Before we decide to sell an accessory in our store, we must put it through rigorous testing with daily use for at least seven days and it must meet or exceed our standards. Since this is our first review, we will show how our criteria works with this case.

The Urban Armor Gear (UAG) case we will be testing today is the white Navigator case for iPhone 6 Plus/iPhone 6s Plus. This case has an armor shell with impact resistant soft core, feather-lite composite construction, over-sized tactile buttons, easy-to-access touchscreen and ports, scratch-resistant skid pads and screen surround and meets military drop-test standards (MIL STD 810G 516.6).

1) Honest Packaging

The packaging for the UAG case
The packaging for the UAG case says it provides 360 degree protection, easy access to all buttons and is impact resistant.

The packaging, at a minimum, must accurately describe the case. The UAG case has three points on its packaging:

  • 360 degree protection– rubberized screen surround and rear skid pads provide 360 degree protection from scratches and abrasions
    • The case completely covers the rear of the phone and the front with a small lip around the sides; it has extra protection around the corners as this is where the phone typically hits when dropped. Our main concern is when the phone is dropped face down and there's a pebble or rock that causes the ground to not be flat and this can shatter they display without proper protection. For this reason, we wouldn't say 360 degree protection since the entire phone is not protected. When we think of a circle with 360 degrees, this is all sides and the phone is not protected on all sides.
  • easy access– over-sized tactile buttons, generous ports and low profile design
    • Most of the buttons are easily accessed with the exception of the lock button. When attempting to lock/unlock the phone, we have noticed it's difficult to find the button as it blends in with the rough edge of the case. This button is also not over-sized as it's the same size as the button beneath it. The ports have generous space and the design is quite thin compared to others.
  • impact resistant– hard outer shell with soft impact resistant core and structural rigidity
    • The hard outer shell with soft core has protected our phone against drops and we believe this claim to be accurate.

Based on our testing, we feel that the packaging is mostly honest. The case does not provide 360 degree protection since the display is not covered on uneven surfaces and the lock button is not an over-sized button. To be fair to the company, they do include a screen protector in the packaging, but this is not part of the case so we can't count it as such. The Lock button can easily get lost in the grooved surface of the right side of the phone. Due to this, we give the UAG case a 4 for honest packaging.

2) Benefits

The Lock button on our UAG case tends to get lost in the grooved sides of the case.
The Lock button on our UAG case tends to get lost in the grooved sides of the case.

The flaws of the case must be outweighed by the benefits.

  • benefits
    • slim form factor
    • doesn't take functionality of using the phone
    • extra protection on corners
    • phone is easy to remove from the case
  • flaws
    • Lock button hard to find
    • exposed metal on reverse

The case offers many benefits with a small amount of flaws. We like the protection the case provides with extra protection on the corners for the typical phone drops, the slim form factor of the phone is still there and the phone is easy to remove from the case. The flaws we noticed, besides the Lock button being hard to find, is the weird exposed sections on the back of the case for part of the Apple logo and part of the "iPhone" label. Since the benefits outweigh the flaws, at least 2-to-1, we give the UAG case a 4 for Benefits.

3) Solution

The goal of the UAG case is to provide protection for minor bumps to hard drops, credit: UAG
The goal of the UAG case is to provide protection for minor bumps to hard drops, credit: UAG

The case must provide us with the best solution to a common problem.

The goal of the UAG case is to protect your phone and tablet against minor bumps to hard drops. This case is slimmer and has a smaller profile than its competitors. With its hard outer shell, extra protection on the corners and rugged body, the case provides one of the best solutions to minor bumps and hard drops. We give it a 5 for Solution.

4) Quality

The UAG case comes with a one-year warranty against defects, credit: UAG
The UAG case comes with a one-year warranty against defects, credit: UAG

The case must last a minimum of one year before we see quality degrading. Since we are unable to test this, we require that each accessory have at-least a one year warranty.

The team at Urban Armor Gear stands behind their cases enough that they offer a one year warranty against defects in material or workmanship. Warranty exchanges are processed through the company and they only require the receipt with images of the inside and outside of the case. Since the company offers a warranty of at-least one year, we rate the case a 5 for Quality.

5) Attractiveness

The case appears to have an outline of Plankton from Spongebob on the back of it, credit: UAG
The case appears to have an outline of Plankton from Spongebob on the back of it, credit: UAG

The final criteria is that the case must be attractive and have the best design possible.

The case we tested, the composite case, comes with several different colors for the iPhone 6/6s models. There is black, orange, white, clear, dark blue, pink, clear gray and clear red. For the iPhone 5s, we have less color options. The case has a slim form factor with grooves on the back, rugged edges on the sides and extra protection on the corners. It allows the phone to sit flat on any surface on both the front and back. The case is quite attractive and almost appears to have a Plankton from Spongebob on the back of the phone. For all these reasons, especially the last one, we rate the case a 5 in terms of Attractiveness.

Final Score

As a recap, the UAG case was scored the following for each category: packaging (4), benefits (4), solution (5), quality (5) and attractiveness (5). The average is 4.6, which exceeds our standards meaning the cases will be sold in our store.