I can’t believe that it’s been almost eight years since we had a review of an Incipio case on The Gadgeteer! Back then, the review was of a generic PDA case. Today I have three iPhone very different cases for you to take a look at.

The three Incipio cases that we’ll be looking at are:

ORION – Leather-like sleeve
Executive – Leather covered plastic shell with belt-clip
Silicrylic – Part silicone skin, part plastic shell

ORION

The ORION is a simply designed protective sleeve.

Available in several colors (Black, Orange, Pink, Cammo, White, Blue, Green, and Brown), I was sent the Black version of this sleeve. It has a smooth leather-like feel, but is made of a synthetic material with a soft micro suede lining.

The iPhone slides into the open topped sleeve and is held securely inside it with friction.

To extract the phone from the sleeve, you use the EasyReach tab. A pull of the tab magically levitates the iPhone an inch or so out the case so that you can grab the top to fully extract it. This is a nice touch.

The materials and workmanship are quite nice. The fact that it isn’t real leather, doesn’t bother me. I like its simple style and would use this case to carry my iPhone in my gear bag.

Price: $19.99

Executive

The Executive case is a combination of leather and plastic, with a belt clip.

Available in seven colors (Black, Camo, White, Red, Brown, Orange and Pink), I was sent the Black version.

The case is comprised of a front and back shell. Each half is made of plastic and is covered in a fine grained leather (the Camo, Pink, Orange cases are made of synthetic leather). The box details mention suede lining. It isn’t suede as far as I can tell. I think it’s just a very thin layer of neoprene.

The way it works is that you place the iPhone in the bottom half of the shell and snap on the top half. What you end up with is a very secure wrap-around protective case with only the display left open.

The Executive case looks like a very tight play through leather case with contrasting white stitching. There are generous openings in the top for the earphone jack and power button.

Also on the bottom for the docking connector.

The cutout on the side for the volume and mute button is a bit small though. Actually, it’s just the top half of the shell that is the problem. The edge of the opening is too low, so you have to use the very edge of your thumb or thumbnail to activate the volume button or mute button.

Except for the side button cutout issue, I like this case. It adds very little bulk to your iPhone, is comfortable to hold in your hand and looks nice.

Price: $24.99

Silicrylic

If you’re a fan of silicone skin type cases, but wish you could have some hard shell protection too, this might be the case for you…

The Silicrylic is a combination soft silicone skin and acrylic shell. This product is available in the color combinations of: Red/Clear, Pink/Clear, Black/Smoke, White/Clear, and Mercury/Smoke. The first color is the silicone skin the the other color is the acrylic shell. I was sent the Pink/Clear version.

Here you see the two parts that make up this case. The skin is a soft stretchy silicone which is very easy to install on the iPhone.

Once the iPhone is in the skin, you just press the phone into the clear plastic shell. You don’t need to worry about it falling off.

There is an opening in the top of the skin for your earphone and a rubber button is over the power button allows for easy access.

A large cutout for the docking connector and speakers is on the bottom.

You can manipulate the volume switch easily, due to another thick rubber button built into the skin. Accessing the mute switch isn’t as easy though. The thickest of the skin, coupled with the plastic shell make it difficult to flip with the tip of your finger. You can use your fingernail though…

The Silicrylic is interesting to look at and feels comfortable in hand. While it won’t protect the display on your iPhone, it should help prevent scratches to the sides and back.

Price: $24.99 (White version is $19.99)

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: Case, iPhone, Leather, Silicone

Incipio iPhone Cases originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 22, 2008 at 4:10 pm.

What kind of case do you use for your iPhone? For me, I tend to keep it naked, but if I did want to use a case with it, I would pick something that added the least amount of bulk and weight. ezGear offers several case options that fit that criteria. They sent me their ezSkin Max and ezSkin Slimline iPhone cases to try out. Here’s what I learned…

When I first opened the box and pulled out the packages, I thought that they had sent me two of the same case. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that each package had a different name: Max and Slimline. It takes an eagle eye to notice the difference between the two products though ;o) More about that farther down in the review.

Package Contents for Either Style

ezSkin
Belt clip
invisibleSHIELD screen protector
Screen protector instruction sheet
Screen cleaner solution

Both the Slimline and Max ezSkins are made of high grade silicone that is thin and light. Both also come with a clear plastic belt clip.

The ezSkin pictured above is the Slimline version. It is available in White, Black, Pink and Blue. As you can see, I was sent the Black version. The silicone material is soft and flexible, which allows you to easily insert and remove the iPhone whenever you need to. Once the phone is inserted properly, all of the button cutouts and ports are lined up as they should be.

There is a main screen cutout, a cutout for the earphone, camera, earphone jack, mute button, volume buttons, power button and docking connector.

If you look closely at the picture above, you’ll notice the one reason why I’m not a big fan of silicon type skin cases. See the dust and lint? I’d just taken the case out of the packaging less than 5 minutes before snapping that picture. In defense of this product though, I really didn’t notice the dust and lint until I saw it in the image. It really isn’t blatantly obvious when you’re handling the case. Lighter colors probably are even less noticeable.

The holster is designed with a rotating belt clip so that you can wear it vertically or horizontally. You insert one end of the phone into the two corner holders and then push the other end into the clip. Inserting it is a simple one-handed operation. However, removing the phone takes two hands…

The Slimline is on top and the Max version is on the bottom

What is the difference between the Slimline and Max versions of the ezSkin? There’s really only one main difference… The corners of the Max version are made of thicker silicone. Yes, that’s it… Both cases are the same price, so that isn’t an issue with choice. I did find one negative point to the Max version though… The thicker material extends over the mute switch, making it difficult to toggle.

Both ezSkins versions are priced at $29.99 and both come with an invisibleSHIELD screen protector that is a $14.95 value by itself. I didn’t install the screen protector on my iPhone, but I’ve installed their products before and have been impressed by their quality. That addition might help sway you to purchase this silicone case over all the other similar products on the market. That said, ezGear ezSkins are easy to use and do help protect your iPhone from everyday abuse.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: Case, iPhone, Silicone

ezGear Slimline and Max skins for the iPhone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 30, 2007 at 11:30 pm.

I don’t use cases for my mobile devices very often these days. I prefer to just put them in a pocket in my gear bag, or jeans. Same goes for my iPhone. I typically just put it in my right cargo pants pocket or back pocket when I’m walking around, and on my desk when I’m not. Even though I don’t use a case very often with my iPhone, I’m always up for testing one. As a result, my first iPhone case review is of iSkin’s revo.

The revo is available in six different colors including: Rah, Zahra, Mojave, Nighthawk, Blade and Diablo. Ummmmm, I don’t know why they didn’t just say: Light Blue, Yellow, Pink, Black, Dark Blue, and Red… I was sent the Dark Blue version of this case.

Each revo comes with a silicone case, Visor screen protector, a protective privacy film, and a port protector.

The port protector is a little silicone plug that you press into the universal dock connector on the bottom of the iPhone. It has cutouts so that the ends do not cover the built in speakers. Of course, you have to remove this plug when you want to charge or sync the iPhone. As a result, this would be the first part of this package that I would toss or lose. I’ve had iPods for years and so far haven’t had an issue with dust in the connector causing problems.

Next up is the privacy film. This stick on protector is similar to the full sized notebook 3M privacy filter that was reviewed here on The Gadgeteer. It is a stiff piece of plastic with a thin cover on each side. You peel the cover off of side A and then press the protector on to the iPhone’s screen. Like most screen protectors, you end up with bubbles that require that you reseat the protector to remove them. I had a lot of trouble trying to get my protector to be bubble free. In the end I just gave up and left it as is.

After the protector is installed, you will notice that it is very hard to see the display when you are looking at it from a side angle. When you are looking at it straight on, it doesn’t appear to be any different than without the protector installed. This is supposed to keep prying eyes from looking at your information. It also protects the display from scratches and gives it a slight texture that may make the touch screen easier to use for some people.

The silicone case is relatively thin and pliable. It has embedded anti-microbial protection. This means it helps to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria and fungi. Hmmmmmmm… Am I the only person that gets a bit tired of seeing products that are anti-bacterial this and anti-bacterial that? Is it really THAT important that a case for an iPhone be resistant to bacteria?

The edges of the revo are knurled for better gripping. The iPhone is installed by inserting the bottom into the case and pulling the top part up and over. It’s easy and not difficult to do.

Here is my iPhone installed in the revo. You will also notice the bubbles under the protective privacy film. Grrrrr. There is a cutout for the earphone and a button molded over the home button on the front of the phone.

A tiny cut out over the camera lens allows you to take pictures.

The revo also comes with a plastic screen cover called the Visor. This cover snaps over the front of the phone when you don’t need to access the touch screen, and can snap on the back of the phone when you do. The fit of the Visor isn’t very tight, so it would be easy for it to fall off. I also wanted to mention that the Visor edges that curl around the sides of the phone have sticky tape residue from the way the revo was packaged. Eck. This is another item that I would toss away pretty quickly.

If you look at the bottom of the phone, you’ll see the dock plug and cutouts for the speaker.

Along the top, you can just make out the screen on/off button molded into the revo. Pressing the button thru this case is not a problem. You might be wondering about the earphone jack as it appears to be covered over by the case. Actually, it isn’t…

There is a flap that you can fold out so that you can plug in the earbuds. Another very small cutout is located over the mute button on the left side of the iPhone. This cutout is pretty small, so it’s a bit difficult to get your fingernail into it to flick the switch up and down.

The revo minus the dock plug and visor, makes an ok case for the iPhone. It gives it some protection from scratches and bumps, while also adding better grip to the sides. The $40 price tag seems a bit extreme to me though… I think I’ll stick using my iPhone case free.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: Case, iPhone, Silicone

iSkin revo for iPhone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 6, 2007 at 2:43 pm.