Google Pixel 4 XL Case Roundup: Google vs Nomad vs OtterBox vs Catalyst

Best case for the Pixel 4xel

Let's have a look. Dave Taylor here with my Google Pixel 4XL in Oh, so orange

Therefore, let's look at cases to cover up the orange part. Now, we're actually going to look at cases for protection

So I have four different cases that all work with the Pixel 4XL

So let's have a look and let's see which is which. So, first off, we're going to start with the one from Google

This is the Google Pixel 4XL case, which entirely makes sense. It comes in a nice package, and it's actually pretty interesting

It has a microfiber inside. It's reasonably rigid, but the outside is sort of a fabric material

And orange for orange, right? But it's actually, I kind of wish that it was a little bit brighter, so it was the same orange as the phone

My guess is, I don't know, maybe they didn't have. access to each other's color swatches? I don't know. So this is called, could be coral, not orange

actually, and then they have bluish, just black, and sort of smoky are their four color names. I really

like their choices of color names. Now, we're going to look at three different things on these

phone cases. The first one is the bezel, which is how much does it raise above the edge of the

screen? The purpose of that is if your phone drops like that, you want the case to take the

impact, not the screen, obviously. So this one has actually a perfect amount of bezel on it

It's just enough that there's very minimal additional thickness, but there's plenty for it

in terms of protecting your phone. Now, second question is cutouts and buttons, and the two places to see that are on the camera

And you can see in this close-up, Google got it right, not a huge surprise there, and then

the other one is on the very bottom. And it's sort of a lazy approach by having this big long cut out, but it's functional

And then the third one, of course, is does it charge wirelessly? And for that, I have the pixel Chi charging stand

It's a great one, and Google actually designed it so that the pixel phones recognize their own stand

and there's a special mode they can go into when they're on the stand. Does it charge

The answer is? Let's see. Yes, it is, in fact, fully charged, so you're not getting a whole lot of exciting display

But it charges wirelessly. Everything is exactly as you would hope with a pixel case from the company that made the phone

So that's number one. Next up is Otterbox. Now, Otterbox has this great reputation, and they have a long history of making big, heavy-duty cases

that protect your phone from falling out of airplanes. They have, in the last couple of years, sort of worked on getting things to be smaller and thinner

And that's what this is. This is the otterbox symmetry case. And it still has all that great otterbox drop protection

and it's soft rubber and it is probably a little firmer in terms of overall case strength than the Google one

Let go ahead and put the phone in it And of course once I do this you will have no idea that I have an orange phone but that how it goes when you have a colored phone and you have a case

So here it is in the case, and I got to say, again, perfect amount of bezel

This is just, Otterbox makes great cases. The whole design, you can see it's kind of a two-tone

There's a brighter yellow, and then there's sort of a gold color here

This is actually called Aspen Gleam Yellow. So these two companies have a great time coming up with color names, right

So we'll get to less exciting color names down the road, but for now, Otterbox has really cool names too

So in terms of cutouts and such, they have a much easier access to the top

The camera, actually, the cutout is big enough that you can actually see just a little hint of the oh so orange underneath

So that's kind of cool. And on the bottom, they chose to actually have separate cutouts, which gives you a little

lot more protection because the center part on the front also has protection if you, for some

weird reason, have your phone fall that way. So all that's really great. And does it charge

The answer is yes, it charges perfectly well through this. In fact, all four of these cases

charge wirelessly. I just want to be able to demonstrate that to you. So I'm a really big fan

of Otterbox. I think this is really cool. This is the Otterbox symmetry. And like I said

it comes in this aspen gleam yellow or black or sapphire secret blue or gradient energy

And gradient energy, actually, my daughter has on her phone and it's pretty disco

It's all sparkly. It's kind of cool, actually. Anyway, I'm going to get to the prices of all of these at the end

We're just looking at the cases right now. This is the otterbox. Next up is Catalyst

Now, Catalyst did an interesting thing here, assuming I can get my phone out of the otterbox case

There we go. So Catalyst has this impact protection case and it's really nice

But what they chose to do is they chose to only make it available in one color for the pixel

So my assumption is that what they're thinking is they'll see how it goes and if it's really popular

then they can actually introduce it in other colors. Now, this is the, like I said, Catalyst Impact Protection case

It survives a 9.9 foot drop test, which always makes me wonder what happens

to that last tenth of a foot? Was that like one extra inch was enough to make your phone get destroyed

I don't know. I think it's a mill spec or something like that. One of the interesting things it does

is it comes with a lanyard. So obviously the best way to make sure your phone doesn't fall is to actually

have it around your wrist. I actually cannot stand that idea, but I guess for some people, that's a good

idea. So you actually have the lanyard, and it includes these little tiny holes in the corner

So you can actually run it through and you can actually have the lanyard attached to your phone

If that's your thing, it's ready to roll. Now, the case itself is actually really nice

The back is clear. And then the sort of accent bumper on the edge is black

You know, again, this particular impact protection case is in different colors for different phones

But right now, for the pixel 4xl, at least, it's just in black

So black and clear Let put the phone in it And let see how it looks So all of these cases are reasonably easy on off which is great So bezel again perfect bezel three in a row

This is very unusual. I think people just are starting to get the hang of it. Let's see, on the camera, you can see, one good thing is you can see that it is an orange phone

Because this is clear, you actually get to see the color of the phone behind it

Good design decision. cutouts, the camera looks like it's pretty much spot on. There's maybe like a half a millimeter

off in terms of it being perfectly square. Certainly no crisis unless you're OCD about having

things be perfect. And then the bottom actually is perfect. So those cutouts are really nice

It's a really nice impact protection case. And will it charge wirelessly? You know that it will

So charges wirelessly. So catalyst impact protection case. case, another one I'm a fan of. And so that leaves us with our fourth case. These are four very

different types of cases. So this is the nomad rugged case. And this one is made out of leather

So this is the nomad rugged case. It's wean leather, which is a US-based tannery. They've

been doing stuff forever. The inside is microfiber, just like the Google case, and has a really

nice feel. The edge is actually that sort of TPU rubber. So it has nice impact protection

If we put the phone in, I am confident that as with all their cases, nomads done a great job

And again, all four of these have great bezzles. That again is going to protect me from any sort of drop, big win there

And the cut out on the camera and everything is well-nigh-perfect, as they say

And on the bottom, again, looks really good. They really got this right

You know, Google must have just sent them perfect three. 3D specs so they could exactly get everything to match

Which leads to the question of, does it charge wirelessly? And it charges wirelessly

So this is just a different look to the other cases. It's a different feel

It's leather. And since it's actual leather, as you use it, it will change

The patina on it will actually change. So it will actually get softer and warmer in color as the oils from your hand actually get into the leather

And this one comes in. these crazy color names, black and brown. This is brown in case you couldn't figure that out

And it also includes tiny little support, I guess, I guess it's on the corners of these on the

bottom, the speaker cutouts, is you could put a lanyard on this one, but it doesn't include a

lanyard. So I suppose if you get the catalyst with the lanyard, you could use it with the nomad

case. Slightly confusing. I don't know. I mean, do you use a lanyard on your

phone case, leave a comment, tell me if you do that. I can't, I don't know that I've ever

seen anyone do that. So, I don't know, maybe I'm just traveling in the wrong circles

but I'm not sure that's a really critical feature. Otherwise, it's another really nice case

So we got four really nice cases for the Pixel 4xl and if I had to choose a favorite well you know there an interesting thing that been happening So I had the Google case on this for a couple of weeks now

as I've had the phone. And when I was starting to prep for this video, I noticed that there's a stain

on the bottom of the fabric. I tried to wash it off. It says it's washable. I did not succeed

I might have to try more aggressively. But that's an interesting problem

because I really like this case as being very minimalist, and of course it's from Google

so it must be the perfect case for your Google phone. But it's not because I don't want a case that gets stains

So much as I'm much more of a fan of the blue than of the yellow

I have to say that I think the Otterbox symmetry is my favorite match

for really solid protection that's going to protect my honestly fairly expensive phone

and look good doing so. Kind of wish it was in blue, like I said, instead of in this Aspen gleam yellow, but it's just a color. It's okay, you know, and my orange, well, you know, I am not going to have my phone like this, especially with the Pixel 4 and the 4xel, the camera sticks out a bit. So not using a case would have even more consequence because every time your phone does this, that impact is going directly on the camera. Not good. You really want to have a case on this one because that's just a bad thing to have happen

Now, let's talk about the price of all four of these, but before we get there, let me ask if you, yes, you can subscribe to my channel. Super appreciated. Great. Now, let's talk price. This is the Google Pixel 4 XL case from Google in four different colors. It is $40 at store.gookle.com. This is the otterbox symmetry. It comes in also four different colors, five colors

black, sapphire secret blue, aspirin gleam yellow, gradient energy. That's four, isn't it

Okay, it comes in four colors, and it's 5095 at otterbox.com. Then we have the Nomad Rugged Case in black or brown leather, and this is 4995 at hellonomad.com

And finally, the Catalyst Impact Protection Case with Lanyard. or without lanyard, right

The Catalyst Impact Protection case is 399 at Catalystcase.com. They are all good choices

They all do a great job with the phone. My personal preference is the Otterbox

but whatever you choose here, you're going to get a great case for your phone and get a case

It needs one. All these super expensive devices need just a little more protection

It's just like an insurance policy. Cool. All right. And with that, I'm going to put

the case back on the phone which means i'll catch you in my next video