This steering wheel from Hama allows you to simply slot your iPhone into the middle and then drive your racing car games.

Warning: use of the steering wheel doesn’t make you a better driver, as evidenced by the video below:

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I hit up the team at Element Cases and asked if we could lay our fingers on one. They were really friendly, and said sure, even asked for our logo for a little surprise.

So it was with great excitement I ripped into the package that arrived on my desk almost a month ago now. Inside was a custom Liquid Case from the guys at Element Case!

Sitting on my desk

The black box with the cut away window allowed me to see our logo (sadly now our old logo) sitting proudly on the case. You couldn’t stop me from grinning, it was one of those wow moments.

Opening the top you see there are two sections to the packaging with the main case sitting on the left and the flip lids sitting on the right.

Sitting in the case

This is not your average case, this case has a real robustness to it. heck it’s held together by allen screws and has a industrial angular feel to it. The logo is engraved into an metal inlay in the back and it’s got a really sexy look to it.

The gear in the box

In the box there is a reasonable amount of stuff, you have the two flip lids, the case, instructions, and allen key and a spare screw.

The main case

The case is made from clear high impact polymer, with the inside of the case coated in a very luxurious looking paint. The entire internal shell is very smooth well made and bordering on a work of art. In the image above you can see some circles in the plastic, these are not so evident in reality, and are not big enough to cause any damage to your phone.

Putting the phone in the case is a complex process – okay it’s not really, but it’s not as simple as some leather case simply sliding on. First up loosen all four screws, taking the bottom two right out.

Slotting the iPhone into place

Once you have the bottom two screws out lift the clear frame and slot the phone into place by simply sliding it up and dropping it into the shell. Then replace the screws – NOTE: you are screwing into plastic so do NOT over tighten.

Exploded view of the Liquid case.

Once in you realise just how much attention to detail the Element Case design team have put into this. The clear frame seems to barely hold onto the phone, but hold it does. Not only does it hold there is NO way you are getting your phone out without undoing the case.

iPhone in the Element Case

It’s a really tight fit and the phone looks really good in the case. This case came to us with two flip lids – these are clear lids that have magnets in each corner, which of course lock onto the screws in the corners

Two Flip Lids

The lids are clear enough to enable you to easily see the the phone screen, you can see at a glance any text message or phone call that’s coming in.

iPhone in the case & lid on top

Using the case

I had my reservations about using this case, it’s a very big thing really. We put it beside a couple of other iPhones and the depth is about the same as 2 iPhones, so it’s a significant extra amount of plastic added to your phone.

However having said that it’s surprising that it doesn’t feel that much better than your phone. The angular shape actually feels really good in your hand (well esp for those of us with bigger hands), and the case doesn’t impact your ability to use the phone. There are cutouts for things like the mute switch, volume and dock plugs.

One of the biggest things you have to get used to is flipping the lid off to answer the phone (heck to even use the phone). I found this eliminated the ability to use the phone with one hand. You may get good enough with your thumb to flip it and slide it to the back, but I’m still not able to do it. The lid does sit nicely on the back, so you never need to stick it somewhere when it’s not on the phone.

I found the edges of the case didn’t get in the way with the letters on the outside of the keyboard which I know some rugged type cases can.

Summary

I’ve been using this case now for about 4 weeks, I’m used to some of the idiosyncrasies of using a case like this, the slightly bigger feel in the pocket and the flip lid. I have to say I all in all I like it. I’ve not dropped it as I don’t have a replacement phone in case it damages my phone, but if you are a skateboarder, a mountain biker etc, this case is going to protect your phone pretty well.

The magnets are strong enough to resist a simple knock and actually take a decent pull to dislodge. It won’t keep the dust and dirt out, however it’ll protect your phone from scratches etc.

At US$99 it’s not cheap, but really who cares. This case looks amazing, feels incredible and protects your iPhone – why put a price on that?

I love my Element Case!

Links

• View all our review pics on Flickr
• Learn more about the Element Case @ elementcase.com
• Purchase your Element Case @ elementcase.com

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v-Moda is a fashion house first and audio house second – at least this is the way I perceive their market positioning. Don’t get me wrong: they strive to create an incredible sound, but they also realise that you are going to wear these and you don’t want to be like every other iPod Touch or iPhone “white” wearing person.

v-MODA's Vibe Duo packaging

The Vibe Duo’s are the cheapest earphones we are looking at this month, and that does make it a little hard to compare them with the q-JAYS who set the bar very high right from the start. It’s reflected in everything, from the packaging to the craftsmanship. For US$99 the Vibe Duo arrived in a very plain styled box, with an interesting picture of some lips behind the earphones – I’d have though an ear a better choice – but okay.

However when you get rid of the packaging (hey it all goes in the recycling anyway), and get down to the earphones things start to pick up.

Vibe Duo & Accessories

Using the earphones

You’ll see from the pic above that the earphones come with a range of ear tips and a nice carry bag. I have to say this is the best sized bag of all that have arrived so far. The JAYS one was just far far too small, the Ultimate Ears was a good size but still felt like you were shoving your earphones in it. This v-Moda bag has plenty of space so you don’t damage your earphones.

The first thing you notice is, as I mentioned, these earphones are not plastic, they are instead metal. I have to say I was expecting them to be heavy – and they are, just not as heavy as I was expecting. The weight really isn’t that much of a factor.

The canal pipes (the part that you insert into your ear) is a lot larger than the ones found on others tested, however I still found them to be a comfortable fit.

Size comparison

As you can see, they are smaller than the iPhone’s original ear buds and yet they actually feel about the same if not slightly heavier than the originals.

The cord is not plastic – well I shouldn’t say that, what I should say is, the cord is covered in a woven fiber. This does a good job of reducing (not eliminating) the microphonic sounds that plague in ear earphones. The microphonic sound that you do get is less harsh, meaning it can more easily be drowned out.

I’ve heard some people say this woven fiber helps reduce tangling, however these were one of the only sets we tried that do actually tangle. Not as bad as the original iPhone ear buds (those just drive me nuts), but these do actually tangle.

Woven cord, plug & mic

The Vibe Duo are iPhone/iTouch ready, so they do feature an integrated mic and call management button. Of course the button mimics that of the original with double click features etc. The microphone is adequate – not great, but perfectly fine for phone calls. If you are recording audio with it, the audio will come out a bit dirty and you’ll get a fair amount of background noise.

One thing I do love about these is the 3.5mm plug. It’s gold plated, so it carries audio well, but more than that the cord exits the side rather than the back. When you have your iPhone in your pocket there is often pressure on the cord as it exits the 3.5mm jack – v-Moda’s one here exits on the side reducing any pressure on the cord – reducing chance of damage.

The sound

Sadly this is where I found the Vibe Duo’s let me down. The sound was bass heavy, to the point of sounding muddy. I found that these were actually pretty good for listening to the likes of Carrie Underwood and other easy listening sounds – not a great deal of clarity but fine for general audio. For the likes of Guns’n'Roses and POD the bass really seemed to overpower and you lost some of the subtitles of the heavy guitar and bass tracks.

Listening to classical, depended on the song. The highs were not as crisp as I’d like, and again I found the sound leaning to the muddy side.

When listening to Podcasts I did find these good at removing some of the scratchy ambiance some podcasts have, and spoken word was not too bad – given the generally middle range of spoken word.

Any issues or concerns?

I was actually expecting more from these, as they have this really incredible look to them – just so different from your typical earphones. I guess my main gripe with these is the lifeless audio they pump into your ears. The volumes there, the comfort is there, the lack of microphonic sound is there, the iPhone readiness is there – there’s just no real life to the audio.

Summary

If you listen to a lot of the typical easy listening music, you want a set of earphones that look sexy, and you like the idea of a braided cord – then these are for you. If you listen to music on a bus, train or other noisy location, then these are going to be perfectly fine for you.

However, if you fancy yourself as an audiophile, someone who likes the subtleties and nuances of their music, then sorry, keep moving.

These Vibe Duo’s are a great looking, great feeling, and average sounding set of earphones – perfect for your average joe music listener, who is willing to spend more than $50 but not willing to head up into the $200 price range.

Links

• View all our review photos on flickr
• Learn more about the Vibe Duo at vmoda.com
• Purchase Vibe Duo for the iPhone at Amazon.com

If you are going to buy anything from Amazon.com, please consider using these links in this article. If you do, I'll get a commission - a small percentage of the sale price. It won't cost you anything and it will help to support me and iTalk Magazine.

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Just Mobile Xtand for Apple iPhone

I don’t know about you but I like to have my iPhone for landscape viewing when I’m playing multimedia from services like YouTube, Pandora and using the iPod App while working on my laptop. Having my iPhone lay flat certainly isn’t the way to go…

Enter the Just Mobile Xtand: weighing in fully assembled at 3.9 oz of solid aluminum; the Xtand for the Apple iPhone/iPhone 3G features:

1. all solid aluminum construction
2. 360 degrees rotation
3. adjustable viewing angle
4. cable management
5. non-slip feet

The base is aesthetically and functionally shaped to ensure your iPhone doesn’t topple over or to the side. You never want to see your iPhone topple over for any reason. I live in the great “Earthquake State” so stability is always good.

Xtand non-slip feet (underside)

The luxurious three-piece black box contains the Xtand mobile stand and rubber kit for the 3G iPhone (the thicker 1st generation rubber kit comes pre-mounted and only takes a second to swap out). I was a little confused at first by “2G” it may be have been smarter to put in 3G for obvious standardization.

Xtand included 2G Rubber Kit

Xtand gives you full access to all of your iPhone features like volume control, mute, home, microphone. Xtand also has a simple yet elegant cable management so that your workspace is kept neat and tidy.

After unboxing the Xtand you need to unscrew the thumbscrew from the lid of the secondary box.

Xtand Simple Assembly Required

There are white on black visual directions on how to assemble the stand together in a matter of seconds.

Xtand Simple Assembly Instructions

This includes using the two rubber washers between the holder and the thumbscrew to form a solid grip on the front facing sloped pad of the stand to allow for comfortable viewing in both landscape and portrait positions. If I tighten the thumbscrew just slightly the rubber washers will hold the iPhone securely in any position I choose but just feels wobbly to where I feel I need to tighten the thumbscrew.

Xtand in landscape position

Whether you are using external amplified speakers or just listening with your favorite pair of headphones you can comfortably use the Xtand with your iPhone fully cabled and powered up. You can also turn it from portrait view to landscape view by loosening the thumbscrew in the back with one hand and turning the iPhone with the other then re-tightening the thumbscrew at the appropriate angle in only a matter of seconds and without disturbing the cable management.

iPhone using Xtand cable management

After using the Xtand for a few weeks in a row I am pretty satisfied in what it offers and has become a permanent fixture on my workstation.

My only one suggestion is to somehow make turning the iPhone into an easier one handed operation without having to loosen the thumbscrew in the back – maybe some type of locking button or gear. I noticed that if I tighten the thumbscrew too much that unscrewing it could involve flipping the whole device upside down to get a decent grip on the thumbscrew to apply enough torque to unscrew it. Of course I heed removing your iPhone while doing this. The rubber kit is nice and snug but I wouldn’t trust having my iPhone upside down for too long.

Links:

• Learn more about the XTand at xtand.net
• Purchase the XTand at Amazon.com

If you are going to buy anything from Amazon.com, please consider using these links in this article. If you do, I'll get a commission - a small percentage of the sale price. It won't cost you anything and it will help to support me and iTalk Magazine.

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Ultimate Ears are well known and highly respected name in the audio & music industry with a huge range of in ear monitors for singers, musicians and audio engineers. With a list of clients that reads like a who’s who of singers, they have a lot to live up to. I’m expecting great things from these.

The Ultimate Ears super.fi 5vi

The 5vi may not be the ultimate top of the line in Ultimate Ears range, but above this you start getting into their custom drivers. These however are some serious earphones and at US$270 (on Amazon) they are not cheap.

Back of box

The 5vi come with a great collection of accessories, from a nifty little plastic carry case, to a range of different tips and some Comply foam tips.

I do have to admit that I quite like the packaging, while not as pedantic as that of the q-JAYS, it has still be well thought out, and everything has its place.

Size comparison

When it comes to size, the 5vi are a similar size overall to the iPhone earbuds, maybe slightly smaller & of a similar weight. One very cool design element of these is that the right hand earbud has a translucent red case, while the other has a deep black. This makes it a no-brainer when picking them up to put them in your ears. Red for right – it’s one of those “Doh what a great thing” ideas.

Using the earphones

The design of the 5vi’s is more angular than many however I didn’t find this any more uncomfortable than others. The shape does give you the ability to easily remove them from your ears as there is an good amount of plastic to grab hold of.

I did try these out with their silicon tips and while I found them to be suitable I quickly moved to the Comply Foam tips and haven’t looked back. The silicon tips require you to muck around sorting out which is the best fit & if you don’t get the right one you won’t get a good seal, meaning you don’t get the best sound. The Comply Foam tips simply crush between your fingers and slide into place – then expand to fill your ear canal.

Ultimate Ears do recommend that you wear these with the cord running up and over your ears, rather than down the front – however I think that’s just silly with these as that puts the iPhone Mic miles away from your mouth – rendering it useless.

This does mean you will get some microphonic noise through the cables. One issue I found with these is the microphonic noise can be passed through to the iPhone Mic too, resulting in extra low level noise when using it.

I do love the fact that these have a call handing button – but unlike Apple’s own, it’s further down the cord leaving you to have to look and find it.

The Sound

When you first put these earphones in and pop on some music, you’ll soon realise why these are more expensive than your iPhone ear buds. The audio range of these in ear monitors is great allowing you to quickly pick out new sounds with in your old music. Once again I found the music of POD and Kutless bursting to life, allowing me to not only hear but feel the textures of the music. I love to close my eyes and let my mind shape images based on the music. You can see the drum stick hitting the drum head, the fingers on the bass guitar.

I did find these 5vi’s better than the q-JAYS for this sort of heavier music with a bit more omph in the deeper music. However for your Paul Potts clasical style music the 5vi’s didn’t allow the distinctness of the very high notes.

For spoken word, they are great, again they seem to enhance the audio allowing you to hear your podcasts better. The seem to soften out the sometimes harshness of spoken word, while still giving you the general ease of listening you need when concentrating to the podcast.

I do feel that while these are very good, overall they are a little muddy in their sound – not a lot, but you do tend to notice it after a while that they are not as crisp as the q-JAYS, however the 5vi’s still have a fantastic sound.

Any issues or concerns?

I do find that the 5vi are more likely to fall out of your ears unless you do wear the cable up and over your ears. This of course then means the iPhone mic and button are now running down your back, rendering them useless. I do find myself maybe pushing them in too hard to compensate for this – which may just be aggravating the situation.

I also find that after a few hours of wearing these your ears do feel tired and I end up taking them out for a break or simply dropping one out and carrying on with just one in your ear.

They really should consider dumping their silicon tips and giving more Comply Foam tips as these seem to work so much better – but are not as easy to clean as silicon tips.

I also feel the cord is a little light for earphones of this quality and price. I was expecting something with a little more body – although I have to say I’ve never had a tangle with these, but the cord now has a nasty kink in it just above the connector from having the iPhone in my pocket during use.

Summary

The 5vi have actually become my daily use earphones – why? Because the are iPhone ready and their sound allows me to easily concentrate for long periods on my podcasts.

iPhone ready Ultimate Ear super.fi 5vi

From their gold tip, to the effective “red = right” design, it’s evident the team at Ultimate Ears have thought a lot about these earphones.

Overall they are a solid contender, with a very good general sound geared (in my opinion) towards more heavy music (easy listening through heavy metal – not so great for classical). I loved these for spoken word podcasts & with the Comply Foam tips they really do drown out pretty much everything else.

Links:

• View all our review photos on flickr
• Learn more about the Super.fi 5vi at ultimateears.com
• Purchase Utlimate Ears Super.fi 5vi at Amazon.com

If you are going to buy anything from Amazon.com, please consider using these links in this article. If you do, I'll get a commission - a small percentage of the sale price. It won't cost you anything and it will help to support me and iTalk Magazine.

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We asked JAYS to supply us with a high end earphone for us to review, and we soon received the fantastically small q-JAYS. JAYS promote the q-JAYS as the smallest dual armature earphones in the world.

Dual armature – means dual speaker. A tweeter for high notes and a sub for bass notes

When the packaged arrived I thought, “Wow, it’s a big box for the worlds smallest anything!”

c-JAYS and q-JAYS in box awaiting review

And I soon realised why the box was so large – the q-JAYS come with a huge range of accessories for your earphones. Almost everything under the sun – the only thing missing in my mind is the iPhone adapter which you have to buy separately.

Flipping the box over gives you a detailed view of what’s inside.

Back of the box

There is a huge collection of stuff, from the earphones themselves, to a full range of soft rubber tips, extension cables and adapters along with a lovely little (too small if you ask me) leather case.

I have to steal a moment here to talk about packaging … yes a lot of it (if not all of it) ends up in the recycling bin, however to me packaging is important. If your product is worth it’s price then package it correctly. Thankfully JAYS seem to believe in this too as their packaging is very tidy. I love the vivid green against the black, and everything has it’s own place.

Let’s take a look at the items in the case:

The included q-JAYS accessories.

As you can see there is a great range of stuff, starting on the left with the leather pouch, we then have an airline adapter and a single to double adapter. Then you have 6 sets of tips in differing sizes, a straight plug extension and an L plug extension, soft Comply tips and 4 sets of filters.

The filters are very small and seem to be solid but are in fact a fine metal mesh designed to keep ear wax and dirt out of the earphones.

Using the earphones

As I mentioned these earphones are tiny, not much bigger than the 3.5mm plug on the other end of their cable and they make the Apple ear buds look huge.

Apple and q-JAYS earphones resting on the iPhone

When you first slide these into your ears, you almost feel as if they are going to keep going in until they are swallowed into your head. Thankfully they don’t and they do fit really nicely into your ears. The first thing you’ll notice is how light these are, there is very little weight on them. The cord while strong, doesn’t add that much extra to them.

As with any earphones, take the time to try the different tips to find the best for you. If your tips are not fitting well, they won’t seal and you won’t get the power out of the speakers you’d expect.

Another tip I’ve learned recently is to run your speakers at 75% volume (of your iPod or iPhone) for an hour. Of course you don’t have them in your ears when doing this. I’ve found that this takes the edge off and helps the drivers to perform better.

The sound

Okay, I’ll admit it. While I know that Bose is able to get incredible sound out of small drivers, I didn’t think anyone could get the sound that q-JAYS get out of these with drivers this small.

The clarity of the audio is … well I put this down as a “Wow” moment. I was listening to Again by Kutless, which starts off with a scratchy guitar sound, good drums and a vocal echo. For the first time in a long time, this song burst to life for me. The q-JAYS bought the sound to life. I closed my eyes and could almost see the guitarists fingers sliding over the ridges of the strings. The clarity was incredible.

Once I got over this, I started to really listen, to explore different songs from Guns N Roses newest album to POD, throw in a bit of Paul Potts and Brooke Fraser, and a smattering of Carrie Underwood and I felt I had a good range of music to test these out with.

Overall I found the q-JAYS to have a great audio range (don’t worry I’m not going to talk frequencies as for most of us this doesn’t mean much), although I do feel they are a little too high pitched. For music like Paul Potts this is fine, as you want the beautiful highs of the strings, but with POD or Kutless you really want more bass.

I did notice that after a while my ears got used to this. I was talking to an audio engineer about how when I first started using them I noticed the highs. He said “Oh, your ears have gotten used to them, you won’t hear those any more”. He also told me to run my earphones in – hence the tip above about running them at 75% first.

The dual drivers in the q-JAYS are able to deliver clear sound, across different music types with such clarity at times you forget you are wearing such tiny earphones.

Being noise isolating earphones you do have to be careful wearing these if you are walking .. with these in and the music up, you are really hard pressed to hear anything else. If you are crossing the road, or riding a bike while rocking out with q-JAYS, you are going to need to be very attentive.

Any issues or concerns?

I do have a couple of very small issues with the q-JAYS, none that would stop me purchasing these, but ones that you do need to be aware of.

• Cable Length: the q-Jays come with a very short cable length, perfect for say an iPod Nano on your arm. For those with an iPod or iPhone in their pocket you need to use the cable extensions – which end up making the cable way too long.
• Microphonics: this was a word I didn’t know existed before embarking on these reviews. Microphonics is the amount of noise the earphones carry through, say, the cable. The q-JAYS have a great, solid cable, however if you run this down the inside of your shirt to your iPhone, you will get a LOT of scratchy sounds – until of course your music drowns it out. You can fix this by wearing the earphones with the cable going over your ear – but I don’t find that all that comfortable.
• Size: the size is a pro and a con here. I love the fact they sit so comfortably in your ears, however when it comes to taking them out, you struggle to get hold of them and end up using the cable (a big NO NO) to remove them.

So, what are the positives?

q-JAYS are one of those products that come along and change your mind about so many things. Sure I’d had in ear earphones before, sure I’d listened to small speakers, but I was not expecting what I got from the q-JAYS.

• Amazing clear sound: other than being a little pitchy for me (my wife loves them though), the sound clarity is incredible – I’ll go out on a limb and say they probably are the clearest sounding on the market
• Size: they are very small and very comfortable. I can easily wear these for 8+ hours at a time and not get sore ears. They do fit well, and don’t really move around much. Sure once every hour or so you do correct their placement, but I’ve not had them fall out – even during rigorous gardening and mowing the lawns etc.
• Cables: to have not one but TWO extension cables out of the box is fantastic. I love the L shaped connector as it means when the iPhone is in my pocket there is no undue stress on the cable/plug connection.
• Adapters: again to have not one but TWO adapters in this set, just goes to show that JAYS have really thought about who is going to be using their earphones.
• Design and Materials: the materials selected by the JAYS team are great. The plastic casing for the earphones is solid and smooth, rubberised on the back. The cable has a great soft feel too it, and I love the “click” you get when you connect the extensions, great reassuring sound.

Of course I just don’t listen to music, I spend a lot of time listening to spoken word through podcasts etc. So while the treble is great, the mids are smooth and the bass is in your bones, does this transfer to spoken word? In a word – yes. I have a couple of podcasts that with other earphones I have to have turned pretty much right up to distinguish the speakers voice. The q-JAYS clarity comes to the fore here allowing me easily filter out the background noise and hear the speaker.

Summary

Overall I really like these speakers, their clarity is second to none, their range is well thought out and allows you to really experience your music the way it should be listened too. A little too much treble for me, the q-JAYS are a solid contender for our Best of the Best earphone.

q-JAYS, small yet so big

If you are looking for a set of earphones that are small and comfortable to wear, yet deliver big sound, then take a look a the q-JAYS. At US$189.99 they are not the cheapest, but then they are not US$500 like some Shure ones and these will challenge the big brands in this earphone space.

Links

• View our review photos on flickr
• Learn more about q-JAYS @ JAYS.SE
• Purchase q-JAYS @ Amazon.com

iTalk Magazine is giving you a chance to win your very own q-JAYS?

To win your very own set of q-JAYS simply enter our Valentines day promotion, tell us why you love your iPhone and you can go in the draw to win. But hurry you only have a few days left to enter. This competition is over now – thanks to all who entered!

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Anyway … there is this “funny” and rather well done video announcing the iClooly that Engadget were showing, and I thought I’d share it here. (The video was posted to YouTube on the 21 Sept 08):

Keep your eyes out for our review coming online very soon.

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Sena are a US based company who specialise in leather cases for many different mobile devices. When we started talking to them about the types of cases on the market, they said “hey, we’ll send you some of our fantastic leather cases”. We had to wait a little while for the review samples to arrive as the guys at Sena were crazy busy with Macworld – which is great news.

Sena Cases awaiting review

Not to long later a package arrived and I had the pleasure of opening up these beautiful leather cases. Now of course the first thing I did, was stick my nose in the package and get a whiff of that leather smell – you know the one?

Sena Cases sent us two iPhone 3G cases and two iPod Touch cases. The one in the photo above with my iPhone in it is their Wallet Skin Case, which retails for US$52.00, the other cases included a Ultraslim cases for the iPhone and iPod touch along with a Premium Stand for the iPod Touch.

Using the case

I decided I’d try the Wallet Skin case for my iPhone, as I figured if I could put my RFID Bus pass, my credit card, drivers license and a coffee loyalty card in it, I’d not need to take my wallet anywhere with me.

Putting the phone in to the leather case should be pretty straight forward, open the clasp and drop the phone in. Of course as to be expected with the skin on my iPhone it does require a gentle push to get the phone into place.

I noticed the same with the Ultraslim case – with the skin on it’s quite a firm push to get the phone in. Both cases have a soft velvet lining while the Wallet Skin, does have a full leather back against the iPhone – making removing the phone difficult as the skin sticks to the leather.

I don’t recommend using a full skin with your phone if you are using these cases. However adding a screen protector to your phone will still allow it to work perfectly well with these cases

The Wallet phone I was sent is in an orange colour, which at first I thought was a bit too OTT, however having used it for a week or so now I actually quite like it.

Wallet Phone Skin Open

The case has a simple dome clasp on it, and opens to reveal 4 card slots, as you can see I have my drivers license and coffee cards on one said and visa & bus pass on the other (note: they are usually the other way around by like hell am I having a photo of my Visa in here sorry).

The bus pass I’m pretty sure is an RFID type system, where you simply wave the card over the drivers control and it docks a ride off it when he hits a button. This works well as all I do now is sit my phone on top of his console and it’ll read the card. No damage done to either my credit card or my iPhone – I can even keep listening to my music while getting my ticket.

The leather is quite soft and yet the case has a firmness to it. The screen cut out gives good full access to all parts of the screen and the only real issue I have with it is when a card is in the back (see the pic above) the hole for the camera is blocked.

Side View

The side has a cut out for the volume, and the top entry slot is low enough to allow access to the mute switch. The stitching is fantastic, the case is hand made in Turkey from either Turkish or Italian leather.

The UltraSlim Case

I then decided I’d try the UltraSlim case, which really is very very thin. Quite simply a slip on case, designed (I’d imagine) so that when you throw the iPhone in the bottom of a bag (or your purse ladies?) it doesn’t get all scratched up.

Slip on Ultraslim case

Simply slide your phone in from the top – note with the skin this was a bit more difficult. You might just see in the image above there are 12 holes (6 on either side) for the iPhone so you can hear the speaker when the phone rings.

Very slim case

You can see from the picture above this case really doesn’t add any more width to your iPhone. Once the phone is in place it’s really simple to get out. Simply push with your thumb from the bottom and the phone will slide out. The case is lined with a very nice soft velvet to help the phone slide in and out.

Summary

I do like the idea of having my pride and joy wrapped in hand selected, hand stitched Italian leather. I’ve been testing a few cases lately and none have the luxury feeling of leather. I really enjoy the Wallet Skin, and feel it’s the perfect mix of protection for my iPhone and practicality for me.

If you are looking for a leather case for your iPhone, I highly recommend the leather range from Sena Cases.

Links

• View our review photos & more on flickr
• Learn more about Sena Cases @ senacases.com
• Purchase Sena UltraSlim Pouch for iPhone and iPhone 3G, 3GS at Amazon.com
• Purchase Sena Ultra Slim iPod Touch Case at Amazon.com
• Purchase Sena WalletSkin Case for iPhone 3G, 3GS at Amazon.com

Win a Sena case of your choice

iTalk Magazine and Sena Cases are giving you the chance to win a Sena case of your choice as part of our iTalk Valentine’s promotion.

Simply enter our valentines day promotion, tell us why you love your iPhone and you can go in the draw to win. But hurry you only have a few days left to enter.

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• OtterBox Defender for iPhone 3G

Otterbox are a company based in Colorado who specialise in making cases for many hand held devices to give them, as they say, “added bump, scratch and drop protection” – and having taken a moment to play with the Defender case I believe them. I have dropped a mobile phone before and watched as it hit the ground and flew to bits – something I do NOT want to repeat with my iPhone.

The Defender case from Otterbox is a two part case. One part hard plastic shell, one part soft rubber cover – the two together give you a solid feeling yet soft case for your iPhone.

So lets take a look through shall we:

Otterbox - box

The case arrives in a simple cardboard box, at US$49.95 I wasn’t expecting too much from the packaging & this is the sort of packaging you’d find hanging on a display stand at your local store. However to me that’s perfect for this no nonsense, top the point, case.

Otterbox Defender & Belt clip

You open the box to find the case, firmly locked into a very solid belt clip system. Also in the box is a flyer mentioning you can purchase this in Pink to support breast cancer research (fantastic!!), and a sticker – btw: Otterbox are the ONLY company who’ve sent us a sticker as part of their package lately!

I had difficulty getting the case out of the belt clip the first time, it’s a very firm hold it has – perfect for those of you wanting to use this in say, construction, hanging off a cliff or racing around on your mountain bike. The case is NOT about to slip out of the belt clip!

Defender case belt clip

While we are talking about the belt clip – here it is. A very solidly constructed (formed?) plastic clip. The extensions you see on the right side, are what firmly lock the case in place. Note the clip on the back, it rotates and will stop an a variety of locations as you rotate it round. As you can see, it’s a very firm spring on this. Again, it’s perfect for those who are going to be giving this a battering through their work or lifestyle.

Fitting the Case

As I mentioned, the case itself is a two part item. It’s a solid plastic case that is wrapped in a rubber suit – kinda like batman – without the soft gooey insides. So, to put the iPhone into the Defender case you have to remove the rubber and then split open the plastic and pop it in.

Removing the rubber skin

You simply pull the skin up and over the top, then the case kinda just falls out. I did feel the first time that if you did this lots and lots you’d end up stretching the skin – although having done it now about 10 times, I don’t see any evidence of that. If you are using this case, chances are you won’t be removing it all that often anyway.

Case taken apart ready to fit the iPhone

In the pic above you can see we have the black rubber skin, the two part yellow plastic case and the black belt clip. Note the case comes in all black, all white, black and yellow (as photographed) and all pink. The screen area is a fine clear plastic, that reminds me of the old acetate slides we used to use on old school projectors – only it’s a bit thicker. You’ll notice the white square where the iPhone ear piece is. This is a white cloth like material that protects your ear piece, mic and speaker from dirt and dust.

iPhone into the case

You first of all slide the iPhone into the front part of the case – note the bottom cup like area for the base of the iPhone. NOTE: if you have a skin on your iPhone as I do – it’ll be a VERY tight fit. This case (as are most) is designed for a naked iPhone. It can fit with the skin but only just and it makes it very hard to put the back of the Defender case on.

If you are going to use this case I recommend removing any skin you may have on your iPhone

The next step is to slot the back of the case into place and “click” closed. See the oval shapes on the side of the case in the pic above, these have little teeth on the back that lock the back section into place. You need to pry them open when removing the case.

Then you slip the black skin on and that’s it – the whole process takes maybe a minute, not long at all.

Here’s a shot of the case from the back

Otterbox Defender case from the back

You’ll notice there is a nice circle showing off the Apple logo – I’ve noticed this is something Otterbox do with all their iPhone cases and it’s a really nice touch. I also love their logo, which in the photo with a flash shows up great, it’s very subtle in reality.

Now, unfortunately I don’t have a spare iPhone that I can afford to really test this case (hopefully as this site continues to grow we can get one) – I’d love to put this case through it’s paces with the iPhone inside it – but .. well sorry. I have however dropped the empty case, thrown it against a wall etc – and I see no visible damage at all to the case other than a bit of dust on the skin.

Using the phone in the case

Once the phone is in the case of course you have to still be able to use it. The Defender case makes it reasonably easy to carry on using your phone as intended.

Dock flap

Docking the phone is of course not going to happen. The iPhone in the defender case just won’t fit any dock you have – I pretty much guarantee that, however you can use your iPhone USB cable easily. The base of the case has a rubber flap / plug that covers the dock connector. Simply open it and plug in your cable. Note: I ended up using an older iPod cable as it has a bigger plug on it making it easier to pull out.

Note again in the pic above the white coverings over the microphone and speakers. I never noticed any real lose of audio volume or quality while the iPhone was in the case. However if you are using an app like Ocarina and you have the dock connector plug in, you will get feedback from the speaker to the mic – meaning Ocarina basically plays itself.

Mute & Headphone flaps

Likewise at the other end there are two flaps / plugs; one for your headphone jack and one for the mute switch. One thing I found out about my iPhone habits when using this case, is I’ll often simply reach into my pocket and flip the mute switch as I head into a meeting – kinda without thinking. This case however forced me to pull the phone out, open the plug and flip the mute switch.

Volume controls for iPhone on the Defender case

Just below the mute switch of course are the volume buttons for your iPhone, with this case there are 2 raised rubber buttons on the case allowing you to control your volume. You do need to ensure your phone has a good fit to make sure they work. I found these to work really well – although again, a little hard to find if you are adjusting the volume from your pocket.

Likewise there is a raised button on the top allowing you to put your iPhone to sleep when needed.

iPhone camera through the Defender case

The camera has it’s own hole through the case and like the screen and Apple logo the hole is covered by this fine clear plastic. The photos taken through this look no different to the photos taken without the case.

Home button on Defender case

On the front is a soft home button, placed as you’d expect over the iPhone home button. This button however is smaller than the iPhone one as the plastic edge of the case does run over half the button. Still, it’s big enough to use easily as intended.

Summary

Overall I was pleasantly surprised with this case. The rubber around the case gave it a really nice feel, you really don’t think your iPhone is actually in a hard plastic case. I found the size of it to be really good, easy to hold and generally easy to use the phone.

However I had some issues with this case:

• It can be hard to get the iPhone out of the belt clip and answer a call – the clip is very tight and can be hard to quickly release the iPhone from. I found myself more than once just grabbing the whole thing, clip included and answering the phone
• It can be hard to reach edge of the screen – I have big fingers, so I found one handed operation of the iPhone in this case hard. My thumb couldn’t get right to the edge of the screen as it would hit the screen border first. I’d have to use two hands to type the outside letters on the keyboard too.

Having said that though, I really think this case is perfect for what it can do. If you work construction, if you go mountain biking or any sort of outdoor type activity where you may have a lot of dust, a place you may drop your phone etc – this case is going to be great.

It’s not water proof – they even tell me it’s not water resistant. So it won’t do so well for kayakers, however it would certainly protect your phone from splashes.

My only other issue – and this MAYBE because I have the skin on my phone is the moray effect I get on my screen.

Funny effect on screen

As I said earlier, I don’t recommend the use of this case with any form of skin on your phone.

UPDATE: I’ve been in touch with the folks at Otter Box and they mentioned if you do use a skin and have this effect, sprinkle a little baby powder on the inside. And I mean a little the first time I did it I put too much! Oh dear. But it works, a very fine amount of baby powder helps remove this effect and all is good.

Overall I did like this case, it gave the protection I thought it would, it felt great in the hand and it doesn’t really impede phone usage. If you need a tough case for your iPhone, then I highly recommend the Otterbox Defender for the iPhone 3G.

Links

• View all our review photos & more on flickr
• Read more about the Otterbox Defender @ Otterbox.com
• Purchase the Otterbox Defender at Amazon.com

NOTE: yes you can get the Defender case for the 1st Gen iPhone as well as the iPhone 3G, iPod, iPod Touch, Blackberry, Palm and more – check out otterbox.com for details

Video Update

Just found this video on YouTube – I think it sums up the Defender Case pretty well.

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We wondered how to kick this off & thought, you know what? Most of us love listening to music & most of us are dissatisfied with the sound & feel of the iPhone earbuds (yeah, we couldn’t get our hands on a set of Apple’s new in ear earphones sorry)

So we embarked on a journey to track down some of the best earphones we could find, these are earphones that the industry deems to be some of the best. Generally speaking these are earphones that are what the market calls “high end” and most sit around the US$200 price mark. Some a little higher, some a little lower.

It’s been an interesting task this, given that both CES and MacWorld meant that many companies where struggling to keep up with the demand for review samples, however we are happy to report we’ve pulled together a group of what we think really are some of the best in the industry.

Now, before you are thinking names like Bose, Shure and Sennheiser – we did talk to these companies, as they all have iPhone capable earphones. Unfortunately – for them – we got sick of being bounced around from Marketer, to PR to …. and gave up talking to them.

What that meant was we went beyond the “name”, we hunted around the audiophile spots & listened to what real users were saying. Names started to filter out like, JAYS, v-MODA, Ultimate Ears, COMPLY and Sleek-Audio as having some of the best sounding earphones out there.

So .. we’ve been putting our ears to work over the past few weeks & will continue to do so through Feb as we look to find the best of the best earphones for you to jam out to your music with.

The first of these reviews will be live on the site soon & don’t forget, you can win yourself a set of JAYS – q-JAYS in our valentines promotion.

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