iLuv Cases for the iPhone 4

The iLuv Press Release states:

iLuv, the leader in providing the most appealing, innovative, and relevant products for iPhone, iPad, iPod and Macbook, is pleased to announced a new line of creative graphic designed cases and a screen protectors for Apple’s new iPhone 4. Ranging from dual layer mix and match cases, metallic cases, leather cases, soft coated ultra thin silicone cases to 2-way privacy screen protectors and glare-free screen protectors, this series of iPhone inspired cases presents a great protective solution for any new iPhone 4 owner. The entire line of new Apple iPhone 4 accessories will be available starting in June for prices ranging from $14.99 to $49.99 at www.i-luv.com.

“We are pleased to have these ready in the market for the release of iPhone 4 so that iPhone 4 owners will have the immediate opportunity to express themselves with color and style while protecting their newest purchase” says Howard Kim, the Marketing Manager at iLuv. “We have created a design and style option to meet every personality.”

iCC727 FUSION: A dual layer case made of silicone and PC with stand – $34.99 MSRP

iCC728 FUSION: A dual layer case made of silicone and PC and available in multiple colors for mixing and matching options - $29.99MSRP

iCC731 EMOTICON: A soft coated ultra thin hard case featuring an emoticon design with a variety of color options to choose from - $29.99 MSRP

iCC736 NATURE: A soft coated ultra thin hard case featuring a nature oriented print pattern - $29.99 MSRP

iCC725 DREAM: A soft coated TPU case available in a variety of colors including purple, pink, blue, black and white - $29.99 MSRP

iCC733 SILK: A soft-coated translucent ultra thin hard case available nine color options - $29.99 MSRP

iCC729 SENTINEL: A metallic case available in bronze, gold, chrome and titanium - $29.99 MSRP

iCC700 EDGE: A silicone trim case with dual films available in 8 color options - $24.99 MSRP

See below for their email:

Good morning,

I’ve had a chance to read your review about our ecovez collection. It’s unfortunate that our product didn’t impress you but we here at Innovez appreciate your honesty.  Innovez is always striving to find ways to improve our products and satisfying our customers. We would like to let you know that our logos have been greatly improved. The front ecovez logos are completely flush. The edges of the logo on the back has been rounded and lowered to a minimal.  We kept it slightly raised for added texture but now when you run your fingers over it, it’s extremely smooth. We also used a new eco-friendly adhesive technology that binds the aluminum logos to the polycarbonate plastic material, now achieving a better molecular interaction that ensures the logos won’t fall out. Per our last conversation, if you recall, I had let you know that we were working on a biodegradable plastic covering for the individual case within the [wooden] shell packaging and we have accomplished this. I have provided images for your viewing as well. We are currently in the process of making further improvement to our case and taking all customer and product reviewers comments to consideration and implementation. In that being said, we would like you to acknowledge these improvements and perhaps provide a follow-up review for our product?

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,
[name removed]

So, in the near future there may be another review of the new and improved Ecovez cases! Like I said in the original review, I like the design but there were some issues with it’s implementation. If these have been resolved then this would greatly improve my review. It just goes to show that there are companies who listen and actively improve on their products.

Shortly after we covered Jivo’s biodegradable case at MWC earlier this year we received an email from Innovez claiming that they had released the first ever translucent biodegradable case made using EcoPure (the same ingredient that makes Jivo’s cases biodegradable). I was sent some images to tease me while the samples were in transit from Chicago. I like the design of the case – it’s certainly different with the curve on the bottom left and the cutaway for the camera lens. I’m not particularly bothered about the whole ‘eco’ side of things but at least this case dared to be different.

On arrival I was faced with three cases – a red, a green and a black/grey. The packaging was quite neat and consisted of a wooden box held together with magnets and enclosed by a card wrap; simple and very effective. I was, however, surprised to see that the glossy plastic case was laid in the slightly rough wooden case completely naked. The box wasn’t a tight fit so the iPhone case had a bit of leeway to move around and it was actually a little marked when first taken out of the box. The green and black cases were sent in small plastic bags to reduce the weight of the overall package and so were nice and shiny still. OK, so they’re trying to be eco-friendly here but surely there are eco-friendly wrappers they could have used to protect the case from the packaging?

Anyway, enough of the packaging. Why do I dislike the case so much? Well, firstly it is quite a snug fit and the plastic is quite hard. How can I put this politely…?! It scratched my iPhone. Yes, you read that right, the case designed to protect my iPhone actually damaged it. It’s not a massively obvious scratch, the camera can’t even pick it up, but I know it’s there and it is most visible as it runs top to bottom over the shiny silver Apple logo. Not happy. One theory I had for this was maybe a bit of the wooden box, even only a tiny grain, had landed inside the case as there was no protection and then when the iPhone was slid into it the tight fit caused it to rub against the back of the phone.

The stylish aluminium logos are not flush with the case but stick out about a millimetre – possibly slightly more. They are sharp and they hurt if you catch your fingers on one of their many edges. I actually ripped my jeans pocket with the Ecovez case – the back logo got caught when I was attempting to answer a call. Perhaps more worrying, although some effort was involved, I managed to draw blood form a friends hand using the aluminium inserts [do not try this at home, this was done by 'trained' professionals etc etc etc]. Do NOT put this case down on a table – it WILL scratch it.

The case fits snugly and allows access to the dock, speaker, microphone, volume and headphone sockets. However, one design flaw, in my opinion, is at the top of the back of the case. My iPhone, like yours, curves in at the top but the case, because the iPhone slides in from the top, is not fitted to this curve. As such there is a ‘lip’ at the back which, like the ‘recycle-leaf’ logo, will catch on your fingers, hands and pocket lining. It’s also actually quite sharp itself. There’s a theme here… Some more rounded corners wouldn’t go amiss! The inside corner of the case is rounded, presumably to allow the iPhone to slip in easier, but the outer corners are too sharp.

In general the case is very sturdy but the top could be a weak point. The top is all open and the front, as you can see in the photo’s, is also quite thin. It has a lot of ‘give’ in it – it may be strong enough to withstand a lot of force but I didn’t want to test it to destruction! It certainly didn’t ‘feel’ particularly strong and sturdy like the rest of the case. I actually thought it could snap on the many occasions the case got caught in my pocket.

I mentioned earlier about the aluminium logo’s sticking out from the rest of the case – this actually causes another issue. The pieces are glued in place and, because they are sharp, get caught on things and generally like to cause trouble, they also come off. Within an hour of using the case half of the Innovez logo had fallen off in my pocket…

So, there you have it! A nice idea, but poorly executed. I like the general design of the case such as the parts that overlay the front of the iPhone but it is sadly let down by poor manufacturing. It physically hurts to use this case, and it’s too damaging to your iPhone, your clothes and your friends hands! Sorry Innovez, it’s just not quite there…

(Weird) Competition Time!

I have three of these cases and, to be perfectly honest, I don’t want any of them. Therefore, if for some strange reason you want one (maybe as a present for an ex or your Mother-in-Law) then follow us on Twitter @Wired4iPhone and keep a look out for a competition coming soon!

Competition has now been launched. Simply tweet the following 140 characters:

Win 1 of 3 Ecovez iPhone cases (http://bit.ly/cT9uWf) RT with this hashtag: #w4iECOVEZ. Random winners selected Tue 1st Jun. (@Wired4iPhone)

Ten One Design Tango case for iPhone

OK so what yet another iPhone case? Well yes, but this one is slightly different from the crowd. The new Ten One Design Tango cases are made of genuine leather (as are lots of others) but the thing that makes it stand out from the rest is the addition of a Pogo Stylus.

For those of you used to PDAs a stylus is a prerequisite to used the device. This is not so with the iPhone. The iPhone uses a capacitive screen which is not pressure sensitive so a normal stylus does not work. The Pogo Stylus is a plastic stick with what looks like a lump of foam on the end. This simulates the moistness and conductivity of a finger, actually allowing more accurate positioning than a somewhat larger finger.

The case including the stylus is available for $39.95 from www.tenonedesign.com. The full press release follows:

New Tango genuine leather case dances its way into iPhone protection market; now available at TenOneDesign.com

Montclair, NJ (May 17, 2010) – Ten One Design, the ground-breaking creators of the Pogo Stylus, the first capacitive touch-screen stylus for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, now offers a stylish, complete protective solution for the iPhone 3GS – and the world’s first case specifically made for the Pogo Stylus.

The new Tango case, which comes pre-bundled with the Pogo Stylus, features a durable genuine full-grain black leather exterior that flips open to reveal the ultra-soft micro-suede interior, available in two vivid colors: Aqua or Lime. The outer stitching and embroidered Ten One Design logo, also in Aqua or Lime, mimic the inner lining to pull the whole design together.

The design is as functional as it is fashionable. To keep the iPhone and the company’s signature Pogo Stylus safe, secure and accessible, the Tango offers a built-in glossy clip to hold everything in place. Plus, the integrated magnetic clip keeps the front flap closed and secure for full iPhone protection.

The case was designed with a circular cut-out to accommodate picture/video capture and avoid lens obstruction. It even offers convenient dual storage pockets for credit cards, cash, driver’s license and other slim items.

The included Pogo Stylus, a $15 value alone, offers users a quick, easy and accurate way to navigate, type and sketch on their capacitive touch screens. The Tango Case, bundled with the Pogo Stylus, is available at www.TenOneDesign.com for just $39.95.

The idea behind the Powermat system is one of simplicity – charge as many devices as you can using a single socket. For this to work you need to remove the main obstacles; those obstacles are generally in the form of custom, proprietary and generally different power adapters. What you have with the Powermat system is a charging mat that you place your device on and, well, it charges it – without the wires/adapters.

This site is called Wired4iPhone for a reason: we like iPhones. As such I will mainly concentrate on the iPhone Powermat solution and only briefly mention these ‘other devices’ that apparently exist. So, the obvious question is how do you charge your iPhone without connecting a lead? Well, basically you stick it in a Powermat case which has a direct connection into the “dock-connector” and a power receiver on the back. The case itself is sturdy, made out of a slightly rubberised plastic and adds around 3mm to the depth of the phone and about 6-8mm to the bottom where the dock connector fits into it. While it’s not overly bulky, the receiver does tend to cause an unsightly bulge in your pocket – perhaps if the case had been designed to blend into the receiver a bit more rather than sticking out so much then it may have ‘felt’ a bit better in your pocket. While in the case you can easily get to the power, and volume buttons but the silent switch is tricky to control though – it is easy to flick it away to put it into silent but, because of it’s proximity to the case, it is hard to actually pull back to turn silent mode off. The case also has openings at the base for the microphone and speaker.

So, your iPhone has it’s new jacket on so what next? Well, you need to charge it! This is beautifully simple – put it on the charging mat. Yes, that’s it – no fiddling with the lead, simply place it on one of the ‘dots’ on the mat. These ‘dots’ are magnetic so if you are very slightly off target it will pull it into place. You will also get a confirmatory noise and the white LED will glow (both the sound and lights can be turned off). This particular mat has 3 charge points but you will also be able to buy single point mats in the near future – these were on display at MWC but are not yet on the Powermat website. The Powermat will not overcharge your iPhone as it detects when it is fully charged and turns off the supply. I’m pretty sure it is all more technological that this but from an end-user point of view it’s all very simple!

Rather annoyingly the Powermat iPhone case does not use the standard iPhone sync lead, instead the case has a micro-USB connection (the lead is included). The case is actually quite tricky to remove so unless you have another micro-USB lead in the car then you will start to get fed up with the whole set up…

Another disadvantage is the likelihood that you are the only person you know with a Powermat set up. This means when you go away you either need to take the Powermat with you (a normal charger is way smaller) or remove the case (somewhat defeating the point). This is, however, a chicken and egg situation: as more people use Powermat, more charging points will be available, but without the availability of public or commonplace mats then fewer people might be inclined to use the system…

All is not lost though, at MWC the company were showing off their OEM kit along with a camcorder battery, smartphone battery and kettle all with Powermat built in. Once companies see the potential of such a system then it should be easier to get your device(s) charged.

As well as the iPhone case you can also get an add-on for a Nintendo DS, back plate for Blackberry, iPod dock and the Powercube. I managed to get a Powercube and iPod dock for this review.

The iPod dock is adjustable according to which model you have and does a good job of holding your ipod in place thanks to a rubber grip. Again, to charge you place the dock on the charge mat. The Powercube is for practically everything else. It contains a receiver, a mini-USB fly-lead and a box of adapters. The adapters fit onto the mini-USB and allow you to connect various phones and devices. It’s quite handy and they’ve even printed the adaptor type onto each one in case you get your Samsung mixed up with Sony Ericsson! This brings us back to the chicken and egg again, you have more adapters and leads than if you just took a single charger but then if more places had a Powermat available then it would actually give you less to carry.

Overall it’s a good system. The parts are well made and don’t feel cheap. Perhaps that is because they’re not cheap! The set up below costs a rather staggering £169.96 (Powermat £69.99, iPhone case £34.99, iPod dock £34.99, Powercube £29.99). Again, once something like this becomes more common place then the prices may drop – or at least I would hope so!

The whole thing works well but is let down somewhat by the lack of places, for example hotels, who offer a Powermat as a service. But then more people must embrace the technology before anything like that will happen. If they hurry up and market the replacement smart phone batteries they had on show, as well as pushing the OEM take up, then it could speed up the whole process.

Jivo also have some eco-headphones, ‘Elements’, which are made from renewable cedar-wood. I’ve not seen (or heard) these in use but we will try to get some for review in the near future.

They also have a range of other, non-eco, cases and accessories so head over to their website and see what they have on offer!

Morphie Juice Pack holster

The Morphie press release follows:

Mophie Debuts Hip Holster Premium Leather Cases for Juice Pack Series

The mophie Hip Holsters 5000, 5500, and 6000 are available now for $29.95 from www.mophie.com

Morphie Juice Pack holster

Trexta iPhone cases - iHug

Trexta are a new company with manufacturing based in Turkey and also China. They are creating a worldwide distribution network and the cases will soon have a quality reputation rivalling that of Krussell or Proporta. The price ranges from about £20 through to the top of the range models at about £70.

The case that caught my eye was the iHug, a wrap round case with a neck strap. The iHug look like a person cuddling the iPhone.

Trexta iPhone cases - iHug

Trexta iPhone cases - iHug

Trexta iPhone cases - Kleio

Trexta iPhone cases - Ursa

Trexta iPhone cases - Cetus

For more information visit the Trexta site

Clarifi has a unique feature, a sliding lens on the rear of the case that brings macro functionality to the iPhone camera. Slide it into place and you bring items into focus as close as 4 inches form the lens. Slide it into the off position and you’re back to normal.

It works just as claimed, if you ever need to grab a close-up then this is the solution. Not only that, the case is a typical Griffin design with a smart, modern look, a two part matte/gloss rear panel and the ‘Easy Dock’ design.

Easy Dock is Griffin’s solution to case compatibility with iPhone Docks. The shell comes in two parts with the lower third easily removable for use in a dock. Inserting the iPhone into the case is also simple. This solution is so much easier than the designs that have a front/rear case that clips together and can be a real ***** to separate when you need to!

Without Macro Lens on left, with on Right

Click here for more information at Griffin’s website.

My clumsy hands and often gadget crammed backpack meant protection was essential. When I first saw the Defender 3G I’ll confess I was less than enamoured. Hiding a design classic such as the iPhone under the protective shell of the Otterbox case just seemed wrong.

Otterbox have tipped their hat to the Apple Design ethos by also incorporating a little window on the rear so that you can see the Apple Logo. Well actually they may have done this because the logo is mirrored for use when taking self portraits with the camera but it does allow you to show you have a white 16GB model if you’re that way inclined!

The Otterbox iPhone 3G Defender case consists of a two-piece hard plastic shell (front and back) with built-in screen protector,  a soft rubber armour ‘wrap’ and a holster with dual purpose rotating belt-clip.

As with some other phone products Otterbox offer, this is neither sold as nor intended to be waterproof. It is a ‘protective’ case only so don’t go swimming with it.

The holster is worthy of special mention here. As with other Otterbox products, the iPhone clips into the holster screen inwards for added protection. The belt clip rotates 360º and has a lip on it to ensure it cannot slip off your belt.

But what is especially useful is the clip can be locked in the ‘open’ position. You can then insert the iPhone ‘screen out’ and use the holster as a stand in landscape format when watching videos etc, very handy!

It all works very well, ensures your prized possession is protected and if you use the iPhone as a Video player then the stand solution is just the ticket.

www.otterbox.com