Speck Cases – Review

Have you bought a new phone recently? Did it cost you a small fortune? Are you handling like you would handle a baby?

If you can answer all three of these questions then I would recommend that you read this article as I like you have just bought a new phone and like you, I am treating it with kids gloves and I am paranoid that it is going to get damaged. Now, normally I would slap a skin on the back of it like the ones I recently tested in my XtremeSkins review and call it a day. But the new phone I bought is not a normal phone it is the Galaxy S21 Ultra and I spent nearly a months wages on this thing! So it decided from as soon as I placed the order I need a rugged hardcore case for it.

Well thankfully the guys from Speck have also been drinking from the same cool-aid as me and they have gone and made a rugged hardcore case for the S21 Ultra and they where kind enough to send it to me alongside a couple of other ones to review They were also nice enough to send me some of the Note 10 Plus cases as that was my old phone, which is being passed down through the family.

So without further ado here are the cases in video form. First up is the Note 10+ case.

Next up is the S21 Ultra

All the case’s shown in the videos above feature a fantastic drop protection rating of 4m or 13ft which will keep your phone safe when getting those all-important photos or videos. The cases all feature MICROBAN which is a Lifetime bacteria product protection designed to keep your phone bacteria-free for its entire useable life, this is particularly relevant in today’s COVID affected world. They all have a raised bezel meaning that when you lay the phone down on the screen it is not actually resting on the screen but the edge of the case. This will help from some of the unwanted scuffs that come from daily use especially when you are using the gesture-based flip to silence feature on the Samsung (and some other Android Devices). the last major feature is the Full two-layer shock protection which designed to help absorb the impact of dropping your phone from the previously mentioned 4m or 13ft. These are features shared by all the cases and are essentially Speck’s hallmark features for most of their phone cases. It all sounds pretty good but fancy specs are all okay however with a case it is more about how it feels when you use it on the phones.

Well, I am delighted to tell you that when they are on the phones, these case feel excellent and in the case of the transparent cases from the Stay Clear and the Perfect Mist and Perfect Clear ranges, they are clear and clean allowing you to see the gorgeous design elements of your phone through the case. In fact, Speck are so confident about the UV and Oil resistant materials it uses in there case’s that they offer a Clear Guarantee! This guarantees that the case will not yellow over the lifetime of your phone. On the Presidio Grip And Grip 2 however, these are solid non-transparent cases so seeing through them is not as much of an issue here. Where they do come into there own is the extra levels fo grip that these cases offer even over the others which are quite grippy. With the Grip or Grip2 cases on my phones, I felt that I always had a firm handle on the phones and that even will wet or sweaty hands I would struggle to lose my grip on them.

There is one area that I do want to address though and that is the one area where in my opinion the Grip 2 rises above all the other phones in the line up that I have seen here.

I love the feel of the buttons on the newest grip as they just feel smooth and make the case feel better to use. I have had about a week of using the Grip on my Note 10+ and the Grip 2 on my S21 Ultra. I have used them when my hands have been ice-cold even when wearing gloves. In all these conditions the buttons on the Grip 2 performed better than the Grip.

There was another aspect that I hadn’t really thought about until I actually got the case on the S21 Ultra. Upon my first shot at using the S21 Ultra I was actually really annoyed at the design of the phones it has this massive lump on the back which got in my way whilst I was trying to play games and also when I am using the phone in landscape.

It was also annoying that when I went to lay the phone down on a surface it wobbled whenever I tried to use it on that surface. Something had to be done as I was going to return the phone based on these experiences. Thankfully this problem has now been solved by the addition of the cases featured here as they all add a little bit of thickness to the rear of the phone to allow it rest on a flat surface with next to no wobble at all. This has given me the confidence to not send the S21 Ultra back and keep hold of it.

Another pleasing touch on the Note 10+ cases was the cut out for the SPen. The easiest way to explain the difference is to show you two images one of the old case I had been using and one of the new Speck Presidio Grip.

Essentially the issue was that on my cheapo case I couldn’t get the SPen out of its silo easily. This is no longer an issue with the Presidio Grip as i can get the Pen to pop out just to the right amount that I can grasp it with ease!

So the question is should you pick up a Speck case for your phone. Well, my answer is a yes for me as i am very happy with the Presidio Grip 2 for the S21 Ultra and the Presidio Grip for the Note 10+. They are both exactly what i was after in my cases for the phones and they will help to keep my phone in great condition until i get my next one. They are great case and are also relatively cheap when compared to Samsung’s own brand case’s. They feel better in the hand and in the case of the S21, they make the phone more comfortable touse which is a massive bonus.

If you do want to pick one of these cases up then please head over to the link here and grab one.