[Epic 4G Accessories] gorby911:
Definition of the "best" case would be different for every person because it depends on personal preferences, how you use your phone, and how you carry it. Personally, I like the feeling of a naked phone and with my Touch Pro 2 I mostly used Forte leather case (although I tried Seidio Surface for a short period). The advantage of a leather pouch is that you don't have any permanent thickness added to your phone, but disadvantages are that you need to take the phone out of the case to see the screen and you can still drop the phone while out of the case - which is exactly what happened to me a few times. Now when I got Epic, it is thinner then TP2 so I wanted to get a snap-on case for it. Here is my mini-review of a few cases I tried:

1) Seidio Active - it is the case that (among other snap on cases) would definitely provide the best protection if the phone is dropped, it looks good, and made well. The soft gel provides a nice cushion and the plastic skeleton strategically positions hard coverage over areas that could be most impacted during the fall. It seems that the recently found Fishbone case on Amazon is very similar in the design so I would expect it to provide the same protection. Unfortunately, Seidio Active was a bit too thick to my liking and since I usualy take good care of my phones, I didn't feel that the extra protection would justify the added thickness for my needs.

2) Seidio Surface - this is probably the thinnest snap on case you can get. I really like the fact that it adds very little to the overall size of the phone and I thought that it would be the perfect case for me when I bought it and put it on. However, maybe the fact that it is so thin contributed to the fact that it feels a bit flimsy when on the phone. There is a tiny bit of play on both the top and bottom parts (when you squeeze them with your fingers on the sides) and sometimes when you push power button the phone tends to slide open a bit based on how I hold it in my hand. The case seems to fit like a glove but it is not as tight as I would like it to be and it is VERY easy to remove the top part with almost no effort whatsoever. Some may consider it a plus, but I consider it a minus because I am pretty sure that if the phone is dropped, the top part will most likely fall off after the first bump leaving the top unprotected (this actually did happen when I used Seidio Surface case on my Touch Pro 2 and dropped from about 3 feet onto hardwood floor).

3) Sprint Case with rubber back - to me this turned out to be the "best" case, at least for now. In terms of added thickness it is somewhere in between Seidio Active and Surface cases. It fits very snug and tight. I like the rubber backing a lot, it is not slippery, feels very nice in hand, and looks good (at least in black). Some people mentioned that the rubber has a tendency to peel off - I've had this case for a month now and it looks like new and I have no peeling issues; but even if I do, I am sure that a carefully placed drop of crazy glue will take care of this issue permanently. I have removed the case several times and I don't see any scratches left on the phone as was posted in one thread. The only drawback may be that the case is a bit harder to remove then Seidio, but to me it is not an issue and means that it will stay on during the fall. I rarely remove the top part, but I am a heavy phone user so I swap extra battery often and don't have any issues removing the bottom part after getting used to it. There were some reports of snaps breaking off - I have not experience that at all and I hope I won't since this is a perfect case for me at this point.

In terms of price - all three cases are around $20 bucks so price is not a factor. All three cases do not interfere with the sliding mechanism and make the phone feel a bit tighter with less screen play and no more squeaking from the battery door. I also tried one of those invisible shield things which is basically a screen protector over the entire phone. Two issues I found with those: a) no matter what brand you get, they will eventually start peeling and will attract dirt on the edges looking like crap after a while; b) although they provide scratch protection, they won't do much if the phone is dropped.

Hope you'll find your best case.

Cheers.