Hi folks, I just picked up a Pixel 8 Pro on an early black Friday deal. I’ve had my previous OnePlus 9 for way longer than the average timeframe and the same with my Oneplus 6 before that.
Looking at cases, I noticed I recognize very few of the manufacturers, basically just Otterbox and Spigen.
If you gravitate towards a particular case manufacturer, I would love to know:
Who makes the best phone cases in 2024?
No limits on style or form, but I don’t need rhinestone bling or anything like that.
My last three phone cases have been Spigen. Won’t be considering changing any time soon.
I’ve yet to find a nice comparison chart between the different series they have (rugged/tough/slim) to know which is which, but the majority of my phones have had something by them.
Spigen all the way from my Samsung S2 to my current S24. Solid.
I’ve had several Spigen cases for my Pixels and the only thing I don’t like is there isn’t a cover for the USB port so it slowly fills with lint until your charger won’t stay connected.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BC28XG4Z
Get you some of these. Won’t wear out your port by plugging/unplugging and the port will never get dirty. Extra bonus: they allow for data transfer too.
I agree, but you can get standalone silicon port covers pretty cheaply, with the bonus that you can use them in other devices too.
Yeah, I had the same situation with my OP9 and a Spigen case. I eventually found out that those little tiny brush-toothpicks seemed to work for cleaning a USB-C port, but it was never quite right and the only reason the port didn’t eventually kill it was because the power button stopped working first.
I’ve had good luck with the more basic Spigen cases in the past though I didn’t like the nicer one with the kickstand and the hard plastic/rubber combo. I’m curious what else is out there, but if I don’t see anything that stands out to me, by backup plan is to get a Spigen as similar to my old phone as possible.
I always get a Spigen with a kickstand.
spigen is what I have on my Pixel 8, dropped it several times and never broke or anything.
Dbrand imo. But not if you like wallets and stuff attached.
I’ve been using a dbrand case for around a year. I like it.
Unlike the other commenter, I do occasionally take the case off. I’ve noticed no ill effects.
As an avid dbrand fan, their grip case for the Pixel 9 Pro was disappointing. The plastic around the USB port is super brittle and broke after less than a week. Now the bottom is deformed and I’m waiting on a reply to my support ticket before I find an alternate case and kiss my skin goodbye
Damn,I got a z fold 5 grip that is absolutely impeccable. I’ve dropped it countless times and its fine.
Yeah I was surprised. I’m hoping it was a manufacturing defect and assuming they replace it it doesn’t happen again. If they don’t replace it though I have to stick to my convictions.
I love my Grip case. Love being able to occasionally reskin it to get a “new” case.
Their subreddit gives the impression their build quality is shit, but I’ve noticed a lot of people with problems saying “I’ve only taken the case off a handful of times” or “I usually swap cases every few weeks, but I noticed…”
Like, surely just put the case on the phone until it wears out? For protection? Rather than prising it off and being surprised when it loses its strength? I dunno, each to their own I guess. 😅
I just skipped the case and bought a rugged phone, Armor 21 from Ulefone was my choice for various reasons (speaker, night vision, water resistance and endoscope to name a few), but there are plenty of good ones.
Dbrand grip. Thing is amazing. Had them on my last 3 phones. Look great and drop proof
I don’t know if they make one for the pixel series but I have had Rokform for multiple generations of phones and they have been stellar protection. They also have magnets in them so you can just stick your phone to stuff, which comes in handy. They also have a twist lock for mounting it to things like a dash mount or handlebar mounts.
I’m using a PITAKA case now. It definitely wasn’t cheap but I like the material, it is extremely thin (meaning my already large phone doesn’t feel even larger), and it has a magsafe/QI2 magnet ring on the back so I can use the magsafe accessories with my android phone.
So yeah, bit pricey but highly recommend it.
Huh, I haven’t seen cases like this before. 90% of what you see is just rubbery plastic.
You say you like the material because it’s light and thin. How does it do when dropped and is it grippy when you leave it on a slippery surface like balanced on a satin pillow (or a pile of dirty clothes :) )?
It’s somewhere in the middle. I wouldn’t call it grippy but it’s not slippery either. It’s much more grippy than the phone itself for sure.
I tend to drop my phone more often then I’d like. The corners of the case did get scuffed from heavier drops. You can see the carbon-fiber-esque material revealing a stronger plastic beneath but there is no structural damage to the case and it has protected the phone. In my case with the S23 ultra the side rails could be better protected, that’s the only visible damage on the phone itself. The anodised metal has a bit of scuffing from a drop. I do use a screen protector which has also taken its fair share of abuse.
Compared to how thin and light it is, I’m quite happy with the setup. Of course something like an otterbox is gonna give more protection, but won’t be as sleek and nice.
I have been using Rokform. On the pricey side, but very rugged and the mount system is very versitile. I love the built-in niodymium magnet. Anything metal is my mount.
Oh wow, those do look good. Sadly just Apple/Samsung. I’d worry that I’d forget the magnet and set my phone on top of an external hard drive or something.
I’ve had pixels since the Nexus 5 and I used to have some sort of Caseology or speck case on them, but in my opinion nothing tops the Spigen rugged armor case for pixels.
I’ve also tried Crave and Otterbox variants; but the rugged armor is my go to for a no frills, extra grippy, pretty thin case. It’s currently 15 USD if you have prime.
I’d say dbrand grip. It’s been 4 years since I bought my phone and case and it’s pretty much like new. The case has protected my phone screen from drops that I’m sure would’ve cracked the display if I were using a cheaper case.
I’ll second the grip, have one on my steam deck, phone and my partner’s phone, she likes it a lot, and you can customise it.
Can vouch for their screen protectors too, one of the cats has chomped on her phone hard enough to crack a protector, screen is fine and the crack was nearly impossible to feel.
This sounds like a potential peertube channel: “Will it Chomp?” where you let animals go after expensive gadgets and assign ratings based off the resulting carnage. The customization sounds like a key selling point here. I could probably print a trail map on one so I can easily reference my route when I’m out biking! Or, if I wanted to be really obnoxious and weird, I’d print all my terminal shortcuts on it since nothing is more likely to be next to me when I’m at the computer except coffee.
Thanks for the input.
I have to admit they are the best looking recommendation I’ve seen yet. That 13:00 management meeting is going to lose their shit when I walk in with a glow in the dark circuit board case. :D That was a joke, but there really are a lot of cool designs in there. I remember looking at their stuff when I bought my laptop 5-10 years ago.
I have a ringke fusion X for xiaomi mi 10 and after 4years it started breaking down. It has saved my phone from many falls (I dont have a screen protector, because the case pops it off😅).
For a little while they had stopped producing cases for my model, but now I saw that they returned and got a pair for future proofing.
Personal opinion, but that case is UGLY! It does look like it would save your phone from several falls though, so that’s good. Thanks for sharing, I had never heard of Ringke.
Hahahaha, oke oke💀💀
I really liked the green/transparent combo, people have even commented on my case, cuz it matched my outfit.😆 (Over time that translucent green becomes dark, less-transparent green, something closer to the black frame variant, but still looks good for me lol.)
Btw, this is the model variant I'm talking about:
https://www.ringkestore.com/products/xiaomi-mi-10-pro-case-ringke-fusion-x?variant=32260948459623
Okay, fair enough. It looks much better in that picture and it does compliment the sheen on the back grass nicely.
I’m still using my old pixel 4 because I love it’s fabric case and the official cases for new pixels look so bad. Are there any third party cases that as nice to the touch as old fabric cases?
I use Spigen since more than 10 years and it never failed on me, although I’m a pretty clumsy person
My gotos for the last 3 years have been Spigen Ringke and Nilkin.
Really like the art options with Casely.
