Mod Adds Glowing Apple to iPhone 4

[Phillip Swanson]

iPatch—a UK based iPhone and iPod repair vendor—teased the release of a new mod for the iPhone 4 today. The mod is simple, stylish, and noticeable. Plus it doesn't scream "look at me!", rather it causes others to sigh jealously while muttering under their breath "I wish I had that."

iPatch will be releasing a mod to illuminate the Apple on the back of the iPhone 4. The mod, which is projected to be released by the end of the month, wont add any girth to the iPhone 4 or cause any heating issues. More importantly though it hasn't proven to be a mega drain on battery either, or so iPatch claims. We wont know for sure until its available for public consumption though. iPatch has a rather extensive rundown of the mod's capabilities, how it affects the iPhone 4, and what it means for the user warranty wise.

• It has had no noticeable drop in battery performance in day to day use
• It does not cause any heating of the rear case
• The light goes off when the screen goes off. This means it will not glow when you are on a normal call and have the phone to your ear or have the phone on standby
• The light effect is an evenly distributed glow, much like the apple symbol on the rear of a macbook lid
• It does illuminate when you receive a text or call, or when your alarm sounds
• It does not cause any change in thickness to the phone or result in any light leakage around the frame
• The glass plate used is that from a standard iPhone 4 and is, therefore, available in black and white (or even custom colours if required)
• The colour of the apple logo can be changed by applying a colour filter and its intensity can be reduced by reducing the front LCD brightness. There are other, currently classified, mods that may be possible too depending on testing. Currently, when the light is off, the apple has a frosted glass appearance but this may change to reflective silver, if possible, to maintain the original look of the iPhone
• The camera function is completely unaffected either with or without flash
• Plans are to release an export franchise kit which will be available to trained repairers abroad. It is by no means simple to replicate and would not be advisable to attempt without the expertise and knowledge of how the iPhone functions at a circuitry level. Details of how to participate will be released in the future
• It will void any warranty with apple but the modification is fully reversible, returning the iPhone exactly back to how it was (at a smaller additional cost)
• It will come with iPatch's standard 90 day warranty so if anything goes wrong, you are covered
• International orders are welcomed although please be aware of the delivery scale and costs
• It looks, quite frankly, awesome!

The only drawback appears to be the price. It hasn't been finalized yet, but is expected to cost between $80 and $160. This discrepancy has the potential to be a deal breaker for many would be buyers. If they can move the price closer to the $80 mark their market would expand immensely. However, for $160, there are a lot of other things many iPhone 4 owners would rather get.

Like an iPhone 5.

Source: iPatch

[xNEOxGENESISx]

pretty cool, but don't think it's worth the price. May be if the price was more affordable like 20 bucks, then I wouldn't mind throwing down a bit more to pimp my phone. Anyways as a reader I feel like the article sounds less professional when the author uses chatting language like "tray", despite the article it's self was quite interesting.

[tdawg3000]

That looks pretty sick, and I guess it should for $80-160. I'm good on this mod though haha.

[PathKiller29]

this is pretty tight.$80 isnt too bad, but i dont think anyone's paying $160 if the iP5 drops...still, that would be badass

[Persianhawkes]

This would be nice with a jailbreak tweak for blinking notifications on my otterbox case...hint hint devs..

[zani1972]

even $80 is to much

[Megaorange]

Looks very cool just wish it was a bit cheaper

[javiert30]

I'll pay less than $80, just wait until someone else emulate this.

[viperfan91]

I'm sorry but over the years I have become addicted to adding lights to everything I can.....this is going to be a MUST.... Unfortunately I don't wanna lose my iphone for the time it takes But we shall see

[Koreandude82]

It does look pretty cool. I wonder if they got the idea from icarly and victorious. because when icarly and victorious had the pear phone which was an iphone with the pear replacing the apple on the back of the phone, before they changed it to a pear shape phone like on icarly and victorious. it had the pear light up like this one in the picture. Same as for freddie's laptop. if you watch both tv shows you'll notice it. just my two cents.

[xclusiveiphone]

No way in hell I'm going to pay $80-$160 just to make the Apple logo light up @ the same time shortening battery life.

@$20 bucks still sounds like mad profit plus more people will buy at a much more reasonable price.

[Orby]

Fifty quid is reasonable if that price includes all labor and parts, particularly if this thing has to mooch off an existing circuit. Otherwise, that's a bit too rich for my tastes, even on a new model iPhone... file it under "super neat stuff that's too pricey," right next to those cars that can complete the Nürburgring Nordschleife in under eight minutes.

[Bigmaxx2000]

Looks pretty sweet, but yikes!!! @ 160......

[Lombardo Joe]

Badass, I'd rock it. But I'm po'.

[boxxa]

This is cool but I don't want to send them my phone. Any DIY how to?

[Lombardo Joe]

This is cool but I don't want to send them my phone. Any DIY how to?

Trial and error... Hopefully you have a couple of i4s!

[superman4tqfp]

$80...for this? That's pretty much theft for what you're getting.

[Empyrials]

i'd pay $40 for a kit, but that's max. It's a nice small suttle mod, i'm not buying a new phone here...

[boxxa]

Trial and error... Hopefully you have a couple of i4s!

I probably have it figured out how its wired in. I just need the back plate for it to work I know how to solder electronics. Ive been modding Xbox's, PS3s, Wiis, etc. for years soldering stuff in.

[GmAz]

Really, it doesn't scream look at me? Remember those clear cell phone cases that had LEDs in them that were bright as the sun, ya, thats easily comparable to what this is.