Life Proof Case

[Sonic04GT]

Well here is my LifeProof story.

1.)I submitted my credit card information on the first day you could for pre-order customers.

2.) Did water proof test, it passed, installed on iPhone (Saturday 12 noon)

3.) Saturday 3 P.M. after one phone call, a few text messages, and 2 hours in my pocket I notice the earpiece membrane has ripped out and now the case is no longer dust, water, or any proof: rendering it useless!

4.) Monday morning (today) I sent an e-mail to LifeProof, because they list NO phone number on the web (???!) and now I must wait AGAIN for the case I just waited ~2 months for.

5.) As of now I would NOT recommend this product to others.

Not sure how you missed this.

All I did was click the contact link in the upper right on the home page.

I'm waiting for my replacement front half so I can throw it on eBay. Shipped last week apparently.

 

[erayser]

The Otterbox is a great case. I just don't like the way the screen protector looks, and the rubber gets caught on my pocket a lot.

Too big for me. I'm really liking my Casemate Pop.

Funny thing is, I carry my iPad 2 everywhere I go, so use it a lot more than my iPhone... so when I use my iPhone, the resolution is so clear compared to my iPad 2, the OB screenprotector doesn't bother me. Anyhow, I was planning to spend a lot on the Lifeproof case and accessories, and I want to change the look of my iPhone... so I don't mind if I go higher end on a case. I don't mind sticking with the OB case... but after over a year with it on... it's time for a change.

 

[sinnamon14]

$0.05 charge from Lifeproof

Hi, just wanted to give you a heads up that my card was charged $0.05 by Lifeproof to keep my place in the queue. However, despite their notification stating that this would be refunded the next day, the $0.05 charge has yet to be refunded back to my card. It has been 3 weeks. I've just flagged this up to them and am awaiting their response. I'm sure they will refund this but can't help but wonder if this is really the perfect scam as most people are not even going to bother to check if the $0.05 was refunded. After all, its just $0.05. But lets just say there are 1,000,000 people on the pre-order list, times that by $0.05, that is $50,000. And that is a lot of money.

This could purely be an oversight on Lifeproof's part in my case. However, please spread the word so people take the effort to check if the $0.05 was refunded back to their cards.

 

[rapaleeman]

Funny thing is, I carry my iPad 2 everywhere I go, so use it a lot more than my iPhone... so when I use my iPhone, the resolution is so clear compared to my iPad 2, the OB screenprotector doesn't bother me. Anyhow, I was planning to spend a lot on the Lifeproof case and accessories, and I want to change the look of my iPhone... so I don't mind if I go higher end on a case. I don't mind sticking with the OB case... but after over a year with it on... it's time for a change.

Go to the Survivor case. Better overall than the Otterbox n my opinion. The clip is kind of iffy but you need to carry it screen facing out and it will stick on the clip just fine.

Other than the camera flap, the case is awesome. Highly protective, easy to grip and use the phone, and the silicone outer isn't as tacky/sticky as the OB.

The Lifeproof is a giant waste of money even though it looks pretty good in pictures. Just overall cheap in person with really crappy day to day functionality. Unless you have to have a waterproof case then it does do that, but it really isn't usable for daily use.

 

[Sonic04GT]

Go to the Survivor case. Better overall than the Otterbox n my opinion. The clip is kind of iffy but you need to carry it screen facing out and it will stick on the clip just fine.

Other than the camera flap, the case is awesome. Highly protective, easy to grip and use the phone, and the silicone outer isn't as tacky/sticky as the OB.

The Lifeproof is a giant waste of money even though it looks pretty good in pictures. Just overall cheap in person with really crappy day to day functionality. Unless you have to have a waterproof case then it does do that, but it really isn't usable for daily use.

Pretty accurate Lifeproof description If only they spent as much time making the case itself look as good as the retail packaging.

 

[erayser]

Go to the Survivor case. Better overall than the Otterbox n my opinion. The clip is kind of iffy but you need to carry it screen facing out and it will stick on the clip just fine.

Other than the camera flap, the case is awesome. Highly protective, easy to grip and use the phone, and the silicone outer isn't as tacky/sticky as the OB.

The Lifeproof is a giant waste of money even though it looks pretty good in pictures. Just overall cheap in person with really crappy day to day functionality. Unless you have to have a waterproof case then it does do that, but it really isn't usable for daily use.

Thanks for the recommendation. I guess you know I'm a phone dropper.

I'm still searching. I was planning to spend a lot on my next case... so I may not get something that will protect as well as my OB, but I don't want to lose functionality either. What surprises me is that I see a lot of good reviews on the lifeproof case, but not here. I guess if they want to stick it out after spending all that money, they don't want to say anything bad about it.

 

[Helmsy67]

White LifeProof Review

Here is my review of the LifeProof case:

I got the case this morning (i got the white one). Did the waterproof test and put the phone in. There are no oil marks on the screen of mine so thats good. the volume buttons and lock button are both easy enough to push but the mute switch is annoyingly tough to use. The screen protector is flush with the screen of my phone so no problems there either. The sound quality sucks big ones but when i listen to music i use headphones so not a huge issue but still annoying. I used it all day and screen sensitivity was pretty much unchanged. I used speakerphone when i was talking to my girlfriend and she said there was no echo. I don't know if the white case was made slightly different or i just got lucky but my only issues like i said were the mute switch and sound quality while playing music.

 

[erayser]

I had the white lifeproof case preordered. Does it look pretty good?

 

[Helmsy67]

I had the white lifeproof case preordered. Does it look pretty good?

IMO it does. Especially since I have the black Iphone 4 and you cant even tell. It just looks like a white one.

 

[Sonic04GT]

Here is my review of the LifeProof case:

I got the case this morning (i got the white one). Did the waterproof test and put the phone in. There are no oil marks on the screen of mine so thats good. the volume buttons and lock button are both easy enough to push but the mute switch is annoyingly tough to use. The screen protector is flush with the screen of my phone so no problems there either. The sound quality sucks big ones but when i listen to music i use headphones so not a huge issue but still annoying. I used it all day and screen sensitivity was pretty much unchanged. I used speakerphone when i was talking to my girlfriend and she said there was no echo. I don't know if the white case was made slightly different or i just got lucky but my only issues like i said were the mute switch and sound quality while playing music.

Strange. Mine echos on speakerphone with the original configuration, and with the new front half they sent me, so both sets of vents work like crap.

 

[Helmsy67]

Strange. Mine echos on speakerphone with the original configuration, and with the new front half they sent me, so both sets of vents work like crap.

I was worried about that. I have read all of the reviews posted on here and was thinking i would just sell mine if it echoed really bad because i use speakerphone quite a bit. But like i said she told me than it was just like it always has been and there was no echo so I think I'm gonna keep it unless something comes up in the next few days to turn me off of it.

 

[rapaleeman]

Here is my review of the LifeProof case:

I got the case this morning (i got the white one). Did the waterproof test and put the phone in. There are no oil marks on the screen of mine so thats good. the volume buttons and lock button are both easy enough to push but the mute switch is annoyingly tough to use. The screen protector is flush with the screen of my phone so no problems there either. The sound quality sucks big ones but when i listen to music i use headphones so not a huge issue but still annoying. I used it all day and screen sensitivity was pretty much unchanged. I used speakerphone when i was talking to my girlfriend and she said there was no echo. I don't know if the white case was made slightly different or i just got lucky but my only issues like i said were the mute switch and sound quality while playing music.

Like others mine echos terribly too. Also with mine if I had the phone face up on my desk at work, I could hardly hear it ring. If it wasn't for the vibration I wouldn't have heard a few times.

Speakerphone was garbage and sounded hollow as well as just trying to use it normally. I had to have the phone at exactly the right angle to my ear to hear it.

Like you I do agree that it looks good. To me this is the perfect compromise for style/protection. I just wish that it didn't feel so cheap and had better functionality. My screen protector would not lay flat on the phone at all and there was always an air gap between the protector and the phone. The buttons are terrible and the mute toggle barely worked on mine. It wouldn't always mute/unmute the phone which is a problem.

Overall it is a great idea and yes it is waterproof but for a case that is supposed to be for "life" it is more of a situation case though you aren't supposed to take the case off once you put it on so that idea goes out the window.

 

[wattsja]

I received my black Lifeproof case yesterday and it was ... factory defective. It FILLED FULL (no exaggeration) of water during the water test. I returned the case, which *I* have to pay shipping pack to LifeProof even though it was factory defective, because after laying hands on it .. this is EXACTLY how I felt about it:

The Lifeproof is a giant waste of money even though it looks pretty good in pictures. Just overall cheap in person with really crappy day to day functionality. Unless you have to have a waterproof case then it does do that, but it really isn't usable for daily use.

I couldn't have said it better!

 

[iamthekiller]

Hi, just wanted to give you a heads up that my card was charged $0.05 by Lifeproof to keep my place in the queue. However, despite their notification stating that this would be refunded the next day, the $0.05 charge has yet to be refunded back to my card. It has been 3 weeks. I've just flagged this up to them and am awaiting their response. I'm sure they will refund this but can't help but wonder if this is really the perfect scam as most people are not even going to bother to check if the $0.05 was refunded. After all, its just $0.05. But lets just say there are 1,000,000 people on the pre-order list, times that by $0.05, that is $50,000. And that is a lot of money.

This could purely be an oversight on Lifeproof's part in my case. However, please spread the word so people take the effort to check if the $0.05 was refunded back to their cards.

Wonderful theory, Columbo, but they only had about 5,000 pre-orders and they've shipped over 4,000 of them so far. If they don't refund all of those nickels, they could get away with a cool $50. What a great scam for going through the trouble of research and development and shipping 4,000+ cases.

 

[red kiosk]

My family has three LP cases, black, white & pink. We all came from Casemate POP cases. No issues on any of the phones and all three screens flattened after a day or so. I did put Power Support clear back protectors on all three phones in hopes of muting some of the tinny sound from the speaker and to push the phone closer to the protective screen. I think it helps. We kayak a lot, so this case works well for us, especially with waterproof headphones. BTW, no one in our family ever uses the speaker phone, so it's a non-issue for us. Just another perspective from the other side of the fence. Take care!

 

[swiftbmx]

It's getting tougher to filter out the spam in this thread.

 

[erayser]

My family has three LP cases, black, white & pink. We all came from Casemate POP cases. No issues on any of the phones and all three screens flattened after a day or so. I did put Power Support clear back protectors on all three phones in hopes of muting some of the tinny sound from the speaker and to push the phone closer to the protective screen. I think it helps. We kayak a lot, so this case works well for us, especially with waterproof headphones. BTW, no one in our family ever uses the speaker phone, so it's a non-issue for us. Just another perspective from the other side of the fence. Take care!

I guess if you don't use the speaker phone, I could see how you can live with that. As for me, when I use the internet and talk simultaneously, I like using the speakerphone while I navigate on my iPhone. Anyhow... I found the fix below if any of you run into this issue. I will consider this case in the future if they address the issues that have been brought up in the current version. But as for this one issue, I don't feel like blowing my phone to fix the issue. Hopefully there will be a better updated version like with OB Defender 3G/3GS case to the iPhone 4 OBD case (i.e. echo, rainbow effect, and looks).

http://www.everythingicafe.com/forum/threads/issue-with-lifeproof-case.76428/#post-829297

THE TUNNEL / MICROPHONE FIX!!! – We found the cause of the ‘tunnel / distant’ sounding voice where callers to affected LifeProof iPhones (a small percentage) had difficulty hearing the Lifeproof talker on regular phone calls – We finally caught the issue in the field thanks to some Lifeproof owners with the issue that scheduled calls with us so we can hear it. We have also tested the fix and it works 100%, both for the users, and in the lab when we recreated the same conditions. The CAUSE is very simple, and so is the FIX:- The microphone has a special thin Goretex vent that keeps the water out but allows sounds to pass. This normally works perfectly and allows crystal clear calls. However, with some cases, when the air trapped in the case causes a positive pressure, the vent is puffed outwards by air pressure a little and stretches out to touch the little protective grills (Keeps foreign objects from damaging the sensitive vent) in the bottom of the case. Sometimes the vent then rests against these grills after being stretched to that position and then cannot vibrate correctly to transmit the sound to the iPhone microphone – causing a distant, thin, tunnelish kind of voice to be heard on the other end of a call.
NOW FOR THE SIMPLE FIX: Look at the phone front-on as you would when you are about to start an app. The microphone port is the hole on the bottom of the case to the lower left of the home button and left of the charge port. Now for the fun part (Should take no longer than 3 seconds). *** Blow hard into the microphone ***. You could do it like you are blowing a candle out, or much better still you could seal your lips over the hole and blow firmly like you are blowing a balloon up – your choice. Don’t worry about blowing too hard with your lungs, but do not use compressed air. This air pressure will push the Goretex vent away from the protective grills and liberate your iPhone to crystal clear sound on video recording and phone calls again. You may (or may not) need to do this from time to time if large air pressure changes cause the vent to flex to stick to the protective grill again. Also, remember to always thoroughly shake water out of the vent area after being submerged because trapped water in the protective grill will also attenuate the sound. Happy LifeProofing!
Kind Regards,
Anthony S
LifeSupport Team

 

[mrbunglez]

LifeProof Cases
CEO STATEMENT: PERMANENT 100% FIX FOR SPEAKERPHONE / FACETIME ECHO. We have identified the issue some people have been having (not all) with echo on speakerphone and face time. The cause is a sound seal tolerance around the noise canceling mic. If you are affected please contact http://support.lifeproof.com/ and we will send you a 3-minute kit to install to provide 100% perfection. Gary Rayner - CEO.

 

[Sonic04GT]

LifeProof Cases
CEO STATEMENT: PERMANENT 100% FIX FOR SPEAKERPHONE / FACETIME ECHO. We have identified the issue some people have been having (not all) with echo on speakerphone and face time. The cause is a sound seal tolerance around the noise canceling mic. If you are affected please contact http://support.lifeproof.com/ and we will send you a 3-minute kit to install to provide 100% perfection. Gary Rayner - CEO.

Just saw that. Sucks, mine is already up on eBay and that was one of the main reasons for selling it.

I could pull the auction but I'm too excited about the profit haha

They are a great company no doubt, and have great customer service. Just sucks the case itself didn't live up to full expectation.

 

[mrbunglez]

I've had this case for 2.5 weeks and my general consensus..... its the best damn case out their on the market, not everyones going to be happy with it like the 2 here ripping a companies 1st case they put out on the market, i say if you can do better do it.
For this companies 1st case its damn near perfect for their selling points.
If this is what the 1st case is like I'm sure with future gadgets it'll only get better.
I've had an otterbox and many other cases for protection starting with the 1st gen iPhone and ive never liked any of them from the beginning, not so with the LifeProof Case as soon as i put it on i thought this was the last company I'm buying my cases from they got me as a repeat customer.
This company just flat out kills all those other companies IMO.

 

[erayser]

I've had this case for 2.5 weeks and my general consensus..... its the best damn case out their on the market, not everyones going to be happy with it like the 2 here ripping a companies 1st case they put out on the market, i say if you can do better do it.
For this companies 1st case its damn near perfect for their selling points.
If this is what the 1st case is like I'm sure with future gadgets it'll only get better.
I've had an otterbox and many other cases for protection starting with the 1st gen iPhone and ive never liked any of them from the beginning, not so with the LifeProof Case as soon as i put it on i thought this was the last company I'm buying my cases from they got me as a repeat customer.
This company just flat out kills all those other companies IMO.

Good to hear. If I do decide to get the case, I'll probably wait till pre-orders are done, and call in my order (since they are local) to make sure I get a case with the updated parts. As for the buttons and mute switch, I guess I have to get used to it.

 

[mrbunglez]

Good to hear. If I do decide to get the case, I'll probably wait till pre-orders are done, and call in my order (since they are local) to make sure I get a case with the updated parts. As for the buttons and mute switch, I guess I have to get used to it.

That's probably the best idea, wait until all the kinks are ironed out. I've waited since February and it's the best case for me by far.

 

[Sonic04GT]

Good to hear. If I do decide to get the case, I'll probably wait till pre-orders are done, and call in my order (since they are local) to make sure I get a case with the updated parts. As for the buttons and mute switch, I guess I have to get used to it.

I didn't care how the screen protector looked in the sunlight either. At the right angle it looks kind of cloudy, something I dont get with a naked screen.

I'll probably order a new one in the future once all the small stuff is improved. I see they already fixed the speakerphone issue. That was the big one. I'm waiting to hear what people say once they actually install the kit to fix the problem.

 

[erayser]

I didn't care how the screen protector looked in the sunlight either. At the right angle it looks kind of cloudy, something I dont get with a naked screen.

I'll probably order a new one in the future once all the small stuff is improved. I see they already fixed the speakerphone issue. That was the big one. I'm waiting to hear what people say once they actually install the kit to fix the problem.

LOL... you said the screen protector is an improvement to what I currently have. haha... but I do appreciate your input. If they do fix the speakerphone issue, that would be a big for me since I like the surf and talk feature.

 

[Sonic04GT]

LOL... you said the screen protector is an improvement to what I currently have. haha... but I do appreciate your input. If they do fix the speakerphone issue, that would be a big for me since I like the surf and talk feature.

I would still choose it over an Otterbox screen protector. I don't recall how the Otterbox reacted to sunlight though.

I don't really see it as an issue but just thought everyone should be aware. Maybe mine was just dirty I think I heard someone else make the same complaint though.

It wouldn't be enough to steer me away from the case as any phone won't look great in direct sunlight anyhow.

The Otterbox has that fuzzy look I don't like. This one looks clear until exposed to direct sunlight, then gives a mildly cloudy effect. Like I said, could be just me.