Otterbox Armor iPhone 4/4S Review

[video=youtube;n3kdj0HHSCc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3kdj0HHSCc&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Otterbox Armor Series iPhone 4/4S Case Specs:

Weight - 4.23 oz / 120.00 g
Dimensions - 5.14 in x 2.94 in x 0.82 in, 13.06 cm x 7.47 cm x 2.08 cm

Build Quality:

The Otterbox Armor Series iPhone 4S case had superb build quality. The majority of the case was made out of hard durable plastics and rubber. The case is comprised of two pieces (a front and back) that are secured together by two heavy duty metal latches on the side of the case. The inside of the case had soft foam-like padding to keep the iPhone secure and safe when dropped.

The built-in screen protector was a pleasure to use, it did not reduce the sensitivity at all and felt as if I was touching the original glass on the iPhone.

First impressions:

- Wow this case is big.

- Wow…..this case is BIG.

- This is built like a tank.

- The screen protector lays flat as a pancake. There is no degradation of touch sensitivity.

- The unit is quite heavy.

- If I wear semi-tight jeans, this will not fit in my front pocket. If it did, I would need to wear suspenders.

- This case was made for people who need extreme protection.

- Construction workers, oil riggers, any type of industrial career, bomb inspector, etc…

2 weeks of "In-the-field" results:

I carried this Otterbox Armor series case with iPhone 4S inside for two weeks along with my iPhone 5 to test out the durability of the case. The first week I took the case along with me into a metal fabrication plant to work on some products for my business. I used a metal grinder to grind down some aluminum parts and left the case right on the table while I was working. After about 3 hours of this per day, the case was covered in dust and metal shavings. After a quick air blast with the air hose, all the dust and debris was removed; leaving the case and phone looking like new.

In the past week, I have been keeping the case/phone in my front pocket while we move some machinery from our old warehouse, into a new warehouse. From moving all this machinery and other assorted things, the phone was subject to some pretty hefty pressures when lifting, moving, sliding things around different trucks and rooms in the warehouse. The case held together without a sweat and no dust penetrated inside the case.

I also used the case/phone to send emails and browse the web while I was connected to WiFi. The Otterbox Armor series case has a hard plastic screen protector built-in. I never had any problems with typing on the screen through the two weeks. Sensitivity was not affected at all with this case; it was like typing on the regular "naked" screen.

I used Skype (I was using an unactivated iPhone 4S) to test a few calls and voice quality was fine. People heard me fine and I did not sound muffled at all. I could hear people fine through the earpiece and through the speakerphone.

The camera worked as if I didn't even have a case on it. There was no degradation of image quality with the Otterbox case on.

This case survived my two week field test without breaking a sweat, really. My line of work is not even a challenge for this case. No dust ever got into the case and all, nor water. The case held up perfectly until I did my extreme drop/throw test as shown in the video above. On my last throw, the left corner of the Otterbox case separated from the front section of the case. I could not get the the left corner to properly snap back to the front section of the case after that. Even though the case incurred damage, the iPhone 4S still was in mint condition and did have any damage from the throw.

Overall, I highly recommend this case for anyone needing extreme protection from all elements and dangerous situations. The downside is the raw size of the case, but if you need that type of protection, it is certainly worth it. I do not recommend this case if you need light to moderate protection. It will simply be too large and heavy for regular situations, in my opinion.

A big thanks to JFB here on Wireless Advisor for giving me an opportunity to test/review this case!