Selfy case review

A few weeks ago we covered the announcement of Selfy cases, a case with a slide out remote control shutter button for taking selfies, group shots or any other uses you may think of. The guys at Selfy were nice enough to send over a review sample for me to have a play with and here are my thoughts on it.

The package contains the case, including the slide out remote (battery included), a quick start guide and that’s about it. The case is sturdy and the slide groove for the remote is smooth but firm so the remote isn’t going to slip out by itself. However due to the thickness of the remote it does mean that the case is quite thick, making the phone about 2.5 cm thick when in the case, although it does then have a nice curved back so fits well in your hand.

The other downside of this thickness is that it does make the charging port quite hard to get to, you really need to stick your finger in and try to use a fingernail to open the cover, and you have to be careful to ensure the cover is back on again after charging otherwise the water resistance will be compromised.

The design does mean that the back of the phone is well protected and there is even protection on the front round the edges so that if the phone is placed face down on a surface the screen shouldn’t scratch. I haven’t drop tested it (just in case) but the case seems solid and I would expect it to protect the phone from normal every day use and the odd knock or bump. There are holes for the charging port, headphone jack, speaker on the back, proximity sensor, front camera, the speaker on the front and of course a large one for the camera and flash on the back. The size of the case does mean that it will stand up on the base if you want to take portrait pictures remotely.

The remote is easy to pair, just slide it out of the case, hold the button down and search for bluetooth devices with the phone; that’s it. Once the remote has been paired once, it stays paired and you have easy access to it wherever you are, just slide it out, hold down the button for a couple of seconds and you are ready to snap away. The remote works as if the volume up button has been pressed so when it camera mode it takes a picture, if you press it out of camera mode then the volume of the phone increases. I tried the remote with a Sony Z2 and whilst it pairs well, it only acts as a volume control, it doesn’t function as a shutter button. The remote won’t pair with a Nokia Lumia 820 so it won’t work with other Windows Phone devices due to the way the bluetooth is set up.

Personally the case isn’t for me due to the increased thickness and fiddly access to the USB socket, however it is well built and the remote does exactly what it is supposed to do – take pictures without you having to hold the phone. Many thanks to Selfy for the review unit, you can find out more on the Selfy website and buy the S5 and others from Amazon for £29.99.