Found! Toddler Proof Cell Phone Cases (for iPhones, Blackberries and Others)

Raines and I visited my parents in Gulf Shores last month. The first day we spent on the beach, I made sure my cell phone was safely zippered into an inside pocket of my bag.  Upon unpacking that night, I opened up the zippered pocket to find that *someone* had carefully unzipped the pocket, filled it with sand, and then zipped it back up.

I can't imagine who.

Immediately after, the main button on my iPhone became very hard to push.  You could practically hear the grains of sand scraping against the underside of the button.  So upon our return, I took my iPhone to the Mac store.  I simply wanted them to open it up, blow out the sand, then return it in one piece. HA!

First, the Mac rep got out her little penlight and lectured me on water damage.  "Do you have any idea how this could have happened??" she asked in a dramatic whisper, referring to the water damage.

I looked at her through narrowed eyes.  How to answer this question?  Let's see, I thought.  Water damage....Immediately, about 50 different possibilities pop into my head.  Perhaps it's from Raines playing the balloon game, which requires him to blow spit into the bottom of my iPhone?  Perhaps it was the time Raines fell asleep in the car, and I carried him and all of the groceries into the house, dropping my phone in a puddle on the way?  Yeah, that might do it.  Perhaps it was when I tried to take pictures of him playing in the rain?  Really, I could go on.  I have more.

"No idea", I said.  She then proceeded to explain that because of the water damage, she would be unable to help in any way, and my only recourse was to simply buy a new iPhone, but because I wasn't yet available for an upgrade, the new iPhone would cost me $600.  It was then I realized that she must be high, and asked to speak to a manager.  

This whole situation could easily have been avoided if only I had been using the Otter Box Defender case.  

This case protects against drops, bumps, scratches, dust, and I suspect, sand.  While it won't fully protect against - horror of horrors!! - water damage, one of my girlfriends hauled her daughter into the pool showers without realizing that her iPhone (in it's Otter Box case) was still in her pocket.  Mom, daughter and iPhone emerged from the showers grumpy, but in perfect working condition. 

Otter Box makes the Defender case for the iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, and some Nokia and Samsung models.  For the full list, see here.

My only issue with this case is that it is rather bulky.  And a teensy bit ugly.  The white actually looks kind of cool, but I don't trust myself to keep white clean.  The case also comes in black, and a black/yellow combo...but my first choice might be their horrible, crazy-bright pink.

The pink strikes me as so ugly it's cute.  This is the one I'm ordering.

If you go to the Otter Box website, for each model of phone, they play a quick video to show you how to put the case on your phone, and how to use your phone while in the case.  The iPhone 3G/3GS page is here.

Well, the more I look at these cases, the more they are growing on me.  And anything to save me from another Mac store lecture.  (BTW - the manager DID attempt to get the sand out of my phone, and it's now working a bit better).

My husband pointed out the obvious issue here.  Which is that we are letting our 2-year olds play with very expensive technology.  Yeah, yeah. Despite his own version of the Mac-store-water-damage-lecture, I did notice that he quickly forked over his phone when Raines started melting down in the grocery store. 

Let's just get two Otter Boxes and be done with it.

xo,

S

Comments

[Veronica]

The Otter Box is the best. I just got my first iphone, and my husband (an iphone user) told me about the Otter. I never noticed the Box's bulkiness because I had the guy at the store put the phone inside the Box and I have never seen a "naked" iphone to compare size. I figured the price of the Box is better than purchasing insurance (which, as we found out last year, doesn't cover "toddler drool").

[Molly]

Yay for a Fort Collins company going BIG time! A friend of mine does business development for Otter Box and I just sent him the link to your blog - he loved the review!

If I ever find myself with an iPhone, I will indoubtedly have a Defender!

[Ashley]

I was in your shoes about how ugly the Otter Box was when my husband and father in law each bought one when we first all got the iPhone. But then my father in law told us about how he lost his phone on a dirt road one weekend camping. Him and my mother in law went searching all over for it, found it right where they had been driving. Their F250 had driven over it a couple times so it was buried in gravel. iPhone = perfect condition. I was sold! The pink isn't so bad to keep clean!

[S]

Wow Ashley - crazy story. And Veronica - thanks for the update on the bulkiness. You guys are making this an easy decision, LOL!

Molly -- I didn't realize that Otter Box was local! Even better!