Hi. I am about to get a new cover for my Fairphone 2. I see that the regular covers are still available in translucent blue. I’ve only experienced regular covers myself and don’t want the common problem of the rubber splitting away from the case to appear.
So now that some of you have had time to experience both cover types, can I ask you to compare them with regard to
durability: I suppose the threat of the cover splitting will continue to exist with every regular case; is the slim cover more or less immune from this and similar issues (cracks appearing after normal use)?
protection: I have read in another thread that Fairphone have had very good results when they tested dropping the phone. But I wonder if the rubber rim is also thinner than with the regular models, giving less protection to the front glass. Is that true?
If the two types compare roughly equal in these two respects I would prefer the translucent model. I really don’t understand why Fairphone have not introduced a translucent case, it would suit the repairability message so well. But durability and protection are the more important criteria for me.
AFAIK the translucent blue is still available because Fairphone is confident that this model is not as faulty as the other colors. I don’t know if they changed anything about it though and I know that many people reported dissolving rims also with blue transparent covers.
So the durability point goes to the slim cover. Especially if you plan on proudly & regularly showing off how easy the FP can be taken apart for repairs. Even if the original covers were better than before now taking them off regularly will still be bad for them, while the slim cover’s mechanism seems to be built to last.
When it comes to protection I’d say they are the same - but that’s just a guess. I have the feeling that broken screens after drops are much rarer with Fairphones than most other phones and I guess that is simply because the cover(s) go over the rim of the screen - I have a feeling the material (elastic or hard) doesn’t matter.
I’m very happy with the slim case and can recommend it to anyone. If you want to read more reasons for that take a look at my review here.
The “slim cover” models are not made of rubber but rather plastic. So I believe they may break easilier (but not tested with either model, though). They have back side and front side separately clicked together in the middle. I find they look pretty, for durability I would suggest the regular cover.
Thank you very much for linking to Olivier’s post, it’s the first time I read it and it addresses exactly the questions I have had for quite some time, too. Very encouraging information.
Thanks from me too, @AnotherElk – this was the passage about test results that I had seen and mentioned in my question 2. I should have linked to it myself but by the time I decided to start my own thread I had lost where I’d found it.
@Amber, I am puzzled why you are suggesting the regular cover for durability. It seems to suffer a lot from the “rubber separating from the plastic” problem, and you don’t indicate in what way the slim case is less durable. Edit: Sorry, now I see why you made that suggestion: you think a plastic rim will break more easily than a rubber one. But I didn’t find any reports about problems with that.
Thanks a lot especially to @paulakreuzer, you gave me convincing arguments in favour of the slim cover and I think that’s what I will choose. Although I’m still a bit worried that it might introduce a new issue: There are reports about the slim case causing reboot loops due to the power button getting stuck in the pressed state, even causing overheating. See the thread “Slim Case - Reboots and Button-Issues” for example. But apparently swapping the on/off and camera buttons should help then.
