Seidio Surface with metal kickstand for the HTC One M8 review
The Seidio Surface is a sturdy protective case for your HTC One M8 that provides both decent drop protection and a kickstand to remedy the horrible shortcomings of a media device with no good resting viewing angle.
Before I begin the Surface review, if you’re looking for a case for your HTC One M8, be sure and check out our giveaway of ten Seidio Dilex cases.
The case itself unfortunately flies in the face of what HTC is attempting to do with the One series. It covers up the sleek unibody construction, although it also protects that unibody construction when you’re out doing something that might damage it.
Seidio’s Surface offerings generally don’t interfere with the operation of a phone, but it appears in this particular incarnation of the Surface that the IR blaster is covered by a non-transparent piece of plastic. While the IR blaster is next to useless to me in everyday life, it’s something you might want to consider if you’re the type of person who takes their One M8 into a sports bar and changes all the channels to the Sprout Sharing Show. Update: scratch that, IR blaster works fine. Problem was on my TV’s end.
The interior of the Seidio Surface with metal kickstand case contains what appears to be some felt to cushion the phone from any drops and secure it from moving without adding any scratches. I don’t think with this particular device it’s going to do anything one way or the other, but it’s there.
The case is two parts and snaps together for form Voltron: Defender of the One M8. Unlike previous versions of this case, it’s remarkably easy to snap on and off. I don’t think this is going to affect the drop protection of the device any, but I thought I would mention it.
Seidio Surface Kickstand
The kickstand is made of what appears to be aluminum, and has a small magnet that keeps it from popping out. While I’ve never had this happen to my devices, I’ve had multiple reports of previous kickstands like this losing the magnet. If yours does, let us and Seidio know. They’ve been pretty good about making things right in the past so no reason to be angry about something they’ll take care of.
The magnet and kickstand feel kind of cheap with how light it is; however, I attempted to bend the thing, and it would take some serious force to take that out. It’s either well built or I’m really a lot weaker than I think I am.
One thing that disappoints me with this kickstand, though, is you’re only able to use it in landscape mode. For media viewing that’s ok, but if you’re playing something like Words with Friends and just want to sit back and contemplate your next move, the stand won’t hold your phone up in portrait orientation.
The kickstand base also looks like it was thrown on as an afterthought. It actually looks like you could remove the kickstand assembly if you tried hard enough. It adds some bulkiness to your phone that most of the rest of the case did not manage to.
If I remember correctly, most of these kickstands were inline in past cases. I guess with a curved case, Seidio had to come up with a new way to add it in.
Overall impressions
It interferes with the IR blaster (not really important to me), doesn’t seem to affect NFC, the kickstand acts like an EVO in portrait mode, easy on/off, not terribly bulky, and as a case does its job.
I’m not terribly enthused about it, but have decided that since I’ve been looking at cases for phones for nearly four years now, that’s probably just burnout. It’ll do its job as a case, most of the job as a case with a kickstand, and doesn’t look too shabby.
It works well, comes in at slightly higher price point than I’d like, and is available in five colors.
You can get the Seidio Surface with Metal Kickstand from Seidio Online or Amazon (which is slightly more expensive at the moment).
