Poetic Borderline Bumper case for Google Nexus 4 Smart Phone E960 LG Black/Gray(3 Year Warranty from Poetic)

I bought one in the very first batch that came out in Dec/Jan. I had used that one for few months till late March/early April. I took the case off to do a routine cleaning, when I noticed the two parts of the case have come apart. Basically where the rubber and the plastic meet. I emailed poetic/exact about the issues with photos of the case, and was told they would send a replacement from the updated revision that supposedly fixes this issue. I am on my second/third week now without issues. HOWEVER, please note I haven't really used my phone at all this month, and haven't even really had time to leave the home. So it may also play a role in it staying together I have no clue. So when I can get more real-time use with it on I will update this review [if necessary].Ok so that's that, here are thoughts on the other stuff:Button actuation: It really does have a great tactile feel and depression. Just a slightly dampened/cushioned feel of the phone itself [the nexus 4 buttons aren't clicky in itself, they are more of a soft press]. The buttons are also nice and easy/soft to depress making it feel more natural. The other case I would compare this to is the Rearth clear back case, in which the button depression is much harder, and less "normal" feeling.The overall feel+texture of the case: the case has a very light [and thin] feel to it. I know it is a bumper case, I mean it in terms of the weight/feel of the materials used. I would not exactly call it a cheap feel, because it actually does feel decent in that respect. I know it is ambiguous, but I am at a loss of adjectives at the moment. So I will give you an analogy instead. I would say it is somewhat akin to the feel of a sandwich zip-lock bag vs the freezer bag equivalent from the same company [to bar off any difference in quality materials]. Or another one would be the difference in the feel of plastic water bottles between, say a generic [dare I say Kirkland brand] vs something like smart water / arrowhead. I would put vitamin water plastic bottles at the other end of the spectrum in terms of what I am trying to describe [not just physical weight of thickness, but the "feel" you get].The case, in general feels quite slick. Not the most slippy feeling case, but it does make me "think" / aware of my phone a lot more when taking it out of my pockets. The plastic/black portion is of course the slickest, but is confined to the middle of the case in itself. The perimeter is wrapped in the rubber like material which does help in decreasing slip when leaving the phone on either of its faces. But it is more slick than a sticky or grippy feel. Neither hate or love it.In an indirect comparison to the Rearth case [the Rearth is a clear back, case not a bumper case, so I am only comparing bits and pieces of it to this poetic case]; I felt the Rearth felt superior in terms of texture/feel of materials. The texture was semi smooth [a somewhat sandblasted titanium feel] yet gave plenty of grip without any stick or overly grippy feel. And the materials used felt more quality/weighted. Albeit this is subjective so your experience may differ. But I think for the most part we can agree an overtly slippy case weighs on the side of negative than positive.Protection: What you would expect from a bumper case, minimal drop height assurance, protection on the sides/corners.How is it when used in tandem with screen protectors? : Depending on what [I have used both dry [plastic like] protectors, and the wet [rubber like] protectors. The dry variation does not tend to pull up because most companies leave room on sides with these protectors, and in turn doesn't cause any inherent issues. The rubber "full screen" protectors did uproot on both faces. But if you are careful upon installation of the case, I felt you could make do without causing any issues. But it is easier to put the case on than off when trying to keep the screen protectors from uprooting.Install: Easy, painless.In closing I felt the case was a decent bang for buck case. Neither too cheap nor too expensive, but it is not super awesome in all aspects either. It did fall apart within a couple months of easy use, but the company did honor their warranty and send a replacement free of charge. So even given the complaints, if you feel like you will like this case, I would give it a shot, and buy knowing that if it becomes defective the company will honor their warranty.

Update 3/11: The manufacturer was incredibly helpful, and sent me a replacement for this bumper with minimal hastle. Poetic really stands behind their products and I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again. (If you're wondering about the late date, that's entirely my fault. I was slow in forwarding them my order number (the only bit of information they requested) and slower to update my review.)Unfortunately, it's not all sunshine. I recently purchased the official Nexus 4 Wireless Charger, and this product is not compatible; the gap between the backplate and the charger is just a little too wide. While disappointing, I'm more disappointed in the charging orb itself (it's not nearly as nice as the  Touchstone  was for the Palm Pre). If you have your heart set on the official orb, though, you'll have to look elsewhere for a compatible bumper case.Update 1/20: well it seems that the case falling apart isn't as isolated an occurrence as I hoped. After only a couple of weeks, the top left corner of the case came unglued. I still like the case, but this splitting is unacceptable.I'm waiting for the manufacturer's response before updating the score.Original Review:+ Case arrived from Exact-Deal more quickly than expected. I'm usually a bit nervous about ordering items shipped from a 3rd party, particularly when using their "free shipping", but I'm very satisfied with Exact-Deal.+ Case fits snugly, looks attractive, and provides a better grip.+ Buttons are easily found by touch and easy to click -- but not "too easy". Inadvertent clicks don't seem any more frequent with the case than without.+ Micro-USB cutout is larger than most cases I've owned, and easily accommodated all of the cables I tried (and I have a couple fairly large ones).- Headphone cutout is a little on the small side, though.(On a different note, I wish case manufacturers would include an optional plug for the headphone jack. The other holes are small enough that surface tension alone should keep incidental moisture from getting inside, but not so the headphone jack. For people like me who rarely use corded headphones, a small plug that matches the case would be much appreciated!)+ As expected, this case doesn't interfere in any way with wireless charging.+ Bumper provides enough of a lip to avoid contact scratches when laying the phone flat (on either surface). It also helps prevent inadvertent taps on the edge of the screen.- The lip makes swiping from the left and right edge more difficult; there is sufficient margin for the gesture, it just takes some getting used to. (Swiping from the top and bottom edges is as easy as ever.)+ My phone no longer slides down modest inclines. For those who don't know, the Nexus 4 has a glass back that, while pretty, is very slippery. I can't count the number of times it's slid off my desk because I set it down on a book or something that was merely mostly -- but not completely -- flat. The bumper remedies that problem without obscuring the pretty glass back, so win-win.- The materials feel a bit too dense for my comfort. I'm concerned that the rubber won't be able to absorb the shock from a fall onto a hard surface that a less-dense, more foam-like material would.Overall, I'm quite pleased with this case.

My Google Nexus 4 is the slipperiest phone I've ever owned. Without a bumper or case it is hard to pull out of a pocket without dropping and slides off tables when vibrating. The official bumper is not available so I tried this. Quality and fit are excellent. The grey/black suits the phone well. Ports cuts are good and the button action is particularly crisp, no worse than pushing the buttons directly. There is enough friction to stop it sliding on a table, but it is still a bit slippery when holding, as most of the trim is glossy plastic. I would have preferred a good grip all around. It adds very little thickness to the phone and is as unobtrusive as you can get. Highly recommended and cheaper than the official bumper (if you can find it). No regrets with purchasing this, and just took only 7 days to ship from California to UK.There are customer pictures showing the bumper peeling apart where the 2 kinds of plastic join, but I can't find the reviewer comments linked to these pictures. If indeed that is a product weakness I will post an update. The warranty should make returning it easy if that is a design problem.UPDATE: March 2013 Indeed after 2 months the grey strip has detached from the black plastic housing. I have dropped from 5 to 2 stars until the issue solved. I emailed Poetic about this and got a quick reply saying they will ship a new one (which they say is an improved product). When this arrives I will come back and update.UPDATE 2: Just a few days after I contacted Poetic, I received a new bumper, which is incredibly good service. The replacement looks just the same but apparently the peeling apart issue has now been solved. Well done Poetic on such a lightening speed response.

I was, aware prior to buying, this of reports from other buyers of issues with these bumpers falling apart quite quickly. Some said that once they told the seller about it they had a replacement delivered to them and no more problems arose.I guess I got the 'new and improved' version because mine has performed just as expected and looks as good today as the day I received it. It fits the phone nicely, the buttons are not impaired by it and it offers extra grip and some protection if I'm dumb enough to drop it (won't happen).PSI also protect my Nexus 4 with a skin, front and back, from 'Xtreme Guard' (which is superb by the way). The bumper does occasionally lift a tiny bit of the edge on one side of the front, but it's not a concern so far.I initially bought one of the generic rubber-like full cases, but it was ugly. The Poetic bumper allows me to drool over the full beauty of my lovely Nexus 4 :-PI'll come back to update this review if /when anything changed from the above.

... after the long wait to purchase the Nexus 4, I wasn't prepared to wait for the Google bumper as well, so took a punt on this one. I'm very glad I did. I'm not sure how - or if - the official version could better this one, but this one is effective and somewhat cheaper. It fits the phone perfectly and looks in keeping with it - as if it were an original part of the phone. It does add a millimeter or two to the size of the phone, but it's a reassuring addition that feels 'right'. The use of a bumper also means the back of the phone is still visible - which is nice.It will never be as protective as a full-on armoured case, but then, a full-on armoured case would not be as discreet as this. So far I've managed to drop the phone twice with this bumper on - hands full scenarios - and the phone has not suffered a single scratch (and stupidly, I've still to invest in screen protection). I'm sure there will be a way to drop the phone/bumper that will crack the phone's front or rear glass, I've just been lucky enough to not find it yet.

1'st thing to note is that though the seller is poetic UK, this product is actually shipped from america, so expect a waiting time of 6 days or more, I wont be deducting any stars for this though, I'll reserve that for the seller feedback, the packaging is good, the case (in which the product arrived) seems a little worn but no biggie. The Bumper itself fits the phone very well, all the holes are in the right places and the power and volume up down buttons function as they would without the bumper. The Bumper has a good design and it offers a bit of a raise on both the back and front so that my nexus 4's screen and back are never actually in contact with any surface, very helpful! Can't really fault the bumper to be honest, but I'd have preferred it to not have 'POETIC' ingrained on one of the sides, not really a deal closer for me but it would have been nice to have no logo's or branding whatsoever. In conclusion, taking into account the price of this product I'd have to give it a 4 star rating. The final star is deducted because of their ingrained logo on the side which I really could have done without, apart from that, good bumper, very reasonable substitute for the logo free albeit out of stock official nexus 4 bumper from Google play which I still might end up getting just for the sake of it (no logo :) )

This bumper is well worth checking out. It offers some protection without adding much bulk and allows the rear of your phone to be visible.It is good value for ~£5 (though less so once you factor in the ~£5 postage and packaging, which I think is steep and have fed back to the seller separately) and is in stock unlike the official bumper from Google. The shiny finish to the plastic I'm less keen on, but it reflects (ho, ho...) the price.After some fiddling, I managed to get the bumper to work with a screen protector (it's possible to tuck the edges of the protector under). However, the left edge of the bumper seems a bit loose, which wouldn't be so bad, but it is intermittently interfering with the protector, causing it to lift. I'll keep an eye on this, as thankfully there is a 3 year warranty from Poetic.All in all, no regrets, and I'd recommend the bumper.