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iPhone XR Slim Case Shootout: Which One's the Best?
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May 29, 2025
A new phone means it's time for a new case, and that's definitely the situation for the new Apple iPhone XR. (that's "ten arrr", like a pirate would say it). There are lots of different styles of case, but the slim form is one of the most popular, offering up protection without becoming the center of attention. Tech expert and iPhone XR owner Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ checks out six different iPhone slim cases from Spigen, Tech21, Speck, Incipio and Griffin, to figure out which is the best choice. Who wins? Well, you might be surprised! Spigen Liquid Crystal: https://amzn.to/2KtYRNX Tech21 Pure Clear: https://amzn.to/2r2GaYX Tech21 Evo Check: https://amzn.to/2zrWZRB Speck Presidio Stay Clear: https://amzn.to/2DIDreU Incipio NGP: https://amzn.to/2TESA6p Griffin Survivor Strong: https://amzn.to/2Bts7Se
View Video Transcript
0:00
we've got a lot of slim iPhone ten-hour
0:02
cases let's have a look Dave Taylor here
0:12
and still looking at phone cases for the
0:14
iPhone 10 are it's a great little phone
0:16
but with any phone you really need to
0:19
invest in a case so we got lots of cases
0:22
in fact we got a lot more cases than
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this these are just what I call slim
0:26
cases so let's go ahead and jump in the
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first one is the least packaging which
0:32
is cool this is the spigen liquid
0:34
crystal and it comes in clear and matte
0:37
black and it is let's get all this stuff
0:42
out of the way it is literally just a
0:44
very clear rubbery soft sort of case it
0:48
also is the most budget minded case but
0:50
let's go ahead and put the phone in
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because there are two things I'm looking
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at on these cases the first one is does
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it actually have a bezel that is above
0:59
the surface of the screen and that's
1:01
super important because if your phone
1:03
falls down screen first you want the
1:06
edge of the case to take the impact not
1:08
the surface of the phone and the spigen
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does a nice job it's a little bit low
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but it definitely is above the surface
1:15
of the screen even with the screen
1:17
protector on and then the other super
1:19
important question is does it still
1:21
support wireless charging and the answer
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is you can see by the little green
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battery it does so nice case now let's
1:29
see what else we can see here is that
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has some very well position cutouts on
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the different buttons and everything and
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the camera cutout is perfectly
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positioned so they did a really nice job
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so spigen liquid crystal $14.99 at
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spigen comm that is a pretty good
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bargain price for a nice case now let's
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work our way up to maybe a little
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fancier looking cases but certainly more
1:56
expensive the next two we have are from
1:59
tech 21 and they also do a nice job
2:02
their packaging is a little more more
2:03
fancy and this again is flexible not as
2:07
flexible but it actually has sort of an
2:10
interior
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your ridged system to I guess help
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absorb the impact so let's put the phone
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in and it's the wrong size I don't know
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what the deal is but every single time I
2:23
do one of these reviews I get a case
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that's the wrong size so that's a really
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nice case but there's no way for us to
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test it so we'll move straight to this
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this is the tech21
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evo check and it's kind of a nicer case
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anyway so this one comes in colors
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alright so this is actually orchid it's
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actually really nice and it is basically
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the same design as the other case but
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they add colors now it has a sort of
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textured back on the inside and then the
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sides themselves are more opaque than
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the back so really there's a lot I like
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about this design let's put the case the
3:01
phone in the case and so now we have an
3:04
orchid iPhone 10 R so that's pretty cool
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and actually it comes in orchid and
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black and purple and green and red and
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aqua and yellow and I can tell you I've
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also had the yellow and that is just
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this cool super vibrant neon color
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really liked it so two questions here is
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one is the bezel and this one has
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actually a really nice bezel the feel of
3:30
it around the edges with your fingers is
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great so you can like sort of do this
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and it feels good and there's enough
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protection that your screen isn't going
3:39
to get any impact and then on the back
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it's kind of interesting at an angle you
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see a lot of the checkering pattern from
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the texture but at different angles you
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could actually see it very clearly so
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there's a lot I like like I said so
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another question does it support
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wireless charging and the answer is it
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does so this is the tech21
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evo check 3995 at tech21 comm so next up
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another vendor this is speck and speck
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has been making cases for Apple products
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pretty much forever so they definitely
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know what they're doing let's see how
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they did with this one so a packaging it
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feels like there's a lot of recyclable
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in here so that gives them a point there
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and this is interesting because there's
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a very very fine texture on the inside
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so I can feel it but you really can't
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see it so it looks like it's almost a
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perfectly clear like slightly cloudy but
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that's because there's the texturing
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there and it is flexible it's pretty
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stiff and they definitely it looks like
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it's gonna be more protective this is
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the speck Presidio stay clear and by
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calling it stay clear I assume that they
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are referencing the fact that some of
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the other vendors products have a
5:01
tendency to yellow or discolor over time
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so there's presumably does not do that
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and I like the way they've done the
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cutouts you can see here on this
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close-up with the camera that they have
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sort of a bevel on the edge so it gives
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you a really nice look to it and all the
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buttons are all in the right places and
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all the holes that's good and this has
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the best bezel so far so there's lots of
5:26
protection from the case this is really
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doing a good job of keeping your phone
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in good condition and it does wireless
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charging array so speck Presidio stay
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clear
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it's normally 39.95 but actually last I
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checked it was actually 427 96 at spec
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products.com so that's a pretty nice one
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let's get phone out of there
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and let's go to the next one this is
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from incipio this is the incipio n GP
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and some and get out there we go let's
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see so this one now we again move to a
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more a softer more rubbery texture and
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this one's interesting because the lower
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portion has a sort of translucent to it
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whereas the top part is transparent I'm
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not sure why they chose to do that but
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it is an interesting design decision and
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then once we get the phone in here so
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there you go it's very discreet
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especially this color this is the black
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this comes in clear black blue and pink
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and if we back up just a little bit the
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spec presidio state clear comes in
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you guessed it clear so that's the only
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color for that one this one the Incipio
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NGP I'm looking at the black case with a
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black iPhone 10 R so in fact it looks
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very professional very nice the feel of
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it it feels like it's you know sort of a
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professional and a rubbery sort of thing
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and it's interesting is the top part is
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a little sticky for your fingers whereas
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the bottom parts very smooth so maybe
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the intention is it helps you grip or
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hold on to the case so it's kind of
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interesting idea and in terms of its
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bezel and possibly the least of all of
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them it's barely above the surface of
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the screen it might actually be the same
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level I do have a screen protector on
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here but still it could do with another
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millimeter does it work with the
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wireless charging yeah it does they all
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do they're all going to be able to do
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that but I think it's worth checking and
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in terms of the button positioning they
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got all the holes and the buttons right
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there maybe maybe not quite perfect the
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buttons or the holes for the buttons
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look like they're a little offset but it
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certainly is very nice-looking and they
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also have a smaller but still a bevel
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around the camera so that's pretty nice
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so I like that one I think the two-tone
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is interesting which brings us to our
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final case this is the Griffin strong
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survivor or survivor strong and then
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again everyone has to have a different
8:08
way of packaging their product so these
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guys do it this way and now you can see
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this is the first case that actually is
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more than one color so around the camera
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there's a black part and then the rest
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of it is clear and it's barely flexible
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this is a pretty tough pretty stiff case
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so let's put the phone in here and it
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has again you know pretty disappointing
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on the bezel side it could do is another
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maybe millimeter or so I like to see
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something a little higher up it feels a
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little rubbery and instead of having it
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side the side is more like angle angle
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angle and that you definitely feel that
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when you're holding it so this might
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take a little getting used to if people
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actually have been using their phones
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without cases and they put this case on
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this might be something where you just
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bugs you for a while eventually I'm sure
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you'll get used to it now in terms of
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prop protection
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this looks like it's actually one of the
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most protective cases although like I
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said there's not any bezel at all on the
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front so there's sort of that trade-off
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there the sides are really kind of
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cool-looking with this sort of I guess
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textured shape they have there and the
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back is nice and clear and it does have
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the cutout with the black since I have
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the black iPhone 10 R it just blends in
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so it's actually a very nice look and
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finally there's a church wirelessly of
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course it does so these are our well we
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started out with six possibilities and
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we ended up with five possibilities so
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these are our five possible choices so
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which ones do I like well before we get
9:53
there let me ask if you can go ahead and
9:55
click on that subscribe button really
9:57
appreciate when you subscribe and leave
9:59
me some comments let me some feedback
10:01
tell me what kind of case you're using
10:02
oh and that also reminds me we go back
10:05
to the griffin survivor strong this is
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$29.99 at griffintechnology.com/support
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and color and just a cheery case the
10:22
tech21
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evo check I like the orchid all the
10:26
other colors are super fun this is a
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really fun case and it's nice and slim
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they got a lot right but the real winner
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the one that I most like is this the
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speck Presidio stay clear now it's not
10:41
very much by itself but when you go
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ahead and slip your phone in it you have
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a really nice case with a perfect sized
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bezel and a nice cutout and the bevel on
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the edge of the camera and everything
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there's a lot to like about this be nice
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if it came in different colors but
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whatever
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this is the spec presidio stay clear and
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it is the winner of the iPhone 10 our
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slim case shootout so with that this is
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Dave Taylor and I'll catch you in my
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next video
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