What all smartphones have in common is large, shiny and rather fragile. Even if they have unibody aluminium shells and gorilla glass, they're still prone to scratches, if not breaks. That's why a case is always a good idea, especially when out and about. I've dropped my Desire on the ground many a time when going out for a few drinks with my mates and if it weren't for a case, it'd be pretty banged up.
I've owned 4 different cases for it so far. It started off with a leather pouch, which got ruined when I took the phone for a swim (no case will help you there, unfortunately), but it was time to switch anyway as the leather had stretched and didn't hold the phone inside as it should, so I switched to silicone based skins, looking for the right combination of flexibility and protection. The first one I bought was a simple single injection silicone skin, which I immediately saw was only a temporary solution as it was really soft and already didn't fit the phone perfectly. I kept looking and stumbled upon a company called Case-Mate, which seemed to be the most praised on smartphone forums, from iPhone, BlackBerry and Android owners.
At the time of my discovering them, they had a few silicone cases in store, both single and double injection (pricier, but supposedly more sturdy), which I ordered, called a Torque case. They also had a big COMING SOON sign over something called a Tough Case. The site has international shipping, accepts paypal and I received it just 2 weeks after. This was a completely different story. The silicone was much firmer and it fit around the phone snugly, the design and production quality were substantially better and I thought I had found what I needed.
Unfortunately, I still very much like how my phone looks and feels without a skin, so at home I left it off, which meant taking the skin off and putting it on at least once a day and even with the double injected silicon the skin began to stretch to the point of there being a gap of at least 2mm after a month, which made me a very sad panda.
I completely forgot about the Tough Case in the mean time and on the brink of ordering a new one, when I came across the Android Central blog's new test of the Tough Case. The concept of a double shell skin intrigued me as in theory it should prevent, or at least hide the normal silicone drawbacks of stretching. I ordered that and 10 days later it was on my phone.
The silicone inner skin seems to be single injection, very soft and stretchy and fits tightly around the phone, with the outside moulded to fit the plastic shell perfectly. It's designed to protect the front of the phone with a raised bezel all around the edge, which would be impossible to do with a single piece plastic shell.
The plastic shell is made from a very sturdy material, but I can't say whether it's ABS or HDPE. It hasn't scratched or bent yet. The buttons are all still very much accessible and it has all the required holes for the ports, camera, loudspeaker and microphone.
I received the case 1 month ago while the photos were taken just a few minutes ago. If it's not obvious from the photos, the skin still fits around the phone like a glove. There is absolutely no give anywhere, in your hand it fits like it was part of the phone's actual case, not just an aftermarket skin. I haven't skimped on taking it off and putting it on, either, which only shows the good strengths of the design. Even if the silicone skin does stretch a bit, as soon as you clamp on the plastic shell, it starts pushing it back against the phone, negating the stretch.
The website offers this case for many different phones, so go check it out, I give it 5/5 androids.
I've owned 4 different cases for it so far. It started off with a leather pouch, which got ruined when I took the phone for a swim (no case will help you there, unfortunately), but it was time to switch anyway as the leather had stretched and didn't hold the phone inside as it should, so I switched to silicone based skins, looking for the right combination of flexibility and protection. The first one I bought was a simple single injection silicone skin, which I immediately saw was only a temporary solution as it was really soft and already didn't fit the phone perfectly. I kept looking and stumbled upon a company called Case-Mate, which seemed to be the most praised on smartphone forums, from iPhone, BlackBerry and Android owners.
At the time of my discovering them, they had a few silicone cases in store, both single and double injection (pricier, but supposedly more sturdy), which I ordered, called a Torque case. They also had a big COMING SOON sign over something called a Tough Case. The site has international shipping, accepts paypal and I received it just 2 weeks after. This was a completely different story. The silicone was much firmer and it fit around the phone snugly, the design and production quality were substantially better and I thought I had found what I needed.
Unfortunately, I still very much like how my phone looks and feels without a skin, so at home I left it off, which meant taking the skin off and putting it on at least once a day and even with the double injected silicon the skin began to stretch to the point of there being a gap of at least 2mm after a month, which made me a very sad panda.
I completely forgot about the Tough Case in the mean time and on the brink of ordering a new one, when I came across the Android Central blog's new test of the Tough Case. The concept of a double shell skin intrigued me as in theory it should prevent, or at least hide the normal silicone drawbacks of stretching. I ordered that and 10 days later it was on my phone.
The silicone inner skin seems to be single injection, very soft and stretchy and fits tightly around the phone, with the outside moulded to fit the plastic shell perfectly. It's designed to protect the front of the phone with a raised bezel all around the edge, which would be impossible to do with a single piece plastic shell.
The plastic shell is made from a very sturdy material, but I can't say whether it's ABS or HDPE. It hasn't scratched or bent yet. The buttons are all still very much accessible and it has all the required holes for the ports, camera, loudspeaker and microphone.
I received the case 1 month ago while the photos were taken just a few minutes ago. If it's not obvious from the photos, the skin still fits around the phone like a glove. There is absolutely no give anywhere, in your hand it fits like it was part of the phone's actual case, not just an aftermarket skin. I haven't skimped on taking it off and putting it on, either, which only shows the good strengths of the design. Even if the silicone skin does stretch a bit, as soon as you clamp on the plastic shell, it starts pushing it back against the phone, negating the stretch.
The website offers this case for many different phones, so go check it out, I give it 5/5 androids.
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