'Tis the season to be jolly--and give away iPod touches as presents! Imagine the look on the faces of your gift receivers when they see that Santa did, indeed, bring them what they were wishing for. Of course, to keep those iOS devices in tippy top shape until the next holiday season, you'll need to keep them protected. In this episode of Best Case Scenario, we're reviewing iPod touch cases from Griffin, Incipio, and Speck, as well as a two-sided microfiber screen cleaner from Toddy.
The Speck CandyShells are great for prettying up your iOS device, but their hard-to-press volume and power buttons can get really frustrating really quickly. We're not too fond of the not-button buttons protruding on the sides of the case, but at least the bright-color gloss and forgiving two-layers of protection redeems it just a tad. (3 out of 5 | $34.99)
We've always loved Speck's Pixel Skin case. Not only does it have a nice look and feel, but if you drop your iPod touch on the floor with one of these on, you'll have nothing to worry about--the bounce back of the silicon material takes in all the impact. Plus, the case is lightweight without adding too much bulk. Tack on a screen protector and you'll have nothing to worry about. (3.5 out of 5 | $24.99)
Our biggest gripe so far is that every hard-shell case we snap on to our iPod touch makes it difficult to access the volume and power buttons. Fortunately, we didn't have that issue with this case from Griffin. This black polycarbonate case is slim, slides on easily and the bottom part removes for easy docking. Plus, it makes the iPod touch look incredibly sexy when you take it out to play. Y'know, to impress the ladies with all of your mad, Genius mix skills. It also comes with an included iPod touch stand to prop up the device for mobile music listenin' or extreme FaceTime-ing. (4 out of 5 | $29.99)
This thin and sleek hard-shell case snaps on with ease and keeps the main part of your device protected from all of those annoying scratches it gets going in and out of your bag. While it's not one of those cases that overbearingly covers your device from every fall and inevitable chuck across a hardwood floor, we're really enjoying the Outfit Mist's cool gradient color and easy-to-access pathway for the iPod's buttons. (3.5 out of 5 | $24.99)
Upon reading the name of this weightless case, we really wondered if this product would fit for the criteria for "light as a feather, thin as a board." Creepy witch chants aside (The Craft, anyone?), this 1mm thin form-fitting case looks really nice on our iPod touch, but it suffers from the same inaccessible volume and power button control problems as Speck's cases and there is no physical feedback to let you know that you've pressed the button. On the plus side, you can leave the case on to dock the device. (3 out of 5 | $24.99)
The Toddy smart cloth is double-sided handkerchief for your iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, with plush microfiber on one side and a polishing silk microfiber pattern on the other. Both clean your devices extremely well, and work for things like motorcycle helmets, monitor screens, and dusty keyboards. Plus, they come in a selection of different patterns to suit your personality, and two different sizes. (4.5 out of 5 | $14.99)
igreen
November 26, 2010 at 11:14am
You should add whether or not an iPhone 4 case has a flash guard to all your future case reviews. There are way to many $30 cases out there whose implementation of the camera/flash cut out causes excessive light reflection into the camera lens when using the flash, making the flash a unusable feature (if you want to see your photos that is).
