Hello there.
I purchased my Galaxy Nexus on launch day and have been very happy with it. One of the very first things that I wanted to accomplish was to find a desirable case and holster for it. I have been a long time Blackberry user and this is my first venture into an Android phone. Not being accustomed to the sheer size of Nexus, I wanted to make sure I took steps to ensure it's safety.
I have used Seidio products extensively in my owning of Blackberries. While they have served me relatively well, my Seidio accessories have had a small handful of drawbacks. The big issue here is that there aren't very many hard holster/case combos in the market that are really made well. For me, it really comes down to Seidio and Otterbox.
My dilemma? I like the Otterbox Commuter, but I really prefer to have it in a hard holster. In the past, on certain model of phones, you were able to fit an Otterbox Commuter cased phone into a Seidio Innocase Surface holster. It was not the case across the board with all models, but for some, luck was on their side. I searched the net for anyone articles or postings that may have tried this combination on the Galaxy Nexus. Whereas I found similar inquiries, no one really took steps in getting the hardware to come up with a conclusive answer. ALSO, I had full intentions on using Samsung's 2100mah extended battery with whatever I ended up with.
So, I went ahead and ordered an Otterbox Commuter and a Seidio Surface case/holster combo. I received the Seidio in today.
First, let's answer the big questions regarding the fit of the case while using the extended 2100mah battery. It "sort of" works. It depends on what you are willing to compromise. See below.
Using the extended battery and it's accompanying battery cover door, the Seidio Surface case doesn't snap together very tightly at the bottom of the phone. The extended battery generates most of it's added thickness on the bottom of the phone, leaving the top half of the phone relatively unchanged. While I was able to snap together most of the two halves of the Surface case, you can see by the picture that it clearly leaves a small gap at the bottom. It also required quite a bit of pressure to get the case snapped as much as it ended up in the picture below.
UPDATE: Calipered measurements: 5.445"H, 2.86"W.
Seidio Surface Case with Extended Battery/Door installed.
Same as above, but inside the holster. You can feel it squeezing into the holster.
So, to some it may be okay. I wasn't really too happy about how that looked. Moving forward, I decided to see how it would fit with the extended battery installed, but WITHOUT the battery cover. After removing the cover and reinstalling the Surface case, I found it to fit beautifully.
Seidio Surface Case with Extended Battery WITHOUT the battery cover.
Without the battery cover on, I pressed around the back of the Seidio Surface cover and found that the battery was pressed nicely up against the back of the back half of the case with very little chance of movement. Testing further up the back of the case, towards the camera, I did notice some slight spacing, but too little to impact functionality. Even at the camera, it's a pretty good tight fit.
Pretty tight fit around the camera opening.
The holster that comes with the combo is Seidio's spring clip holster. Historically, Seidio has made a few variants of this clip holster. 1. A version for an uncased (naked) phone) offered in both a locking and non-locking clip model. 2. A version for an innocase Surface I or II case. The one that comes with this particular combo is their non-locking spring clip holster, obviously for the Surface case. The quality of the holster itself is nice, using thick gauge polycarbonate. Unlike some of Seidio holsters in the past, this one does not use their trademark "soft touch" coating on the shell of the holster. Another interesting observation is that the belt clip offers a larger gap (about 1/4") between the clip and the holster. Good for thick belt/pants, but I'm guessing it would offer a sloppier feel for thinner belts. My older Seidio holsters were about 1/8".
The Surface case itself is pretty nice. Unlike previous Surface cases where it was a two piece design that included a top and bottom half that slipped onto the phone like opposing sleeves, this model is halved at the front and back. Nonetheless, it snaps on pretty tight. It is coated with Seidio's soft touch coating, making it feel kind of like a velvety rubber. The provisions for the volume rocker, lock/power button, and the usb/earpiece ports on the bottom are nicely cut and functional. There are also cutouts in the back for the camera, speaker, and both microphones. SEIDIO is embossed on the lower part of the back half. Pics below.
That addition slotted cutout is so that you can open the case with a coin.
Speaking of their trademark soft touch coating. I have mixed experiences with it. On my Blackberries, the finish eventually work off in some higher traffic contact points. Scratches on the finish can look especially pronounced. And unlike a hard matted, uncoated polycarbonate finish, the soft touch coating actually retains some of your hand's natural oils. It rubs clean easy enough, but this would likely never be seen on an uncoated matte finish. I included a picture below, comparing it against my Seidio case for my Blackberry Tour. You can see where some of the finish rubbed off at the sides of the battery cover, leaving a shiny under-finish.
Over, I like the function and fit of the combo, especially after installing the case without the G-Nex's extended battery door cover. The fit of the case to holster is very nice, much tighter and nicer than the same case/holster combo for my previous Blackberry. I will still LOVE to see the Otterbox Commuter fit into this holster, but I really have my reservations now that I am able to assess the holster in hand. I think the Commuter will be too thick/big for it to fit into the Surface holster. Maybe a chance in the Seidio Active holster, but hard to say there too. Nonetheless, I will be receiving my Otterbox Commuter case tomorrow and will promptly see if it will fit into the Seidio holster. If not, oh well...I'll either keep it as a backup or maybe see if I can convince my wife to use it on her G-Nex. She uses Verizon's stock silicon case, which surprisingly is pretty nice and fits pretty well.
I'll return tomorrow evening with a few more pics of the Otterbox Commuter (although there are end-user reviews already out on forums already) and it's attempt to squeeze into the Seidio holster. If it doesn't work out, I'll consider getting a Seidio Active holster and see if it will fit there (assuming I can't find someone else out there who has tried that experiment). Next week, my Ghost Armor screen protectors come in (I absolutely LOVE their screen protectors!) and I'll be set.
All that's left is wait out for the G-Nex radios to stabilize and await what can/will be done about controlling power consumption. Patience is something that I have learned to have. I hope this post helps some of you out there. Let me know if there are any questions or other pic angles that you would like me to provide.
Paul.
I purchased my Galaxy Nexus on launch day and have been very happy with it. One of the very first things that I wanted to accomplish was to find a desirable case and holster for it. I have been a long time Blackberry user and this is my first venture into an Android phone. Not being accustomed to the sheer size of Nexus, I wanted to make sure I took steps to ensure it's safety.
I have used Seidio products extensively in my owning of Blackberries. While they have served me relatively well, my Seidio accessories have had a small handful of drawbacks. The big issue here is that there aren't very many hard holster/case combos in the market that are really made well. For me, it really comes down to Seidio and Otterbox.
My dilemma? I like the Otterbox Commuter, but I really prefer to have it in a hard holster. In the past, on certain model of phones, you were able to fit an Otterbox Commuter cased phone into a Seidio Innocase Surface holster. It was not the case across the board with all models, but for some, luck was on their side. I searched the net for anyone articles or postings that may have tried this combination on the Galaxy Nexus. Whereas I found similar inquiries, no one really took steps in getting the hardware to come up with a conclusive answer. ALSO, I had full intentions on using Samsung's 2100mah extended battery with whatever I ended up with.
So, I went ahead and ordered an Otterbox Commuter and a Seidio Surface case/holster combo. I received the Seidio in today.
First, let's answer the big questions regarding the fit of the case while using the extended 2100mah battery. It "sort of" works. It depends on what you are willing to compromise. See below.
Using the extended battery and it's accompanying battery cover door, the Seidio Surface case doesn't snap together very tightly at the bottom of the phone. The extended battery generates most of it's added thickness on the bottom of the phone, leaving the top half of the phone relatively unchanged. While I was able to snap together most of the two halves of the Surface case, you can see by the picture that it clearly leaves a small gap at the bottom. It also required quite a bit of pressure to get the case snapped as much as it ended up in the picture below.
UPDATE: Calipered measurements: 5.445"H, 2.86"W.
Seidio Surface Case with Extended Battery/Door installed.
Same as above, but inside the holster. You can feel it squeezing into the holster.
So, to some it may be okay. I wasn't really too happy about how that looked. Moving forward, I decided to see how it would fit with the extended battery installed, but WITHOUT the battery cover. After removing the cover and reinstalling the Surface case, I found it to fit beautifully.
Seidio Surface Case with Extended Battery WITHOUT the battery cover.
Without the battery cover on, I pressed around the back of the Seidio Surface cover and found that the battery was pressed nicely up against the back of the back half of the case with very little chance of movement. Testing further up the back of the case, towards the camera, I did notice some slight spacing, but too little to impact functionality. Even at the camera, it's a pretty good tight fit.
Pretty tight fit around the camera opening.
The holster that comes with the combo is Seidio's spring clip holster. Historically, Seidio has made a few variants of this clip holster. 1. A version for an uncased (naked) phone) offered in both a locking and non-locking clip model. 2. A version for an innocase Surface I or II case. The one that comes with this particular combo is their non-locking spring clip holster, obviously for the Surface case. The quality of the holster itself is nice, using thick gauge polycarbonate. Unlike some of Seidio holsters in the past, this one does not use their trademark "soft touch" coating on the shell of the holster. Another interesting observation is that the belt clip offers a larger gap (about 1/4") between the clip and the holster. Good for thick belt/pants, but I'm guessing it would offer a sloppier feel for thinner belts. My older Seidio holsters were about 1/8".
The Surface case itself is pretty nice. Unlike previous Surface cases where it was a two piece design that included a top and bottom half that slipped onto the phone like opposing sleeves, this model is halved at the front and back. Nonetheless, it snaps on pretty tight. It is coated with Seidio's soft touch coating, making it feel kind of like a velvety rubber. The provisions for the volume rocker, lock/power button, and the usb/earpiece ports on the bottom are nicely cut and functional. There are also cutouts in the back for the camera, speaker, and both microphones. SEIDIO is embossed on the lower part of the back half. Pics below.
That addition slotted cutout is so that you can open the case with a coin.
Speaking of their trademark soft touch coating. I have mixed experiences with it. On my Blackberries, the finish eventually work off in some higher traffic contact points. Scratches on the finish can look especially pronounced. And unlike a hard matted, uncoated polycarbonate finish, the soft touch coating actually retains some of your hand's natural oils. It rubs clean easy enough, but this would likely never be seen on an uncoated matte finish. I included a picture below, comparing it against my Seidio case for my Blackberry Tour. You can see where some of the finish rubbed off at the sides of the battery cover, leaving a shiny under-finish.
Over, I like the function and fit of the combo, especially after installing the case without the G-Nex's extended battery door cover. The fit of the case to holster is very nice, much tighter and nicer than the same case/holster combo for my previous Blackberry. I will still LOVE to see the Otterbox Commuter fit into this holster, but I really have my reservations now that I am able to assess the holster in hand. I think the Commuter will be too thick/big for it to fit into the Surface holster. Maybe a chance in the Seidio Active holster, but hard to say there too. Nonetheless, I will be receiving my Otterbox Commuter case tomorrow and will promptly see if it will fit into the Seidio holster. If not, oh well...I'll either keep it as a backup or maybe see if I can convince my wife to use it on her G-Nex. She uses Verizon's stock silicon case, which surprisingly is pretty nice and fits pretty well.
I'll return tomorrow evening with a few more pics of the Otterbox Commuter (although there are end-user reviews already out on forums already) and it's attempt to squeeze into the Seidio holster. If it doesn't work out, I'll consider getting a Seidio Active holster and see if it will fit there (assuming I can't find someone else out there who has tried that experiment). Next week, my Ghost Armor screen protectors come in (I absolutely LOVE their screen protectors!) and I'll be set.
All that's left is wait out for the G-Nex radios to stabilize and await what can/will be done about controlling power consumption. Patience is something that I have learned to have. I hope this post helps some of you out there. Let me know if there are any questions or other pic angles that you would like me to provide.
Paul.
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