[Marine39]

Hey all,

Got my Seidio set (in blue) yesterday and wanted to put up a quick review of it for those of you still debating whether to get it or not. Feel free to contact me if you want further pictures of something specific. I tried to get pics from every angle, but of course I may have forgotten something.

Sorry for not having any "unboxing" pics... I was too eager to get it out of the package and onto the berry! As I'm sure you all know, the box is just a plain plastic bubble packaging as Seidio chooses to spend their money developing their products instead of making flashy packaging. I which more companies were like Seidio in that way!

I have included many pictures as thumbnails. Click on the pictures for the full-sized image!

EDIT: It's only allowing me to use 4 images in the message so I'll have to convert the rest of them to links. Just click on the links for the full-sized pictures

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Upon taking the contents out of the packaging, I was greeted by the familiar quality I had come to expect from Seidio's products. The holster felt sturdy but not overly weighty like some others. It had a nice slim profile and the belt clip didn't make the holster stick out 4 inches from your belt like I've seen with some other holsters. The case was the standard 2-piece hard shell with clips along the seams to hold it together. The rubberized finish on the case was impressive and felt great in the hands. The case was very thin and lightweight but definitely didn't feel "cheap".




HOLSTER

The holster was made from a nice and sturdy ABS plastic with a felt-lined interior to protect the screen, trackball, and keyboard. The clip at the top of the holster was also made of ABS but had a very nice rubberized coating over the entire clip to prevent scratching/marring of the case. You can see the difference in color between the rubberized and non-rubberized parts of the holster in the picture below:



To further protect from scratches, the inside lip of the clip has a very soft rubber strip to hold the berry in place gently but securely.



The clip feels very secure to me. I've tried pushing, pulling, and torquing the berry and it doesn't move an inch. Speaking of which, I had my berry in this holster today and got called into work for an ongoing case we received new intel on. Long story short, we ended up having to chase this guy down the street at full sprint and my berry stayed put the whole time. I didn't have to tackle the guy (I let one of the uniforms do that!) but I am definitely confident my berry will stay put!

As I mentioned in the first impressions, the belt clip was nice and slim and fit my 1.5" belt perfectly. As long as your belt is 1.5" or smaller, this holster will fit. The rotation of the belt clip felt strong but not stiff. I was able to rotate it while it was still on my belt. I've noticed a few times that after getting out of my car I would find that the holster had rotated one position off. This is not really a big deal especially since I'm in and out of my car a lot each day and I've only noticed it happen a few times but I figured I'd mention it just to be thorough. Each of the 7 positions clicked into place audibly and the clip is able to rotate 180 degrees in 30 degree increments. I am worried this might wear out and loosen up in the long-run but only time will tell.

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The inside of the holster is nicely lined with a felt-like material from top to bottom to protect the screen, trackball, and keyboard. The material is nice and soft and cut perfectly to contour the inside face of the holster. Seidio could have just cheaply cut a rectangle and stuck it in there, but instead they spent a little extra time and money and did it right! Kudos!

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Overall, the holster is VERY well made and I do not have any complaints about it. My only worry is the moving parts wearing out over time, but that's the case with anything that has moving parts.

RUBBERIZED CASE

As you can tell from the pictures, I got the rubberized case in blue. I absolutely love this blue color! I was debating between the black and the blue and I am so glad I got the blue. It gives my berry a little more character and color. I think the pictures make the color a little brighter than it actually is. The color is a nice deep blue, almost metallic in color. The finish is a nice matte rubberized finish. The rubberized feel is amazing for those of you who have never experienced it before. If you have a Freedom 2000, it is similar to the rubberized finish on there but the one on the Seidio case is 100 times better. It almost has the feel of a smooth leather. The finish is "rubberized" but it's not sticky or tacky like a lot of the silicone/rubber cases out there are. I have a silicone skin on my SanDisk Sansa mp3 player and it picks up a lot of dust and lint. The Seidio case does not do that, and if something does get on it, you can just wipe it off without that "sticking" feeling of a skin.

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All the cutouts for the buttons, camera, mic, speaker, and cradle charging contacts are in the right place and cut precisely. The buttons are a little harder to press because they are recessed now, but this helps to prevent accidental presses especially of the left convenience button. The engineers over at Seidio also made up for this by beveling the edges of the cutouts for the buttons to make them easier to press. Instead of just cutting a plain hole for the buttons, they angled the edges of the holes for the buttons to make up for the fact that there is extra material around the buttons with the case on. Excellent execution here! You can see the difference between the beveled cutouts for the buttons and the non-beveled cutout for the headphone/mini usb jacks in the pictures below.

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The cutout for the speaker is also in the correct place for the 8330 (on top instead of on the back).

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Overall, the case was excellently made and functions very well. The engineers at Seidio put a lot of time and thought into aesthetics and overall functionality and it really shows in the final product. I only had one minor problem with the case. The seams where the two halves connect is rough in a few places. It is not bad at all, but if I run my finger over the seam, in some places I can definitely feel a rough edge. The one that is the worst is on the bottom of the case right next to the mic cutout as shown in this picture:

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There is another spot which is not as bad on the left side under the convenience button as seen in this picture:

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The picture above also gives you a nice look at the beveled edge of the cutouts for the buttons. Once again, very nicely done! Besides the two places mentioned above, the rest of the edges around the seams fit nicely together and were smooth.

CONCLUSION

Overall, this is a great setup for any BlackBerry owner. I know a lot of people were complaining about the high price of Seidio's products, but I hope that after you've read this review, you know that your money is going to the excellent R&D and engineering of these products. I think this combo is well worth the money I paid for it and I would highly recommend it to any BlackBerry user out there! I even bought a set in black for my Dad for Father's Day!

Oh and for those of you wondering, this case and holster set WILL work with the screen facing out in the holster. The sleeper function does work in that direction as well. I would not recommend it as your screen, trackball, and keyboard are not protected, but just wanted to let you know that it DOES work that way (see pic below!)

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And finally, here are some closing pictures of the case and holster combo:

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SUMMARY

HOLSTER: A+
CASE: A
VALUE: A

OVERALL: A

RECOMMENDED!

If anyone has any questions or requests for pictures, please let me know with a reply or a PM and I would be happy to oblige! I hope this helps all of you out there who are looking for a case/holster and especially those of you on the fence about getting this set!

EDIT: Also, for those of you wondering, I purchased this set directly from Seidio for $49.95. CLICK HERE for the product page. You can also buy the holster and case separately if you only need one or the other. Just make sure if you're buying a holster for a Curve that doesn't have a case you get the "UNSKINNED" holster. If you Curve has a case, get the "SKINNED" holster.

Semper Fi,

~Marine39

[ERDude]

After reading your review of the great Seidio product I had to check my seams. All are smooth all the way around, you might have one that didn't a thorough smoothing at the end process.

I agree highly worth the extra $$.

[Marine39]

Yeah, it's not that big of a deal, but kept it from being "perfect" if there is ever such a thing. Nothing a little sanding won't fix!

Semper Fi,

~Marine39

[cobra302]

great review! check your pm's by the way!

[teedubbz]

Nice review!

purchased one myself a few months back and am extremely happy with it!...

I've also dropped my curve 3x since and the case has held up perfectly and snapped back together no problem... I will try to holster my phone while doing something else and my work shirt will go in with it.. This will prevent the holster from actually locking in place therefore the drops So be careful to not holster your shirt/berry at the same time!

teedubbz

[cjmjmm2006]

Nice review. Can you put up a link in your post to where you can purchase this product. I went the the Accessories tab above and there is no way to select Curve 8330. I am told that the 8330 CDMA version is slightly different in my readings. Thanks again and a wonderful job with your review, this will help alot of people.

[jchien#CB]

try this link

Seidioonline.com

[Marine39]

try this link

Seidioonline.com

Yup, I got mine directly from Seidio at the link provided above. Make sure to select the CDMA Curve! IIRC, the CDMA curve is ~0.5mm thinner than the GSM version. Also the speaker openings are in different places. I put a direct link in my original post if you want to just follow that instead of searching around on the site. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Semper Fi,

~Marine39

[Marine39]

Nice review!

purchased one myself a few months back and am extremely happy with it!...

I've also dropped my curve 3x since and the case has held up perfectly and snapped back together no problem... I will try to holster my phone while doing something else and my work shirt will go in with it.. This will prevent the holster from actually locking in place therefore the drops So be careful to not holster your shirt/berry at the same time!

teedubbz

Hahaha... I've done that so many times with my old phones! I'm a little more careful with my berrys though!

Semper Fi,

~Marine39

[tritan]

do you guys feel like your trackball hits your finger a bit when trying to use it? My buddy got the otterbox case and it felt like I was hitting the ball all the time with the case. It works and was ok but rather have it not hit.

[Danymar]

Thanks for the review!!! For weeks I've been trying to get my husband to even look at the Seido rubberized case but he just kept ignoring me ... Today I made him read your review and he told me to buy him the exact case and holster you have and to get one for me... I just bought one Seido rubberized case + holster in blue for him, and a rubberized case in pink for me... I can't wait to get my hands on it!!!

[teedubbz]

do you guys feel like your trackball hits your finger a bit when trying to use it? My buddy got the otterbox case and it felt like I was hitting the ball all the time with the case. It works and was ok but rather have it not hit.

If I'm understanding the question, I do believe the Seidio does cut down a tiny bit of room ABOVE the trackball.. But you still have a smooth glide upwards, just a slightly different feel! I wouldn't say it impedes your upward motion with the trackball! Not enough to distract me at all but I pretty much got my BB/Seidio together and had no experience otherwise..

[Marine39]

do you guys feel like your trackball hits your finger a bit when trying to use it? My buddy got the otterbox case and it felt like I was hitting the ball all the time with the case. It works and was ok but rather have it not hit.

I don't quite understand what you're asking but I think you are asking if the trackball is blocked by the case? If so, I can tell you it is not. The middle crossbar has a little cutout for the trackball. It's definitely not the same as without a case but it doesn't get in the way. After a few times using it, you'll get used to it and not even notice it!

Semper Fi,

~Marine39

[Marine39]

Thanks for the review!!! For weeks I've been trying to get my husband to even look at the Seido rubberized case but he just kept ignoring me ... Today I made him read your review and he told me to buy him the exact case and holster you have and to get one for me... I just bought one Seido rubberized case + holster in blue for him, and a rubberized case in pink for me... I can't wait to get my hands on it!!!

LOL, I'm glad I could help out. Maybe he's learned his lesson now and he won't ignore you anymore! You will love this set!

Semper Fi,

~Marine39

[yojason]

Anyone have any discount codes for this store? Shipping kinda kills the deal for me

[Marine39]

Nope sorry, don't think there are any. You're saving $10 by buying it as a combo if you wanna look at it that way?

Semper Fi,

~Marine39

[cjmjmm2006]

Thx guys.

[anon(13322)]

I just ordered this one. I had it on my iPhone as well (when I had it) and it was a great product. I dropped my iPhone a few times and it left NO scratches on it, so I decided to get on for my Blackberry! Highly recommend!!!!!

[kekukui]

I got my case at Verizon for $24, beautiful Mauve color, I love this case! Feels great when holding not "Sticky" like silicone covers..

[Cowchip]

I ordered my combo last Thursday and now just patiently awaiting it's delivery.

Nice review, BTW!

[Stang68]

Can someone send me a link to the actual combo. I cannot seem to find it.

[andy343858]

i just recieved he black hard rubberized case today its suc a nice product and i really enjoy it. I am thinking of getting the holster will it fit with the ruberized casing though?

[kpxstar9]

i just got the navy blue hard case the other day and i absolutely love it. great buy for any curve

[lembowski]

Great review!

Does anyone have pics of the Burgundy case in the wild? The Blue definately looks different then the stock pics......so I'm wondering

[cutter311]

I'll just add my .02 on this case+holster combo...

Very sturdy. Fits like a glove. looks & feels great. HOWEVER...on 2 separate occasions the case has case has come apart (yes I'm certain it is secured/snapped together correctly. Ya'd figure it wouldn't "come apart" as it 'clicks' together very tightly, and can even be difficult to get off).

Once while removing luggage from the back of a rental car, during a rain storm in NJ I popped it out of the holster. It fell to the ground and landed on the bottom left corner. The case exploded open, leaving the BB exposed to the pouring rain. Dried it out...worked fine.

Once entering a restaurant, I was texting while walking, went to hold the door for the gal in front of me (with the BB hand), when she went to move her hand, it clipped my hand, knocking the BB to the floor, again, popping the case off.

Now, I really like this case, and I consider what could have happened in both the instances had I NOT had that Siedio case on there...I would buy it again.

PS: I've also dropped it twice WITHOUT the case coming off...I swear, I NEVER once dropped my old BB.