Running a real estate business along with my farm requires carrying my technology with me all the time. This is not much of a problem when I am wearing a suit doing my real estate business; however, work on the farm requires a slightly different approach. As much as we can say the cost of technology is dropping, being an early adopter comes at a cost – the new $800 iPhone 4 is a perfect example.
My previous video blog reviewing the Otterbox for the iPad had such an amazing number of views that I felt it necessary to follow up with a review of my recently purchased Otterbox Defender for the iPhone 4. I was hoping to do a video review; however, my recording device (iPhone 4) is trapped in the device being reviewed! Secondly, I am now swathing and I do not have GPS auto steer in my swather, so I guess I will have to settle on doing a written review.
I am really not a fan of huge bulky protection for my phone, so I knew from the start that I was going to be a little more critical with this review. But, at an $800 replacement cost for the iPhone 4, I knew that I would have to suck it up.
After figuring out how to get my phone into the case (no small feat accomplished without reading instructions) and getting the rubber casing securely seeded around the plastic shell, my initial response was that this thing is huge! The second part of the skepticism was the size of the belt clip. Again, it seemed huge; however, I promised myself to use it for one week prior to passing judgement.
Upon purchasing my iPhone, I immediately put an iShieldz on the screen to avoid any superficial scratches when using it without the defender during my "suit" job. This caused some problems with the defender, as it also had a thin plastic screen cover with it and the two of them had a tendency to stick to one another making the screen nearly impossible to read. This was a simple fix by popping out the plastic cover attached to the Otterbox, resulting in a perfectly clear screen that was still protected.
I choose to wear the belt clip horizontally, although its design allowed for just about any position, but I found it most convenient and comfortable horizontal. The simple tray style holster with a top clip was very easy to get used to clipping and unclipping, and it’s surprisingly secure even when doing my swathing hurtles (whole different blog).
It did not take more than eight hours of using the Otterbox defender for me to find it amazingly comfortable to hold on to and talk on – in hand or wedged between my ear and shoulder (very important to a farmer) – while driving. I also found all the buttons and functions of the phone to be very accessible with the exception of the flap to open for charging. I found that the charging flap on the bottom often flipped open, exposing the plug to dust and dirt. I preferred the iPad defender design for its bottom enclosure; however, maybe that design could not be accomplished on a smaller device.
Even though I gave myself a week’s worth of time to get comfortable with this product, it really only took one day of use to give it two thumbs up for protection, comfort, and design (loved the way the Apple log still shows up). Interestingly, my initial objection to the size of the device disappeared as the practicality and ease of use won me over.
Pros
- Amazing protection
- Comfortable ergonomic design very easy to hold in variety of positions
- Secure belt clip
Cons
- Screen Cover included must be taken off if you have a screen sheild ont he device
- Too grippy to put in or out of pocket
- Bottom plug protection does not stay in place
