Yes that is my Galaxy Note 3 in my fish tank, surrounded by the Seidio OBEX waterproof case. I might be crazy for trying this, but when a company makes the claim of being waterproof you’ve got to do some crazy things sometimes. Thus is the idea behind Seidio’s latest case for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and it joins the line of successful and rather excellent Seidio cases on the market right now. Besides being a waterproof and dustproof case, this puppy is super rugged and feels like you could probably throw the phone against the wall and not worry about breaking it. No I’m not brave enough to try that, but the case certainly feels that sturdy.
If you’re familiar with Seidio’s general quality you’ll feel right at home here. The OBEX case fits right in line with the likes of an Otterbox style case, meaning it’s big, fairly bulky and will protect your phone against nearly anything. The nice thing here is that although the case is large and makes a huge phone feel even more huge, it weighs almost nothing itself. Made primarily of plastic and rubber, the OBEX case also features a built-in screen protector that helps seal it away from the elements. One of the downsides to a fully-enclosed case is that you can’t use noise cancellation on the phone itself, a feature Samsung built into the Galaxy Note 3 in order to help with background noises and echoes. Seidio promises that the case has been fully tested to work as well as Samsung’s software solution, and while on phone calls no one knew any differently.
Being a sealed case means a number of things. Firstly all the buttons are covered with rubber buttons to ensure a solid press every time. The power button was a little more difficult to use than normal but I have a feeling with a few more days usage it would continue to ease up as it had over my testing period. The clear plastic material that covers the screen didn’t affect the accuracy of my clicks, and neither did it seem to cast any sort of glare over the camera lense. Seidio has built in rubber flaps on the top and bottom to get to all the needed plugs, including a specific slot for the S-Pen. Given that this is a Galaxy Note device the S-Pen is a prominent and incredibly important feature and Seidio didn’t miss a beat here.
As far as water proofing goes, my tests were pretty conclusive. I started off submerging the case with paper inside of it a couple inches in water and left it there for 30 minutes. After opening it up I was pleasantly surprised to see there were no water droplets inside the case at all. I then decided to try it out with the phone inside and dropped it in my fish tank for further testing. It’s clear that Seidio didn’t intend for you to actually use the case underwater though, as these phones respond to electrical impulses in our skin, and since those same impulses would travel through water you’ll find that buttons will be pressed and the screen will move erratically while in the water. This isn’t really a problem though since Seidio advertises protection, not use, while underwater.
The case also comes with a holster which is rather large as well, but obviously has to be since the phone and case are pretty darned big themselves. The holster has a nice little locking mechanism for the clip and holds the phone in a rather sturdy fashion locked or unlocked. The belt clip swivels a full 180 degrees so you can rotate the phone in the holster whichever way is most comfortable to you. While I would have preferred the back to be a more rubberized texture instead of the plastic one chosen, at least it isn’t slippery plastic as I’ve felt on other cases in the past. If you’re looking for a great case that’ll protect against all the elements and keep that Galaxy Note 3 of yours lasting a good long time without harm, Seidio has a winner. People who don’t like big bulky cases need not apply here though, as this one definitely isn’t a slimline grip-style case by any means. Amazon currently lists the Seidio OBEX case in either black with gray or black with red for around $75, which is definitely on the higher end of the case pricing spectrum, but may be worth it if you really need to protect your phone from water and dust, as it holds a higher IP68 resistance rating than even the Galaxy S5 does.
