Asus built a screen into a touchpad. Is it the future of computing or a gimmick?
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends
Your laptop needs more than just updated specs and clean design to stand out these days. Asus has taken that to heart in its most recent premium laptop, the ZenBook Pro 15. What’s the stand-out feature? Well, Asus calls it the ScreenPad, a second touchscreen built right into the touchpad of the laptop.
Asus taken Apple’s Touch Bar concept to another level by layering an IPS LCD display over the swiping surface and implementing some interesting functionality. The innovative new touchpad technology is certainly ambitious, but is it actually useful?
The ScreenPad as a bigger, better Touch Bar
To consider whether the ScreenPad brings value to the laptop experience, we first need to consider what it actually does. And on paper, that’s quite a bit.
To begin with, there are a few modes that you can trigger via a keyboard function key. There’s the ScreenPad mode, which enables the various apps and utilities that Asus and third-party developers can create using a software development kit.
Why would you want a full-sized, Windows 10 desktop on a 5.5-inch screen? We don’t know. Haven’t figured that out yet.
Those apps are the most ScreenPad’s most visible features, and where there is the most promise. Fire up the ZenBook Pro and swipe down from the top of the ScreenPad, and you’re faced with a customizable row of icons. Click on one of those icons, and the touchpad transforms into an optimized interface for a specific task. It’s kind of cool.
For now, the list of options is relatively short. If you’re a Spotify user, then you can control the playlist and playback using the ScreenPad. There’s also a stand-alone music player for those who prefer local tunes. Meanwhile, if you fire up YouTube (in Chrome only, for now), you can control playback using the ScreenPad or sign Adobe PDFs. There are also some useful utilities like a numeric keypad, calculator, and calendar app, all of which are more helpful than on the Touch Bar thanks to the increased screen real estate.
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends
But the best example of a viable use case for the ScreenPad is the Office tool. When you open an Office app, a set of useful edit controls pop up on the touchpad that Asus says have some predictive capabilities (that I didn’t notice in this version). And those edit controls are right where you need them – imagine using the touchpad to select a word and right there next to your finger is a set of formatting controls. That’s genuinely useful, and it’s also customizable. We can imagine that kind of functionality being extended to any number of apps, which would be a real boon to productivity if the integrations are well designed.
It’s a short list for now, but it does a solid job of demonstrating just how useful the ScreenPad could be. In theory, at least.
The ScreenPad as a second display
The second bit of functionality it has is the Extension Display mode, which turns the ScreenPad into a small secondary display. Essentially, the ScreenPad can act just like an external monitor embedded right in the keyboard deck. This is where things get a little strange.
The ScreenPad feels at least as natural to use as Apple’s Touch Bar, and unlike the Touch Bar, it doesn’t take away the notebook’s function keys.
Windows 10 UI is difficult to control in extension mode — everything’s quite tiny at the default Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution. You can switch between cursor mode, which lets you try to control a tiny cursor to select the tiniest elements, and touch mode, which feels more natural but turns off cursor control on both displays. Fortunately, you can switch the ScreenPad to a more reasonable 800 x 600 resolution.
Why would you want a full-sized, Windows 10 desktop on a 5.5-inch screen? We don’t know. Haven’t figured that out yet. It’s certainly best for Windows 10 apps that are made for touch as compared to legacy Windows or web apps that aren’t. In case you haven’t noticed, there aren’t a ton of those. Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing feature that can be useful for things like playing a YouTube or Netflix video while you’re working (assuming again, that you aren’t using the touchpad).
Okay, so, does it help you work?
Asus has an interesting concept with the ScreenPad, and the execution is surprisingly good. It’s larger than the Touch Bar and in a more convenient location. We constantly access our touchpads (if we’re not using a mouse, of course), and that makes it a natural place to include more functionality. In this respect, the ScreenPad feels at least as natural to use as Apple’s Touch Bar, and unlike the Touch Bar, it doesn’t take away the notebook’s function keys.
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends
However, there are some significant issues as well. The main problem right now with the ScreenPad is it’s too buggy. Features sometimes work, and sometimes they don’t. The ScreenPad software resets on occasion, and it can lock up — with the only apparent way to recover being to reboot.
Outside of bugs, there’s a fairly large limitation to the ScreenPad apps in that the touchpad functionality turns off. That means that simply opening the music app to play some tunes, for example, limits you to using the touch display (or a mouse) to control things on the primary display. That’s an unfortunate constraint, and it makes ScreenPad apps a somewhat dubious proposition.
But if Asus can fix the bugs and add some polish, and if third party developers create useful implementations, then the ScreenPad could be a useful enhancement that we’re sure other manufacturers will duplicate. Asus looks to be expanding the ScreenPad concept to other laptops with its new NumberPad feature in the new ZenBooks, so we’re looking forwarding to see more uses for this interesting concept.
Editors’ Recommendations
- Microsoft Surface Laptop review
- Acer Aspire 5 review
- Microsoft Surface Go review
- Samsung Chromebook Pro review
- Asus ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 with ScreenPad review
There’s no silver lining for iCloud users, and Apple needs to fix it
Apple’s iCloud service launched back in October 2011, just a couple of days before the iPhone 4S was released. Designed as a one-stop cloud storage service, it replaced MobileMe and provided iPhone owners with an easy way to wirelessly back up photos, documents, apps, settings, contacts, and more.
Anyone signing up for iCloud got 5GB of storage for free to be shared across all their Apple devices. If you wanted more, you’d have to pay a monthly fee for it. Very little has changed with iCloud in the last seven years. Even back in 2011, 5GB wasn’t a huge amount, but in 2018 it’s positively pathetic.
5GB simply is not enough
No matter how many thousands of dollars you’ve dropped on new iPhones, MacBooks, or other Apple devices over the years, you still only get 5GB for free — an amount that’s woefully inadequate in the modern day.
Very little has changed with iCloud in the last seven years.
The most popular models of the iPhone 4S had 8GB or 16GB of storage. The iPhone X comes with 64GB or 256GB of storage. Why hasn’t Apple bumped up our free iCloud storage?
We take more photos than ever before; we capture video in ever higher resolutions; improvements to cameras alone make a strong argument for increasing that base allowance. Take one too many photos of your cat and you’ll be greeted with a warning that you’ve run out of space. You have two options: Delete some stuff or buy more storage.
No one wants to micromanage
The idea of micromanaging 5GB to try and juggle a backup of precious files is far from appealing. While you can go into iCloud and toggle specific apps like Mail, Messages, or Photos on or off, there’s no provision to select individual folders within or exclude folders from the backup.
To confuse matters further when backing up photos, Apple offers a second option with My Photo Stream which doesn’t count towards your iCloud limit. Unfortunately, it’s limited to 1,000 photos, it only includes the last 30 days, and there are a few other restrictions that don’t exist in iCloud Photo Library.
While My Photo Stream does allow you to share photos and videos across your Apple devices and through your iCloud account on a Windows PC, you’d have to manually download and then back up everything regularly to ensure that you don’t lose any of it.
Buying more storage
On release back in 2011, you could snag an extra 10GB for $20 a year, 20GB for $40, or 50GB for $100. In 2018, you’ll pay a dollar a month for 50GB or $12 a year, and you can get 200GB for $36 or 2TB for $120.
The jump in the amounts offered is another acknowledgement that we need more storage nowadays and it’s clear that storage has come down in cost. You may argue that those prices are very reasonable, but how do they compare?
Google recently updated its Google Drive storage plans to something called Google One which offers 100GB for $24 a year, 200GB for $36, or 10TB for $100.
Microsoft offers 50GB for $24 a year, or you can upgrade to Office 365 Personal for $70, which nets you 1TB as well as Microsoft’s Office software suite and a few other perks. For $100 a year you can get Office 365 Home which gives you 5TB and the Office software on up to five devices.
Most people won’t be prepared to pay extra for storage and so they just turn the automatic backup off when they reach the limit.
There are many other cloud storage services out there with various pros and cons if you’re willing to do the research and the work to set them up.
Apple’s deal looks competitive at the lower end, not so much if you want more storage – perhaps partly because it has traditionally bought a lot of its storage from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
But there’s something else to consider: Most people won’t be prepared to pay extra for storage and so they just turn the automatic backup off when they reach the limit. If their iPhone goes missing or breaks, they’ve lost all those files, and the fact they were warned it might happen is little comfort. It doesn’t make for a good customer experience.
Free storage and more control
Microsoft and Amazon only offer 5GB for free, like Apple, but anyone can sign up for that. Even the free 5GB you get from Apple isn’t really free because you have to buy an Apple device to get it – Apple’s Web-only iCloud accounts are limited to just 1GB.
Apple’s main phone manufacturing competitor, Samsung offers 15GB for free.
Google Drive offers 15GB for free, but you can also upload an unlimited number of photos and videos for free through the Google Photos app. Photos are limited to 16 megapixels and video to 1080p resolution, but you can back them up in full resolution as part of your free 15GB if you want to.
Google Photos
While Google Drive works on all the same platforms as iCloud, it also works on Android and Linux. We can’t see Apple ever catering for Android, even though lots of iPhone owners also use Android devices. It’s a real shame, because it would be useful to be able use iCloud on an Android phone, especially for families with a mixture of devices. This must lose Apple business, because if you’re shopping around for a cloud service to subscribe to, you want one that covers all your devices.
You also get more control over what you want to back up with Google’s software. Apple doesn’t let you drill into specifics to dictate that this document or that folder should be backed up, but this one doesn’t need to be.
The idea of having iCloud handle all that in the background, without you having to think about it, is appealing and it will suit many people. In fact, with limitless storage, this would be the ideal way for it to work, but with just 5GB it’s far from ideal.
Apple can do better
At the very least an update to iCloud is long overdue. A larger helping of free storage doesn’t seem too much to ask. Apple could also leave automatic management as the default but offer those who want it the option of more control over precisely what gets backed up.
The fact is that cloud services, syncing across devices, and backups are only going to grow more important as we do more and more on our phones. Apple has the deep pockets to make a cloud service that really stands out, and it would tempt more people into the walled garden and make them less likely to leave. We’re hoping to see Apple make announcements towards iCloud on September 12 at its iPhone launch event.
Editors’ Recommendations
- How to back up your iPhone
- MacBook Pro 13-inch with Touch Bar review
- The best cloud storage services
- Android 9.0 Pie vs. iOS 12: How notifications have changed
- Here’s how to get the iOS 12 public beta on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch
There’s no silver lining for iCloud users, and Apple needs to fix it
Apple’s iCloud service launched back in October 2011, just a couple of days before the iPhone 4S was released. Designed as a one-stop cloud storage service, it replaced MobileMe and provided iPhone owners with an easy way to wirelessly back up photos, documents, apps, settings, contacts, and more.
Anyone signing up for iCloud got 5GB of storage for free to be shared across all their Apple devices. If you wanted more, you’d have to pay a monthly fee for it. Very little has changed with iCloud in the last seven years. Even back in 2011, 5GB wasn’t a huge amount, but in 2018 it’s positively pathetic.
5GB simply is not enough
No matter how many thousands of dollars you’ve dropped on new iPhones, MacBooks, or other Apple devices over the years, you still only get 5GB for free — an amount that’s woefully inadequate in the modern day.
Very little has changed with iCloud in the last seven years.
The most popular models of the iPhone 4S had 8GB or 16GB of storage. The iPhone X comes with 64GB or 256GB of storage. Why hasn’t Apple bumped up our free iCloud storage?
We take more photos than ever before; we capture video in ever higher resolutions; improvements to cameras alone make a strong argument for increasing that base allowance. Take one too many photos of your cat and you’ll be greeted with a warning that you’ve run out of space. You have two options: Delete some stuff or buy more storage.
No one wants to micromanage
The idea of micromanaging 5GB to try and juggle a backup of precious files is far from appealing. While you can go into iCloud and toggle specific apps like Mail, Messages, or Photos on or off, there’s no provision to select individual folders within or exclude folders from the backup.
To confuse matters further when backing up photos, Apple offers a second option with My Photo Stream which doesn’t count towards your iCloud limit. Unfortunately, it’s limited to 1,000 photos, it only includes the last 30 days, and there are a few other restrictions that don’t exist in iCloud Photo Library.
While My Photo Stream does allow you to share photos and videos across your Apple devices and through your iCloud account on a Windows PC, you’d have to manually download and then back up everything regularly to ensure that you don’t lose any of it.
Buying more storage
On release back in 2011, you could snag an extra 10GB for $20 a year, 20GB for $40, or 50GB for $100. In 2018, you’ll pay a dollar a month for 50GB or $12 a year, and you can get 200GB for $36 or 2TB for $120.
The jump in the amounts offered is another acknowledgement that we need more storage nowadays and it’s clear that storage has come down in cost. You may argue that those prices are very reasonable, but how do they compare?
Google recently updated its Google Drive storage plans to something called Google One which offers 100GB for $24 a year, 200GB for $36, or 10TB for $100.
Microsoft offers 50GB for $24 a year, or you can upgrade to Office 365 Personal for $70, which nets you 1TB as well as Microsoft’s Office software suite and a few other perks. For $100 a year you can get Office 365 Home which gives you 5TB and the Office software on up to five devices.
Most people won’t be prepared to pay extra for storage and so they just turn the automatic backup off when they reach the limit.
There are many other cloud storage services out there with various pros and cons if you’re willing to do the research and the work to set them up.
Apple’s deal looks competitive at the lower end, not so much if you want more storage – perhaps partly because it has traditionally bought a lot of its storage from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
But there’s something else to consider: Most people won’t be prepared to pay extra for storage and so they just turn the automatic backup off when they reach the limit. If their iPhone goes missing or breaks, they’ve lost all those files, and the fact they were warned it might happen is little comfort. It doesn’t make for a good customer experience.
Free storage and more control
Microsoft and Amazon only offer 5GB for free, like Apple, but anyone can sign up for that. Even the free 5GB you get from Apple isn’t really free because you have to buy an Apple device to get it – Apple’s Web-only iCloud accounts are limited to just 1GB.
Apple’s main phone manufacturing competitor, Samsung offers 15GB for free.
Google Drive offers 15GB for free, but you can also upload an unlimited number of photos and videos for free through the Google Photos app. Photos are limited to 16 megapixels and video to 1080p resolution, but you can back them up in full resolution as part of your free 15GB if you want to.
Google Photos
While Google Drive works on all the same platforms as iCloud, it also works on Android and Linux. We can’t see Apple ever catering for Android, even though lots of iPhone owners also use Android devices. It’s a real shame, because it would be useful to be able use iCloud on an Android phone, especially for families with a mixture of devices. This must lose Apple business, because if you’re shopping around for a cloud service to subscribe to, you want one that covers all your devices.
You also get more control over what you want to back up with Google’s software. Apple doesn’t let you drill into specifics to dictate that this document or that folder should be backed up, but this one doesn’t need to be.
The idea of having iCloud handle all that in the background, without you having to think about it, is appealing and it will suit many people. In fact, with limitless storage, this would be the ideal way for it to work, but with just 5GB it’s far from ideal.
Apple can do better
At the very least an update to iCloud is long overdue. A larger helping of free storage doesn’t seem too much to ask. Apple could also leave automatic management as the default but offer those who want it the option of more control over precisely what gets backed up.
The fact is that cloud services, syncing across devices, and backups are only going to grow more important as we do more and more on our phones. Apple has the deep pockets to make a cloud service that really stands out, and it would tempt more people into the walled garden and make them less likely to leave. We’re hoping to see Apple make announcements towards iCloud on September 12 at its iPhone launch event.
Editors’ Recommendations
- How to back up your iPhone
- MacBook Pro 13-inch with Touch Bar review
- The best cloud storage services
- Android 9.0 Pie vs. iOS 12: How notifications have changed
- Here’s how to get the iOS 12 public beta on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch
Printing metal just got easier with Desktop Metal’s new supercharged tech
Few things are more hardcore than 3D-printing metal. We can think of just two off the top of our head: Pressure cookers and cave diving. That’s about it. The point is, 3D-printing metal is really cool.
One of the leaders in the hardcore industry is the aptly named Desktop Metal, a company that’s practically hell-bent on making this hardcore technology accessible, not just for the military industrial complex, but for the civilian industrial complex as well.
Last year, the company launched two new systems: DM Studio and DM Production. These printers promised to handle all steps in the metal printing process — from early stage prototyping to mass production — using a proprietary “microwave enhanced sintering” that makes its process as straightforward as printing plastic.
Now, it has added two new tools to the Desktop Metal suite. The first is Studio System+, a system that expands on the company’s flagship printer by offering more functions and the ability to print smaller metal parts with higher resolution. Users can also livestream the build in real time, a perfect feature for those of us who like to watch our pizzas cook in the oven.
The second, Studio Fleet, is a bundled system of printers, debinders, and furnaces that support rapid fabrication of high-quality, complex metal pieces, according to the company. Studio Fleet can be ordered in 3:1:1 or 5:2:1 (printers:debinders:furnaces) configurations.
Desktop Metal
“The production of metal parts in low volume and high resolution presents significant challenges to manufacturers,” Ric Fulop, Desktop Metal CEO, told Digital Trends. “For the first time, the Studio System+ and Studio Fleet enable batch processing for low-volume production of complex metal parts in-house. We’ve designed the technology to be an end-to-end solution, reducing both cost and lead time.”
Both systems are intended for industry companies interested in prototyping or mass manufacturing, from fabricating customized prototypes to replacement parts.
Desktop Metal is selling its Studio System+ printer for $60,000. The Studio Fleets sell for $235,000 for the 3:1:1 and $315,000 for the 5:2:1 configuration.
“Trillions of dollars are spent annually producing metal parts and we are just at the beginning of a 3D-printing revolution,” Fulop said. “We expect significant adoption of metal 3D printing over the next decade as technology develops and becomes more affordable and accessible to manufacturers.”
Editors’ Recommendations
- Put the pedal to the metal with the Nintendo Labo Vehicle Kit
- How Grammy-winner Elliot Scheiner helps Acura make one of the best in-car sound systems
- What is 3D printing? Here’s everything you need to know
- This prototype chainless bike suggests the future of cycling could be ceramic
- Yamaha YAS-207 soundbar review
Should you get professional monitoring for Nest Secure?
Best answer: Absolutely. While expensive, the Brinks monitoring service for your Nest Secure provides enough value that we recommend enrolling and using it.
Best Buy: Nest Secure ($399)
Someone will watch when you can’t
So, you bought a Nest Secure because you want to protect your home and your valuables, and a smart alarm system can notify you and let you know what’s happening any time through an app on your phone. However, there’ll be times when you’re not able to grab your phone the instant you hear an alert. An intruder doesn’t wait until you’re not in a meeting or at the movies to break in; batteries die and power outages happen; we all deserve a vacation away from beeping smartphones once in a while.
Brinks Home Security provides 24/7 monitoring of your Nest Secure and the service also includes cellular backup in case your Wi-Fi goes out. If Brinks sees an alert, it’ll try to contact you and any designated emergency contacts you have provided. If an alert is real (not triggered accidentally by someone who should be at your home) or the company is unable to contact you, police are dispatched to your home and Brinks stays engaged until the situation is resolved.
Professional monitoring for Nest Secure starts at $19 per month, and if you don’t have a Nest Secure yet you can get $100 off the purchase when you enroll. Call (833)327-4657 for the full details.
Our pick
Nest Secure
$399 at Best Buy
One of the best ways to protect your home and whats inside of it.
The Nest Secure is a great option when looking for a smart security system. There’s no need for professional installation, the system is fully expandable, and it all works great with Google Assistant and your smartphone.
Grab Samsung’s Pro Endurance 64GB microSD card for $30
Made for 4K!
The Samsung Pro Endurance 64GB micro SDXC card is down to $29.99 on Amazon. This card is only a few months old but has mostly sold for around $45 or more. Today’s deal price is the lowest we have ever seen.
The other capacities are also on sale. The 32GB version is down to $18.99 from $25. The 128GB card is going for $59.99 from a street price around $85. The regular Samsung Evo Select cards are also on sale, which run a little less expensive especially at deal prices.
You can use this card with plenty of devices, but Samsung designed it for dash cams, security cams, body cams, and things like that. It can record up to 26,280 hours of 4K and 1080p video. The card is resistant to water, shock, extreme temperatures, X-rays, magnets, and more. Get transfer speeds as fast as 100 MB/s and a three-year limited warranty. It also comes with an adapter to use it in an SD card slot. Users give it 4.5 stars based on 43 reviews.
If you need a good kit to use the 32GB card with, the Auto-Vox M8 is on sale and works as both a dashboard cam and backup camera.
See at Amazon
Micro SD cards, robotic vacuums, and more are discounted today
Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.
We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on the Samsung Pro Endurance microSD cards, the iLife robotic vacuum cleaner, a Belkin surge protector, and more!
View the rest of the deals
If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!
How to hide PlayStation 4 games in your library
Make your PlayStation 4 library as organized as ever.
Our game libraries can be a bit of a mess, especially if we frequently purchase a lot of titles. Whether you just want to hide some of them because you dislike their cover art or you have a more utilitarian reason—like hiding those you’ll never complete—here’s how to make them disappear from your library without actually getting rid of them.
- How to hide games in your PS4 library
- How to hide games from activity feed, profile, and trophy list
How to hide games in your PS4 library
From the dashboard, scroll to your Library.
Navigate to Purchased.
Highlight whichever item you want hidden.
Hit Options on your controller.
Select Do Not Show Content Item in (Purchased).
To reveal any games you have hidden, hit Options on your controller once again and select Check Hidden Content Items.
This only works for games tied to your PSN account under Purchased. If you scroll through your Games listed under This PS4, you will not see the option to hide them.
How to hide games from activity feed, profile, and trophy list
And if you want to hide certain games from your activity feed, profile, and trophy list there’s another method to do so. Note that this won’t hide them from your own profile should you check for them on your account, but it will stop other people from viewing them if they visit your profile.
Go to your profile.
Select Games.
Highlight any game.
Hit Options on your controller.
Select Hidden Games Settings.
Check the games you’d like to hide.
There are other ways to enter your Hidden Game Settings from various menus, but I found the above to be the most straight-forward.
PlayStation 4
- PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
- PlayStation VR Review
- Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome
Amazon
Keep your phone safe from floods and water fun with a waterproof pouch
Whether you’re off to a wet and wonderful vacation in some tropical locale or you’re just trying to weather the flash floods and storm surges hurricane season brings, a waterproof pouch is an easy way to protect your phone from electronics’ biggest enemy: water. IPX8 cases are widely prevalent, come in many styles, colors, and sizes to accommodate phones both big and small, and since they’re usually big enough for a driver’s license and some cash, they easily go from unitasker to waterproof mini-purse. Whatever you’re looking for in a waterproof pouch, you can probably find it in one of these.
Family pack pouches
Mpow Universal IPX8 Waterproof Phone Pouch (3-pack)
Mpow’s cases are by far the most prevalent and popular waterproof pouches on the market. The set comes in different colors so the whole family can tell their phones apart, and they should last several days so long as you’re careful not to rip the plastic when getting your phone in or out of it. This pouch can fit phones with up to a 6-inch diagonal screen, though for phones on the larger end of that scale, you may need to remove their case before you put them in.
$11 at Amazon
Most popular
JOTO Universal Waterproof Case
JOTO’s cases have over 20,000 reviews on Amazon and still have a 4.5-star rating. These pouches have colored borders, both sides of your phone are fully visible inside the case. The color options here aren’t quite as sexy as the Mpow or CaliCase, but they get the job done. The JOTO pouch can fit phones with up to a 6-inch diagonal screen, though for phones on the larger end of that scale, you may need to remove their case before you put them in.
$8 at Amazon
Affordable floaters
Mpow Floating IPX8 Waterproof Phone Pouch (2-pack)
This multipack of Mpow pouches is 2 instead of 3, but these pouches are floaters! While not ideal for divers or snorkelers, floating dry bags like these are great for a weekend of fishing or boating, making sure your phone doesn’t sink to the bottom of the river/lake/ocean but stays afloat and easily retrievable should it go overboard.
$11 at Amazon
Upgrade pick
CaliCase Waterproof Floating Case
CaliCase is double-layered, floats (except the clear version), comes with a lockable carabiner to keep it strapped to your lanyard/belt/backpack/kayak, and some versions even glow in the dark! The American-made CaliCase comes in a bevy of cool colors and has a Lifetime Warranty. While you can get the normal-sized one from Amazon easily, you’ll need to buy the extra-large version directly from Calicase unless you want hot pink.
$15 at Amazon
A few notes about using a waterproof phone pouch with your Android phone:
- You can’t use a fingerprint scanner through a waterproof pouch. Be prepared to unlock your phone via password or PIN, or use Smart Lock to keep the device unlocked.
- While most newer pouches allow you to use your touchscreen to an extent, it doesn’t work well (or at all) while you and your pouch are completely submerged. If you’re going to be taking photos underwater, set your camera to use the volume buttons to take pictures.
- Most waterproof pouches are secured to a lanyard using a “Quick Release” mechanism that will detach the pouch if someone yanks it or it gets caught on something. If you don’t want that, get yourself a durable paracord carabiner you can snap onto your belt instead.
Got a favorite waterproof pouch for your Android phone? Do you want a floater or a sinker? Do you prefer a bright color or is black fine so long as it keeps your phone dry? Let us know which one you use in the comments.
Updated September 2018: We’ve replaced the Fitfort with a floating Mpow multi-pack and updated the pricing and links for our other choices so that you can keep your phone dry through flash floods and hurricanes.
Best Bose QC35 replacement carrying cases
So, you’ve lost the carrying case that came with your Bose QC35s. Fear not, because there are plenty of third-party cases to choose from! We’ve picked through all of them to find the very best ones available. Without further ado, here’s what we found!
Super stylish and easy on the wallet
LinkIdea Headphones Carrying Case
LinkIdea’s case is incredibly stylish while still protecting your QC35s from the outside world. It’s ready for all your wear and tear thanks to a super durable EVA crush and shock-resistant material and comes in four eye-catching colors.
$12 at Amazon
Most expensive but comes with a warranty
Geekria Headphones Case
The fabric design of the Geekria case looks and feels fantastic. It’s rated to protect against dust, shock, scuffs, and more, and if the case breaks, Geekria covers you with a 1-year warranty.
$17.50 at Amazon
Looks just like the original
Gigabit Case for Bose QuietComfort 35
This is a great copy of the official QC35 carrying case that costs a lot less than the official Bose one. There’s a slip on the back for extra storage, durable PU material on the outside, and a trusty zipper to keep everything locked in place.
$13 at Amazon
Great design and has a free lanyard
Geekria UltraShell Headphones Case
The hard outer portion of the UltraShell case offers more than enough protection for your QC35s. There’s also a great-looking fabric design and carrying lanyard to make travel as easy as can be.
$15 at Amazon
Lots of colors and super affordable
CaseSack Headphone Carrying Case
CaseSack’s case checks all the boxes. It’s available in a wide variety of colors, has a big storage area inside for extra cables, and has a durable outer shell to protect your headphones from just about anything.
$11 at Amazon
Protect your QC35s in style
The carrying case that comes with the Bose QC35s is fantastic, but if it happens to get damaged or you lose it, there are a lot of great replacements to choose from. Heck, even if you still have the original case, you might want to pick up a new one anyway just for a new look! Whether you buy the affordable CaseSack case or the more expensive Geekria one, we think you’ll be pleased no matter what you decide to get.
