Otterbox Commuter for iPhone 4 Case Review

Otterbox, in the past years at least, have been known to make cases that provide one thing, better than many other case vendors out there… protection. Thanks to the success of their Defender line, that provided some of the most rugged protection on the market, Otterbox have decided to make a case that offers slightly less rugged protection, in a better looking, sleeker form factor… and it's called, the Commuter.

In the box, you will find: the case it self, a screen protector, a squeegee to apply the screen protector, and a small, but high quality micro-fibre cleaning cloth.

The Commuter is a two piece case that is comprised of one layer of silicone, and one layer of polycarbonate hard plastic; the former of which is intended to be applied first. The silicone layer is quite thin, hence allowing a degree of malleability and flexibility, without feeling cheap by any standard. However, do to its black colouring, it shows, and attracts an amplitude of dust and lint that is extremely apparent at times. Furthermore, if you're a cleaning nut like myself, you'll probably find yourself cleaning it a lot. At the same time however, the inclusion of silicone means increased absorption of shock when the device falls. The polycarbonate hard plastic is likewise very thin, and flexible and features a rugged, slightly rough matte finish on it's exterior that I personally found adds to the ruggedness of the case. It also features a large, embossed, glossy, yet understated Otterbox logo on the bottom quarter.

Application is one of the case's weak points, being, in my opinion, fiddly, and at times, very frustrating. First, you are to slip on the silicone layer. Easy portion of the application, done. You are then to slide the hard plastic layer of the silicone layer, ensuring all port connectors are lined up. On many occasions, I found the silicone to not properly slot into place, which in it self isn't a huge problem, but as mentioned before, is just a bit annoying.

Once applied however, the case has a very nice fit that shows off Otterbox's true attention to detail. The amazing combination of silicone rubber and the roughly finished hard plastic make it feel great in the hand, and at no point did the case ever feel like it was going to fall out of my hand, something that is extremely important to people who love their shiny little iDevices as much as I do.

The look of the case is also very attractive, sporting smooth curves, and a deadly black colouring, that looks killer with the phone's incredible design. It's, sleek, understated, and most of all, one of the most sophisticated, and executive looking cases on the market. In my opinion, the design is elegant, classy, and a perfect companion for your device.  

All buttons, ports, connectors, and sensors are fully accessible with the Commuter. The sleep/wake button on the top of the device is nicely accessible by the silicone layer of the case that protrudes outwards enough to make it easy to access, but at the same time, well protected. It's feels tactile to the press, and not mushy, or hard to toggle, like with many of the Commuter's competitors. An integrated silicone flap, once open, reveals the 3.5mm headphones jack as well as a fairly large cut-out, suitable for most earphone connectors. However, an even smaller cutout on the silicone flap it self allows the in built microphone to always remain open - another demonstration of Otterbox's intrinsically detailed design process with this case.

A fairly large and open cut-out for the mute switch is also present, and thanks to the thin nature of the silicone layer, the cut-out is fairly shallow, making it is to toggle. As with the sleep/wake button, the volume rockers are also nicely protected. The bottom features detailed, and individual cut-outs for the speaker and primary microphone, with a large silicone flap (similar to the one used on the headphones jack)covering the 30 pin Apple dock connector. Once this flap is opened, a large amount of space is revealed, allowing for most of those bulky, third party connectors to fit nicely.

It's very nice to have all of these buttons and connectors covered, as it reduces the risk of water damage, internal dust collection, and just general grime.

The back of the case features a large, circular cut out that reveals the Apple logo. Note though, this cut-out is not protected and is simply open to the air… a caveat which some may find annoying. Having seen a similar implementation of a cut-out for the back facing Apple logo on their Defender case (that includes a layer of plastic protection), I was slightly disappointed. The case also features two individual cut-outs for both the camera, and the LED flash on the back of the device. These cut-outs are both very closely cut near the edges of the camera and LED flash, which provides a good amount of protection, but at the same time makes photos that use the LED flash very distorted around the edges (this is apparent in nearly all of my test photos taken with the LED flash, whilst the case was applied. Once again, I am disappointed at this, especially considering that pretty much all other case vendors out there have made their cut-outs extra large in order to rectify this recurring issue.

Finally, the case features a 'lip' that runs around the front facing perimeter of the device that protrudes out slightly, hence meaning that when the device is faced down, the screen is never directly in contact with the surface it is resting on.

The case retails for a price of £24.95 GBP (and around $34.95 USD in the US), over here, on MobileFun's website. This price is great in my opinion, and worth paying, for this awesome case. For those that don't know, MobileFun is an awesome place for all types of accessories for almost all phones out there - check 'em out over here.

Overall, the Otterbox Commuter delivers, what some would call, the best of both worlds. You're getting, in my opinion, a great looking and feeling case that doesn't add substantial amounts of bulk to your device (like it's brother the Defender does), but at the same time you're getting a really solid amount of protection that far exceeds that of many other cases on the market. These two factors combined, the inclusion of some accessories, along with the small caveats like LED flash issues and some fitting issues merits the case, from me at least, a score of 9.5/10. Only a handful of other cases do what the Commuter does, and does it that well, hence I think this case truly deserves that score. However, if you really drop your phone a lot (and I mean you're seriously clumsy), then check out Otterbox's other case designed specifically for maximum protection against drops and falls, called the Otterbox Impact Case.

A full video review of the case is also available at my YouTube channel.

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