Lifeproof has always been excellent with their waterproof smartphone cases, but this time around they have decided to push the envelope even further and introduce a smartphone case that does not cover the whole smartphone!
How? I’m glad you asked.
Lifeproof Nuud for iPhone 7 Packaging:
New iPhones are increasingly water resistant, with more elements being less susceptible to water damage. However, there is one part of a smartphone that has always been water resistant throughout, and that is the screen. I can’t believe that no one has thought of this before, but someone at Lifeproof obviously had, and the result is the new Lifeproof Nuud case that has no front cover on the case (thus ‘nuud’), leaving nothing between your fingers and the screen.
This is a very good news. For quite some time now, all waterproof cases with extra protection in front of the screen makes your touch gestures less responsive, and more often than not you would have to change the way you interact with the screen. Then there is a scenario where you already have your own screen protector, which might require you to exert even more power to your touch. On top of it, dust will somehow manage to sneak in between your screen and the case’s screen protector, which to be honest can be very annoying.
Another vocal point of the case is the re-imagining the sound toggle like it has never been done before. Rather than having an of/off slide switch, it decides to use a dial-style toggle which adds an exciting dimension to the case.
Lifeproof Nuud also comes with its own pain points.
The interface for side buttons (power and volume buttons) also require significantly more force for it to respond, which makes it less friendly especially for one-hand usage. Looking through the transparent back side, this might have been caused by its very own fancy sound toggle which adds a significant padding to the case and thus less-direct approach on the buttons (i.e. the external buttons actually push the smartphone’s buttons as opposed to the normal approach of ‘coating’ the buttons with another layer).
The padding doesn’t stop there. To compensate the absence of screen protection, the waterproof seal needs to be implemented around the screen, giving additional padding on the top of the screen. This has an impact on the actual iPhone usage, as edge-of-screen functions are now harder to use, such as clicking the link to the previous app on the top left of the screen, or tapping the top of the app to scroll to the top.
The sliding down and sliding up functions from the top and bottom of the screen respectively are also a new difficulty, as you would now have to start your gesture from the case and down to the screen in order get it working. Even with this, I don’t always get it working the first time all the time.
And if your fingers have long nails, the process is even more difficult.
For water testing, I took the case to the beach and have it tested against the beating of the waves. As usual, the screen isn’t as responsive when exposed to water, but this is is of no fault of the case. I do find, however, that the experience was a lot better compared to when using other cases, especially when I can directly wipe the water off the screen.
No water managed to come into the case (unlike my previous test of Lifeproof for iPhone 7), so thumbs up to the great engineering that goes into this case.
However, since the case doesn’t have a front cover, it gives more exposure for the sand to come in and sit in between the openings and the sealant. I had to open the case to get rid of them rather than just having a simple wash over running water.
Check out Lifeproof NUUD case for iPhone 7 to find out more about it.
Disclosure: Sample was supplied for reviewing but all opinions are mine and not paid
