OtterBox Impact Series Sleeve For The BlackBerry Bold

BlackBerry Bold Gets a Skin

Once the BlackBerry Bold was released by AT&T this week many consumers are looking for something to protect this new Smart Phone. OtterBox has once again come to the rescue and has released a thin, skin-like sleeve for the BlackBerry Bold that is part of the Impact Series. This light-weight design offers marginal protection against bumps and more importantly that rear cover is covered by a black, leather-like material that needs to be protected unless you want it to get scratched up.

The inner corners of the OtterBox for BlackBerry Bold Impact Series are designed to dissipate impact AWAY from your device, so for light drops it will give you some added protection. To put the OtterBox or BlackBerry Bold Impact Series sleeve on the phone you just need to slip the phone into to the top and then pull up the bottom lip over the base of the phone.

Once the sleeve is pulled over the bottom of the phone the installation is complete and it takes just a couple seconds. Otterbox advertises that all buttons, ports and functions are accessible through the case, but we found that wasn’t totally true as there is no access to the MicroSD memory card when using the OtterBox for BlackBerry Bold Impact Series sleeve. We loaded up several DVD’s to watch on our phone and found that the sleeve has to be removed in order to change our the MicroSD card. Not a big deal, but something worth pointing out. The microphone hole on the bottom of the phone is very small and might cover part of the opening, so keep an eye on that as well. The ‘fit’ of the case was good and the BlackBerry Bold was secure and unable to easily come out.

The OtterBox for BlackBerry Bold Impact Series has an ergonomic design, which helps grip the phone when it is in use. As you can see b the image above the camera and camera flash remain uncovered, so the image quality remains the same even with the sleeve installed.

Final Thoughts and Conclusions:

Our use of the OtterBox Impact Series for the BlackBerry Bold has been great so far and there is really nothing to say negative about the sleeve. The BlackBerry Bold does not add any protection to the screen itself, so you might still want to cover that with some protective film to give it some added protection as well. Overall, the Impact Series for the Bold serves a simple purpose and for $19.95 it is an easy choice to protect a phone that retails for $599 before discounts and rebates. For those that are really tough on their phones or like to hike and spend time in the doing extreme sports the semi-rugged, drop and scratch-proof OtterBox 1937 Defender Series case might be the better choice.

Legit Bottom Line:The Otterbox1938 Impact Series case for the BlackBerry Bold is a cost effective way to protect the BlackBerry Bold from the bumps and scratches that occur in daily life.