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Put On and Remove OtterBox Defender for iPhone 3G / 3GS
Introduction
The OtterBox Defender case for the iPhone 3G / 3GS can keep your expensive investment from meeting an early end. OtterBox Defender cases do this by offering two layers of protection: a hard plastic case and a soft silicone case. However, the cost of the added security is the confusion that can result when you first try taking the case apart and putting it back together, which is required to clean the case and access your iPhone 3G / 3GS.
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Put OtterBox Defender Case on iPhone 3G / 3GS
- Slide the front of your iPhone 3G / 3GS into the lip on the back of the OtterBox Defender's hard plastic shell's front cover so that you can see the phone's touchscreen through the window on the front cover of the shell and the Power button through the hole on the bottom of the front of the hard plastic shell.
- Slide the back part of the hard plastic shell down onto the lip on the lower part of the front part of the hard plastic shell that's cupping the iPhone 3G /3GS.
- Carefully squeeze the front and back pieces of the hard plastic shell together at the points where there are plastic nubs sticking out along the edges of the hard plastic shell. There are six plastic nubs in total: two along the left side, three along the right side and one along the top. Squeeze the hard plastic case at these plastic nubs until the gap between the front and back parts of the shell closes and the two pieces feel firmly connected.
- Slide the lower part of the iPhone 3G / 3GS into the lower part of the soft silicone shell.
- Gently slide the upper-right corner of the soft silicone shell up and over the upper-right corner of the phone, then gently slide the upper-left corner of the hard plastic shell up and over the left side of the device. You'll notice small black nubs on the soft silicone shell sticking out over where the two large black nubs on the lower-left and lower-right sides of the hard plastic shell.
- Carefully fit the soft plastic nubs into the tiny slots on the hard plastic nubs. The OtterBox Defender case has now been successfully placed on the iPhone 3G / 3GS.
Removing OtterBox Defender Case From iPhone 3G / 3GS
- Carefully slide your fingers in between the soft and hard shells on either the left or right side of the touchscreen to get a finger underneath the soft shell.
- Gently pry the soft nubs out of the slots in the nubs on the hard plastic shell on each side of the iPhone 3G / 3GS so the soft nubs are sitting outside of the slots, similar to the way they were before you fit the two pieces together when assembling the OtterBox Defender case for your iPhone 3G / 3GS.
- Because there is more silicone on the lower section of the soft shell, slide your finger between the hard and soft shell on either side of the touchscreen similar to the way you did to remove the soft nubs from the hard nubs and then continue sliding your finger down carefully to pry the lower part of the soft shell from the bottom of the phone until the lower part of the soft shell is sitting behind the back of the phone.
- Gently slide a finger between the hard and soft shell on either side of the iPhone 3G / 3GS, which will be very easy because the lower half of the soft shell should be hanging off of the back, and gently pry the top part of the soft shell off of the phone and remove it, leaving just the hard shell on the phone.
- With the back of the iPhone 3G / 3GS facing you, slide a flathead screwdriver into the groove on the plastic nub located in the center of the top of the hard shell.
- While holding the phone steady, simultaneously lift up on the flathead screwdriver handle and push forward with the screwdriver until you can feel the front and back sections of the hard plastic cover separate. It's important to be very careful during this step to not be too forceful, which could result in your damaging either your OtterBox Defender case or the iPhone 3G / 3GS. It's important to note at this point that you won't be able to complete separate the two pieces of the hard plastic case at this point, you're just looking to loosen the top nub so that the two hard plastic pieces aren't connected at that point.
- Taking care to not re-close the top nub that you just loosened, position the phone with the back facing you and the left side pointing up.
- Slide the flathead screwdriver into the groove on the hard plastic nub on the center of that side and repeat the process you used to loosen the top nub and separate the hard plastic pieces at that point.
- After loosening the nub on the left side, position the iPhone with the back still facing you and the right side pointing up. Again, insert the flathead screwdriver into the groove on the nub in the center of that side and separate the two hard plastic pieces.
- Lift and remove the back plastic piece to completely separate the pieces.
- Lift and remove the iPhone 3G / 3GS from the lip on the front part of the hard plastic case. You've now completely removed the OtterBox Defender case from your iPhone 3G / 3GS.