The Defender series from otter box has a reputation of providing extreme and excellent protection for a wide range of devices on the market today.

I have been using this case for a good two weeks on my iPad now, so lets go over the pros and cons and what I have noticed.

In terms of what comes in the box when you purchase this case, it comes with a OtterBox microfiber to clean the device screen before you apply the screen protector it comes with as well. Otterbox’s screen protectors they ship with their cases are amazing, I still have the screen protector on my iPhone that came with my OtterBox commuter series case in February.

There is only one area where the OtterBox didn’t really please me, and that was removal of the case. Installation wasn’t that big of a problem, but removal sure was. Once the case is on your iPad is is bound on extremely tight and is very hard to pry off and remove. I actually had to use a screw to pry it off.

The second thing I noticed is that when I showed my iPad case to my friends, they commented on how heavy it was. So the defender series will add a little bit off weight and bulk to the iPad, but personally I think it is totally worth it.

Even though you may think that the tiny bit of extra bulk added to the iPad is a con, it adds to the extreme protection this case offers which is excellent. The Defender features a two layer case design. The first layer encasing your iPad in a durable plastic shell, and the second layer providing a shock resistant gel like rubber shell. This case also features a removable screen cover that can easily be snapped on the front or the back of the device for transit, and doubles as an iPad stand!

Even though this case is so thorough at protecting your device it still allows easy access to all the available buttons and ports for syncing, and using headphones.

In conclusion, do you really need the OtterBox Defender? If you are just using your iPad for everyday use like around the house, or in a business office environment, then probably not, in fact I would recommend checking out the Commuter series case from OtterBox. However if you are using your iPad outside, on the job, at the construction site and or in other heavy duty areas, this iPad case is an essential for you!

iPhone OS 4.0 is on its way very shortly. Apple has officially announced that on Thursday April 8th 2010 they will be holding a press conference in Cupertino to highlight the new features and specifications of the new firmware. I may end up doing a video on this, but considering the conference is tomorrow, I would much rather make a detailed post about my predictions and thoughts on what we might be seeing in iPhone OS 4.0.

Some features I think we might be seeing rolled out on Thursday are a new home screen design, multitasking, voice to text services and a unified inbox like on the mail app in Mac OS X – there are other speculations like support for video conferencing and integrated ad support as well.

The New iPhone Home Screen has been speculated about for quite some time now. A lot of users void Apples TOS and preform a jailbreak on their device because they are sick of the default Apple home screen that hasn’t seen an update since iPhone OS 1.0. Now that the iPad has been released, you will notice Apple has now let people add a custom picture background to their device(s), so I for sure think that  a new home screen update is on the horizon.

Multitasking is something that has been talked about for a while on the iPhone OS and all mobile firmwares. We first saw it work very nicely when the Palm Pre was released last June. However it will be a tricky task trying to get it on the iPhone. 90% of all computer crashes are a result of the user being oblivious to the fact that there are 10 programs or services running and their computer can’t handle it. Lets face it, the iPhone and the iPod touch are nice devices, but they can’t handle much without lagging or crashing. If this did happen, I would hope Apple integrates a expose like feature activated by certain hand gestures.

Voice to text is something that a lot of mobile phones support these days. When the iPhone 3GS came out we were introduced to voice commands on the phone. Given the recent laws that have been passed in Canada and in the United States about using your cellphone when driving, I can see Apple including a voice to text offer for email and SMS messaging. I also think they might include a text to voice feature that reads words on the screen.

Unified inbox is desperately needed on the iPhone. Anyone that currently has an iPod touch, iPad or iPhone and uses the mail app for multiple emails is familiar with the HUGE pain in the ass that occurs because there isn’t one inbox where all your emails go to, they are all separate. So for instance on my phone, I have 4 emails set up. 1 is a Gmail account and the others are @lukedimarco.com accounts. If I am in my Gmail inbox checking email and I get a message from my @Lukedimarco.com account, I have to sign out of the Gmail and click my way back through to the inbox I want. So much time would be saved if there was one unified inbox for everything to come through.

These are just some of the features I assume we will be seeing for sure tomorrow, and  yes, they are just predictions. What are you hoping for in the new iPhone OS or in the new iPhone in June? Let me know in the comments below!