Review: BlackBerry Bold 9700 OtterBox Defender Series

by The PocketBerry Team

18 January 2010 View Comments

I’ve been using the Commuter series case for the BlackBerry Bold 9700 for a few weeks now and have been very satisfied with it. As the Bold 9700 is a smaller and slimmer device, there’s room to add more “junk” to it as it can make it more comfortable to hold. But the Defender doesn’t just add extra layers to your BlackBerry for cosmetic appeal. Instead, maximum protection is provided through this industrious case. So over the weekend I spent some quality time with the OtterBox Defender for the Bold 9700, taking it everywhere I went. What an interesting experience it’s been..

So let’s start off with the clip. I’m very impressed by the new design of the Defender belt clips. Traditionally they were normal slide in and out clips but now the it’s a bit different. Instead of “sliding it in” up and down, you can just clip it on to the holster as the Bold now has two wedges that meet the other two holders on the clip. It becomes very easy to clip it in and take it right out throughout an average day.

The BlackBerry does get a lot bigger with the Defender. Not as big as the Bold 9000, as many of you including myself would be complaining! As we mentioned earlier, a significant addition is put on to it, so before you decide if this is for you make sure you can accept the big brick effect. The three layers include a full clear keyboard cover without all the adhesive gunk that sits good right on top and wraps all the way around to stay securely. As for the screen cover, OtterBox has made your life easier and slapped a screen cover on to the second layer which is the hard shell. I personally struggled getting the Commuter screen cover on properly, so yes definitely I was thankful for the built in one here as well as the other cover over the camera and flash. After the hard shell clips all the way around your BlackBerry, making it really rugged-looking, a thick silicon cover wraps all around covering all the little wedges and pieces sticking out. All buttons are still accessible which include shortcut convenience keys and the mute/lock buttons up top.

Now for what I wasn’t too fond of. I didn’t like was the fact that pushing the lock and mute buttons are quite difficult. Of course you have to understand that the case is so thick so you would have to push a little harder than you would normally on it bare boned. Next was the camera cover. This problem we experienced with other Defender cases such as the Bold 9000. The clear camera cover interferes big time when there’s some light hitting wrong in the room or using the flash. The flash reflects off of the clear cover and ends up ruining your picture. So if you like to play paparazzi, the Defender may not be for you. Also, there were moments of my day where i felt my left side sagging down, but that’s not to blame the OtterBox only because it’s been awhile since I messed with the Defender.

Overall, the Defender for the BlackBerry Bold 9700 by OtterBox is very impressive over various ones released for other devices. If you’re looking for maximum protection, hit up one of these bad boys for only $49.95.

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