Review: Mobi Products Skin Case for BlackJack II

Skin cases are an economical, simple way to protect your phone from dings, nicks, and scrapes. Mobi Products offers an economical skin case ($14.95) that is about as simple as it gets. Offered in five different colors (Clear, Black, Smoke, Pink and Blue) this rubberized skin offers a moderate level of protection for your phone.

Product Overview and Functionality

I’m testing this product with the BlackJack II and installation is straight forward. You simply slide the top of the phone into the case and stretch the bottom of the case to complete the fit. The rubber material is extremely flexible and forms nicely to the device fitting like a second skin.

The Mobi Skin offers protection for the sides, corners and back of the phone but leaves the keyboard and screen exposed. Holes are cutout to provide access to the power button, camera, earpiece, microphone, LCD, headset and charge ports. There is a slight recess inside the case for the volume control but the control itself is not exposed. I’m a little concerned about this feature because it wouldn’t take much pressure for the case to accidentally activate the volume control.

While it will provide protection to most of the phone, the keyboard and screen are exposed. A thin membrane could be extended over the keyboard for protection but it may make it more difficult to manipulate individual keys. A screen protector could be used with this case to extend some level of protection to the screen.

The Mobi Skin is only millimeters thick, but surprisingly adds noticeable bulk to the BlackJack II. If one of the attractions to a phone was its thin form factor, I don’t know how pleased you would be using any skin with the phone. This thickness is not as noticeable on larger phones such as the Palm Treos or Blackberry devices.

The tackiness adds a level of grip to the phone but while the rubber material is advertised as having an “anti-dust” coating but it does attract lint. The skin also limits any case option you may have by increasing the thickness beyond fitted cases designed for your particular phone. On the plus side, the tackiness does inhibit the phones ability to slide across the dash of your car. It won’t stick in place but the skin offers enough friction to slow the slide to a crawl.

Conclusion

I prefer to carry my BlackJack II in a belt case but my wife prefers her Treo in a skin. She simply throws her phone into her briefcase and goes. She likes the protection the skin offers and the added grip.

If you don’t like belt cases or are in a position where you can only carry your phone in a pocket, purse, backpack the Mobi Product Skin will provide a level of protection that otherwise wouldn’t be there. I could see this being ideal for the college student who carries their phone in a backpack or someone who carries their phone in a shirt or jacket pocket.