Apple iPhone Cases by Speck Products

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Anthony Fiti
Bethany
Speck Products
Oct. 10, 2007

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First Looks

First, the Speck Toughskin with its rubberized case for the iPhone. The skin looks good, however it does somewhat obscure the controls on the side and top of the iPhone. Therefore, if you don't remember where the button is, it might be difficult to find it among all the ridges of the case (I handed the phone to a friend, and he couldn't find the volume up and down buttons on the side of the phone), though since I've had the phone for two months I'm familiar enough with the device for this to not be an issue. By feeling around I can still pick out the bumps on the rubber skin where the buttons are.

The rubberized skin fits into a holster with a belt clip that doubles as a stand for putting the iPhone up on the desk. This is an unexpected but neat feature; when you're sitting at your desk at work or home you can take the belt clip off and use it to prop the iPhone up at about a 60° angle. The clip will swivel, but it takes a bit of force for the holster to click to the next position.

In addition to the Toughskin, Speck also sent their Holster-Pro. This is just a holster for the phone (without a protective case). The Holster-Pro is stitched and looks very attractive. The belt clip on the back is sturdy, and has a flap held on with Velcro that can come undone if it absorbs the shock when you hit a desk corner or something.

Testing

Speck Toughskin

In my testing, the Speck Toughskin performed very well in protecting the iPhone. During my two weeks using it, I accidentally dropped my phone a few times; once from a height of about one foot where it landed on the corner, and another time when I dropped it from two feet and it landed flat on the ground, screen side down. My precious iPhone was left unscathed after both incidents.

The holster for the Toughskin was pretty good, though it's grip on the phone is a bit weak. Although I'm not a big fan of Holsters from a style perspective (the ladies tell me having a Batman Belt isn't exactly a turn on), the fact that the holster turns into a stand on my desk makes it very useful.

Speck Holster-Pro

I think the Speck Holster-Pro did a very good job at holding on to the iPhone tightly. It takes a lot of effort to remove the phone from the Holster-Pro by accident...

The belt clip is very firm and stays on the belt without any issues. The Velcro flap I mentioned previously doesn't seem to serve a use though. You can use it as a stand, but you have to flip your iPhone on its side (and unfortunately the phone isn't smart enough to turn the text sideways so any incoming call will have text on its side).

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks & Testing
Page 3: Conclusion

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1 User Comment

1 - Posted by aireiq on October 21, 2007 - 6:34 pm

> What better way to compliment the phone than with a case to protect the iPhone?

Bethany, doesn't he mean 'complement'?

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