X-Doria’s taken its classic Defense Lux case in a stylish new direction with its new Wooden Line, taking the same basic design of the Lux cases and backing them with a real wood finish. It adds a nice touch of old-world class to an already nice case design, and it’s worth mentioning that X-Doria’s done a good thing with the pricing on the entire Defense Lux line of cases since we first reviewed the iPhone 6 and 6s versions; the basic cases now sell for a considerably lower price of $35, with a $5 premium added onto the wood versions.
Lux Wood is available in two colour options — bamboo with a silver metal frame and walnut with a black metal frame.
Other than the wood panelling, the design of X-Doria’s Defense Lux remains the same as before — a soft inner rubber layer wraps around your iPhone, onto which a machined aluminum outer frame snaps to surround the edges, providing additional drop protection and metallic button covers. The result is “military-grade” drop protection (X-Doria claims its tested to survive 6.6-foot drops onto concrete) in an attractive case.
There’s also an oversized lip on the front for added screen protection, and full coverage on all edges; of course, you’ll have the usual issues with dock compatibility, but that’s true of almost any properly protective case, however Defense Lux does provide a slightly better degree of dock compatibility — if you snap open the bottom edge of the aluminum frame you can fit your iPhone into some docking accessories without having to remove the case entirely, but it’s still a tradeoff between using a protective case and being able to dock your iPhone in a typical Lightning dock.
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