Silicone cases for your BlackBerry

After years of trying out dozens of BlackBerry cases, I had finally come to a conclusion: comfort was more important than protection. Every case I’d tried had one big drawback: it made the BlackBerry too bulky to comfortably fit in my pocket. People warned me that I was looking for trouble, that going case-less was a surefire way to kill my BlackBerry. While it never came to that — the only BlackBerry I actually destroyed met its fate in a water-related accident — their warnings did take a toll. Finally I decided to go with the minimum possible case, a silicone skin. Let’s take a look at a few options for those. When I think silicone skin, I think of the cases you see to your right. They’re there mostly for colorful decoration and not protection. Drop your BlackBerry from waist high, and it might as well not even be there. But at least your broken BlackBerry will look pretty! While having a different color BlackBerry was tempting for three, maybe four seconds, it was never a realistic option. I needed something a bit more heavy duty, but still using only silicone. As usual, OtterBox comes through here. While their Defender series cases are too bulky for all but the heaviest duty users, their Commuter series offers something a bit thinner. Yet even those felt a bit uncomfortable. Apparently they realized this, and they came out with an even more bare-bones case. The Impact series features silicone with none of the hard plastic protection. Yet it the silicone is relatively thick and can absorb plenty of shock. It appears we have found a winner. The Impact series case basically combines everything I like in a smartphone case. It’s ultra thin, so it sits nicely in my pocket. But at the same time, it’s thick enough to protect against some drops. I wouldn’t send it down a flight of stairs, as I wanted to with the Defender series, but I wouldn’t freak out if I dropped the cased BlackBerry on asphalt. And it’s cheap, to boot. That completely sold me on the usability of the Impact series case. Here’s a list of Impact series cases available via Amazon: Bold 9900/9930: $10.82
Torch 9850/9860: $9.90
Curve 85xx and 9300/9330: $10.67
Curve 9350/9360: $11.19

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.