How you choose to protect--or not protect--your iPhone is a matter of personal choice. Sure, plenty of people like to leave their iPhone naked, reasoning that any protective cover diminishes its sleekness. But the majority of iPhone owners realize it's probably a good idea to give your precious device some degree of armor, particularly if you don't like the idea of seeing your iPhone's lovely finish dinged and scratched up over time.
Going rugged isn't always pretty.
If that's the kind of heavy-duty shielding you're looking for, this is the list for you. Now, we can't guarantee all these cases will protect your iPhone--and particularly its screen--in the event it gets dropped or has a large object fall on it, but at least they give it a better chance of surviving unscathed.
While we tried to pick tough, protective cases that look good and don't make your iPhone too bulky, we should point out that a few of the cases have more extreme designs that aren't intended for everyday use. We should also note that some of the more rugged cases can be a bit of a chore to remove and aren't friendly toward iPod docks. And finally, before slipping your iPhone into any of these case, be sure to wipe your iPhone off carefully because having any bigger dirt particles wedged between your case and the back of your iPhone or the chrome trim can lead to scratches.
Click on any image to begin slideshow.
Note: The top 20 is listed in alphabetical order, not by ranking. If you don't agree with our choices or feel we missed some, please submit a comment, and we'll consider making changes in our next update of the list.
Beamer, an iPhone case with a built-in LED light, will only be available for purchase if at least 500 people preorder it.
(Credit: Quirky.com)It's not like us to get too excited about an iPhone case, but this one shines--literally--because it's the very device I was wishing for last month while traveling in Europe.
This iPhone day shot of the Leaning Tower of Pisa turned out just fine, but my night shots didn't work at all. Beamer would have helped.
(Credit: Michelle Meyers/CNET)Beamer, as the name connotes, is an iPhone case with a built-in LED light you can turn on to use as both a flashlight and a camera flash. Just the thing I needed when I wanted to shoot the Leaning Tower of Pisa at night with my iPhone, having left my real camera back at our hotel.
And it sure would have helped in Paris when we returned at night to our historic apartment building and had to climb six flights up a pitch-black spiral staircase. (I did light the way with my iPhone, but this would have been much better.)
Beamer has a hard-plastic, two-piece design, equipped with a replaceable coin cell battery that provides about 10 hours of illumination. Pressing the silicone button once will turn the light on for 10 seconds. Pressing it twice in a row will leave it on indefinitely, or until you press it a third time. It comes in an array of bright colors.
The case is just the latest design from Quirky, a relatively new collaborative design community that also conceived of the super-cute DigiDude tripod and that cool Watt Time light-bulb shaped alarm clock.
In line with Quirky's crowd-sourced production model, the Beamer won't be available for consumers until 500 orders have been made, at which point those who have committed to buying it will be charged $32. Right now, 44 prospective Beamer owners have preordered.
(Credit:
iSkin)
iSkin's colorful, form-fitting Solo line of iPhone cases has some of the slicker designs out there. Now the company has come out with the "special-edition" Solo FX SE, which sports a "luxurious outer surface treatment" that combines an "understated" matte finish with a "subtle," embossed, designer pattern.
Available in Onyx (black), Cosmo (pink), and Ice (white) for $34.99 (list), the Solo FX SE is the only Solo infused with Microban antimicrobial product protection that iSkin says prevents the growth of odor-and-stain-causing bacteria on the product.
This Solo is also the first to come with two different protective-screen films: one that's clear and one that's mirrored "and comes alive when the iPhone goes to sleep."
Comments? Anybody like iSkin's iPhone cases?
Perhaps you remember Case-mate's 99-cent cardboard iPhone "recession" case, which we wrote about back in September and deemed one of the better product publicity stunts in recent memory. Well, Case-mate is now hosting a decorate-your-recession-case contest with users submitting photos of their creations. The pic with the most votes wins a Suzuki moped from the '80s.
We gotta say, the entries are pretty amusing, and while cardboard is never going to look upscale, the decorated cases are pretty hot in a sort of avant garde way.
Check out the slideshow below and feel free to let us know your favorite. We'll add more photos as entries come in (thanks to Case-mate for allowing us to post them here).
Note: The contest ends at 11:59:59 p.m. ET on November 30, 2009. To enter, visit recessioncase.case-mate.com.
When it comes to in-flight movies, it's hard to beat the convenience of an iPhone or iPod Touch.
But comfort? That's another story. Either you're holding the device upright for 2 hours or propping it awkwardly on the tray table (where the slightest turbulence can knock it over).
I speak from experience when I say that both methods can leave you with strained eyes and a sore neck.
Enter SeatBuddy, which straps your iPhone or Touch to the seat in front of you for comfortable, hands-free, close-to-eye-level viewing.
As you can see in the video, the SeatBuddy is basically a rubberized case with straps that allow it to hang over the top of the seat-back tray table (which must stay closed, natch).
What you don't see in the video is that you can affix Velcro tabs (included) to each strap, thus allowing you to secure the SeatBuddy to a treadmill or the back of a car seat (by wrapping the straps around one of the headrest's poles).
I think this little gizmo is reasonably priced at $19.95 (plus $3.95 for shipping), though obviously there are other solutions that cost less.
For example, if all you need is a stand that'll keep your iPhone propped up on a tray table, it's hard to beat the $5 GoGo Stand (which, incidentally, fits in your wallet).
And don't forget my all-time favorite: The do-it-yourself iPhone business-card stand.
Of course, those solutions don't have quite the same go-anywhere appeal as the SeatBuddy, which also leaves you more room to move around in your seat and reduces the eyestrain that comes from looking downward for hours at a time.
What do you think? Is this the answer to a frequent-flier's prayer, or is $20 too much to pay when you can accomplish more or less the same thing with an airsickness bag?
I got the Jesus phone and a Platinum Plus card. Isn't that enough street cred for you?
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)I'm not a fan of protective case for gadgets (which, as long as they function, are fine the way they are, even with a few scratches). For this reason, the only things I've put on my iPhone 3GS so far, and only when I travel, are the Mophie Juice packs, which add more battery life to the phone.
I just, however, found a new protective case that I actually am going to use more regularly, for the sake of convenience. It's the Case-Mate I.D. case.
Unlike other protective cases that try to be as slim as possible, the I.D. case deliberately bulks out at the phone's back to create a small pouch that's just large enough to fit two credit cards or, in my case, my driver's license and a library card (yes, I read).
Of course, you can swap these out for any two cards you want. The point is this is very convenient, especially when the iPhone is something a lot of us don't want to be separated from. And I would like to stress the inseparable notion, as you definitely don't want to lose the phone and the two important cards attached to it.
Despite the added functionality, the case actually only adds another 2.5 mm (about one-tenth of an inch) of thickness to the phone, compared with other purely protective cases.
Other than that, the Case-Mate I.D. is very much like most protective cases. It comes with an easily attached protective film for the phone's screen and another protective layer for the back of the phone (so the card won't mess up all the fingerprints you've gathered).
The Case-Mate I.D. works with both the iPhone 3G and 3GS. It comes in eight colors and costs $30, which is a little more expensive than other cases that add no extra usability to the phone.
(Credit:
Mophie)
Not everybody may be thrilled that the new iPhone 3G S looks exactly like the old iPhone. But its unveiling brought some good news for iPhone accessory manufacturers, especially those that make iPhone protective cases: they won't have to retool and create new accessories for the iPhone 3G S.
Case in point: Mophie's Juice Pack Air, an iPhone battery extender that doubles as a case and happened to be last week's Crave Giveaway of the week. (You can flip the battery on and off, so it'll only draw power when and if you want it to.)
Mophie claims the Juice Pack Air ($79.99)--which contains a 1200 rechargeable mAH battery and comes in black, white, or purple--nearly doubles the battery life of the iPhone 3G S. According to Mophie, here's the additional battery time provided by Juice Pack Air:
- Standby Time: Up to 270 hours
- Talk Time: Up to 4.5 hours (3G) Up to 10 hours (2G)
- Internet Use: Up to 4.5 hours (3G) Up to 8 Hours (Wi-Fi)
- Audio Playback: Up to 27 hours
- Video Playback: Up to 9 hours
Rarely do technology product titles or company names give me warm, fuzzy feelings, but there's something about iLuv that makes me smile. The accessories-maker's moniker is just so...optimistic. Also pleasing is the company's latest line of iPod-friendly extras, none of which costs more than $29.99. What can I say? I'm a sucker for colorful MP3 player trimmings that won't break the bank. But rather than drone on about the specs here, I've thrown together a gallery so you can take a closer look.
An iPhone sleeve that looks like bacon.
(Credit: Antje)Do you like bacon? Do you like your iPhone? Would you want to dress your iPhone in bacon? Well now you can...sort of.
A German accessory company called Antje has created this delicious-looking iPhone sleeve out of a decidedly nonmeaty felt (Or at least it looks like felt from the pictures). It's only around 25 euros (or $31), so you can go and show off your bacon and iPhone love to the world. But make sure you don't accidentally stick your iPhone in the frying pan, OK?
(Via Engadget Mobile)
(Credit:
Crave UK)
It's rare that we get a mobile phone case that really excites us--as you can imagine--but we think we've found one. The Cygnett GrooveShield Form iPhone 3G case is as simple as it is beautiful--yes that's right, we just called a case beautiful.
The GrooveShield Form is very straightforward: it's shaped in such a way that it hugs your iPhone 3G perfectly and protects the back, corners, and edges from scratches and general wear and tear.
Because of its thinness, the GrooveShield Form almost looks like it's part of the case, and in fact many people who've seen ours thought we had some special-edition ninja iPhone--which is exactly what you want a case to look like.
Depending on your preference, you can get the GrooveShield Form in black, pink, red and check. You'll be able to get your hands on a GrooveShield Form for around $24, but a retailer has yet to be announced.
How does the case look to you?
(Via Crave UK)
