Quick: what’s your best friend’s phone number? If you’re like me, you have a hard time remembering because your phone has replaced your brain for questions like that. So it makes sense that POC–the Swedish protective-equipment maker–is producing a helmet for your phone.
This case is made up of three parts: a foam-based inner sleeve and two interlocking halves that cover the inner sleeve. Everything fits easily, and there’s no bending or jamming required to get the case secured. The foam is meant to act as a shock absorber in the event of a tumble, while the external shield resists scuffs and slides smoothly in and out of pockets. There is no screen protector with this case, so if you’re really uptight (or clumsy!) you’ll want to get one of those peel-and-stick jobs as well.
The POC iPhone case is designed to fit the iPhone 5/5s and is offered in many of the same bold colors you’ll find in the POC helmet line (orange and navy blue are my favorites). Visually the cases take design cues from POC helmets like the marshmallow-white upper and the imprinted POC logo on the bottom of the case. There’s even a VPD 2.0 label on the side to let you know the same protective materials from the POC line are at work in this case.
I really like this case, though I have two minor gripes. First, the lock button is devilishly hard to press with the phone in the case. Maybe if I had smaller fingers I wouldn’t have an issue, but even then I suspect the rubberized button cover would still add some resistance.
Second, I’d love to be able to mount this case on my handlebars or even–gasp–my helmet! Yes, I know POC isn’t just a bike helmet company (they make lids for snow sports too), but it would be cool to be able to use my phone as a GPS or helmet cam in a POC case. The tradeoff would be a loss of the smooth, sleek lines on this case, so I really don’t blame POC for keeping this first iteration simple.
Now, as a professional product reviewer I go to great lengths to test every feature of every product that comes into my office, but I draw the line at risking serious damage to expensive equipment. So I decided not to drop my phone in this case just to see how well it protected my phone–that is, until I accidentally dropped my phone from chest height one day. I’m happy to say the case did its job… which means that I did my job too.
The POC iPhone case is built to protect your phone just like the company’s helmets are built to protect your head. Maybe we should call this case a “phone bucket.”
Thanks to POC for providing this iPhone case for review.
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Jan 22, 2014