Armor For Your iPhone: OtterBox™ Has A Solution For A Vexing Problem

By Fred Lopez, Editor

There's no question that Apple's iPhone is a hit among users. With its versatility, intuitive ease of use and a seemingly endless array of applications, the iPhone is undoubtedly at the top of the heap in the ultra competitive smart phone industry. However, Apple engineers seemed to have believed that the iPhone would be serving its owners in venues where scratches, dings and dents never occur. The iPhone is presented to its owner without any cladding, impact protection or any other measure that might even attempt to negate or ward off the inevitable scratches and scrapes an unprotected iPhone will endure throughout its service life. It wasn't long after I put my iPhone into service that it succumbed to its first painful scratch. Soon after, it was only a quick reflexed reaction that kept the iPhone from becoming part of Las Vegas Boulevard after a long day at the International Builder's Show. Clearly, a solution was needed to protect against scratches and impacts. Enter OtterBox.

Fort Collins, Colorado-based OtterBox(www.Otterbox.com) obviously recognized that iPhone was shipping without any scratch or drop protection and moved to fill the protection void. The result is the Defender Series™ for iPhone-an exoskeleton frame clad in silicone skin that envelops your iPhone, offering protection from real world threats like bumps, drops and scratches. The attention to detail on the Defender Series is first rate. The unit arrives as two joined plastic frame halves(which you seperate)and a crafted silicone skin that allows you to manipulate the volume/ringer control and access the Charge/Sync port, earbud port, camera and ringer on/off. The first step, upon opening the box, is to gently peel(from bottom to top) the silicone skin from the frame. Next, seperate the frame halves by releasing tension on the two snaps with a fingernail or a thin coin like a dime. Once you have the unit seperated, place the iPhone in the appropriate half. Then, place the other half on and snap together. Now, all that remains is to reinstall the silicone skin over the frame. Assembly instructions are provided with the unit and a video tutorial is available online at www.otterbox.com/iphone3g-video.

We've had the Defender Series installed for awhile now and it has performed admirably. It has saved the day a number of times as we've navigated the usual gamut of construction site hazards that would have devoured an iPhone sans protection. The only two issues we experienced was some streaking on the protective screen and some difficulty manipulating the ringer on/off switch. The screen streaking never affected screen touch sensitivity or hindered our ability to read or enter text. Moving the ringer on/off switch with the Defender Series installed on the iPhone proved difficult. The switch is shallow to begin with. The frame and the silicone skin increase the distance between the switch and a finger tip dangling in to flip it. This too, however, is a minor issue. Overall, the OtterBox Defender Series is the best protection for the iPhone we've seen yet. Given the premium you pay for an iPhone, you cannot afford to be without the protection afforded by the Defender Series.

-Fred Lopez, Editor

For More Information:

www.otterbox.com

1-888-695-8820