The Wonderful World of iPhone 4 Cases

Finding a good case in Hong Kong is a challenge.

You’ve been waiting and waiting for your iPhone 4, or you’ve already got yours – you may have even ordered your free iPhone case which is due to be delivered in 4-8 weeks, but how in the world can you wait that long?

Time to hit the streets to see what kind of iPhone 4 cases are available. First stop: Wan Chai:

The Wanchai Computer Center is awash in iPhone 4 covers. Many of the stores have thrown the cases right in front of the store hoping to draw in the traffic like bubble gum machines in a toy store. Probably 25-35% of the stores in Wanchai have iPhone 4 cases right now, even some who don’t normally deal with mobile products.

The price range varied from about HK$60 up to HK$200. For the cases costing more than about HK$150 you would usually find a piece of sticky plastic screen guard included with the case. Shopping around individually for iPhone screen protectors/guards I noticed the price ranged from about HK$28 to HK$98.

Like many others who ordered off the Apple store our iPhone arrived today via a harried and overworked TNT delivery man. The desire for a case was not based on the antenna issues that predominate tech news cycles and those words that are on the tip of the tongue of every Android fanboy you’ll meet, but by the cold hard financial reality of where it will eventually end up next year: the secondary market of eBay.

Our iPhone 3GS was wrapped in a pretty industrial strength inCase iPhone slider case of hard plastic, and covered with a Power Support screen film (both brands are recommended). As such it was easy to remove it afterwards without a single scratch or knick anywhere on the phone, and managed to get a very good price on the eBay resale market. The real desire would be for the external battery pack that extends the life of the iPhone’s battery, but shop after shop reported “not yet, not yet”. One did say they had an external battery pack that would work with the iPhone 4, but I was hoping for a more all-in-one solution.

I looked through dozens of iPhone 4 cases, from the bare minimum pieces of plastic that seemed to barely cover the phone to more advanced ones that wrapped the phone in so much sparkly bling you would wonder about the sanity of any person using that phone. Many had half-naked anime looking elf-like women on the back, one with a picture of her holding a gun to her head, which didn’t really make much sense. There were quite a few Paul Frank-like monkey iPhone cases of questionable copyright. I also saw one that looked like it was made of wood which was kind of unique.

Most of the cases in Wanchai were “China Generic”. We saw no known brands like inCase or Belkin–generally just no-name covers from some factory across the border.  We ended up with a very basic piece of clear plastic that minimally fit the phone and didn’t really add too much to the size of the phone. It was HK$60, but the guy selling it offered to sell us a screen protector with it for HK$100. Of course staring at the HK$60 iPhone case and the HK$28 iPhone screen didn’t quite make it worth HK$100 in our book.  We ended up paying $80 for both, which was enough to get us by until we found something more interesting.

After putting the cover on the phone, we noticed a couple of things we didn’t like. First, the top and bottom of the phone was unprotected. This is for the speakers and microphone and of course the on/off switch, but one of the first differences you’ll notice between the nicer cases and this minimal thing was the lack of top/bottom protection. The more expensive ones cover the top and bottom and have holes for the necessary buttons. The other difference comes with the volume control buttons on the side. There is no coverage on the cheaper models, but on the more expensive ones they’ve worked in a bit of extra plastic to allow you to utilize the up/down volume buttons through the plastic.

Next, on to Central:

At the DG Lifestyle store in IFC, they had a number of generic iPhone 4 cases in stock, but also a few more established brands like Belkin. For HK$198 they had a softer, more pliable but much thicker plastic cover that wrapped around the iPhone, including the tops and bottoms. Of course with extra thickness it means the phone is slightly bulkier, but I’d worry less dropping the phone on my desk with this case than I would with the cheapie one (which would likely shatter on impact). So we bought one of Belkins as well.

Of all the cases we saw, we can honestly say we wouldn’t trust any of them to protect the iPhone in say a 2 meter drop onto a hard surface. Short of encasing your phone inside a stuffed teddy bear you are probably out of luck if you have butterfingers. But those smaller drops at your desk, or more commonly the scratches from your keys or coins or whatever happens to be in your pocket are the things that you’ll prevent against best with some of the cases that are currently available.

So as you are unpacking your iPhones, budget a good HK$200 for some protection and you’ll save yourself many times over that in a few months when it is time to resell the phone and start this whole process all over again.