Incipio has launched its line of cases for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, and there are some pretty good options available. Of course, the Carnaby from its Esquire Series might be one of the best looking cases available for the Galaxy S9 lineup. The Esquire Series offers up some “premium” looking cases from Incipio and they definitely do pay off. The Carnaby has been on the Galaxy S9 for a few days now, and it’s a pretty good option. So let’s explain why.
In Incipio’s website, it explains that the Carnaby Case is “finished with a smooth fabric back with bar metal detail”. Which is true, and that smooth fabric is definitely nice feeling in the hand. Of course it does also give you some grip to hold onto the Galaxy S9. This is important since the Galaxy S9 is a glass-backed smartphone. And glass, as always, is slippery. Of course, the last thing you want to do with a brand new smartphone is, drop it and crack the back or worse, the front. And the Carnaby case is going to protect your Galaxy S9 from drops. In fact, it will protect it from drops of up to six feet. That will basically protect the Galaxy S9 from slipping out of your hands when you’re walking and such, but if you drop it from higher than your height, the Carnaby case likely won’t protect it very well.
This is a somewhat thick case from Incipio, and it is going to add a fair bit of heft to the smartphone. But if you’re looking for a good looking protective case, then the Carnaby case is a good option. It does have a lip over the front of the device, this is to keep it from getting damaged when it is dropped, since that display is definitely not cheap to replace. This lip does protect the sides of the display, since the Infinity Display is indeed curved. But that does not get in the way of using the curved display. So things like the Apps Edge still work perfectly fine. So you don’t need to sacrifice features on the Galaxy S9 for protection on the device. It’s always good when there’s no trade off here.
Like most cases, there is a single cut out on the back of the Carnaby case. That is for the camera, fingerprint reader and flash module that is on the back. Keeping the fingerprint sensor near the camera does make for a relatively clean look on the back, as cases only need one cut out, instead of two when there is a camera in the corner and a fingerprint sensor further down on the device. Now there are also cut outs on the bottom for the headphone jack, USB-C port, speaker and microphone. There’s also one at the top for the other microphone. There are not cut outs for the buttons on the left and right sides, and that is likely due to the fact that this is already a thick case, so it would be touch to press those buttons if they were cut out. But they are rigid, and you can easily feel where the buttons are. This makes it easy to press, and harder to accidentally press buttons like the Bixby button on the left-hand side.
While the main reason most people buy a case for their smartphone is to protect it, it’s always good to pick up a case that makes the phone look good. As you don’t want to make a beautiful phone like the Galaxy S9, look ugly, just because you want to protect it from being dropped. And the Carnaby case does that quite well. Not only does it look great, but it feels great in the hand. This isn’t the cheapest case around for the Galaxy S9, but it is a premium one, and one that is going to last the lifetime of this smartphone. So it’s worth buying.
Buy the Incipio Carnaby Case - Galaxy S9Buy the Incipio Carnaby Case - Galaxy S9 Plus
