One of the things that Apple is most well known for is their design. They painstakingly go over all the tiny details to create some of the most beautiful products in the world. With this in mind, it doesn't make a lot of sense that you would cover your gorgeous iPhone with a bulky case. Evolutive Labs would tend to agree with you. That's one of the primary reasons that they created the CrashGuard bumper. It provides more than average drop protection while still allowing you to see the entire back of the iPhone. Evolutive Labs was kind enough to send me this CrashGuard bumper as well as their Rhinoshield Impact screen protector for review and in this review we'll see if the CrashGuard can live up to rigors of daily life while still allowing you to showcase the beautiful design of your iPhone.
The CrashGuard isn't made from your typical TPU. Instead it's a custom blend of polymers developed exclusively by Evolutive Labs for their cases. They say that the polymer provides more than 90% of the cases impact absorbing capability. The CrashGuard claims to protect from drops up to 11.5 feet. That's pretty incredible considering how thin and light it is. In addition to the custom polymer they use a protective honeycomb structure on the inside of the case. Each of these acts as a little airbag against your phone to further disperse the impact energy from a drop. You can buy the case for $25 at evolutivelabs.com or Amazon. Additionally you can purchase a bundle that comes with a front screen protector as well as a back protector for the discounted price of $50. If you get the CrashGuard I recommend you go with the bundle to prevent the back of your phone from getting scratched. Also because the screen protector isn't your average screen protector and provides insane amounts of protection to the screen of your iPhone. The back protector will stay bubbled around the antenna lines on your phone but doesn't peel up or cause any problems since it's protected by the raised edges of the case.
I dropped the phone to concrete twice from around five feet with no damage to the phone at all. For a case this tough, five feet to concrete is a walk in the park. For a more extreme drop test click the i to see David Pogue throw it to the ground from the top of an A frame ladder. I did manage to scuff the bottom corners from these drops but that's to be expected and it was pretty minimal considering the height of the drop.
The back of the CrashGuard is tapered to provide a better fit in your hand. Because of this you'll want to make sure you insert your iPhone into the case from the front. Start with one of the corners and then work your way around the case stretching it over the rest of your iPhone. To remove you simply pry one of the corners off and pull your iPhone out through the front of the case.
The bumper design did create some challenges that I didn't anticipate. For instance the case is a little more blockier than I would have expected even though the back of the case is slightly tapered. Also because the edges are raised and the back is inset that means that the phone doesn't rest against your hand when you hold it causing it to feel a little awkward and bulky. However if you're used to a bumper design this won't be a big deal for you.
If you've seen the negative Amazon reviews of the CrashGuard bumper disintegrating over time it can be pretty unsettling. However Evolutive Labs has continued to refine their custom blend of polymers to protect against this and informed me that even if this should happen to you it would be replaced completely free of charge under their lifetime warranty.
The volume and power buttons work fairly well and the mute switch cutout is a little smaller than I'd like but not too big of a problem. There's a generous lightning port cutout but the headphone jack cutout is pretty small. You're not getting much more than Apple's stock EarPods in in here.
In the end, the case looks great and really allows you to showcase the beautiful design of your iPhone. It also offers insane drop protection, considering how thin and light it is, especially when paired with the Rhinoshield impact screen protector. However, I'm not a fan of the way it feels in my hand. I think that's primarily because I'm accustomed to much thinner cases that fit better in your hand like Evolutive Lab's PlayProof. Click the i if you'd like to see my full review of that case. If you're a fan of bumper cases, and are looking for extreme drop protection without sacrificing the design of your iPhone, then this is the case for you. If you have any questions that I didn't answer feel free to leave those in the comments.