Now I’m not a fan of cases I’ll be the first one to admit it as I always think they take away from the elegance and design of such phone and can tend to add bulkiness to a device. I have fared pretty good with most of my prior phones without cases. But after my last outing with a mobile device I had where I ended up dropping it left and right I think it maybe time to change my game plan for future phones.
Having checked out Ballistic at CES a little over a month ago, they had some interesting styles of cases and even a drop test area on a ton of bricks(real bricks I add) to show you the strength of their cases. Hows the Life Style Smooth Series hold for the HTC Droid DNA? Lets dig in.
Style
My review unit consisted of a charcoal gray color and included four different colors of bumpers in sets of four. There also is pink for the ladies if you like. The LS case is made from a TPU material and feels lightweight when not placed on the phone. Applying it to the Droid DNA was easy and took a matter of seconds. Once applied it provides a nice secure fit and the phone stays just as light and slim as it did without the case. 
What will catch your eye about the case is the four corners or what they like to call “Ballistic Corners”. The bumpers of the case are interchangeable and pop out with ease but I had a problem trying to get them back in. I ended up using a pen to push them back in. If you notice on the front that the case is raised to be higher than the screen as to take impact and the screen not reach its demise.
Take a Hit?
So on the front of the box it has a drop test meter and shows this should be able to take maybe a seven to eight foot drop. I wasn’t going to originally test but said hey why not. I did some like dropping it off my bed, off my desk at work. The usual slips that happen.
If you check the video below I dropped it from a little past my shoulder. Now I’m 6’2 so you can imagine the drop and hear the impact as it hit my kitchen floor. Of course I picked it up and it’s still intact and working. The raised bumpers really help to as with most drops your phone falls straight down and hits the corner. Ballistic took that into consideration made sure that hit would take the most shock.
Verdict
The Life Style Smooth series shows you can actually have a nice sleek case and still not sacrifice protection. The case can take some nice drops and stay intact. Two wins in my book and will be looking forward to seeing how the LS cases works with future devices.
The Ballistic Life Style Smooth Series Case for the HTC Droid DNA is available for $29.99 now at their website.
