The ToughSkin for the Motorola Q provides rugged protection and good looks. Its one-of-a-kind design customizes the popular rubberized skin for extreme lifestyles on the job or at home. It's the only skin to feature ruggedized bumpers, screen protection, and a deluxe swivel holster.
Speck ToughSkin Case for Motorola Q
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3.2 | ![]() |
3.7 (6) |
Editor review
ToughSkin Offers Rugged Protection for Moto Q
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
The ToughSkin for the Motorola Q provides rugged protection and good looks. Its one-of-a-kind design customizes the popular rubberized skin for extreme lifestyles on the job or at home. It's the only skin to feature ruggedized bumpers, screen protection, and a deluxe swivel holster.The ToughSkin for Moto Q is billed as "rugged" protection for your smartphone. It comes from longtime case manufacturer, Speck Products. The first thing you notice about the ToughSkin is the rugged look of the material. The ToughSkin is composed of Kraton which is a special polymer plastic. According to Speck, this material is more durable than competing skin cases that are made from silicone. It also has a nice feel to it and this should not be discounted. Realizing the quality of material, the packaging of the ToughSkin for Moto Q actually has an exposed area to allow customers at retail locations to sample the feel of the material. The side of the case has a distinct look that reminds me of treads on a tire. While it's my belief this was done for looks, it actually ends up being a nice feature as the "treads" make it easier to grip the Moto Q. The ToughSkin allows access to all ports on the Moto Q, except for IR and miniSD. The IR port is not a major issue for me, but I could see lack of access to the miniSD as being problematic. For example, swapping cards from the CoPilot miniSD maps card to a mulit-media card could prove to be a hassle if done regularly. One of the features of the Speck ToughSkin cases has always been the built-in screen protector and the Moto Q case is no different. However, I find it as a great option on the Q as opposed to say a Treo, considering the Q does not have a touch-screen. On touch-screen devices, accessing the screen can be vital making the flip-lid screen protection at times a nuisance. On the Moto Q, I have a new fondness of the ToughSkin's screen protector. This option allows owners to put their Q in a pocket or pocketbook without fear of spare change or keys scratching or scuffing the screen. The screen protector fits neatly between the case and the Moto Q. It is optional, so if you take issue with it, you can easily remove it. With previous cases, this was possible, but it affected the fit of the case. As with most skin cases, the 'gummy' feel of the case might make it difficult to grab from your pants pocket. The two soft menu keys are covered, but it felt natural using them with the case. My beef with previous models of the ToughSkin has been the added bulk and this issue was specific to the Treo. By nature, the Treo is a larger phone, so adding bulk was always a concern. This simply is not the case with the Moto Q and certainly not the ToughSkin. Verizon had sent me a replacement Q and I had not gotten around to returning my original Q. This gave me an opportunity to compare the size of the Moto Q with the ToughSkin and without. As you'll see from the images, there is not that much of a difference. The clip on the holster is also very low profile. Understanding their customers, Speck ships their ToughSkin with a holster allowing you to wear the case on a belt or clip to a bag. The clip swivels allowing you to wear the Moto Q to your preference. The Q is intended to face inward and this further adds to the level of protection offered by the ToughSkin case/holster combo. Should you accidently dislodge the holster from your belt or pocketbook, the corners of the ToughSkin holster would take the brunt of the fall. With the screen facing inward, this also minimize any damage to the screen or keys. The ToughSkin case slides into the bottom of the holster making it secure and then snaps into place using the grooves in the case. Removing the case felt awkward and I felt myself concerned that I might snap the top corners of the holster. The ToughSkin case offers superior protection for Q with a heavy plastic screen protector and inward facing holster. Discounting the ToughSkin as "just another skin case" would be an injustice, as their materials and craftsmanship set them apart. While their skin case sets them apart, they do fall short in the holster category. Active users will most likely find frustration with inserting and removal of the Q from the Speck holster. The ToughSkin has a snug fit around the Q which is as good as can be expected from a skin case due to the pliable nature of the material. If you routinely swap out your miniSD cards, then the ToughSkin could prove to be problematic as it covers both the IR and miniSD ports. All in all, the ToughSkin provides a nice combination of rugged looks and serious protection for the Motorola Q smartphone. |
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User reviews
View all user reviewsAverage user rating from: 6 user(s)
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love the case but tough release and put back
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Love this case but the holster design a little hard to take the phone out and put it back in. but love this case. Phone fell 3 ft. to concrete and case took all of it. |
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Good idea, Terrible holster
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
The rubberized case is nice and does protect the phone body and display. It feels nice to grip, and is very 'slip-proof.' (So much so that you cannot just toss it in your pocket and easily get at it.)Holster is worthless. You cannot easily insert or remove the phone. It takes two hands and several seconds of struggling. Forget about removing the Q from the holster while on your belt - you have to take it off to fight. By the time you get it out, your call has gone to voicemail. Getting the phone back into the holster is a fight, and the grippers appear to be digging in to the rubber case. After only a week of use, damage is apparent. I suspect the holster will tear thru the case in a very short period of time. This would have been a good product if only they had invested the time and effort into designing the holster properly. Unfortunately, it is just an overpriced product that performs poorly. I'm throwing mine out. |
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Love the Case, Lose the Holster
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
First the bad: I had read the previous reviews that trashed the holster, but since I planned on keeping the Q in my pocket I was prepared. The Holster is worthless; if you are planning on using teh phone this way, skip the Speck. If not, read on. The Case: Marvelous design and fit. My one complaint is the thin rubber just below the space bar. Mine is a bit loose, but I may have stretched it putting it on. Otherwise the fit is fantastic. The protection seems so sturdy I find myself tempted to bounce the phone on its corner on my desk. All keys and buttons work fine, except the Up Arrow on the D-Pad, its a bit tricky to work now. The screen protector is great, but was hard to put in without smudging. It does make seeing the screen a bit harder when the backlight is off, otherwise you hardly notice it. It does make the Q a bit harder to get in and out of a pocket. The Kraton is far from frictionless. But consequently its not going to fall out of your hand or slide off your car roof, etc. It adds a little size (sad) and a little heft (nice) to the Q. I would also be careful about the piece of Kraton immediately to the right of the screen. This seems like it might be susceptible to tearing. As others have said, the SD slot and IR port are blocked by the case but this was a non issue for me. I will probably not use the IR and will hardly ever need to swap cards. If you use IR or swap SD cards a lot you may want to look elsewhere. All in all a very good product that will probably save me sometime when I drop the Q. I bought mine from Amazon and got it for $27 and change shipping included. |
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Very durable and protective, but....
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
My Motorola Q9m is my very first smartphone. I know Motorola's quality (I used to be a Level III tech) and durability standards are 2nd none, but I am by nature careless with my cellphones and I wanted the best protection I could get. The Speck Tough Skin looked to fit the bill. The good news: Kraton is great stuff used for weapons handles where durability *and* shock absorption (two things that don't normally play well together) are equally important. The "tractor tire" pattern provides good grip, removes bulk, and actually aids in energy dissipation from a drop. The included screen protector provides a greater level of protection that the "scratch protectors" usually used on pda's. The bad news: I bought it for the new Q9m, which is *slightly* different than the regular Q9, so the case doesn't fit perfectly. In addition th the things mentioned in an earlier review, on the 9m it doesn't quite line up with the soft keys, and blocks the light sensor defeating one the "smart backlight" feature of the 9m. |
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SPECK HOLSTER FIX
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
I recently went to the Q after much searching and though quite happy with the phone I was not a big fan of the leather flip top case that came with it. I looked around for a while but grabbed the speck the first time I saw it. The skin is great, fits great, has a great screen protector that although I thought it might move, has proved solid. The Q now has that great, ruggeidized look and felt so good that I hate to put it down. If it gets that "gummy" feel, try a little Armor-All from the auto shop, like the kind that you might use on auto trim. But as for the holster, I agree, its nice to have but the top of the Q gets stuck by the 2 holders when you try to retrieve it. If it had an antennae you could leverage it out, but here you can't. So,... what I did was to take a small file ( though a nail file might take a little long) and just try filing the inside edges of the top 2 "prongs" that hold the Q in place. After a bit it will work fine. As with most plastic products there will be a small burr there, but you will need to go a bit further. The skin case is so nice, the holster just needs a little attention to catch up. |
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