Griffin Reveal case for iPhone 5/5s review

Sometimes it's good to go bare — or as bare as possible without leaving yourself exposed. I'm not talking about clothing, I'm talking about your iPhone case. For those of us with a desire to expose our phones without exposing them to the elements, Griffin has the Reveal.

The Reveal is a one-piece case design that's open on the front. A colored bezel surrounds the edge of the phone — Griffin makes them in a variety of colors to suit your taste — and the back is clear, so you can let your gold, Space Grey or silver-backed iPhone 5s shine through.

The Reveal is made of a single piece of transparent polycarbonate, about 1.6 mm in thickness, so it adds barely measurable heft to your device. The back has a cutout for the camera and flash.

The edge bumper is rubber, giving you some nice grip, and there are cutouts for the hold switch, speaker, headphone jack and Lightning connector. The Lightning connector cutout is large enough even to accommodate the bulkier connectors on some third-party cables that I've seen interfere with some case designs.

The bumper also has nubs over the iPhone's volume up and down and power buttons, molded with enough precision that you still feel a satisfying click when you press them.

The downside to the Reveal's clear design is that it shows off scuffs and marks a little too easily. One afternoon in my pants pocket and resting on tabletops, and I was already seeing some marks that wouldn't buff out with cleaner.

The good

  • Slim, lightweight case
  • Clear back protection to show off your iPhone's color
  • Grippy rubber bezel

The bad

  • No glass protection
  • Transparent design shows scuffs and marks

The bottom line

Not everyone wants or needs a case that's going to totally obscure the phone it's protecting. Griffin's Reveal is designed to specifically show your phone off, with a splash of eye-catching color around it.

  • $17.95 - Buy now
Peter Cohen
6 Comments
  • I really love this case because of the 'pros' you have. I Love the clear back and the case is really slim but grippy enough. But like you said the back get scuffed way too easily. Also dust gets into the case too easily and eventually scuffs the phone a little. Sent from the iMore App
  • Is this case a new release? It's basically the same as the Ringke Fusion I've been using since I got my 5S and Nexus 5 - but with a bigger hole over the camera which looks worse. http://www.rearthusa.com/apple-iphone-5-5s-fusion-case
  • Actually, I like the look of the Ringke case better. Either way, thanks for the review!
  • I bought this case the day I got my iPhone 5 a year and a half ago and just recently replaced it. I love the size, it hardly adds any bulk to the phone but provides ample protection for those accidental drops. Over time (a year or so) the clear plastic back began separating from black rubber surround. That could be a result of having to remove the case frequently to use my Oloclip, but it's a drawback nonetheless. Like oscaramzz, I too had a lot of dust and lint getting in between the back of the case and the phone which caused small scuffs on the aluminium back.
  • Thanks for the review on this case. Nice case. Sent from the iMore App
  • Nice case, Yeah this case is their newly released case and the price isn't bad.
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HFPK1CK/?tag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUimUd...