The CaseCrown Polycarbonate Glider ($10) is a thin, hard-shell slider case with a removable bottom for docking. Although simple in appearance, the case has a few nice subtle design touches, like a non-slip surface, which feels exactly like you’re holding a soft silicone case instead of hard plastic, and a felt lining interior that prevents the case from scratching your iPhone. Overall, it’s a slim, form-fitting case we can recommend for those looking to preserve the general lightweight feel of the iPhone and willing to accept only light protection.
The CaseCrown Glider is what’s known as a slider case, meaning you slide the iPhone into the case guided by the curving sides that serve as rails and which also secure the iPhone in place. The case is split into two pieces. The smaller bottom part is meant to slide off for docking purposes. But the case can be used with most docks even with the bottom half on, the exception being those tightly molded to the iPhone 3G(S)’s shape.
Our favorite feature of the Glider is its surface. While the case is made entirely of of hard plastic, the surface simulates the soft feel and grip of a silicone case. We’re not sure how CaseCrown accomplished this, but we like it a lot. It feels good in the hand, unlike most hard plastic cases that usually have an unpleasant “cheap plastic” feel.
The Otterbox Defender case ($20) for the iPhone 3G/3GS offers the most protection we’ve seen in an iPhone case yet. It surrounds your iPhone with a fortress of hard plastic, soft silicone, and screen protectors, leaving almost no gap unprotected. But protection requires sacrifice, and for the Defender, that sacrifice is convenience. While gaining superb protection from smashes and scractches, you’ll lose dockability, quick access to the iPhone’s ports, and the iPhone’s slim profile.
The Defender's inner hard shell and outer soft shell.
We wish we could say there was one iPhone case that offered it all: complete protection, minimal profile, lightweight, full access, and slick design. Instead, there are just well-made cases designed toward a purpose like fashion, slim profiles, or protection. The Otterbox Defender is designed for consumers who abuse their iPhones.
For protection, the case is composed of two parts: a hard plastic interior and a soft, shock-absorbing exterior. The hard plastic interior snaps together around the iPhone with clasps that lock the two pieces together. Over that goes a soft silicone rubber skin. Together the pieces offer excellent shock absorption for accidental drops.
Case-Mate recently launched a nifty new site called ‘I Make My Case’ that allows you to design your own iPhone case. The interactive website includes art from 10 designers and artists, including the likes of Chuck Anderson, Hannah Stouffer, Anthony Yankovic, and Shadow Chen. The premise of the site is simple—you start with a blank case, add a background color, and experiment with different graphics until you’re satisfied with the design. The design-your-own cases are available for the iPhone 3G and 3GS.
The website is very easy to use, even if it is a bit slow to load at first. I selected the artist Shadow Chen and got to work. The site displays a plain white iPhone case with a subtle Case-Mate logo at the bottom. There are eight background colors to choose from, along with a variety of loops, swirls, and other designs to play with. The undo button comes in very handy if you make a mistake.
All told, it didn’t take more than a few minutes to create a design I was happy with. You can save multiple designs and share them via Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr. Check-out was fast and easy, and since the cases are a bit on the pricey side ($39.99 each), I was glad to see that shipping is free. The case was sent via USPS First Class Mail, and it arrived approximately 10 days after I ordered it.
The Case-Mate case comes in a snazzy white box, which is much better packaging than most iPhone cases. It also comes with a soft cleaning cloth and a screen protector.
The Artwizz SeeJacket Crystal ($25) case is designed to be a full-protection solution for the iPhone, covering both front and back. While we liked the solid feel and 360-degree protection of the case, we’ve noticed a wear-and-tear problem with clear plastic cases in general, and with the SeeJacket specifically, we had problems with decreased touch sensitivity. That and a few other flaws prevent us giving the case a recommendation.
Right off the bat, we had problems with the ClearJacket. The case is composed of two pieces that snap together around the iPhone. It took us a good 15 minutes to get the tiny grooves that ultimately hold the case together to snap into place. It almost seemed as if the case was made too small. The good news is that once the grooves are snapped into place, the case holds together well—we had no fear of it accidentally coming apart during normal use.
Brand new, the case looks nice on the iPhone. At least from the back. The clear plastic allows for the Apple logo and lettering to show, and when looked at from afar, it may appear as if there’s no case at all. The front of the case is a combination of black plastic frame that covers the iPhone’s own black bezel and a clear plastic casing that covers the iPhone’s screen. Also on the front are two visually odd elements: an “L” shaped cutout for the iPhone’s light sensor as well as a thin disc of plastic that goes over the home button (a complaint about which we’ll get to later).
This is the second clear plastic case we’ve reviewed, and we’re noticing a bad trend. The cases show dirt and scratches too well. After using the ClearJacket for only two weeks, it looked like we had been using it for two years instead. The case was covered with scratches and gouges that were made highly visible thanks to the clear plastic. Likewise, dirt and grime was way too visible. One advantage of opaque rubber silicone cases have over hard plastic cases is that silicone doesn’t display such scratches and darker cases can hide dirt.
But the SeeJacket’s killer flaw is that we found it decreases the iPhone’s touch sensitivity. Right off the bat, the iPhone frequently did not recognize our finger touches. We had to be much more deliberate in our touches to get consistent recognition. Overtime, we got used to touching the iPhone in a certain way so that it recognized our fingers, however, we also found that the extreme corners of the screen became dead spots—a big problem when typing in landscape.
The Speck ToughSkin Case ($15) is a silicone rubber case for the iPhone 3G/3GS that offers some of the best protection we’ve seen in an iPhone case. It also provides superior grip thanks to its thick ridges. But it’s not without some tradeoffs. Where the case adds in the areas of protection and grip, it substracts in the areas of slimness and glossiness. Still, if you’re looking for a rugged protective iPhone case, the Speck ToughSkin is one of the better iPhone cases available.
The Tough Skin is made out of silicone rubber, our favorite material for protection, and is only available in black. Underneath the thick rubber outer casing is a thin, flat plastic frame that fits around the iPhone’s screen, serving as a kind of skeletal structure for the outer casing. Continue reading…
The Marware Accent Case ($20) is a stylish, flip-top iPhone case compatible with the 3G and 3GS. The case is a good choice for those who need more protection than the typical plastic case provides, but a few annoyances keep it from being a great everyday case.
The case is constructed from glossy patent leather, and it comes in eight colors including yellow, white, red, pink, orange, blue, black, and brown. I tested the yellow case, which has a soft, light green material on the inside. Other colors have different coordinating colors on the inside. The flip top is secured with two small pieces of velcro, and the case provides access to all ports and buttons. Continue reading…
The Darth Vader Hard Case for iPhone ($30, ships December 8) is now available for preorder in the official online Star Wars store. It features a sweet Darth Vader mask along with the official Stars Wars logo in a simple black & white color scheme. The store description provides very little detail.
SwitchEasy has quickly become a premiere case maker for the iPhone, and we found their RebelSerpent ($20) for the iPhone 3G/3GS to be another successful design for the company. It’s a two-part case made from a combination of a “soft” inner case that snugly fits around the iPhone with a hard polycarbonate spine that adds protection. It’s a rugged case that covers up Apple’s gloss-and-chrome design and replaces it with a monochromatic, masculine look. Overall, the case feels solid and well put together, if a bit heavy, in the hand. It’s a highly functional case with a few minor flaws, and we give it a rating of 9.3 out of 10, highly recommended.
The RebelSerpent is composed of two separate pieces. The inner part is a a soft and snug-fitting plastic that SwitchEasy labels Adaptive Dynamic Soft Polymer (ADSP). Don’t be fooled by the fancy marketing term though, it’s really just a semi-soft but cheap-feeling plastic. This soft inner lining tightly grips the iPhone, preventing the case from slipping off while taking it out of pockets. The soft lining also prevents the hard part of the case from scratching the iPhone, a common problem with hard-shell cases. Continue reading…
The Griffin Reveal ($25) is a hard plastic case for the iPhone 3G and 3GS that features a clear plastic back and a solid-colored rim. It’s an extremely thin and lightweight case that maintains the original look and feel of the iPhone more than any case we’ve seen so far. However, huge flaws in how the case handles the iPhone’s sleep and volume buttons as well as durability issues prevent us from recommending it. We rate it a 5.5 out of 10, not recommended.
Right out of the box, the Reveal did not start off on a good note. There was a hairline crack near the case’s camera hole as well as scratches on the clear plastic. The case didn’t appear to be repackaged, so we’re a bit at a loss what caused it to be shipped in this condition. Continue reading…
With so many poorly made silicone cases out there, it’s nice to come across one with some attention to detail. SwitchEasy Colors ($15) is a silicone case for the iPhone 3G and 3GS available in 10 colors. The case impressed us with its superb, curve-hugging fit and thorough surface coverage. Although not the most stylish case we’ve seen, its overall build quality is excellent, with no loose corners, no frayed edges from sloppy machine cutting, and no dangling rubber threads. Despite a few quibbles with how it handles the home button and ringer switch, we found SwitchEasy Colors to be one of the best all-around cases for the iPhone and rate it a 9.0 out 10, highly recommended.
We found SwitchEasy Colors’ minimalistic form factor very much to our taste. The back of the case is a single color and has a smooth rubber texture. It covers the Apple logo and all of the exposed shiny chrome, taking away the iPhone’s gloss. The case’s smooth texture doesn’t do much to improve the iPhone’s slipperiness, but the soft silicone feels good in the hand.
We loved how the case handled the volume and sleep buttons. Some cases carve out openings around these problematic areas. But the openings are often made too small, making the buttons uncomfortable to use. SwitchEasy Colors takes the better approach of covering the buttons with little raised areas of silicone that simulate buttons. The buttons are very comfortable to use, with no sacrifice in performance.
The case comes with a few extras. Included are two protective screen shields, a plug for the headphone jack, a plug for the docking port, and a small square cleaning cloth. We didn’t find any of the extras particularly useful, as we don’t recommend using screen shields, the cloth is too small to get much use out of, and the plugs aren’t convenient for everyday usage.
In terms of protection for accidental drops, the SwitchEasy Colors offers moderate shock absorption. It’s not a particularly thick case, but its slim form factor is nice for sliding in and out of pockets. We do like the thick rim that sticks up around the iPhone’s screen that should help prevent the screen from cracking when dropped .
We do have two quibbles. The first is the home button. We didn’t like that it’s a different color from the rest of the case, or at least, we’d like the option for the same color. Also, we did not like the feel of the button. Its stiff plastic removes what little tactile feedback there is. While it functions well—meaning the same pressure with your finger gets the same results—there’s a dead feeling to pressing it that is disconcerting.
Our other quibble is a common one with silicone cases: poor access to the ringer switch. The area around the ringer switch is too small and makes it difficult to flip on and off. You must reach with your fingernail, which is uncomfortable. We’re still waiting for a case designer to figure out how to deal with this problem area.
Available in ten colors.
Conclusion
The SwitchEasy Colors case impressed us with its overall quality and attention to detail. The case hugs the curves of the iPhone just right, leaving the iPhone’s distinct shape in place while still offering superb coverage. We prefer silicone cases in general for their convenience (small form factor, easy to put on and remove, dirt resistant), and SwitchEasy Colors is one of the best in class. Despite a few minor quibbles, we found it one of the most well-designed cases we’ve come across and give it a high recommendation with a 9.0 out of 10 rating.
