Comments on: 5 under $50: iPhone cases dress to impress [and protect]

By: Apoorv Khatreja

Apoorv Khatreja — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 08:07:43 +0000

The Speck ToughSkin Rugged Rubber Case looks badass. Reminds me of the old style covers we used to get for TV remote controls.

By: IsamuM

IsamuM — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:51:30 +0000

Oops, that should have been “wide-angle zoom” and not “wide-angle telephoto” in the last sentence of the second paragraph.

By: IsamuM

IsamuM — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:49:14 +0000

I thought you were great on DL.TV, but you are doing Griffin a great disservice by saying that the Clarifi has a “zoom” lens. Griffin clearly states on their web site that the Clarifi has a “close-up” lens (and indeed you also use that term in the article above).

A close-up lens is NOT a zoom lens. A close-up lens is meant to get closer to things and keep them in focus as you demonstrated with the clearer text image on DL.TV. They are not meant to enlarge distant objects. A zoom lens is a lens which has a range of focal distances; e.g., 70 to 300mm or 18 to 200mm. In fact, a zoom lens need not always be a telephoto lens, but can be a wide-angle telephoto or a so-called super-zoom that extends from wide-angle to telephoto.

What you want is a telephoto lens, not a close-up lens. However, any telephoto lens will stick out and would not be suitable for a case like the Clarifi. FWIW, there is at least one after-market telephoto lens available for cell phones in Japan, but I’m not sure how well it works.

By: cchana

cchana — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:49:54 +0000

Good review on these items. I recently purchased an iPod Touch and now own a switcheasy case of my own. the amount of stuff you get as part of the case is impressive, but i found the ’soft’ part of the case to be less like silicon or rubber and almost like a matt finish plastic in comparison to the glossy ’skeleton’.

Good access to external buttons and inputs and definitely a case to consider.

By: Andrew Littler

Andrew Littler — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:34:31 +0000

I was never one for that kinda stuff, but that is probably why my BlackBerry is dead. The RAZR really set in me the idea of slipping a phone/ iPod/ iPhone/ gattling gun out of my pocket really easily, that is why I stick to the Gela skins for now.

By: Chachi

Chachi — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:50:20 +0000

Perfect timing with this roundup! I’m looking for a new case, and had high hopes for the Clarifi. This is the first review I’ve seen of it. Not worth buying if the lens makes no difference.