This review has been sitting in my draft queue for quite a while (about 6 months). Apologies.

First off, yes. This is still a t-shirt review site and I am not going to start reviewing other stuff. It’s just that this guy, Raymond Wong, sent me these iPhone cases and I would feel bad not reviewing them. (Aside: if you do want to send me something like a Rolex watch, a Toyota Prius or a large pepperoni pizza, I might bend the rules a little and review them too.)

This is a little tough for me to review though as nobody in my house has an iPhone. Well, my wife had an iPhone 3G (piece of crap) that my daughter uses to watch Katy Perry videos on but these cases are for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s. Strangely, since moving to Okinawa not many people I know have an iPhone. It’s probably because the Softbank reception is so poor and the people living here are not so well off either.

Anyway, I can’t tell you about how well they do or do not fit the iPhone. I can only tell you about the design, the feel and the packaging. But before I do that I want to give you my opinion on iPhone cases and smartphone cases in general. I have a HTC desire HD and when I got it there were no accessories for it in the Softbank shop (provider) or in Yodobashi Camera (huge electronics department store chain) so I didn’t get a cover. After having the phone for w while though I realised that I didn’t need a cover. It’s pretty scratch resistant and I don’t put it in the same pocket as keys or coins. Almost 2 years later you can barely see any marks on it.

I know the iPhone is not as scratch resistant as most HTC phones and that the original casing is prone to smashing so perhaps a case is a good idea. When my wife got her white iPhone 3G, she asked my opinion as to whether she should get a case or not. I said it would be a shame to hide such a pretty phone behind a case. I mean she selected the white iPhone because she liked how it looked and then she was talking about hiding it immediately. She agreed that when or if the scratches on the phone made it look bad that she would get a cool case to cover it. It never went that far.

So back to the two cases that were sent to me by Life in Plastiq. The iPhone 4/4S is even prettier than the iPhone 3G so I also think that it would be a shame to cover it but you know some people want to stand out a little so they personalize their phone with a cover. You know, be a little different while being the same. These cases are a light plastic and pretty too. They look like they wouldn’t bulk up the iPhone too much and if my iPhone had an unsightly scratch I would consider using one. They do seem a little flimsy though so I don’t imagine they would offer much protection if you dropped your iPhone but some protection is better than none I guess. I also think that the covers would be more prone to scratching than the iPhone itself so you may need a couple of these if they are being used as pretty protectors rather than just pretty covers.

The cases look nice. They were designed by Dan Elijah Fajardo and Orlando Santiago. They come in small brown boxes.

Life in Plastiq seems to be an iPhone case design contest site. Artists can submit their designs to be voted on and then the favorites will be selected and sold in the store.

$200 cash upfront immediately after your design is printed.
15% of sales from your design up to a cap of $1,300.

Check them out:

Link: Life in Plastiq