Check out our unboxing and first impressions video below:

DESIGN

The first thing you notice on the Active case is definitely its unique exoskeleton. Not only does it look awesome and slightly reminiscent of the Spiderman logo but it certainly creates a near perfect impact protector on key surfaces around the device. Every corner and side is gripped tight by the beautifully rubberized soft touch polycarbonate frame.

In case of an unfortunate drop, the design alleviates stress on the impact spot by disbursing the energy to the other pegs. A second inner layer of silicon absorbs the impact as well as protects against the occasional scratch or two your phone might of received on the chamfered edges. Both pieces together create a safe space for your HTC One to reside and the optional addition of a holster ensures protection and convenience all in one solution.

I’m a big mobile gamer and when presented with the option of having a kickstand, I quickly jumped on it. There is a version without it but its a feature that benefits you while watching a simple YouTube video, listening to Googles latest music streaming service at work or pairing your MOGA controller and playing Modern Combat 4 on your free time.

Of course the kickstand will force the case not to sit evenly on a flat surface but it doesn’t feel weird in the hand since it fits nicely into the palm of your hand. And lets admit it, our phones never sat flush on a flat surface to begin with considering it has a curved back.

The Surface case takes a minimalistic approach to protecting your HTC One. It features a slide on installation that is super easy to get on but may be hard to get off if you’ve never owned one before. Its coated in the same rubberized soft touch texture that the Active case frame uses which makes for a premium feel in the hand. Trust me when I say this, no one in the industry has quite figured out how to make a soft touch coating quite like Seidio, they are  miles ahead of the competition and you notice it the second you hold one of their cases in your hand.

The two piece case snaps into place about half way up the device thanks to a notch lock design. The Surface used to have a felt material lining the inside to cushion your phone and prevent any scratching but has since been replaced with carbon fiber pads which not only look awesome but provide less space for dust, dirt or debris to sneak in and accidentally scratch the aluminum back. In the event that one of them starts lifting or in some way gets damaged, Seidio has included an extra set with the purchase of the Surface case.

BUILD QUALITY

So you may be wondering, how do these cases stand up to continual abuse. I’ve owned many Seidio Active and Surface cases over the years and trust me when I say they are as rugged as they can get. They offer way more protection than the cheap TPU cases you find on Ebay and the premium feel in the hand makes for a tremendous addition to your collection.

The Active case is by far the safest bet with its dual layer protection. It offers a lay on the table design with roughly a 2mm lip from what I can estimate which is in perfect range for a safe drop onto a flat surface. The silicon inner core offers reinforced padding where the exoskeleton doesn’t cover so even in the odd chance that the phone would land on one of those parts, you can rest assured that the silicon will do its job in absorbing the impact until the polycarbonate frame takes over and preserves the integrity of the case.

All port openings are finely drilled leaving absolutely no excess material hanging off. The volume rocker is covered but provides great tactile response so adjusting the volume is easy as can be. I do have to mention that unfortunately the power button is covered which essentially rendered the IR Blaster useless in my testing. It’s always sad to see a feature lost but if you never used your HTC One as a remote control this won’t be a bother to you in the slightest.

Active Case Color Availability:

• Black
• Glossed White
• Garnet Red (As seen here)
• Amethyst
• Royal Blue

The Surface case offers perfect port cutouts including the power button and volume rocker. At a mere 0.2cm in thickness it is one of the best scratch protection cases available on the market. Don’t immediately discount its drop protection either as I have personally witnessed it take 2-4 foot spills and come out perfect on the other end. You shouldn’t make a habit out of it and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to an accident prone individual but it will be there for you on the off chance it falls from your lap while getting out of your vehicle or your child reaches for it while on the table and lets it fall to the ground.

I would estimate its face down protection at around 1.5mm but again I have not received any specs from Seidio to confirm this. The fact that both cases primarily depend on a rigid polycarbonate frame means you won’t be seeing any dents on those reinforced areas. I’d like to take a moment to focus on the beautiful camera and LED flash grooves which subtly drop off instead of a quick cut off. They don’t necessarily improve the design much but certainly add a notch to the workmanship that went into the manufacturing process.

Surface Case Color Availability:

• Black (As seen here)
• Garnet Red
• Amethyst
• Royal Blue

HOLSTER

Each case came with its own holster as a part of the Combo pack for those who enjoy taking your device on outdoor adventures or happen to work outdoors. The holster itself is a solid piece of plastic with perfect fitting for its respective case. It offers 180 degree rotation and a very stiff spring loaded clip which definitely doesn’t mess around.

The inside is lined with felt so your screen is in no danger of rubbing up against anything that may scratch it. I would still encourage the use of a screen protector but its nice to know they didn’t overlook this much appreciated addition.

CONCLUSION

The Active and the Surface cases may be some of the most appropriately named in the entire industry. The rugged Active case provides optimal protection when out and about on an adventure and when paired with the holster combo you’re sure you won’t inadvertently drop it somewhere. The Surface on the other hand shaves off as much bulk as possible while retaining a light and premium feel in the hand. No matter what hole you’re trying to fill in your case collection, there’s definitely need for a Seidio case. You can purchase both cases with a kickstand  as well as purchase the Surface without a kickstand. Seidio also offers a holster for each but unfortunately you can’t interchange them. Both the Active and Surface cases with kickstand sells for $34.95 each while the Surface case without kickstand is a mere $29.95. If you’re thinking you may want a holster for your case I would highly recommend purchasing the combo pack from the get go as it will save you $10 to buy it bundled as opposed to purchasing one after the fact. For more information on Seidi0 or their other offerings for the HTC One please visit the source link below. If you’ve purchased either an Active or Surface case we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

[Source: Seidio]

As you can tell the phone is capable of withstanding drops from 6 feet onto solid concrete in addition to being waterproof up to 3.2 feet for up to 30 minutes.

Additional featured specs:

• Operating System: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Processor: MediaTek MT6577 Dual 1GHz Cortex™-A9
• Size: 4.9 x 2.5 x 5.9 inches
• Weight: 5.99 oz
• Screen details: 4-inch WVGA 480×800 LCD, Capacitive Multi-touch, Gorilla glass, wet finger tracking
• Memory: 4GB storage + 1 GB
• Camera: 5.0 MP Rear, VGA Front
• Video: 720P recording 30 FPS Codecs H.263, H.264/AVC, mpeg4/SP, VP8
• Talk time: Up to 9 hours
• Standby: Up to 9.5 days
• Connections: microUSB, microSD 32GB, 3.5mm audio
• GPS: A-GPS mode
• Temperature Operational range: -4º F to 131º F

Take a look at the gallery below for additional viewing angles.

[Source: Android Central]

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active will feature:

• 1.9GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 600 processor
  
• Adreno 320 GPU
• 4.99″ 1080p AMOLED Display w/ 480ppi
• 8MP Rear Facing Camera (Down from 13MP of the original GS4)
• Multiple color options including Red

“We are confident that we will pass more than 10 million sales of the S4 next week. It is selling much faster than the previous model S3…Samsung spent 50 days to pass the 10 million sales mark for the S3. The S4 will be Samsung’s first ’10 million seller’ device less than a month after its official debut.”

It certainly helps that the Galaxy S4 is widely available in 60+ countries and will probably continue to sell well even after all of its competition debuts their latest offerings. Keep in mind that Google just announced a Nexus experience GS4 at their Google I/O conference this week so pretty much every base is covered when it comes to having the best of both worlds. Let us know if you’ve purchased a Galaxy S4 and what the deciding factor for you was in the comments.

Incipio has always made extremely well cases in the past. I loved my soft shell case I used with my old Sensation 4G. I tell you, it’s saved me from a lot of falls, and these two cases make no difference with the Galaxy Note 2.  Let’s start off with the DualPro Hard Shell case.

Galaxy Note 2 With The Inicpio DualPro case

This thing is completely awesome. It has a stylish look that makes your phone pop out but also giving you the protection when you need it the most.  Let’s check out some of the highlights:

• Dual layers
• Rigid plextonium frame
• Impact absorbing silicone core
• Access to all ports, S-Pen and side buttons

This case comes in two layers. A soft silicone layer to absorb shock and an acrylic outter shell for double the protection. What I like about this case if that it is custom made to fit this phone and doesn’t overlap to much on the top of the screen to block the light and proximity sensors like other cases do. However, it does overlap to add some protection in case you get that sudden face down drop that we all know and love.

The case is also custom cut which allows access for the rear camera, headphone jack, S-Pen and charging port. I kinda of wish they added a cover for the battery charger port like on the Otterbox, but it’s really nothing to worry about and it all depends on the users preference. The case may be awesome looking but it can be a bit of a pain to clean. Because of the texture along the back, if you live or work in a dusty environment or have really linty pockets, your going to find yourself picking or wiping dust and lint quite often. It also isn’t completely sealed to prevent dust from getting underneath and inside the case but it does do a very good job. Actually, it’s a lot better than other cases I have used.

Galaxy Note 2 With The Inicpio DualPro Shine case

The DualPro Shine is my personal favorite. The look and feel of the case just makes you more confident for the protection and I love the aluminum brushed finish as well. Let’s check out the highlights for this one:

• Sleek brushed aluminum look
• Dual layers
• Rigid plextonium frame
• Impact absorbing silicone core
• Radio transparent material
• Access to all ports, S-Pen and side buttons

The DualPro shine reminds me of the days when I owned the T-Mobile G2. I loved the battery cover design and the brushed aluminum finish gave it that high end touch. That’s what this case does for me. With that being said, the top layer is made of the brushed aluminum high quality polycarbonate plastic and the inner layer is made with the well rounded, silicone, shock absorbing, wrap. I do wish these case came with a kickstand, but having the two toned look of this case cancels out that request. The Shine will make your phone feel a bit heavier in the pocket but don’t let that discourage you from buying it. It still leaves less bulk than other cases out there like the Otterbox Defender.

After going a week with this bad boy, the majority of the time it stayed in my pocket. I did notice that the outer layer does scratch kind of easily and it’s nothing you can buff out. That pretty metal look will have those scratches permanently but isn’t that what cases are for anyway? At least your phone isn’t scratched. Oh, and don’t worry. The aluminum look will not effect your cell reception.

What I like about these two cases is that you do not need to take them off when using a MOGA Controller or your car dock. The cases do not add a lot of bulk, these phones are big enough anyway, and inside the box that they come in, they give you a cool screen cleaner. Something a lot of high end manufacters do not do anymore. Thanks Incipio for that one! You know how to make a customer happy!

Overall, these are two of the best cases I have used for my Galaxy Note 2. The others fall no where near the look and design these cases bring. Incipio has mastered it for the Galaxy Note 2. You can check out Incipio.com/store to view cases for your smartphone, tablets, iPads and more. Have any of you tried out these cases? Did you pick one up for your Galaxy S 4 yet? What about that brand new HTC One? How do you like it? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks again, folks!