Performance
Again, since the case doesn’t offer to buy me a new phone if I manage to destroy mine while using it, I won’t be slamming my phone around. I will however, guesstimate, (That’s right Mrs. Carter, I said it.) the protection that it will offer. The Surface is a bit thicker than the Palette and will likely offer a bit more protection from bumps and bruises. That being said, the case will not protect your phone from any major falls so tread lightly. The padding on the inside of the case will also help absorb more of the shock that your phone might otherwise soak up. This padding is dual purpose because it will also keep the back of your phone from getting scratched up when putting the case on or when removing it.
Speaking of removing and replacing the case, I want to talk about the two piece design. Originally I thought that the two piece design, because of how it behaved while off of the phone, was going to be a pain when on the phone. However, the case holds together quite nicely when it is locked into place around the phone. The case that was once very loose and hard to keep together is not very tightly locked into place and very difficult to take apart.
Another difference from the Palette is the way that the buttons and ports on the outside of the phone are completely surrounded rather than having an open top area. I don’t mind this design so much for the buttons, it makes no real difference to me. What I do have an issue with is the ports. The standard charging cable that came with the Nexus 4 works well enough, but the charging cable that came with the PowerFort from Cooler Master does not fit. I had some similar results with the headphone jack as well. Most headsets worked perfectly fine, but a couple, including the Steelseries Flux In Ear Pro gave me difficulty when trying to plug them in. The fact that I have to remove parts of the case in order to use some of my other devices is somewhat annoying, and in my eyes a deal breaker. I would think that Seidio would have tested the design of the case a little better. I don’t expect that it should work perfectly with every device, but I would certainly hope it wouldn’t have compatibility issues with brands as big as Cooler Master and Steelseries.
It should also be pointed out that the reason for the clearance issues on the power plug is the case being thicker above the plug. The one upside to this is that there should be less issues with the case cracking in that area. That is a problem area that some of the other cases on the market have run into.
The case has almost the exact same amount of gripping power as both the Palette and the Nexus 4 itself. The case does cause to phone to sit at a bit of an odd angle because the kickstand extends farther than the rest of the case. This causes the top of the phone to sit lower than the bottom. It also causes the phone to lift off the table if any amount of pressure is put on the base of the phone. This isn’t really a flaw or a feature in my eyes, just something I thought should be mentioned.
The last piece of the case that I want to cover is the kickstand. The kickstand is made of metal and seems sturdy enough, but I have some worries about the spring loaded mechanism being bent out of whack if too much pressure is put on it. I don’t think it will be a big issue for most people, but individuals with kids should be weary of it being bent out of place accidentally. The kickstand will only hold the phone up horizontally, which isn’t that big of a deal, but it would be awesome if Seidio had found a way to make it work both horizontally and vertically. Lastly, the magnet that holds the kickstand in place when it is not in use is a very nice touch. It makes it so that the kickstand almost closes itself with a simple push.
