[TooSlo]

Speck | Fitted Case for iPhone 3G & iPhone 3GS

After some time deliberating a new case, and having seen this on ilounge, I was pleasantly surprised to find one in a retail store that was an open box. Overjoyed, I yanked the case from the box and checked it out.

While caught up in the moment, I'd failed to notice a few things like how the plastic top and bottom don't fit together quite as well as I would have imagined. The employee wouldn't let me put it on my phone, as he'd stated that it was a nightmare to get the cases off, so I wouldn't be able to see how it fit while ON an iphone.

Saddened, I made the purchase of a new item anyway. I couldn't help but fall in love with the quirky black & white plaid design that fit my personality.

After getting out to my car, I immediately opened my package and clicked the pieces together around my beautiful white iphone. I suppose I'm a person who is very tactile. I enjoy the feeling of soft things, but hate things that are uneven or "pokey" against my skin. The Speck Fitted case had just that problem. Where the seam of the two plastic pieces fit together, there was a thin, but noticably sharp edge along the entire outside of the case.

While I was a bit upset about this, I thought that I would give the case some time to see if the sharp edges wore down. While they did slightly, I was always greeted by a sharp edge when pulling my phone from my pocket.

I figured I could live with this little bit of frustration, but after about a week, the back cloth started to pill and fuzz up. The case was quite literally falling apart after a single week of very light usage.

To give the readers an idea of a day, I usually get up, unplug my phone and it goes in my left front pocket of my Dickies work pants. It stays in there until I get to work, where it will sit on my desk during normal usage over the next 9 hours. When I leave work, it goes back in the pocket until I get to my car, where it then sits over my 15 minute drive home. Back in the pocket, into the house, then onto my desk where (depending on battery life) I would charge it until my daughter went to sleep, then I would dink around with the computer and phone until my wife came home from work.

That's it. A little time in my pocket, most of the time sitting on either my desk at work, or at home.

To think that this was starting to fall apart after that type of timeframe, I took the case back and returned it for a full refund. I'm let down that Speck would make such a shoddy product and sell it alongside their well known and respected Candyshell cases for the iphone.

Sadly for me, it's back to my Belkin jelly case until something similar to the Speck Fitted case comes along that might last a month or more of regular usage.

[D to the M]

Thanks for the honest review.

[ronblade]

Your review is very useful. I think you have covered it all the way by taking a long time period. It is useful for many newcomers. Thanks for the great work. Keep it up.

[TooSlo]

Originally Posted by ronblade

Your review is very useful. I think you have covered it all the way by taking a long time period. It is useful for many newcomers. Thanks for the great work. Keep it up.

I think I most wanted to write this review because of how much I really wanted to love the case, but with all of it's faults, I just couldn't justify the cost.

One thing I have noticed since my review was that the Speck Fitted case on the website shows that it has cloth on the front frame as well as the back. I'm curious if they have updated it, as the one I purchased only included a hard-ish black plastic rim for the front half of the case.

I might be tempted to try it again if I can get in touch with someone from Speck to verify that the quality of the products has come up to the standards that we might expect from the Candyshell case. After I get back from vacation I'll attempt to get in touch with someone from Speck and post what I find here on the forums.