One of the privileges (if you can call it that) of retaining Ausdroid’s Galaxy S5 in my office is that I get to play with accessories that get sent through for one of the year’s most popular Android devices.
Last week, Griffin sent me a Survivor case (you can see it above, albeit on a Galaxy S3) designed for the Samsung Galaxy S5, and I thought I’d take it out of the box and have a little play.
We’ve previously looked at tough cases from OtterBox in the past, but I think it’s fair to say this case from Griffin takes it up a notch. You see, these cases have been designed and tested against a number of MIL-STD 810G requirements. Granted, most of us aren’t soldiers, and most of us probably don’t subject our phones to anything like the kind of punishment their equipment might experience in a war zone, but if there’s one thing that’s for certain, the Griffin Survivor will take some punishment.
It might not be completely water-proof, but it will do a good job keeping dust, grime and water away from your phone; if something should sneak through, of course, the Galaxy S5 is fairly resistant to water anyway, but the Survivor will save it from hard knocks. It’s a three piece construction: an inner, polycarbonate frame with foam padding keeps the handset immediately protected. This polycarbonate frame clips into an external silicone cladding which absorbs shocks and vibrations. Over the top clips a polycarbonate frame with screen protection.
The best way to illustrate this is with an image from Griffin’s website:
While it’s an iPhone, you get the idea. It’s pretty solid: Griffin claim that it can withstand:
- Shock / impact from a 6′ drop (or 1.8 metres)
- Vibration in the range of 20-2000 Hz for up to 18 hours.
- Dust and Dirt 18M / 1HR
- Wind and Rain 200 MM / 1 HR
As I’ve built my confidence in the case up, I’ve been throwing it around the house, and the only damage has been to the house; the case hasn’t shown any marks or cracks, and of course, the Galaxy S5 within remains happy and working. Even throwing the encased phone up into the air to perform a nice pirouette before smacking into a tiled surface didn’t bother the Survivor, nor the phone.
While this protection is in place, it doesn’t stop you from easily accessing the things you need to access: the USB charging port is easily accessed by removing a rubber protector. The camera and headphone jack are equally concealed behind rubber protectors, and of course the volume rocker and power button are brought out to the exterior of the case through button extensions.
The toughness doesn’t seem to end there; also included is a fairly sturdy belt clip; it can clip onto a belt, backpack strap, tool-belt, or really just about anything. It features a locking mechanism to prevent the phone from becoming dislodged, and by twisting and locking the clip open, it doubles as a stand to watch a movie.
Perhaps my only criticism of the Griffin Survivor is that it truly is pretty ugly. It takes a thin, clean looking handset and encases it in (effectively) a bullet proof vest. It looks fairly awful, and unless you’re truly in an environment that needs this kind of extreme protection (i.e. a construction site, a war zone, or a friendly game of roshambo) you’ll probably want to find something a little less bulky and utilitarian.
However, if you ARE in such an environment, and you do want to make sure your phone doesn’t get killed, this is a solid way to protect it.
The Griffin Survivor is available for the Galaxy S5 for $49.95 in black, black and blue, and black and orange.
