With the exception of today, the weather in NYC has been pretty crappy lately. I really wanted to take this LifeProof iPhone 4 Case out for a test-run at an actual beach but the weather has more or less trapped me in my apartment. So what’s the next best thing when you don’t have a beach? If you’re me, the next best thing is a bathroom sink.

Ok, so the bathroom sink isn’t the dirtiest place I could have used to test the dirt-proof characteristics of the LifeProof case but it served as a decent substitute for the beach for the water-proof submersion test so I went ahead with it. The video below shows me dunking the LifeProof case with my iPhone 4 in it as it recorded video of me adding water into the sink and eventually submerging the entire case in water.

The verdict? It works as advertised. No leaks, no water damage, and overall a dead-simple case to use. If you find that you’re continuously in the outdoors or underwater, the LifeProof case is the perfect accessory for your iPhone. With its covered and sealed iPhone dock lock and headphone jack plug, the LifeProof kept my iPhone 100% dry. And the best part is that the phone was still usable. If you’re going to use this as your everyday case the one thing you’ll have to get used to is the touchscreen feedback. At times, the plastic cover over the face of the phone didn’t transmit my touch actions to the phone’s screen and I had to literally press down on the phone. It wasn’t a big deal to me but it’s something to note if you plan on typing a lot with this case on.

The case is super-easy to install and take off. If you’ve ever assembled a snap-tite model kit before, then you’ll already have enough experience making sure this case is installed properly on your phone. Just press down hard on all sides and screw tight the headphone jack plug and you’re all set to go swimming, diving, and showering with this baby! Check out the video below if you want to see it done.

My only gripe really about this case is that the build quality seems a bit cheap for a $70 case. Having thin plastic be the only separator between my $500+ phone and its ultimate death in water seemed risky to me at times, but because I was nervous already I ended up taking good care of it under water — hopefully that echoes the same with you if you choose to buy this case. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with this product. I love it when things work exactly the way they’re supposed to — and this waterproof/dirtproof case is precisely both of those things. I recommend it if you want to worry less about your phone getting messed up due to the elements — this case is going to serve you well. Pick one up here!