Protection: Rugged Case

The are three key ideas to this case and the rugged case itself is the “Protection” component of the “Protection, Power, Prediction” idea.

To install an iPhone into the case you need to remove the hard case from the outer skin by freeing one of the edges and slowly working your way around the case.

Free the inner hard case from the outer skin.

Once it’s free you can then separate the two halves of the hard case by freeing up three retention snaps at the top of the case and two snaps on the sides (one each side).

Once the cover is removed the iPhone can slide into position and connect (face up) to the power connector built into the inside of the Otterbox shell.

The back part of the hard shell, where the iPhone sits, incorporates the built-in battery, and a 30-pin iPhone connector, but also includes ten status LED lights, a micro USB interface, and a foam like back strip that cushions the iPhone when it’s seated.

Carefully snap the case back together.

The next step is to close up the hard case but, before that, it’s worth giving the iPhone screen and built-in screen protector a good clean as they’re going to be close friends for some time.

To close the case slide the front part of the hard case shell over the iPhone (align it to the bottom of the case) then carefully snap the supports into position.

You may notice the top part of the hard case shell partially covers the iPhone button – it’s an unusual design decision and one that carries through to the outer sleeve.

Once the front part of the hard case shell is attached, double-check everything is seated nicely into place and you’re ready to place the unit into its outer skin.

Work carefully around the edge of the skin.

On a quick note, when you start fitting the iPhone into the case the iPhone screen will show a prompt “App Not Installed” with instructions of how to download the “iON Intelligence” app from the app store. We’ll talk about this in the next section.

Seating the hard case into the outer skin is the last step in putting things together and it can get a little fiddly as you have to work carefully around the case edge to ensure the outer skin fits snugly into place.

Also, pay particular attention to the three flaps on the outer skin, these are the ones that cover the headphone socket, sound/mute button, and charging socket.

It takes a little time to get things seated nicely but once that’s done the unit is ready to go so just think about the extra battery life on offer.