Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Incipio offGRID PRO


Today we'll be taking a closer look at Incipio's newest product, the offGRID PRO. The primary difference between the offGRID PRO and the offGRID is the addition of removable battery packs. The offGRID PRO comes equipped with 2 battery packs which are 1600mAh each. 


The offGRID PRO is engineered to be a very slim take on a battery case at only 14mm thick. It definitely feels slim in your hand and is surprisingly lightweight. Due to its slim form factor, you won't get any lay on the table design (lip over the front glass). I would be afraid of screen damage in the event the phone is dropped with the screen side down.

The case is a 2 piece design, made of polycarbonate, with a back portion which holds the battery and a snap on bumper piece which secures your phone into the 2 halves. The 2 pieces are extremely secure when attached via at least 4 snap together points. Due to its tight fit, it can be challenging to separate the 2 halves when you need to remove the case but I'd prefer this over something that easily snapped apart possibly even separating in the event of a drop.

The cutout for the headphone jack is separate from the pinhole for the secondary mic. This headphone jack cutout is extremely narrow and will certainly cause issues for larger headphone plugs. Due to this, Incipio was thinking ahead and included a headphone extender to prevent problems. Kudos to Incipio for this as this is the first case i've seen with this piece included. The sleep/awake button along with the volume buttons are covered by similar material in which the case is constructed. All buttons provide great tactile feedback when pressed. The bottom of the case features the charging plug as well as a cutout for the speaker. The speaker cutout is not centered on the speaker which I thought was odd. The left side features covered volume buttons as mentioned above along with a cutout for the silent switch which will accommodate all versions of the iPhone 4 and 4S. The front lower portion of the case is where you'll find the pinhole for the microphone along with status LED lights and the power button. The back of the case is imprinted with the Incipio logo and a slick design for the camera and flash. The two are separated and are within a moderately sized cutout. This is the first battery pack case that i've used that doesn't show any signs of camera flashback (white out look in photos). I am actually quite astonished that they were able to accomplish this.







Along with the extra battery, you get a secondary battery charger which charges via the included cable. The offGRID PRO is available in gunmetal, black and white for $99.99.

UPDATE 7/13:  I have been using this case as of late and i'm experiencing an issue where I have trouble getting the status LED lights to illuminate.  In order to get them to illuminate, I have to press the button 4-8 times before they light up.  I found this to be the same issue the Larry Greenberg had during his testing.  I will follow up with Incipio to see what they've done to remedy this.
UPDATE 7/18:  Incipio sent me a new black version and it works flawlessly.  I believe they had an initial issue with them but it has since been corrected.

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