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iPhone XR Rugged Phone Case Roundup and Review
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May 29, 2025
A new Apple iPhone means it's time to get a new case, because that old one just isn't going to fit. The iPhone XR gives you access to a lot of different cases, from dozens of manufacturers, so which should you choose? Tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ is checking out dozens of cases to figure out the answer. In this video roundup, he compares tough, rugged cases from Otterbox, Urban Armor Gear, Griffin, Speck, LifeProof, and, almost, Tech21. Which one's the best option for your new iPhone XR? Well, it depends... Check out all the cases at Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/2qD61pZ
View Video Transcript
0:00
iPhone 10 our we've got some cases to
0:02
check out Dave tail here and I have an
0:12
iPhone 10 R which means we need to have
0:15
some cases so I head up all the major
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case manufacturers and got really an
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insane number of cases so broken it down
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this is just the more heavy rugged sort
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of cases so we're gonna start with the
0:28
one that's on the phone this is the
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OtterBox Defender and it is a custom
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cover so you can pick and mat mix and
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match colors so the outside is what's
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known as winsome orchid and then the
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inner part is actually known as night
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purple now here's how I'm gonna look at
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these cases I want to look at the bezel
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which is the amount that it raises above
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the screen any good case should have at
0:53
least some level of bezel on it and I'm
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also gonna look at whether it covers up
0:58
the holes which you ideally want and
1:00
whether it works with wireless charging
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because one of the cool things with the
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iPhone 10 R is that it supports G
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charging so let's start out with our
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OtterBox Defender and we have a handy
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wireless charging stand so we'll put it
1:15
on and voila so there we go number one
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it does in fact do wireless charging the
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Defender also has a wicked bezel on it
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is nice and tall and in terms of
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covering up things well it covers up the
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buttons by replacing them with rubber
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buttons but there's no screen protector
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on the front which is good you just need
1:37
to know that but it leaves big holes
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where the speakers are now the 10r is
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supposed to be reasonably weatherproof
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but that's something that's worth
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knowing so there we go number one
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OtterBox Defender and now the possibly
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hardest challenge of all is trying to
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figure out how to get the case off now
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think about it you really want to have
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your cases be fairly tricky to remove
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because that means that they're gonna
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stay on so this is a two-part
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construction so we have this sort of
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rubber outer part and then we have the
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hardshell inner part what
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just kind of an interesting design
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because I actually have a case that's
2:14
exactly the opposite but once you take
2:17
the rubber part off then you can see it
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just has little clips on it to hold the
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two pieces of the case there's a top
2:24
part and a bottom part and assuming I
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can figure out how to do it then we
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should be able to just pop it open let's
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see we might have to do this oh I see we
2:35
have to open this up okay so this is not
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a case you're gonna want to switch on a
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daily basis because there's some work
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here there okay
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and apparently Siri gets excited well
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here's something else interesting to
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note is that there's also a soft back
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here so it's really like a three-layer
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case so this actually gives you a little
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bit of impact absorption it also has a
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hole where the camera is so that's not
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protected but that's probably good
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because you probably don't want to have
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any issues with that okay otterbox
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defender
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that's number one number two is this
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this is the griffin survivor endurance
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and this is another really nice case
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we'll pop this one out and it's gonna be
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really hard for me to keep track of all
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this so cut me a little slack man so
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here we go here's the case and it is one
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piece so it's a little less complex than
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the OtterBox but it has a hard section
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in the back and then the sides are sort
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of combination of that hard plastic and
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of rubber I'm sure it's a TPU rubber and
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it comes in clear which is this color or
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black and let's drop the phone on and
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let's see it goes in pretty easily
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voila okay so that's nice now downside
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it has a very minor bezel so minor that
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it almost feels like it's the same level
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as the screen with the screen protector
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installed so this has the OtterBox alpha
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glass on it so the bezel not fantastic
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but the feel of it is nice it feels it's
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a little plasticky because instead of
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rounded edges that have a sort of angled
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edges so that's a field some people
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might like and others won't obviously it
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is not covering up anything at all it's
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just cutting up holes cutting out holes
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and I'm completely confident
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that it will actually do wireless
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charging and it does so that's good okay
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now let me back up a little bit
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OtterBox Defender 6990 at OtterBox calm
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very nice right I guess it should hold
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this way 69 98 OtterBox calm now this
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case is the griffin survivor endurance
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and this is $39.99 at
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griffintechnology.com/support cases you
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can see this one is gonna take me a
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minute or two to figure out that comes
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with a tool and the tool is not me I am
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NOT the tool thank you very much for
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that judgment just kidding but we're
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gonna have to use it to open the case
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and it's easy enough you just turn put
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it in and then you twist it as you saw
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and then that should give us the ability
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to at least slip in the phone and then
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clip it closed again and let's see there
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we go oh that's actually very nice so
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you can see on the front you have the
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inner rubber and then you have an outer
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bumper so together you have sort of like
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color clear color and this one comes in
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five different color choices this is not
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pink
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though it may look pink this is known as
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cactus rose and it does a nice job of
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protecting most all of the little ports
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and stuff even with this sort of weird
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I'm not sure what's going on here a
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little weird port cover there for the
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on/off switch I guess I might need to
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realign that to get it to work properly
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don't really like how they've done that
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here's a close-up you can see I actually
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it feels a little strange but then again
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to be fair on my iPhone I never turned
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it on it's always off my phone is in
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perpetual
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mute bowed on the bottom they have taken
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the speakers and given you this little
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slots for them and then the charge
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actually has a little cover that you
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open up so that looks like it's not too
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deep sometimes their toes so deep the
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cable doesn't work now
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bezel wise this is a nice bezel this is
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you know even with the screen protector
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on it
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we're still getting another couple of
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millimeters so if the phone were to drop
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on its face the screen itself would be
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protected and of course the third piece
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is wireless charging and it does
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wireless charging now the most daunting
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part is taking it off but before we get
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there
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lifeproof next comes in five colors this
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is cactus rose and this is $79.99 at
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lifeproof calm this is actually the most
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expensive of all the cases we're looking
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at and it has a very nice feel to it I
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don't know how easy it would be to open
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the case if you lost this little
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additional doohickey probably you can
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get another one from them for a fairly
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inexpensive let's see so I have the case
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open
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now when you don't have it let go of the
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phone you see usually this sort of stuff
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happens behind the scenes so you don't
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get to see people struggling but we'll
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get here we'll get the phone out let it
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free uh-huh there we go phone good now
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this like I said lifeproof next that's
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our third case next up is speck this is
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the speck Presidio pro and I like speck
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because they tend to make pretty slim
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designs my favorite case on my iPhone
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10s is actually a speck case and this is
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a very similar design so the Presidio is
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just this great sort of two-tone design
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where the inner part is the soft TPU and
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then the outer part is the harder
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plastic this is actually filigree and
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slate gray is the double color
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combination here they actually have it
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in seven different color combinations so
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plenty of options for you so let's see
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well I'll put the phone in way less work
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no tools involved boom
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phone in case very nice now it's not
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really curved
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a lot of ports but it does on the
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positive side give you access to the
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volume on off and on the bottom you can
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see in the close-up that it gives you
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actually access plenty of access to the
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charging port and the speakers from a
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bezel perspective this is pretty much
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the optimal bezel there's enough that it
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actually is going to be useful but it's
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not so much that it actually messes with
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your feel of using your phone
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okay so wireless charging wireless
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charging let's even do it sideways and
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see what happens no this doesn't work
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wireless charging sideways no wait there
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it is
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it's charging sideways that's more a
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testament to the stand than the case but
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nonetheless we'll take it
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so speck Presidio pro 3995 at speck
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products comm it's very nice this is
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actually a fairly boring color if I may
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say so for such a cool phone but they
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have lots of different colors lots of
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different choices and they have similar
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designs that actually have patterns and
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graphics on them and those are really
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the ones I like if you've seen my phone
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show up in other videos and hopefully
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you are catching my other videos then
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that's what's going on all right now
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next up I have two from urban armor gear
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just because I really love their design
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they're just really fun let's see if I
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can open this one might need a tool a
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different kind of tool a knife haha
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always carry a knife right well except
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for when you're going through the
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airport security at which point that's a
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really bad time to carry a knife so
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let's see I will open this Apple and
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this particular case is the Pathfinder
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and I really liked the urban armor gear
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because they just look like something
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out of a video game or something I mean
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check out that case this is a pretty
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cool-looking weight we get to the next
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one though but this one let's just start
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here and it's a two layer so there's a
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hard plastic and there's a more
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rubberized plastic that covers the
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inside and phone should just slip into
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it yep and it has a little bit more
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bezel than the previous one but it's
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roughly the same this is this comes in
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four colors the path
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this is slate I guess this is short for
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a slate gray though it's a kind of
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bluish gray and it has boxy edges and
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the back is textured because of the
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design but it's a very no surprise urban
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design and it just looks really cool I
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know my son really likes his urban armor
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gear case on his phone but let's get
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back to this so in terms of covering
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ports that does a very minimalist job in
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fact even the buttons on the side it
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looks like there's actually space below
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the buttons so it does give you easy
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access to everything and it's nicely
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centered for the camera which is good
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and the bottom definitely gives you
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access to the speakers which means let's
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see if it's wireless charging friendly
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and it is in fact all the cases are so
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that's nice
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this urban armor gear Pathfinder will
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cost you thirty four ninety five at
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urban armor gear comm and it is also
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very easy to take off a point there
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and then we have this one this is from
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looks perspective I really love the
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monarch I've seen this for other phones
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too so we'll take it out and you'll see
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why this is if I lived in a video game
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like I don't know Ralph breaks the
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internet or something then this is the
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phone case I would have I don't really
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care if it actually works this is just
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the coolest looking case and even on the
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sides it looks almost like it's the tire
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of a car I mean seriously how cool is
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that this is just a great case perhaps
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more of a masculine case but that
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doesn't mean gals can't enjoy it too
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right so has a same bezel maybe a little
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bit less could maybe do with another
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millimeter of bezel there nothing
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horrible but worth knowing it's pretty
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minimal for such a protective case and
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the buttons pretty much the same design
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as the Pathfinder this is the monarch in
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case I forgot to mention that and on the
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bottom you have very easy access to all
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of the ports and speakers and such and
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of course the corner design is a little
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bit more squared off and I'm confident
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it will charge yeah of course it charges
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so
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I really like the design of this I just
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think that's a really cool looking case
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you might think differently you might be
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looking for something different in your
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case but this is definitely something
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where it just adds a really fun layer to
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your existing iPhone and then the inset
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part is actually the leather I'm not
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sure why they even bother to do that
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since all the outer part and all the
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stuff you touch is actually rubber or
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whatever they're hardened plastics but
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be that as it may it comes in three
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colors this is crimson I know you want
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one it's okay it's 5995
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and it's also at urban armor gear calm
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so we'll take this off and that means
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we're down to believe it or not our last
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case from this set and this last case is
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possibly the brightest serious color
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case I've ever seen
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this is the tech21 evo check it comes in
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seven colors and this is neon yellow and
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I'm sure whatever it looks like on
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YouTube it looks way more intense in
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person this is just a super fun bright
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case it's also a very minimalist case so
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they have some sort of inset rubber that
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gives you additional protection but it's
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generally just a sort of soft case the
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only reason I included it in this round
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up is because tech21 says that this
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actually works for the 12-foot drop now
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what I'm realizing as we're doing this
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is it's the wrong darn size for this
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phone so this is where this all gets
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really funny so the companies have
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clearly gotten data from Apple about
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exact dimensions so this is actually for
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the iPhone 5.8 right here's the problem
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the iPhone 10 R actually goes by the
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moniker iPhone 6.1 now why people would
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print 6.1 on their phone cases I don't
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really understand because of course your
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immediate reaction would be like iPhone
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6
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this is an iPhone 10 man I spent a lot
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of money on this so I don't know what
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that's all about the iPhone 6.1 is the
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iPhone 10
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are but this case is for the iPhone 5.8
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which I actually have no idea what phone
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that is because it is just a smidge too
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small for this phone maybe about our
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quarter inch so this one sorry we're not
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gonna make that part of the round up in
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fact we're even in toss the case
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sorry tech 21 we were so close it was so
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close and who cares the color is really
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awesome which leaves us back to the
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basic question of all of these different
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cases which one do I like the best now I
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will tell you my daughter loves the
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OtterBox Defender this is her case
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because this is actually her phone
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don't tell anyone it's not my phone she
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loves it because it gives her maximum
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protection it's just a big bulky product
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and that's what she wants she wants
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something that's gonna make sure her
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phone doesn't ever get damaged or hurt
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now from my perspective when I look
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through all of these and consider all
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the pros and cons of the different
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designs and everything honestly I think
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that my favorite would have to compete
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so as is I think this urban armor gear
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Pathfinder would be my favorite but
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since I know that spec makes these exact
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cases with different graphics on them
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then I think a different version of this
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case could be my favorite but I think
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this is gonna be my favorite and then I
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think we're gonna hold on to the
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OtterBox Defender as my daughter's
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favorite for the phone so this is Dave
17:04
Taylor thank you for watching all of
17:06
this holy cow this is a lot of cases and
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I have a lot more to go through so we
17:11
are not done which means you really
17:13
please subscribe to my channel so you
17:15
can keep up cuz holy cow we got a lot of
17:17
stuff especially as we're coming into
17:19
the holiday season you have no idea how
17:22
many devices and gadgets and products I
17:24
have piled up to review on my youtube
17:26
channel so click that subscribe button
17:28
and stay plugged in and with that I am
17:32
gonna actually have to put this back in
17:34
the proper case and give it back
17:36
my daughter which means I'll catch you
17:38
in my next video
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[Music]