Another month has passed and I’ve gone and bought another Otterbox. This time it was for my HTC 8X which I have felt is increasingly becoming likely to be dropped. Only because I’ve had it for a few months now without much protection.
Otterbox cases are pretty cool and people either love them or hate them, my Galaxy Note II case has recently persuaded two people at work to get their own case. For some reason the Commuter case in white for the HTC 8X was quite difficult to get in the UK with some sellers quoting months on availability. I found an Amazon seller in Germany who didn’t want too much money and the rest is history.
So onto the review the case. Otterbox cases come in two variations, a lighter duty Commuter case and a heavy duty Defender case. I’ve only ever fancied the Commuter cases and this time round the trend continued.
A few quick good and bad points first.
Good Points
- Solidly built
- Solid feel once fitted
- Colour gives a whole different feel to the 8X
- Port cover help with dust ingress
Bad Points
- Port covers slow down charging and music listening process
- Very fiddly to remove
- Silicone inner a little grippy
- The phone definitely becomes larger
Design
The Commuter case is much the same as the models for other devices, as in that you get an inner layer made of a soft grippy silicone that wraps the device up nicely and you also get a solid Polycarbonate outer shell that fits over and around the inner layer.
The inner layer adds shock absorption for drops, protects the corners of the device and also offers protection for the screen if placed face down. On the Glacier version of the Commuter case this inner layer is grey. Some other devices get more colour choices.
The outer layer is made of a hard Polycarbonate which offers protection from impacts and helps to not remove all the dust from your pocket. The outer layer has cut outs for the Micro USB port, volume rocker, power button, headphone socket, camera and the speaker. The cutouts on the rear offer a glimpse of the colour of the phone beneath, with my 8X it shows glimpses of blue now and again.
The clever bit about the Commuter cases is that the inner layer has flaps cut into it, these allow access to the USB port and the headphone socket. These flaps pass through cut outs in the outer shell. The inner layer also has covers for the power button, the volume rocker and the camera shutter button. More on those later.
Here are some pictures of the case.
In use
The Commuter case actually makes my HTC 8X feel more manageable, I’ve always felt it was a bit too light and thin and now with this case it feel better in the hand.
The HTC 8X has some jolly awkward buttons to push, they are the most slight and fiddly buttons I have ever seen, luckily the inner case layer also has covers for the buttons and the covers actually make it easier to push those fiddly buttons.
The flaps are both good and bad as they offer an extra layer of protection but they also slow down plugging the phone in to charge and also slows down plugging in headphones. If you schedule your life by the split second you are going to have to add “flap maneuvering” most days from now on.
Conclusion
Overall the Commuter case is a really good case, although Otterbox may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I felt that the Commuter added more than just protection to the 8X and it shall be staying on for a good while.