Sapphire Blue Innocase + a few more details
Hello everyone!
I have received my order from Seidio for the
Innocase II Surface Combo + Ultimate Screen Guard today. I took plenty of pictures during my unboxing and install to post a review here, but it seems I was too late! XD
Thanks for the great review
Stangs55, I agree with you that it is indeed a very nice case.
Since some people mentioned that they would like to see pictures of other colors for this case, I thought that I would still post some of my pictures as I have bought the
Sapphire Blue model.
All in all, I have a few things to add concerning the
cut-outs for the buttons, the
inside of the case, the
case two-part locking system,
how the camera/flash cope with the case,
compatibility with the Seidio protective film and a
small complaint about the holster.
Without further ado, here are some general pictures:
I like how they did a smooth cut-out for the noise cancellation mic.
The cut-outs for the buttons and controls
From the measurement I made, the case is approximately 1.5 mm thick, which could be too thick for some people. With that in mind, the design of the cut-outs of the sleep/wake button and the volume/ringer controls that go all the way to the back is better, because it allows your fingers to reach the buttons far more easily than if these were simple holes. In the next picture, imagine your fingers trying to click the controls without the clearance in place.
The inside of the case
The case has a soft material inside that protects the back of the phone from scratching when you slide it in, which feels a lot more secure.
As a small side note, I found very funny that they took the time to add the camera next to the receiver in the original packaging example, but kept a very old screenshot (from iPhone OS 1 I believe) to represent the user interface... XD
The case two-part locking system
As some users complained, the case can be quite hard to remove the first time you try. I had issues removing it the first time too, but I managed to get it off.
Blaenk posted a very good and detailed tutorial on how to snap it off without damage.
This only proved to me that the case will definitely not come off accidentally, at least.
How the camera/flash cope with the case
Some of you expressed concerns over the design of the cut-outs for the camera and flash. Here is a close-up of it and my observations just below.
While the hole seems deep, it does not affect the camera at all...
but the flash's range is slightly blocked by the edges. You can clearly see in the next picture what I'm talking about.
However, the flash reaches everything that is in the camera's sight, unless what you want to take a picture of is really,
really close to the it. So that is NOT, in fact, an issue.
From the few test shots I've got, the flash does not reflect into the camera. Thanks to the small portion of the case that comes between these two, as some of you have mentioned.
So, from my personal observations, the case does not affect the quality of the camera/flash of the phone.
Compatibility with the Seidio protective film
As I said before, I bought an Ultimate Screen Guard alongside the Innocase combo.
Since the film and case come from the same company, you would tend to think that they should fit perfectly together... right? RIGHT!?
Seems like not.
This small bubble appears every single time I snap the top of the case on. The protective film is perfect before I put it on, but the case creates this bubble when slid in. No matter how hard I tried, it won't come off.
What I found interesting is that
C0SM0 has a bubble at the
exact same position. This leads me to believe that there is something at that spot of the case that creates this bubble, no matter what you do.
Oh well...
A small complaint about the holster
Don't get me wrong, the holster is a great design and fits perfectly with the cased iPhone.
However, I have a minor complaint about the lack of structure at the top of the holster to hold back the phone when you squeeze the back clip.
Let me explain with pictures, here you have the holster at rest with the cased phone. You can clearly see a gap between the two.
There you have the holster when I squeeze the back clip.
It bends towards the phone and opens the top clip, which isn't very nice and feels wrong... it feels like it's going to break after a lot of use.
What I am going to do from now on is put and remove the holster from my belt/pants without the phone in it. It isn't that big of a deal, it would've just been nice to be able to do that with the phone in and having the action not feel weird.
Conclusion
All in all, the Innocase II Surface is a great case and I definitely recommend the holster if you want to have an easy access to your phone.
The cut-outs for the buttons are well thought of, the locking system is reliable and the camera/flash are not affected at all by the case.
Aside from minor complaints, the design is very good and the case feels great in your hands.
My rating: 9.5/10
Thanks for reading and have a nice day everyone!