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Weighing Protection of the OtterBox Defender Case for the Curve 8900
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By
Gregory
Quirk
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Mobile Handset DesignLine
(06/15/2009 11:59 AM EDT)
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A little while ago I wrote a blog post about the
OtterBox Defender case for the
iPod Touch. The issue I had with that case was that the protective
screen created air bubbles that caused a few issues with
watching the screen. Otherwise I
found that the feel of the case and the protection it provided was
excellent. At the time there was no case available for my actual phone,
which is a BlackBerry Curve 8900. That has changed and an OtterBox
Curve 8900
Defender case showed up on my desk this morning.
The big difference between the Touch case and the Curve case is that,
while there is a protective screen on the Defender 8900 case,
the
phone is not a touch screen, so the material seems to be different and
does not stick to the screen. This helps to provide dirt and
dust protection without compromising the viewing. The case
includes a clear PVC covering for the keyboard with a cut out for the
track ball. You have to line up the keyboard cover before
putting the phone is the encasement, which can take a few attempts to
get everything aligned, but nothing too difficult. Then you
put the phone in a hard polycarbonate shell and snap it together to get
some
protection. Further you surround it in a soft silicone casing
for additional protection from drops and to provide a more comfortable
feeling when holding the phone.
There are cut outs in the silicone casing for all of the necessary
inputs, like the microUSB slot and the headphones. The
buttons are covered over but respond easily to slight pushes as if they
were not covered at all. Additionally, the phone snaps into
the
holster and feels relatively secure (granted I've only been using it
for about an hour now). There are magnets positioned properly
so the screen turns off when in the holster to conserve the battery
life. I have a friend who bought a case that does not have
the magnets and he has to recharge his phone much more often than I do
as the screen is constantly on.
While the case feels comfortable it does add a bit of weight to the
phone. The Curve 8900 only weighs 3.87oz on its own, but the
case adds another 2.61oz giving it a total wright of 6.48oz, which
feels a bit heavy in comparison to just using the phone by itself.
This might just take a bit of getting used to and the added
protection could be well worth it as I have dropped my BlackBerry a few
times already and had the battery cover fly off... maybe I'm just
clutzy.
I've spent a bit of time looking for a good case for my Curve 8900
since I bought it a few months ago, and until now have not found one
that I would leave on for long. But I think I'll try this one
out for a bit to see if the weight is going to be a deal breaker for
me. I have an hour long call this afternoon so that will be a
good test to see if it gets uncomfortable to hold for that long.
Either that or I need to really start looking for a hands
free set :-)
More information about the OtterBox Defender case for the BlackBerry
Curve 8900 can be found here.
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