Posted this in the "All Aluminum Cases" thread, but thought I'd start a separate thread as well for those not viewing/familiar with that thread:
Just got the Exovault Exo5 (hinged model) in just a few hours ago, and been putting it to some reception and data speed tests. First off, this case has AMAZING craftsmanship! The dark green anodizing (not an offered color right now, I was lucky enough to have Daniel from Exovault offer me this color...it's the only one of it's kind right now) and the dark rosewood just reek of quality. The fit/finish of the two materials being used together is amazing. And the really shocking part to me is how slim/thin the case is! I was expecting it to add bulk, but it really doesn't. It's slimmer front to back than the Speck PixelSkin HD, and is the same thickness front to back as the Apple Bumper! Very slim case.
Interior:
The inside back and front of the case are lined with a soft plastic type liner (feels similar in make-up to electrical tape) to protect the glass surfaces of the phone from scratches. The inside sides of the case have no lining, but with the rosewood inserts, they are all that are touching the sides of my phone. The tolerances this case is built to are VERY exact, and the phone has to be lined up perfectly to drop in this case. There's zero wiggle room for the case inside (I like this). And I had to remove my SGP matte rear shield, and front crystal SGP screen protector,as the case will not close with them on. But...I got lucky and had a very, very thin SwitchEasy screen shield laying around, and low and behold it will fit on the phone and still close inside the case fine. The magnets are VERY strong, and I really don't see the case opening in a normal drop. This is the part I was skeptical of the most, but it seems fine so far.
Exterior:
The anodizing is flawless. Consistent shade of deep green all around. The rosewood is a beautiful dark shade, and the joints between it and the aluminum are done really well. In the front, the case does come all the way to the edge of the screen all the way around, but due to the thinness of the material used, it doesn't really hamper typing at the edges of the screen (White/Rhino, I know this concerns you, like in the Seidio Rugged case). It can make dragging icons to different screens take just a bit more effort, but it's not hindering typing so far.
Reception:
So far, I'm sometimes seeing a drop of signal by 1 bar, but it's not consistent. I've not dropped a call, and my data speeds are still the same as without an aluminum case (averaged 2.6Mbps down/1.2Mbps up today with the case on). GPS is locking in what seems to be a standard time. Bluetooth has shown no noticeable drop in performance. I will report back on reception as I use it more, but so far, no trouble like I had with the Element Vapor.
UPDATE: 10/3/2010
Wanted to update on the reception with this case. Used it exclusively going into metro Atlanta last night with some friends. In very low signal areas (2 bars or less), the case can cause the phone to drop signal or switch to EDGE. Also, using the GPS all the way there and back (to test it out, I knew where I was going!), I noticed that it would lose lock occasionally and just be locating off of cell tower triangulation (the large pulsing circle would appear around the blue location dot). The one very useful feature of this case that I found that helped with these issues is the fact that you don't need tools to open it. The two times I lost cell reception (inside an auditorium), I could just pop the case open and pull the phone out to make the calls I needed. And when I needed to just use the internet (inside the auditorium), just simply opening the front of the case, leaving the phone in the case (it's in there very tight, you can even turn it upside down with the front lid open and the phone won't fall out) worked to get 3G service back so that I could look something up really quickly. This same trick worked while traveling down the road when the GPS would lose location. Opening the front of the case for maybe 3 seconds tops would lock back on, catch up to my location, and I could shut the case again and it keep tracking me. So, there are some minor issues so far with the case and reception, but the fact that it's able to be opened without the tools needed for the other aluminum cases makes work arounds possible when reception issues arrive.
Access ports/cut-outs:
Sleep/awake button and volume/silent buttons all easily accessible, as this case is very thin around the phone. It's actually thinner around the outside than say the PixelSkin HD. Headphone jack is a good size, and I've tried all my headphones in it so far (Westones, Shures, Apple In-Ears, Sennheisers...I'm a headphone junkie too!), and they all fit fine. Dock connector is larger than the Apple Bumper and Element Vapor, and I've had no 3rd party connectors not fit so far. It's not huge, so there may be some out there that have difficultly fitting in, but I have a wide assortment, and not had trouble so far. The home button cut-out is very shallow, so there's no trouble getting into it at all. The camera and flash have their own cut-outs that totally enclose each (see pictures), and so far, there is no flash interference into the camera in low light pictures.
Overall, I'm very pleased with this case! Granted, it's not going to protect the phone in a severe drop like the Seidio Rugged or Otterbox Defender would, but it's a beautiful case. Has quality written all over it, and is more of a piece of artwork than anything. In a drop, you're probably going to scuff/mark up the case, so some people might not want to outlay this kind of money for something that could possibly get damaged, but I'd rather it be this than the phone that gets damaged. And at least this looks good. I think it looks better than any case I've had so far (and for the few of you that know me, you know I have A LOT of cases!), including the Vapor. This is the first case I have that I completely love the looks of. To me, it's definitely worth the money I paid, more so that the Vapor ever was.
Thickness compared to Speck PixelSkin HD:
Thickness compared to Apple Bumper:
Just got the Exovault Exo5 (hinged model) in just a few hours ago, and been putting it to some reception and data speed tests. First off, this case has AMAZING craftsmanship! The dark green anodizing (not an offered color right now, I was lucky enough to have Daniel from Exovault offer me this color...it's the only one of it's kind right now) and the dark rosewood just reek of quality. The fit/finish of the two materials being used together is amazing. And the really shocking part to me is how slim/thin the case is! I was expecting it to add bulk, but it really doesn't. It's slimmer front to back than the Speck PixelSkin HD, and is the same thickness front to back as the Apple Bumper! Very slim case.
Interior:
The inside back and front of the case are lined with a soft plastic type liner (feels similar in make-up to electrical tape) to protect the glass surfaces of the phone from scratches. The inside sides of the case have no lining, but with the rosewood inserts, they are all that are touching the sides of my phone. The tolerances this case is built to are VERY exact, and the phone has to be lined up perfectly to drop in this case. There's zero wiggle room for the case inside (I like this). And I had to remove my SGP matte rear shield, and front crystal SGP screen protector,as the case will not close with them on. But...I got lucky and had a very, very thin SwitchEasy screen shield laying around, and low and behold it will fit on the phone and still close inside the case fine. The magnets are VERY strong, and I really don't see the case opening in a normal drop. This is the part I was skeptical of the most, but it seems fine so far.
Exterior:
The anodizing is flawless. Consistent shade of deep green all around. The rosewood is a beautiful dark shade, and the joints between it and the aluminum are done really well. In the front, the case does come all the way to the edge of the screen all the way around, but due to the thinness of the material used, it doesn't really hamper typing at the edges of the screen (White/Rhino, I know this concerns you, like in the Seidio Rugged case). It can make dragging icons to different screens take just a bit more effort, but it's not hindering typing so far.
Reception:
So far, I'm sometimes seeing a drop of signal by 1 bar, but it's not consistent. I've not dropped a call, and my data speeds are still the same as without an aluminum case (averaged 2.6Mbps down/1.2Mbps up today with the case on). GPS is locking in what seems to be a standard time. Bluetooth has shown no noticeable drop in performance. I will report back on reception as I use it more, but so far, no trouble like I had with the Element Vapor.
UPDATE: 10/3/2010
Wanted to update on the reception with this case. Used it exclusively going into metro Atlanta last night with some friends. In very low signal areas (2 bars or less), the case can cause the phone to drop signal or switch to EDGE. Also, using the GPS all the way there and back (to test it out, I knew where I was going!), I noticed that it would lose lock occasionally and just be locating off of cell tower triangulation (the large pulsing circle would appear around the blue location dot). The one very useful feature of this case that I found that helped with these issues is the fact that you don't need tools to open it. The two times I lost cell reception (inside an auditorium), I could just pop the case open and pull the phone out to make the calls I needed. And when I needed to just use the internet (inside the auditorium), just simply opening the front of the case, leaving the phone in the case (it's in there very tight, you can even turn it upside down with the front lid open and the phone won't fall out) worked to get 3G service back so that I could look something up really quickly. This same trick worked while traveling down the road when the GPS would lose location. Opening the front of the case for maybe 3 seconds tops would lock back on, catch up to my location, and I could shut the case again and it keep tracking me. So, there are some minor issues so far with the case and reception, but the fact that it's able to be opened without the tools needed for the other aluminum cases makes work arounds possible when reception issues arrive.
Access ports/cut-outs:
Sleep/awake button and volume/silent buttons all easily accessible, as this case is very thin around the phone. It's actually thinner around the outside than say the PixelSkin HD. Headphone jack is a good size, and I've tried all my headphones in it so far (Westones, Shures, Apple In-Ears, Sennheisers...I'm a headphone junkie too!), and they all fit fine. Dock connector is larger than the Apple Bumper and Element Vapor, and I've had no 3rd party connectors not fit so far. It's not huge, so there may be some out there that have difficultly fitting in, but I have a wide assortment, and not had trouble so far. The home button cut-out is very shallow, so there's no trouble getting into it at all. The camera and flash have their own cut-outs that totally enclose each (see pictures), and so far, there is no flash interference into the camera in low light pictures.
Overall, I'm very pleased with this case! Granted, it's not going to protect the phone in a severe drop like the Seidio Rugged or Otterbox Defender would, but it's a beautiful case. Has quality written all over it, and is more of a piece of artwork than anything. In a drop, you're probably going to scuff/mark up the case, so some people might not want to outlay this kind of money for something that could possibly get damaged, but I'd rather it be this than the phone that gets damaged. And at least this looks good. I think it looks better than any case I've had so far (and for the few of you that know me, you know I have A LOT of cases!), including the Vapor. This is the first case I have that I completely love the looks of. To me, it's definitely worth the money I paid, more so that the Vapor ever was.
Thickness compared to Speck PixelSkin HD:
Thickness compared to Apple Bumper:
