OtterBox for BlackBerry Bold Review

The Long Version

Presentation

Having spent some quality time with other BlackBerry OtterBoxes, I’ve been eager to get my Bold decked out since the summer. I looked into rubberized skins, but they really didn’t fit the standard holster well at all. Bolds aren’t cheap up here either, so some kind of protection was certainly in order. Installation was easy (put on clear membrane, snap on case, wrap on rubber), but one thing I noticed was some packaged instructions on how to apply the base layer without getting bubbles under the screen. This is handy stuff no matter what screen protector you’re using.

First, get a nice full glass of water and put a drop of dish soap in there.

Mix thoroughly, dab your finger in, and apply a light coat to the screen. It’s helpful if you give the display a good wipe with a lint-free cloth beforehand.

Apply the screen shortly after. Use a credit card to help make sure everything gets out if you really hate bubbles. I found that even with this technique, the bottom and left side of the screen still had a long bubble in it. It might take you a couple tries to make sure everything on the keypad is taut, since if there’s any slack, you’ll find you’re typing on a bubble pretty frequently. On the whole, the soap trick worked like a charm and got the vast majority of bubbles out that I had to deal with on a dry run.

One thing you’ll always have to sacrifice for protection is portability. On smaller handsets, like the BlackBerry Pearl, it can actually be nice holding something with a bit more heft, but on a relatively large device like the BlackBerry Bold, it’s compounding an existing issue. For what it’s worth, the OtterBox has slimmed down considerably in the last year or so, and its current style is a decent compromise between form and function.

All the keys are accessible through the rubber skin with subtle, but noticeable, elevations. If you’re one to hot-swap your microSD card, be warned that this case will block you off from doing so easily.

USB and headphone jacks are accessible through a flap on the left side. When disassembling, I do find that the hard case keeps it in snugly enough that taking the skin off too quickly might rip the flap. It’s connected very thinly to the rest of the skin, so be careful when taking the OtterBox 1937 apart.

The OtterBox 1937 review continues on page 3…