Introduction

Just like any other new phone that comes out the Incredible doesn't have a bevy of choices currently available for accessories. However some of the early accessories have peaked my interest and one of those was the Seidio Innocase II combo. One of the aspects of the Incredible that people rave about is the profile and fit in the hand of the Incredible and finding accessories, especially cases, that don't ruin this aspect of the phone and give adequate protection will be, pardon the pun, Incredibly hard.....or so I thought.

Design

Surface:

When it comes to finding the perfect case I think anyone can agree on three design choices. It needs to be fully functional, lightweight, and combine seamlessly with the phone and not create a huge footprint for the phone. Seidio has ended up doing exactly that with this case! The InnoCase II case, or as Seidio refers to it "Surface", is made out of a 1mm thick material. I think when they decided to call this part of the case the Surface they picked the right name because it isn't hard to describe however it is hard to emote the quality feel of it without having it in your hands. When you say plastic everyone automatically, at least I do, think about how brittle plastic can be, however, the case's construction is far from what I would consider brittle.

Also to protect the factory coating on the back cover of the phone and to secure a tight fit they have applied a felt material that won't scratch or disfigure your phone while it's in the case. This is applied to both the top and the bottom of the case in the areas that matter so it protects and still enables them to make a slim case. You can see from the pictures this case is very thin!

It is constructed of what looks like plastic with Seidio's signature soft touch coating, but it goes far beyond that as the actual material is rubberized to a point that you know it can absorb any normal fall impacts, I would even go as far as saying it will protect the phone from anything shy of some extreme circumstance.

But being thing does not mean it doesn't protect. One thing I noticed while taking the pictures and installing the case was a purposefully designed function into the sides of the case. If you notice the case has a small ridge which houses and centers the phone in the protection, and leave a small air gap area around the sides of the phone to provide an impact zone for extra protection. I believe that this will provide a small cushion to prevent damage in anything put the most extreme fall. And even then I would be willing to bet you would still be safe.

When this case was first announced and pictures started being released from Seidio they touted that in had a unique slide-in design that consisted of a set of top and bottom interlocking pieces that fit your phone precisely. However being unique is sometimes a bad thing and one thing I was concerned with not having a one piece case, much like Incipio and others, is it would simply fall apart or not stay together over time.

The inclusion of a manual to help aid you in the installation and proper removal should be the first stopping point you make. However I didn't read it and the first time I installed the case it in fact did not want to stay together until I realized you need to slightly push down on the area above the snap on the center back portion of the bottom piece. Once you do that it simply pressures to the phone to stay in place. For removal you have to slightly pinch the sides of the upper piece while pushing down the bottom side to "un-snap" the pieces from each other. With this you would think there would be a looseness or sloppy-ness to the design but, like they advertised, it fits precisely with absolutely no movement.

One of the other areas of our new modern smart phones we concern ourselves with protecting is the camera. The case is extended slightly, probably 1/4 of a mm or so, to make it rise above the camera lens. To keep with the "sports car" type styling that has been advertised with the HTC Incredible, this rise for camera protection is carried down the length of the case and fits in perfectly with the styling cues from the phone. This means now when you place your phone on the top of your desk or table, the camera is no longer touching and it simply looks great!

Holster:

The design of the holster leverages what we expect, what we want functionally, and what protects into one big package of goodness. The texture is nice as it feels semi or pseudo-soft touch but it's just molded sturdy plastic. The clip can move 90 degrees in both the left and right directions so that you can position your phone where you need it.

As you can see it pretty much fits what you would expect to see for an accessory of a phone of this ilk and is nothing surprising........at first.

The first time I went to fit the phone into the holster I noticed that they followed along with the felt insert to protect the screen which is nice, but then also noticed it's a precaution because the screen doesn't actually touch the holster!

Also the holster, to continue with the protection scheme, has a softer rubber insert on the actual clip that holds the phone in, from what I've seen it ensures a tight fit so the phone can't slip out and also protects the case from getting scared from coming in and out of the holster. An awesome design decision and really shows Seidio is keeping on top of things that may happen due to continual use of their product!

Usage

So now that I had the chance to look at the protection aspect of this case and it fits the needs of that as well as styling and looks we now have to consider the most important part, the usability.

The incredible like many Android devices doesn't have an over share of buttons they provide their users, this goes along with the industrial design cues as well as the minimalistic ideologies of Google. However with that being said those buttons are important to get to when you need them! The case is structured in such a way that they have given you more room from the directions your fingers are more than likely coming from. For instance on the volume rocker you have more room to get to the button from the back and the same can be said about the power button. Another area in which Seidio took basic usability concerns into though and gives us what I think is the appropriate result. One thing I would like to point out is that I had no issues pushing anything from any angle I wanted, but did find it interesting they addressed usability concerns.

Obviously the charging/data port are open and easy to access and to push my previous point a bit farther and overview shot of the power button, since we use it the most!

Since this is a combo system I was mainly concerned with how the holster would affect the usage of the phone while it was placed in the holster. And just like the rest of the design Seidio has deliver in spades on this aspect as well.

The clip that holds the phone in is purposefully placed offset to the side so that you can still have access to the headphone jack. Also the "side panes" that hold the phone in place laterally are placed to where you also still have access to your volume rocker and charging/data port. This is a plus for anyone who plans on listening to music while it's clipped on your side, or in my case listening to music in your car while charging and plugged into an FM transmitter.

Final Thoughts:

In general I always look at reviews from sites that praise the products they are sent and can't help but wonder, "Do they do this so they stay in the favor of the company?". And with that in mind tried to stay impartial as possible during this review and tried to not make it seem so glowing. But I simply couldn't, this is an amazing product! I would not hesitate to suggest friends and family get this product and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone! I've had cases from a very wide variety of sources with varying designs and aspects and this case stands above the rest. The only improvement that could be made on this product is to include a screen protector with the case.

If you need a minimalistic design with a unique flare, mix of functionality and protection, and do it with flawless execution and amazing fore-thought for your HTC Incredible, then this is the case for you.

Pros

Cons

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5