I received this case last week from Verizon's website. Regular price is $34.99 and I paid around $26 due to my discount. It is a hard case that allows you to store three or four credit cards within. Unlike some other cases, this one allows you to use a dock while the case is on. It is rubberized inside and has a hard shiny plastic on the outside. While I wouldn't call it rugged, it would protect the phone as much as the Case-Mate Pop! series or other similar phones. I think at it's thickest part it's around 13-14mm thick which is almost double the thickness of the iphone. I use my phone naked but bought this for times when I'm traveling or doing outdoors type of activities. To put the phone in the case you slide it in from the bottom, rather than pressing it in from the front. One annoyance is that you can hear the cards "rattling" around inside the case. It's not a big deal but a little strange to hear. Overall I'd give it a 3.5/5 and less if I had to pay full retail.