[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] lacrossev:
Hey guys, the Kraken AMS was finally available in red and i just jumped right in as i was waiting FOREVER for either Ballistic or Trident to make their most heavy duty cases available for our phones. Sadly Ballistic currently has no intention of releasing an HC model for the Evo LTE, so I went with this instead.

Before anybody says: "oh but the SG MAXX is heavy duty!" I looked at the layering for the SG Maxx and from the looks of it its a wraparound silicone with a slip-in screen protector and then a polycarb piece that fits over the back. The Kraken also has a silicone wrap but where it differs is the front polycarb and back polycarb interlock with each other as well as having grooves in the silicone for both the front and the back to sit in, which seems to me would make for a more solid case overall.

The packaging was super easy to open, its the kind of bubble pack that snaps together at the corners.

The case comes with a holster, and removable kickstand, more on the kickstand a little later.

On Trident's site it says that the Kraken's base layer is the perseus silicone case. I was initially using the blue HTC case that sprint gave us for the shipping delays, and that particular case was made of a denser silicone that held its shape well and felt solid. The perseus layer here however, is a bit thinner and as such i would not recommend using it alone since it does move out of position a lot. The only thing covered with the silicone on is the power button.

The front polycarb piece has long tabs along the sides that fit in to the grooves of the silicone piece. Trident says you can use the case like this without the back, and by the tight fitment which required that i actually kneed the silicone slightly to get it to slide under the tabs and engage, i would say you can just leave it as is. The front camera is not covered, there are openings for the sensors, and the speaker has a fine mesh over it. The screen protector is glossy on the outside, and slightly matte textured on the inside to avoid the bubbling you get when two glossy surfaces come in to contact, a la the early versions of the Ballistic HC for the OG Evo.

The third piece is the back, which contains the port covers for the headphone and usb ports, the covered buttons for camera and volume rocker, as well as the mount points for all the AMS accessories. The back piece wraps over the side of the front piece and fits in to plastic lugs molded into the front piece. The back camera is uncovered, and there is a belt loop under the rear speaker, which has a mesh covering it just like the front speaker.

It was a VERY tight fit, perhaps because i have the CF vinyl mod on my phone, which added a piece of paper worth of thickness. I had to hook the tabs in from the bottom, then clip the sides in place until i got to the top, where i had to do some olympic-class pinching of the tabs up top to get the whole thing together.

The completed case feels pretty sturdy in hand, though one thing i noticed immediately is that since the silicone doesn't cover the volume rocker and the rocker cover itself is plastic in the side, the buttons are not tightly engaged to the phone, so if you shake it you can hear some rattling at both the rocker as well as the camera button. They operate with little effort and are easy to hit, though if they were in your pocket you might accidently change the volume due to the lack of resistence.

The port covers do not extend in to the actual ports themselves, and are simply there for closing up the holes in the case. You can see in the pictures here that the ports do become quite recessed so some of those cables with right-angle heads may not be able to totally clear the case. I use a right angle micro usb with what i saw was a smaller connector than the other ones i was looking at on amazon, and it fit, albeit just barely.

Next up is the holster. Unlike the holsters from Seidio and some other companies, the one on the Kraken is a minimalistic clamp that goes around the midsection of the case, with a 360 rotation and release tab at the top. Its pretty minimalistic but it seems like it would look better on your belt when the phone is not in it as opposed to the holsters that have a backplate the size of the phone. It engages tightly and seems pretty secure, so it gets a pass from me though i don't use holsters often.

Lastly we have the kickstand. The kickstand is sold on their store as an AMS accessory but i think for Krakens they just include it in the kit. Looking at the pictures i didn't think it was going to be able to hold the phone up in the awkward reverse position we got on the stock kickstand to use while charging, but the kickstand kicks in the fully open position and is able to hold up the phone. It also locks in the closed position, and it took a bit of effort to get the thing to open in the first place so no worries about floppy kickstand syndrome.

If you don't mind the trident lettering being backwards in the closed position, you can also pull the kickstand out and flip it in the opposite orientation and it will hold the phone up like it did in the OG evo days while charging.

Lastly, a crude size comparison between the HTC silicone case, a Seidio rebranded Best Buy platinum case, and the Kraken.

EDIT: I said the back contained all the mount points for AMS accessories, but looking at it again i noticed that the mount points for the holster is actually on side of the FRONT piece, so if you want to use the holster with just the silicone and the front, you can. I don't currently see any accessories that makes use of the holster mount points so if you want to use AMS stuff you do indeed need to use the back piece, which does not attatch to the silicone without the front piece.

EDIT2: I totally didn't even think about testing this but NFC still works even through the thick case.

Pros

Case fits super tight

Kickstand is completely metal and can be flipped around, clips in to place in the closed positon as well as open position

Built-in screen protector, port covers and rocker/camera covers

Minimalistic holster has less of a nerd factor if you're going to use it

Modular (though i would just use the whole thing all the time)

Has some accessories that may come in handy in the form of AMS stuff on kraken's site

Has a strap loop on the back piece below the kickstand...for if you want to lanyard a brick to your neck or you're a japanese schoolgirl who wants a bouquet of hello kitty cell phone straps on your phone.

Cons

Expensive, 50 bucks is a lot of dough to drop on a $200 on contract phone, may be more worth it for retail customers

Both cameras are not covered. Has no chance of glare but it does open it up to damage.

Bulky. I don't have an otterbox defender or an SG Maxx to compare it to but it does add quite a bit of heft.

Rocker and camera buttons may rattle when shaken or moved.

Thickness of case renders some micro usb and headphone plugs unusable

Screen protector is glossy on the outside but slightly matte texture on the inside, may reduce clarity

Port covers may be susceptible for wear like on the Otterbox defender.

Red one came out after the pink one, seriously Trident, wtf??

Overall

Its big, its solid, you can probably knock someone out with it by throwing it. If you don't care about bulk and don't want to worry about the phone, this is a pretty good case to go with. On the other hand if you don't care for bulk at all, don't even bother checking this thing out, as it does turn your sexy thin phone in to a bit of a monster.

For people worried about the phone bending issue, i'm pretty sure this case will make it pretty much impossible to bend the phone while in your front pants pocket, then again i have a feeling front-pocket phone benders are wearing pants that are just right or tight fitting in the first place so you wouldn't really be able to fit this thing in those same pockets...so...yea, get some new pants you hipsters.

And finally, please please please save your breath if you're just going to come in here saying: "i prefer thin case i don't understand why you bought this". You don't need to as i didn't buy it with your money, and congrats on having an opinion :good: