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Review: OtterBox’s Resurgence Power Case ruggedizes and doubles the iPhone 6’s battery

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The OtterBox name is synonymous with ruggedized iPhone cases, but not with battery cases — something the company worked to change with the iPhone 4/4S Defender iON Series, and the iPhone 5/5s Resurgence Power Case. iON aimed to thoroughly protect an iPhone while automating the recharge process, while Resurgence reduced the automation and protection to make daily use easier. At CES this month, OtterBox launched a new version called the Resurgence Power Case for iPhone 6 ($100), and it’s been redesigned with a collection of small but welcome tweaks.

Whether you’ll prefer Resurgence to Incipio’s excellent offGRID Express (review) depends on what you’re looking for — ruggedization or raw power for the dollar. Like many companies, OtterBox is promising to double the iPhone 6’s battery, but it also has some currently unique benefits to offer. Read on for what makes OtterBox’s latest battery case special.

Understanding OtterBox’s trajectory is the key to understanding why Resurgence is what it is. The Colorado-based company built its brand on ultra-rugged cases, but more recently expanded its product family to include designs with reduced ruggedization, successfully expanding its base of fans. So unlike Defender iON, which covered the entire iPhone 4/4s but turned it into a brick, Resurgence isn’t supposed to protect your iPhone against everything. The screen and Home Button are completely exposed — under a hard plastic lip — as are the rear camera, microphone, and headphone port. Consequently, you shouldn’t splash your iPhone with water or dirt inside Resurgence, nor even consider submerging it.

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The rest of the iPhone is covered in a combination of hard and semi-hard plastics, including the side buttons, the ringer switch, and the bottom speaker. Most iPhone battery cases feel flimsy or easily damaged, but Resurgence for iPhone 6 does not. You can choose from jet black, gray/white, red/black, and mint green/white colors, which are the only ways Resurgence can keep from looking completely brawny. Thanks to a fiberglass and foam filling, it feels substantial, and worthy of the military-grade drop protection rating it has received.

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When a company’s been making iPhone battery cases for a while, reducing the footprint and thickness is a fairly easy task: the developer just needs to choose a battery size and get the charging circuitry down to a manageably small size. As OtterBox is now on its third generation of battery cases, it has achieved size reductions that were elusive in its prior iON Defender and Resurgence cases, most notably cutting the height of the new case’s “chin” down to 0.55″ from the prior Resurgence’s roughly 1″. This means that Resurgence for iPhone 6 is only a little taller than the iPhone 5/5s model, but also thinner, despite holding a 2,600mAh battery inside versus its 2,000mAh predecessor. It’s even a little shorter than Incipio’s offGRID Express, though it feels more solid in the hand.

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To accomplish the chin reduction, OtterBox shifted the prior Resurgence model’s small front-facing circular power indicator button to become a larger, recessed version on the back, and moved the prior bottom micro-USB port into a rubber-capped compartment on the lower right. Both changes are welcome, though the USB port’s location means that you’ll only be able to use Resurgence with its included micro-USB cable, rather than a battery case-friendly dock such as Twelve South’s HiRise Deluxe. The four-segment light ring on the rear button lights up all four bars to show that it’s full, and will repeatedly flash only its left bar to indicate that it’s empty.

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Resurgence’s raw recharging performance is solid. The 2,600mAh cell it packs is smaller than the ones we’ve seen in Incipio’s offGRID Express and Tylt’s Energi Sliding Case (review), which means that you won’t get the same 120% recharge as with those options. In our first test, we were able to achieve exactly one full recharge with a completely discharged iPhone 6; in a second test, we went from dead to 98% before Resurgence stopped surging. So though OtterBox has designed Resurgence to automatically turn itself off after your iPhone reaches the 100% mark, this will happen naturally with a dead iPhone once the battery runs out; you’ll find the feature more handy if you start with a partially-charged iPhone.

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Choosing between iPhone 6 battery cases today is a matter of picking priorities. With the $100 Resurgence, you get a heavier-duty case and lose a little battery life versus the $80 offGRID Express, which offers middle-of-road protection with more battery life, while Tylt’s $100 Energi offers lightweight protection and a big battery. As is frequently the case, OtterBox’s option is the top pick if you’re concerned about accidental drops, delivering greater peace-of-mind. Pick the one that’s best-suited to your needs.

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Comments

  1. Rudy Katt - 9 years ago

    Some Windex and a paper towel would have cleaned that nasty phone right up!

  2. Rick Ternosky - 9 years ago

    Any word if they will do a charger case for the iPhone 6+??

    • Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

      A lot of companies are holding off on the iPhone 6 Plus because the battery inside is really strong without external assistance. OtterBox appears to be in that camp for now.

      • Rick Ternosky - 9 years ago

        Thx, Jeremy…your cmts make sense. I haven’t followed the iPhone 6 battery life discussion, but I do remember hearing it DID have a larger battery as the whole phone was larger. Is it holding up to expectations with the better quality internals AND now the people are loading it up with lots of apps?

        Again, if I remember correctly, the “regular size”iPhone 6 battery life isn’t as good.

    • Raisingdude - 9 years ago

      Otterbox is well known brand with hard-to-break cases, the only thing that drawn me away from this is the bulkiness of the case.If they make one for the 6+, I figure it will be ultra thick…

  3. Raisingdude - 9 years ago

    I do like the protection from otterbox, but somehow the simple battery case with 3000mAh from UNU, the case Jeremy wrote about a week ago got me convinced.

    Easy to install, slide the top piece into the case and you all set for the day. 2600mah may only last you for one extra charge, without any inferences from ongoing apps…

  4. I have used an Otter Box Defender series iPhone case for the last 3 piPhones it have owned. I use the Defender not only because it provides very good protection for the phone, but it also has a very convenient belt holster that the phone clips into with a satisfying click. If an external battery could be designed into the case design, that would be nice. But frankly, my iPhone 6+ has always had sufficient battery life for the way I use the phone

  5. amateo25 - 9 years ago

    What is the “life span” of this product?

  6. Lance Silverman - 8 years ago

    Nonsensical recess of headphone jack means you have to carry around an adaptor that protrudes out of the bottom when installed. By far and away the most stupid thing about the case.
    Switch from to the Micro USB cable major pain for those who have only Lightning cords lying around the home.
    Otherwise, great protection and good battery life