Mobility Digest Review: Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME iPhone 5

You could spend a lot of time trying to weed through all of the cases that are available for the iPhone 5 but if you are like me, you tend to stick towards brands that have  great reputation and have been in business for a long time. Such is the case (no pun intended) with todays review on a case for the iPhone 5 from Case-Mate. Case-Mate has been a round a long time and since 2006 have been bringing us all sorts of cases to personalize and protect our device investment. What you might not know about Case-Mate is that they do offer a high end quality case that is not only great looking, but offers a Military Grade protection for your iPhone 5. So sit back and relax, and check out this Mobility Digest Review: Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME iPhone 5 case.

Inside the package that you see to the right you will find just two components. That’s all! No extra packages of screen protectors and instructions, just the two part case that is incredibly easy to put together and at first impression feels great and is incredibly thin. In fact, I always dread having to put a new device that is as thin as the iPhone 5 in a maximum protection case because it completely robs the experience of having a device that thin. This isn’t the (cough) case with the Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME. The Tough XTREME measures:

• Length: 13.24
• Width: 6.72
• Height: 1.3

As you can see with those specs, the TOUGH XTREME is very thin and easily slides in and out of the tightest pant and does not bind like other case manufacturers that use a lessor grade of silicone. The TOUGH XTREME is also US Mil-Spec Approved: meets or exceeds US military testing. So you can expect a tough case to handle most any rough treatment to your iPhone 5. The inner case component also comes fitted with a screen protector that I thought did a very good job. I never ran into problems navigating or swiping on the screen and did not detect any bubbles or irregularities in the screen protector.

As I mentioned above there is only two parts to the Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME Case for the iPhone 5. The first part is a Shock-absorbing DuoFlex interior liner that goes on the front of your iPhone 5. Even though it is plastic type material, it is very bendable and not brittle like other lessor quality cases. It felt as though it would give some under impact and help move the shock of an impact away from the side of the iPhone 5. The Impact-resistant PolyCore hard outer shell has a stiff back plate that is covered with a rubberized coating that is also used on the sides. There is not skeletal plates in the sides, instead it is very conforming to your device.

Once assembled which is very easy to do, you’ll notice that there are several small flaps protecting the mute switch, 3.5mm audio jack, and lightning port. On the bottom side that see below, it takes some work to dig your nails into the two flaps and expose the audio jack and sync port. However, I like that they are small and sleek, and stay closed and flush to the case at all times.

The left side of the Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME Case has the third and last flap covering the mute switch. Just like the flaps on the bottom, they do in fact seal very well and stay sealed flush to the case itself. however, the same applies that it is hard to dig your nail under the flap to open it up. Also, and I think this is more of an iPhone issue, but the mute button is incredibly difficult to get your finger down in to the case to switch. The volume buttons are also slightly difficult to deal with in that they are very small and the button rubber tab was hard to depress.

The top of the case has only the off/on button which remained closed off and not behind a flap. It was easy to depress and very complimentary to the other parts of the case and did not stick up out of the ordinary.

The back side of the case is very smooth and slides in and out of your pocket easily without grabbing on and not wanting to come out. The camera cutout worked great and did not shroud the lens at all, and same goes for the front facing camera.

The Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME Case for the iPhone 5 was a very pleasant surprise indeed. I really liked how the case was very thin and complimented the iPhone 5 very well. It was also very easy to install and use. As I mentioned, the flaps are a pain to open, but once closed, they stay closed. It was also difficult to reach in and mute the phone with the switch. My fingers would not fit into the space provided. My only other complaint is the price. At $50.00, it is at the high end of the premium cases available for the iPhone 5. I thought $39.95 would have been right on target for a case like this and would have sold a lot of volumes to people wanting OtterBox Defender Quality at a better price.

If you are in the market for an iPhone 5 case then head on over to Case-Mate and check out the TOUGH XTREME. It runs $50.00 and is available in:

• Lipstick Pink/Flame Red
• Marine Blue/Winter Aqua
• Black/Charcoal Grey (tested)
• Emerald Green/Chartreuse Green
• Military Green/Orange
• Aqua/White
• Cool Grey/Turquoise