andys blog

Summary: It seems there are an unlimited number of cases for the iPhone and I recently had a chance to try out four with my iPhone 4S. Do you use a case with your iPhone or do you carry it naked?

The iPhone accessory market is overwhelming V6 Phone VE77 and you can find hundreds of cases in just about any color or design configuration you like. I used to carry my phones in belt clip cases, but no longer do that and now just throw them in my jeans or coat pocket. Thus, I was interested in trying out cases that did not add much bulk to the iPhone and did not wrap around and cover the display.

IdAmerica: Gasket

I put my own engine in my first car when I was 16, owned a small boat for several years, and have thus spent a lot of time under the hood of cars and boats so when I saw the Gasket case that looks like a head gasket on an engine I knew I had to try it out. The Gasket is available in Aluminum Silver, Titanium Gray, Modern Bronze, Vintage Gold, Jet Black, and Rally Blue.

You will find the lightweight aluminum Gasket case W600T along with front and rear clear screen protectors inside the box. I installed the clear protector on the back since I already have a BodyGuardz (review coming soon) on the front. The protector was easy to apply with a two step plastic covering and very easy installation. I can hardly tell there is a protector on the back, which is what I want from protectors like these.

The inside of the case is lined with material to protect your iPhone from getting scratched and cut out to match the holes in the back. The metal covers most of both sides of your iPhone with the top and bottom being open for full access to all ports and buttons. The case offers minimal protection and is more about the looks than anything else.

On the back you will see that the inner lining keeps the case metal from touching your iPhone. One rather major issue I have with this case that kept me from using it any longer than just the time I needed to test it out is the sharpness around the MQ222 inside of all three large openings. The edges will scratch you and if you rub up against it hard enough the edges may even cut you. Also be careful if you place it on a wood table or other surface you don’t want scratched.

The other issue I have with this case that I have also confirmed with many other people is the impact on the cellular reception. My iPhone 4S gives me the best reception I have ever seen on a Verizon phone, but I have seen this case result in a reduction of 2-3 (out of 5 total) bars and if you are in a weaker signal area you may see your connection lost when in this case.

The Gasket is very cool looking and well made, but the sharp edges and apparent signal impact keep me from recommending it. You can buy it for $29.95.

idAmerica: Skyline

The Skyline case from idAmericais a stiffened plastic material that offers good protection for your iPhone. The Skyline is available in Matte White, Matte Black, and Matte Pink. The back has many openings so the color of your iPhone shows through and makes the case a bit lighter.

The right side and top are mostly completely covered with the power button being covered up. There are openings for the 3.5mm headset jack, lock switch, volume buttons, speakers, and bottom Apple port. There is also an opening on the back for the camera.

The case has a lip that wraps around the front just a bit to hold it in place. The Skyline package comes with a front and rear clear plastic protector that I recommend you use for screen protection.

 

I like that the rigid flex material used for the case is not sticky so it slides easily in an doug of your pocket and doesn’t collect lint like a silicone gel case. The Skyline case is available for $24.95 and is a nice case to consider.

I thought that the Gasket case would be my favorite since it has such a cool design, but it is just too sharp for me and I don’t want any case impacting my reception. My favorite of all four of these is the XtremeMac Microshield in Bronze color. It gives me some back and side protection, allows my iPhone to slide easily in and out of my pocket, and looks great with my white iPhone 4S.

Have you tried any of these cases out? If so, I would like to hear about your experiences with them.

At the current, Apple’s iPhone 4S is claimed the best device in the smartphone market, providing users everything they’re looking for in a handset. However, iPhone 4S is now being competed by Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, the first smartphone to run the latest version of Google’s most advanced version of Android, 4.0 or “Ice Cream Sandwich”. Therefore, many smartphone buyers are now wondering if it’s worth for them to purchase an iPhone 4S or wait for the Galaxy Nexus to hit store shelves to make their final decision. Let’s see how the Galaxy Nexus is going to be compared to the popular Apple iPhone 4S in specs, speed and camera and so on.

    iPhone 4S features iOS 5 operating system, which is known as the best version of the mobile platform ever launched. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Nexus is running Android 4.0, which is named the best choice for Android customers. iPhone 4S is equipped with the 3.5-inch Retina Display, which gives higher quality than any other screen. On the other hand, although the Galaxy Nexus will not able to deliver the same quality, it has a larger display of 4.65-inch. Samsung Galaxy Nexus only offers a single storage option of 32GB, while the iPhone 4S appears with a much larger storage of between 16GB and 64GB so that it can please user needs. In addition, the Apple’s smartphone comes with an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, allowing customers to take better pictures; but the Galaxy Nexus owns just a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera.     Apple’s iPhone 4S is powered with WiFi and 3G, while the Galaxy Nexus supports WiFi, 3G and 4G. Therefore, the Samsung’s device might be a good choice for people who are looking for faster speeds.     Reading e-books on smartphone is becoming increasingly necessary to users. For this purpose, iBooks application is installed on the iPhone 4S and Google Books is also supported on the Galaxy Nexus. iPhone 4S performs well with the 800MHz Dual-Core Processor. Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus also performs well as it features a dual-core processor of 1.2GHz.

  It's official — there are only two mobile operating systems that matter right now. Even as underdog competitors march onto the field trumpeting enthusiastic comeback strategies, the big money is on Apple's iOS and Google's Android, the Mac and PC of the 21st century.   No matter how much enthusiasm HP and Microsoft can drum up, their product lines are years behind the competition, and they currently sit on extremely minuscule market shares. Microsoft might get a big push from Nokia, but their joint products won't even come to market until 2012. Meanwhile RIM, former big cheese, is seeing its BlackBerry fortune fall fast. Though the PlayBook tablet may be the company's first buzz-worthy gadget in years, it comes with a strange requirement: To get full functionality out of it, you have to already use a BlackBerry. Preach to the choir much, RIM? By contrast, Apple and Google are hustling to reach new customers. The Android camp wants to get into the iPad business that, with over 14 million in sales in just 8 months, Apple proved to be viable. In the phone business, Apple is fighting to gain back its lead from Google. Not only is Apple finally supplying iPhones to a second U.S. carrier — doubling its potential American customer base to roughly 190 million — but it's rumored to be devising a cheaper iPhone that addresses Android's best asset: its relative cheapness. The main reason why these two will stay on top is half a million mobile apps, and counting.    Just look at the following chart, from a recent survey by Appcelerator, makers of cross-platform app development tools, who asked roughly 2,000 Web developers what platforms they wanted to create mobile apps for. Even with increased interest in the PlayBook and HP WebOS platforms, Android and iOS enjoy a massive lead, guaranteeing a continued flood of great apps for those two platforms — and a weaker stream for the rest.   So now that we've narrowed the race down to just the two biggest and fastest ponies, it's important to know what their differences are. Android may have come to maturity looking and behaving like iPhone, while being cheaper and available on more carriers, but under the hood it's quite different, in ways that will matter to you. They're differences that affect a phone's network performance, security, battery life, flexibility, available content and upgrade eligibility. Natural selection vs. intelligent design   Android is an open platform. This means that anyone who wants to build a phone with the OS on it can, and they don't have to pay for the privilege. All of the software is open and available to hardware makers and software developers alike.  Google does what it can to ensure quality. In certain circumstances, Google partners with the hardware maker to create a phone or tablet, and any Android device that doesn't meet Google's specifications is denied the right to provide users access to the all-important Android App Market. Nevertheless, there is a Darwinian struggle happening in the Android camp.   Take HTC, for example. As Scott Schwarzhoff, VP of marketing at Appcelerator, told me, the company known for its Android initiative addressed a key early concern: The user interface was ugly. By introducing the "Sense UI," a fluid desktop with separate panes and interactive widgets, the company spurred innovation among other Android hardware partners. "We now get into natural selection," said Schwarzhoff. For early adopters, this competitive struggle clearly works. Android phones were the first to run on a 4G extra-high-speed network — first Sprint's, and now T-Mobile, AT&T and soon Verizon, all likely to hit market before any 4G iPhone appears. They were also the first to have 1GHz processors and front-facing cameras, HDMI jacks and memory card slots.