My iPad Air 2 is already scratched to hell and cracked as well

[Blanky]

This past fall I replaced a three year old iPad 2 with no meaningful scratches with an iPad Air 2.

In the past several months, with a very similar exposure to stresses, it is now covered in a multitude of scratches. These manifest themselves as rainbows against light backgrounds.

The screen also has a crack from falling onto a pool deck. It was out of its silicone case at the time. I cannot entirely blame the ipad for this, but it's worth pointing out that the fall was otherwise so gentle as to not even scratch the case at all.

The crack could have been just bad luck, but I cannot help but wonder if the ipad 2 would have suffered a similar fate. The scratches I blame on this thing. I think these things are severely prone to scratching.

Of course, Apple treats any damage to a unit as the equivalent of not working at all, so the only way to "repair" this is to pay $379 for a new one. That's silly, so I end up with a crack in the screen. It's not a nasty spider webbing one, either, but it's still annoying.

 

[Tsavo]

You can't blame an iPad at all for damage received when you drop it onto a pool deck.

It isn't a basketball.

 

[Eug]

My iPad 2 has some light scratches, but that's because my wife hates using it with a case. It's kinda thick already and kinda heavy, and adding a case makes it thicker and heavier.

In contrast, the iPad Air 2 is uber thin, so even after adding a thin TPU case it still feels thin enough, and it remains pretty light. I also put a screen protector on almost immediately after I got it. Thus, I have no scratches at all on my iPad Air 2, and I received mine a day or two before it was available in stores.

As for the crack, that sucks, but that's what happens when you drop a glass device on cement. BTW, I dropped my Nexus 7 onto a sidewalk and the screen was smashed to smithereens.

Ironically though, my wife just dropped her iPhone 5 onto tile, and the screen was fine, but the plastic part of the housing fell off. The irritating part it is if only the screen had cracked, it would have only been a CAD$75 fix (from a 3rd party, not Apple), but the housing fix actually cost more at $100. The good news though is that now it looks brand new since the housing is brand new.

I wonder what it would cost to replace an iPad Air 2's screen at a third party store.

 

[Rakehellion]

Get a screen protector next time. For $5 they protect against scratches and breakage.

 

[touchstone]

I gotta say Apple does make some pretty shoddy screens. I always see ipads cracked or broken here and there. Worst part is, you know Apple could fix these for a trivial amount of money but they won't even let people pay them to do it!

 

[Eug]

I gotta say Apple does make some pretty shoddy screens. I always see ipads cracked or broken here and there. Worst part is, you know Apple could fix these for a trivial amount of money but they won't even let people pay them to do it!

iPad screens are amongst the best in the industry. Mostly they have excellent colour balance and viewing angles and the glass is good quality.

And you don't have to go to Apple to get your screens replaced, although honestly I don't know if my local non-Apple shop will do it inexpensively for an iPad Air 2. For any other iPad though, they'll replace the screen for a decent enough price.

 

[Blanky]

I cannot find anywhere willing to do an ipad air 2 screen yet.

I don't know that we can conclude I cannot AT ALL blame this thing for its crack on the pool deck. It's not like it was whisked at the ground in rage, and based on the fact it is getting scratched to shit I really do think these things are excessively weak. After all, Amazon advertises its fire hd tablet as twice as durable as the ipad, so there must be something to its weakness.

I will have to do a screen protector next time or a big ugly otter case. Kids + ipads are crap!

 

[mmntech]

I gotta say Apple does make some pretty shoddy screens. I always see ipads cracked or broken here and there. Worst part is, you know Apple could fix these for a trivial amount of money but they won't even let people pay them to do it!

The screens are cracked because people are a bunch of butterfingers. Myself included. As good as Gorilla Glass is, concrete and metal are still harder materials. The alternative is polycarbonate screens, but they're easier to scratch with regular use.

The iPad is poorly designed from a repair perspective. Which I consider inexcusable for a high end device. Especially since the iPhone doesn't have that issue. With the screens so prone to damage, they should be easier to swap out.

 

[effowe]

First thing I bought after my iPad was an Otterbox, has saved it from many drops over 3 years.

 

[mmntech]

First thing I bought after my iPad was an Otterbox, has saved it from many drops over 3 years.

The only problem with the iPad Otterboxes is they're quite expensive. I guess there's the whole "you bought a $600 tablet" argument, but $80 is still a lot of cash for a hunk of plastic.

 

[Zodiark1593]

I suppose of all things, it's good Apple doesn't advertise durability.

 

[Tsavo]

I suppose of all things, it's good Apple doesn't advertise durability.

Most of the things they sell have near as makes no difference edge-to-edge glass.

What are they supposed to advertise them as? Basketballs? Baseball bats? Tennis rackets? Supplemental tank armor?

 

[Rakehellion]

The screens are cracked because people are a bunch of butterfingers. Myself included. As good as Gorilla Glass is, concrete and metal are still harder materials. The alternative is polycarbonate screens, but they're easier to scratch with regular use.

The iPad is poorly designed from a repair perspective. Which I consider inexcusable for a high end device. Especially since the iPhone doesn't have that issue. With the screens so prone to damage, they should be easier to swap out.

Or you can just use a 99 cent screen protector instead of swapping out a $100 display every 6 months.

 

[Artdeco]

I've had every iPad but the 4, they need a case.

Even a cheap skin helps a lot. Learned my lesson with an iPod Touch I scratched to hell using it without a case, it looked like ass after a few months.

A cheap case goes a long way towards keeping almost any electronic device looking good.