Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Speck Candyshell Satin for iPhone 5 Review

Today we're going to look at a very popular product from Speck; the Candyshell, for iPhone 5.  I had a chance to see one of their newer release satin finish cases, which have a soft touch matte finish versus their typical glossy finish.

The Speck candyshell is sort of a flagship product for them and I am a big fan of it.  The case is comprised of a hard outer shell and lined with a softer rubbery coating to cradle your iPhone and protect it from scuffing/scratching and shock.  





The volume buttons and sleep/awake button are covered with the same soft rubbery material and provide nice feedback.  





There is a nice subtle lip that provides good lay-on-the-table and good screen protection in the event you drop your phone and it falls screen side down.  All 4 corners of the case have a strip of this rubbery coating to help aide in shock protection.  Here lies one of my complaints - the lip and the 4 strips on the corners tend to "flake" and peel.  In the same respect as this, the back of the case (along the edges) almost looks like the soft touch material has peeled away also during normal usage (about 4 weeks). 





The form factor of the iPhone 5 Candyshell is slimmer than its iPhone 4 counterpart, not adding a ton of bulk while still providing nice drop protection and great style.  The cutouts for the speaker, lightning connector, headphone jack and vibrate switch are cutout nicely, no complaints there. 



The satin version of the Candyshell definitely hides a lot of scuffing and fingerprints which plague the glossy versions.  I would recommend going with a satin Candyshell versus a glossy Candyshell.  This version comes in 3 colors (glossy comes in 18 colors) for $34.95.