably didn’t have insurance or had claimed too many times maybe?

As strong as a rhinoceros hide
A recent development though looks capable of changing this problem and all for less than £20. Rhino Shield is a very thin screen protector which fits iPhone 5, 5S and 5C and retains the touch screens sensitivity.
According to reports in the Daily Mail and Inhabitat which promotes all things green, the Rhino Shield is as thin as ‘three sheets of paper’. But its other properties are worth mentioning too.

It’s tough
Tough enough to withstand blows by a hammer. In fact it is five times tougher than the Gorilla Glass screen it is protecting. In tests it even survived when dropped on the road whether it was made from tarmac, bricks and concrete.
The shield has been developed by two Cambridge PhD students now forming the company Evolutive Labs. They carried out a number of tests to ensure it did ‘what it says on the tin’ including dropping a very heavy – 225g – on it from a height of 48cm. Not only did the Rhino Shield remain intact but there wasn’t even a scratch on the surface as evidence and the phone remained working. Now that’s a result.
If you’re interested you can watch the experiments on YouTube.

Easy to apply
Rhino Shield doesn’t impair the look of your Smart phone nor the screen visibility and it is also fingerprint smudge proof. It has a self-adhesive back and can be applied to your Smartphone easily: just wipe a cloth over the front of the film and it will stick to your iPhone.
We’re also pleased to tell you that Rhino Shield is also being developed for iPhone 4 and other Smartphones too.

The news is all good
Smart and iPhone users will be pleased with this new product that helps to protect their treasured and expensive piece of equipment. No doubt mobile insurance companies will also be please as this will reduce one of the most common claims.
Still users shouldn’t be too hasty to ditch their mobile phone insurance as it still covers users for many other possibilities including water or other liquid damage and any other accidental damage. Some policies will cover for loss or theft and even unauthorised calls which are sometimes an additional worry if your Smartphone is stolen.

Read the small print of your mobile phone insurance policy carefully to see what you are covered for and what you can add for an additional premium. Oh and importantly how many times you can claim.

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By Harry Price
Harry Price enjoys fishing, hunting and camping with his family of 4 including his dogs. He is a true family man and enjoys free-lance writing in his free time. 

The History Of Texting

It’s fairly common knowledge that the first ever text message was ‘Merry Christmas’. It was sent from one colleague to another at Vodafone in America. But did you know it was sent almost 21 years ago? The exact anniversary will be on 3rd December this year. We wonder whether you realise this message was sent from a computer not a mobile phone too?

• Back in 1992 mobile phones did not have keypads so there was no way of sending a text, hence the computer. Mobile phones with keypads weren’t developed until six years later

• It was another two years, in 1999, that mobile phone users could text to different networks

• Text messaging was first developed for paging people on the road

• We send about 150 billion text messages a year in the UK

• In the UK adults send an average of 50 texts a week

• Whereas 12 – 15 year olds send approximately 255 per week – that’s around 13,000 a year – and receive a similar number back

• This group check their phones on average 60 times every day

• A new language developed for texting; it is a mixture of abbreviations, numbers and letters (L8r) and using letters instead of whole words i.e. RU for ‘are you’

• LOL (Laugh out loud) must be one of the most used abbreviations

• Texting is believed by some to be addictive

• During the Arab Spring text messaging played a big role in helping to organise revolutions

• It also helped to raise money for the Tsunami caused by the Earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day 2004

• Similarly it was used to raise funds for Haiti Earthquake victims

•  Famous texts include one from Julie Bremnes on the Norwegian island of Utoya “Tell the police to hurry. People are dying here.” It was sent to her mother during the rampage of gunman Anders Breivik in July 2011

• The message “It’s a deliberate attack – a second plane just flew into the second tower” was sent by a witness (unknown identity) during the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York

• Best friend Kristian Marr received a text from Amy Whinehouse at 3.10 a.m. on the night she died. It read “I’m gonna be here always xx”. By the time he read the message she was dead

• Tiger Woods is reported to have sent a last text message to porn star Joslyn James reading “You almost just ruined my whole life” just before his extra-marital activities became public knowledge

• Texts between Rebekah Brooks and David Cameron were revealed during the Leveson Inquiry in 2012. One from her read “Brilliant speech. I cried twice. Will love ‘working together’”.

Original text messages were only 140 characters long which may explain why this number of characters was also chosen by Twitter for messages. Today it is reported that Twitter and other social network platforms and instant messaging are gaining popularity over texting.
But no matter which is your favourite means of electronic communication, we bet you use your mobile phone. Which is why phone insurance to protect you from all those unexpected eventualities is still important.

About The Author

License: Image author owned 
Bill Turner is a free-lance writer and technology lover. He is a self-proclaimed texting addict...