OtterBox Defender Case for the BlackBerry Storm Review
Posted by Thomas on January 15th, 2009
Okay finally, our first official CES 2009 product post! I’m sure you guys have all been sitting at home waiting for us to get to this stuff, well so have we! What we have for you today is OtterBox. OtterBox had their new BlackBerry Storm defender case at CES! This case is still in the development process, but is coming soon, so if you are worried that you are going to drop your Storm and NEED ample protection, it will be here soon. *A side note with the images is that the case I used was a prototype so the outer skin that covers the plastic part of the case is not a perfect fitment, however I was assured that this will be fixed when the design is finished and ready for manufacturing.
So, I got to mess around with this case on a Storm for a while to get a feel for it and I was quite impressed. I personally do not use OtterBox cases, because I am careful with my babies, but if they ever do something waterproof for BlackBerry, I am all about it! Anyway let’s start with the case size.
As with all OtterBox Defender cases, it is pretty large. The immediate difference I noticed with the large size of this case with the storm is that in your hand it feels very good, very natural. Something I didn’t like with the Storm when I had it is that since it is kind of heavy, when you have it sideways in landscape ratio, you must position your fingers so that while you are typing you have to have it secured all around. With this case, it makes it significantly thicker so that it fits very nicely into the palms of both your hands. Now the only issue with this is that no it will not fit in your pocket, but OtterBox cases come with a belt clip and they are pretty necessary to carry your device.
Now let’s move on a bit to the screen area. I was worried about a few things when I thought of an OtterBox Storm case because it was a touch screen so if it was designed wrong, typing and screen use could suffer. I was relieved when I began using it and this was not the case. If you notice on the image, the border of the screen has a moderately sloped surface so that your fingers to not get obstructed by a high wall of plastic protection.
Another issue I was curious about was screen protection itself. If you have ever used an OtterBox Defender, you know that the case is a 360 degree protection case and has a clear shield that protects your keyboard, screen, and camera. Well the design has not changed for this model. The Storm has a protective clear coat over the whole opening of the case, which includes the call and menu buttons at the bottom below the screen. This is all well and good but, what about the touch recognition? Well I can honestly say that it is perfect! When I first got my Storm, I left the stock plastic screen protector on it for a day and it really affected the screen. The touch worked the same but it would be slow at recognizing I was touching the screen. With this cover, it is not the case. I don’t know how they did it, but it works as if there is nothing on the screen at all. This is probably the most important feature that OtterBox had to get right, in my opinion.
Now let’s do a round robin on the rest of the phone. The back of the case has the finger grooves so that when you are typing, you get a better grip on the back of the phone. The camera opening is not like the front of the case, so it does not have a plastic coating to protect the face. This however is not necessary because the Storm camera and flash is housed behind glass for its own protection. There is also a small hole cut out towards the bottom for the speaker. I did not get a chance to use the speaker, but I’m sure it muffles sound a little bit.
The sides, top and bottom have the typical rubberized button covers that let you still use your volume, and convenience buttons. Like any thicker rubberized case, the button covers do hinder use a bit, but they are necessary and they do still work, you just have to push in a little more. Just like the other Defender cases, there are attached rubber removable covers for the headphone jack and the charging port. These are a bit ugly, but they are on all the cases.
Overview
Overall, besides the prototype rubber skin fitment (which is temporary), I am very satisfied with this case. I was worried that the Defender case for the Storm would be too much like the Impact series which has little protection on the screens or keyboards. I was pleased that they came up with a solution that could offer full protection for the Storm. I am most impressed with the touch screen protection and how it works flawlessly with the touch recognition, great work OtterBox! This case will be around $50 like all the other Defender cases for BlackBerry, so if you need awesome protection for your devices, go OtterBox.
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InvisibleSHIELD for BlackBerry Storm Reviews (from Best Buy and Amazon)
Awesome Protector
Have tried different shield protectors in the past on different items, this one is definately the best. For best results, if the phone is new, dont remove the plastic coating from the Blackberry Storm used for shipping until this is put on or your not going to get the best results. If you have, just clean the screen with lint free cloth or kit before installing the invisibleSHIELD
Posted 15 days ago at
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The Best Protection
Posted 121 days ago at
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Great Product
This thing is great. It really is scratch proof... I know that because the first one i bought i ended up dropping it on the carpet and got all dirty so i was scratching it with a bunch of stuff and nothing! It should be a little cheaper tho...
Posted 108 days ago at 
Case-Mate "Barely There" BlackBerry Storm Case
Last weekend I was in the market for a new Case for my Blackberry Storm. I've been using the Seidio Innocase II which has served me quite well. However, there were a few issues I had with it: 1) I received a unit that didn't fit together quite right (the casing is made of two pieces, which fit together at the bottom 5th of the phone), so there has always been a slight give on the right side of the case. Not a big deal at all, but it always kind of annoyed me that it didn't fit more seamlessly. 2) Even though the case is very thin (something like 1mm I believe), it adds more bulk than I like. Every time I'd remove my Storm from the case, I admired it for it's very thin profile and wished I could preserve its pristine-ness without a case, which is impossible for me to do.
With that said, I must say that the Innocase has without a doubt saved my phone several times. I've dropped it from 4-5 feet on a few occasions, both times onto sidewalk concrete. Not only did my phone have no damage, but the Innocase didn't even have scratches on it. With the slightly off-fit and the desire to have an even slimmer profile case (not to mention the accumulation of dust and other small particles on the inside of the case on the felt area), I set out to find something that was a) cheap b) more sleek and c) visually appealing. It didn't take long to reach Case-Mate. Several popular Blackberry sites/forums had reviews of various cases, Case-Mate being one of those.
They have four color combinations available for the "Barely There" case. They have a Green, Orange, Royal Silver (which is black at the top that blends to silver at the bottom), and Royal Blue (which is black at the top that blends to a royal blue at the bottom). I chose the Green one.
When the package arrived today, it came with the case (obviously) as well as a screen protector (and directions for its application). I tried to put on the screen protector first. It was a massive failure. Not to fault Case-Mate, it was simply difficult to keep the adhesive side of the film clean whilst applying it. So, if you pick up one of these, apply the protector in a room that has little to no air movement and one that's relatively dust-free. I kept getting dust particles trapped on it and could never get them cleared off. After some hassle trying to remedy the situation, I ended up just throwing it away. Something to note about the protector before I move on: the film isn't actually sticky adhesive, so don't worry about it leaving any sort of residue on the screen or anything like that.
The case itself is very sleek and has an insignificant profile, which achieves my desire for a case that keeps truer to the thinness of the Storm itself. Comparing the overall thickness (or thinness if you will) to the Innocase II, the Case-Mate is at most a millimeter thinner (I didn't measure but I compared it to the relative thickness of the Innocase II shell, which is rated at 1mm according to Seidio), give or take a few tenths of a millimeter. The durability of the material itself seems to be on-par with the Innocase, which was pretty much indestructable in most drop scenarios. The material is flexible and rugged, yet has an almost rubberized feel to it which is nice for a slightly better grip (probably even more so for those who have sweaty palms). Putting the case in the phone is a very simple process: just put one side of the phone in the case and snap the other side into the case (from left-to-right or right-to-left if you're holding the phone as a portrait). I've been using it for the entirety of today (approx. 10hr) and it's great! It feels just that much thinner than my Seidio Innocase II, and the lime-y green adds a great bit of style and uniqueness to my Storm.
There is one caveat to this entire review and any sensible recommendation I could offer regarding this case: this case is not as protective as the Innocase line of cases. The top part of the phone is still quite exposed, so I myself will have to be slightly more careful. The corners as well as the entire backside of the phone are completely protected, however, and in my case that means about 90% of my drops would have been protected in the past. That to me is a very fair trade-off.
My verdict: Ringing in at $25.99 plus some change for shipping, this is a solid buy. The Innocase and Innocase II by Seidio are slightly more expensive, but obviously the added protection is worth it if that's what you want. Case-Mate does offer a few more cases for the Storm that can also provide more protection than their Barely There case, but this is by far the most sleek protective case for the Storm.
If you have any questions, please feel free to comment and I'll be happy to answer them!
I'll leave you with some pictures I took of the case 'in action' but please forgive the horrible photo quality.. I had two sources of lighting of different color and that caused grainy photos even using a lower ISO setting. Hopefully I can get some clearer photos taken in a better-lit environment.
by Ryn on April 16th, 2009