I got the Seidio Surface two weeks ago and am expecting to receive the Seidio Active today from UPS. Obviously being thicker with the rubber skin and the hard plastic skeleton, the Active will provide greater protection, however, it does come at the cost of being thicker. The Surface does have a rubbery surface, so it does help to provide some grip. If you are planning on using it and want to put the phone in your jeans pocket, a slimmer case like the Surface will help to make it easier to put in and take out. Comparing the Surface to the Otterbox Commuter (I believe the size of the Commuter is comparable to the Active), the Commuter is about 50% thicker than the Surface. If you want the phone to be as close to the original size as possible, then the Surface is the one you want. In my opinion, the phone itself is so thin to begin with, a thicker case like the Active or Commuter makes it more comfortable to hold in your hand.
The last time I bought the Active, it was for the Thunderbolt and I didn't think highly of the quality. The hard plastic portion of the case had parts that went over four corners of the phone and the middle of the phone on each side. The rubber part of the case was a bit loose and over time it would sag in the areas of the phone that was not covered by the plastic shell.
EDIT: Just received the Active case, and I don't really like it. Just like the Active case I had with the Thunderbolt, the rubber portion of the case is very soft, so that wherever the plastic shell does not cover the rubber case, you can easily pull the rubber part off of the case. For example, when putting the case into the Active holster, the latch at the top of the holster snags against the rubber portion of the case and pulls it off the phone. However, the Active case is thinner than the Otterbox Commuter. By eyeballing it, the Active case is roughly halfway in size in between the Surface and the Commuter. I think I'll end up returning the Active case, it just isn't as nice as the Otterbox.
