bloodline23's Full Review: DLO 004-3019 HipCase for Sony Ericsson W580i
I purchased a W580i in July from my local AT&T. When I purchase a new phone, I usually purchase a case that fits that phone (usually something with a belt clip at least). When I asked about a case at the AT&T store, the best they could do was offer me a case that is "compatible", but not really designed for the 580i (and for $40). That seemed like a waste, so I went out to my local electronics stores. Amazingly, I could only find one case specifically for the W580i; the DlO hipcase. I made the purchase (about $35), and although I wasn't immediately impressed with the case, I have grown used to it. I'll break this review into two parts; design and protection.
Design-
The black case is made of leather and has stretchy nylon sides. The leather has that mock-crocodile look to it, which I'm not exactly a fan of, but works well enough. Those stretchy sides allow the case to grip the phone pretty tightly even if the case is open. That means you have to give the phone a little tug to get it out of the case. That also means that if you have the phone set to accept a call when a button is pressed, you'll find yourself accepting calls that you didn't intend to accept. The inside of the case is not lined, it is just another layer of what I assume to be leather. So you don't have much in the way of shock protection if you drop the phone, just scratch protection.
Speaking of protection, when the case closed, most of the phone is covered except for the bottom corners (about a square centimeter of exposed phone) and the top sides (about an inch and a half from the top down on each side of the phone). That bottom gap isn't very useful, but the top gap does allow you access to the USB/power/headset port on the right side of the phone, so that is useful at times.
The flap of the case is one of those magnetic latches, allowing it to open and close easily. Some magnetic latches I've used have been pretty poor, coming apart too easily or being too strong to quickly get it opened. This one feels just right though.
On the back of the case is a belt clip and a piece of leather to secure the clip to your belt. The clip is an 8-way swivel clip and the movement is pretty tight (the first time I moved it, I was afraid I was going to pop it off the back of the case). The piece that secures the clip to your belt is a great idea, as I've had a few belt clips pop off on me and ended up stopping in the middle of the road to pick up my phone (and boy do cars love that). Unfortunately, the security latch does not swivel with the belt clip, so you can only really use the security latch when the phone is completely vertical. That also means that when the clip has been swiveled to any other position, that security latch really gets in the way of wearing the phone comfortably. So even though the clip swivels, you'll probably never be able to take full advantage of that option. I've also noticed that the only piece of the case that has started to wear is the security latch, most likely because it is constantly rubbing between my waist and my belt.
Final verdict- Holds the phone snuggly and allows access to the only visible port the phone has. Standard leather look blends with most occasions. Unfortunately, the security latch for the belt clip, although appearing to be a great idea, limits the functionality of the belt clip. Grade- B-
Protection-
Some of this information I've already touched on, so I'll be reiterating some previously mentioned information at times.
As I mentioned earlier, the case does a good job of providing basic protection to the phone. The security latch prevents you from unclipping the phone in most situations, and those nylon sides hold the phone in place even with the case open. The security latch is also useful if you are in tight, crowded situations, as you're unlikely to have someone take your phone by snagging it off of your belt and you're unlikely to have your phone knocked off of your belt by shifting crowds. Of course, if someone wants to open the case and steal your phone while you aren't paying attention, it is pretty easy to lift the flap up since it is just a magnetic flap. Then it becomes a question of sliding the phone out of the case, which may be a little harder since it is such a snug fit.
As far as protecting the body of the phone, I have accumulated a few scratches on the bottom of the phone where the corners of the phone are exposed, but the screen and rest of the body of the phone are completely scratch-free. I've dropped the phone in the case a handful of times and not damaged the phone, so I think most of those bottom scratches are actually from me rubbing against something and catching the phone on an object during the process. If you need serious shock protection or additional water resistance (say you spend a lot of time outdoors), you would probably want a different case as no real shock resistance is provided and enough of the phone is exposed to make water damage a real possibility.
Final verdict- offers standard level of protection with an extra layer of security due to the belt clip latch. If you need better protection though, you should try out other cases. Grade- A
Overall verdict-
As I said in the beginning, it took me a while to get used to the case, mainly because I was going from a case with a horizontal design to this vertical design. So when I sat down, I could feel the case press against me and it was just uncomfortable. After a few months of regular wear though, I got over that issue. The only real design flaw is the failure of the security latch to swivel along with the belt clip. That looks like either an oversight by the design team when designing the latch/ clip combination or a case of either the security latch or swiveling clip instead of a regular clip being thrown in at the last minute. Either way, it does pull down the overall rating for the case. It does do it's job well though, especially compared to the other options I have seen for use with this phone which either covered the ports, didn't provide a good fit, or made it difficult to pull out the phone.
When you're on the go, place your Sony Ericsson W580i mobile phone in this case and attach it to your belt for easy portability. The security loop ens...More at Best Buy ®
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