Ah, the quandry of cases. Designers keep making phones and tablets thinner and lighter, and it sometimes seems that case manufacturers seek to make up for this by making cases stiffer, heavier, and bulkier. With my currently active phone, I started out without a case. It was the first phone I didn’t immediately entomb in plastic, silicone or leather, and I have enjoyed using cases while testing and then going back to commando mode. Recently, I’ve been testing the Urban Armor Aviator case. I was sent one for my iPhone 5s.
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The Urban Armor cases are named by the color/pattern of each case. The Aviator is a dark grey with black interior and edges. The Outland is Orange with black, etc.
The case has a black interior honeycombed impact-absorbing layer which covers the edges and much of the back, and a harder, less flexible polymer that gives shape to the cushiony interior and adds a bit of structure to the outer back face as well. The polymer is slightly smooth, but there’s enough of a tooth where you don’t feel like it’ll slip out of your hand. There’s always a corner or edge of the inner material to give your grip more bite, too.
There are a million shells that look much like this on the market, but UAG’s model has passed the MIL STD 810G 516.6 standard for drop-tests. I’m not sure what that is, but I’ll say whatever is good for the military is good for my day to day use! The volume buttons and on-off switch are completely covered with the same material as the cushy insides, and the speakers, ports and ringer-silence switch are open for easy access. The grippy corners means that the unit doesn’t slide across a car seat, or slip out of my shirt pocket easily.
Like I mentioned in the Rogue Folio review, the branding is a bit bold (unless your name is Ursula Andrea Gastonbury), but it’s only on one place on this case. – dead center on the back. It’s stylized enough to look like a design, but it’s there, nonetheless. I’ve never been accused of being subtile, but it’s a little splashy for me.
Urban Armor Gear has cases for just about every device currently on the market. There are several styles to choose from, and a good mix of colors in most categories.
During the time I have used it, I found it light, and easy to use with all peripherials that I normally use for my iPhone. I’m currently shopping for a DSL lens adapter case for it, but this one is great for day-to-day use. I give it 5 out of 5 stars. Just call me Ulysses Abercrombie Goldfinch.
Updates 03/31/16
Upgraded to a different phone, my daughter initially didn’t want it, but has been happier since putting it on.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Urban Armor Gear. Please visit http://urbanarmorgear.com for more info.
Product Information
| Price: | $35 |
| Manufacturer: | Urban Armor Gear |
| Retailer: | Urban Armor Gear |
| Requirements: |
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Clever review Ulysses, 🙂
I love a reviewer with a great sense of humor!
One of the things that always concerns me with hard case, even some of the softer cases, is that they leave consumers with a false sense of security about dropping their phone. They quickly retrieve the phone from the floor, check to see that the screen has no cracks, and if not, they usually let out a “whew, close call” and skip away. Not knowing that there phone did not fare as well as they thought. A cracked screen is not the worst thing that they could have done, because the violence and shock the phones are put through when they are dropped are the real enemy of your smartphones tiny internal components. Potentially shortening the phones life every time it slips from your hand. I also let the motorcycle riders know that mounting the phones to their handlebars, which is attached to the frame of the bike, could potentially be shortening their phones life every time they hit a bump in the road because of the energy released to anything mounted to the frame of the bike at impact.
It’s also one of the reasons we chose leather to insulate and secure with The Backhand Rider.
The best solution is to NOT drop the phone in the 1st place (secure to body)
but if you do, make sure it’s wrapped in something shock absorbent and water resistant (leather)
Cellphones are over 30 years old now, do we really need to hold them by the hand anymore? 😉
Had this case for my 4s for year and half after dismayed by Otterbox( changed silicone twice). It is still on without any issue. Dropped number of times but no issue at all. Excellent case. I just got tired of it so using different case for plus, Lol. First timers, I can recommend it without reservation.