The minute I walked out of the Apple store onto the slick, hard marble of the mall floor I felt exposed. Naked. Fragile.
I just spent $400 on an iPhone and my head was filled with images of it splattered on the ground in byte-sized pieces. Of course they had a wall full of skins and covers inside the store, but none were under $30. I was torn between risking a sudden clutz attack for a cheaper option or biting the bullet and forking over more cash to Apple.
I took the risk.
Today I couldn't stand it anymore and high-tailed it to MacForce, a local Portland Mac store. Previously I had purchased a new Macbook hard drive at "The Mac Store," but their people seemed like they didn't know a Lisa from a Newton. MacForce was harder to find but their people know and love Macs. That's what counted for me.
They didn't have a humongous selection, but all the skins were under $20. I picked the iFrogz skin in red. Kind of funny that the back looks like a Dell laptop - I wonder if that's a bit of free irony from the iFrogz designers or a fluke? I didn't want to get too picky, I just wanted to chill when I pull out my iPhone in a parking lot.
The case fits nicely. It's snug, no gaps or loose areas. There's a bit of a ridge that extends just above the screen about 1/16" so I feel that I could drop it on its face and still be okay (not that I like thinking about that, but now I don't get a cold sweat).
The skin came with one (just one?) clear screen protector. Of course I was doing this in the car as soon as I got out of the store, I wanted to put my little insurance plan into effect as soon as possible. However, as I pulled out the clear screen cover, all the dust, hair, and fluff in a 10-mile radius flocked to the plastic like it was Magneto's helmet in a hardware store. Well, the whole point of the screen cover is to keep dust and dirt from scratching the iPhone, so I couldn't really put it on in that condition, right? I tried wiping it off, but I just created more mess. Back in the package for you, my staticky little friend.
The other thing I noticed was a small knobby drip thing on one side of the cover where it connects. It doesn't affect the fit, but it's the kind of little imperfection that bugs me every time I see it. It takes the sleek look of the iPhone and cheapens it just a tad. I bought the device for its functionality, but a large part of the appeal of Apple products is the look and feel. Why should I settle for little knobbies on my sleek Apple device?
Overall, I feel better about the possibility of dropping my phone (or letting others handle it). That's what I paid for, and $20 to protect a $400 device is more than reasonable. However, I plan on contacting iFrogz to give them feedback on product quality. Their reaction will be the deciding factor in whether I ever purchase one of their products again.
MacForce, on the other hand, gets three thumbs up. Good people in the store, easy to find stuff, and an Apple museum case that I spent ten minutes gazing upon. They also have a rewards program called M2 which scored me a free t-shirt on the spot. They know how I think.
Check out MacForce at http://macforce.com. If you live in Portland, swing by the store. It's in an industrial area straight out of 21 Jump Street but they have a parking lot.
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