My Review of Four iPhone 4 Cases

[Note, this review is slightly off topic from my standard posts, if you want to learn more about SharePoint branding, scroll down to my previous posts. Thanks!]

From the second I ordered my iPhone 4, I knew I was probably going to use a case to carry it around most of the time. This was even before “antenna-gate” proved to be an issue and everyone was told they were going to get a free case. Since I ordered online, my iPhone arrived before the stores had them, and by the time I decided to brave the crowds the Apple store was all out of cases (note: as of 7/21/2010 they still are out of all iPhone 4 cases in my area). So I went over to Best Buy and bought two temporary cases to try out and wasn’t super thrilled with them so I also ordered two online (with the plan to return whichever ones I didn’t like). So for all of you that want to get a case for your iPhone 4 but are unsure which is right for you, I provide my quick review of four commonly available options. I really wanted to review the new Speck CandyShell but I haven’t seen any available anywhere that weren’t crazy colored (take note AT&T stores, the black one looks much nicer than the purple one). Oh, and if any other case companies want to send me cases for review I’d be happy to add photos and reviews for them, just use my contact form in the top navigation :)

For me, the most important aspects of a case are A. that it protects the phone from drops and basic scratches and B. that it doesn’t weigh very much or make the phone look terrible. All weights listed are my own measurements based on just the case (no packaging) on a food scale and all photos were taken by me (the flash on my camera really brought out some of the dust and made some of the grays a little lighter than they actually are, in most cases all of these cases were clear or black/dark gray.

Griffin Reveal - $24.99

(Case Weight: .65 Ounces)

This was one of the cases I ordered online because it looked interesting to me. I liked the idea that it protected the back of the phone but still showed off the phone. The back looks good, pretty much like a naked iPhone 4 with the only noticeable difference being the camera cutout. The side rubber is snug but does lift up a bit when you apply pressure, I’d prefer this rubber to be more rigid but I suppose it would be difficult to remove if it was. The buttons feel good and even my cheap Monoprice power adapters fit fine with the case on (none of these cases work with my old 3Gs dock… I would suspect none work the the iPhone 4 dock either). Out of these four cases, this is one of my favorite, and probably the best choice for overall protection. Note, that I did leave something rigid in my iPhone pocket the other day and was able to scratch the bejeezus out of the clear backing, but the phone was unharmed so I guess it served its purpose by protecting the phone).

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/reveal-iphone4

 

Apple Bumper - $29.00 Free for the early adopters

(Case Weight: .30 Ounces)

I really like this case, its very light (the lightest of these four by far) and it has a nice professional look. Yes… it is expensive for a piece of plastic that probably costs Apple twenty cents to make, but it is well made. I had to order it on the website and wait a few weeks for it to come in; I guess I’m going to get a refund for this one now… thanks Steve! I like the combination of the softer rubber and the harder plastic to make the case rigid but flexible (in the photos the soft rubber appears much grayer than it should, the case is basically very dark all around). I also like the way the buttons are separate from the case itself, they are very easy to press and feel like real metal buttons. I do still feel like I need some protection on the back of the phone though, perhaps a “screen” protector might help with that. I still use the Griffin Reveal when I’m going anywhere where I might accidently drop the phone or there is a lot of dirt… but when I get a back protector sticker I may switch to the bumper fulltime. I think if anyone makes a case that is a lot like the bumper only with the addition of a very thin back on it, that might be the perfect case. One other downside is that my cheap Monoprice charging cable doesn’t fit well with this case on, and I suspect that some smaller headphone jacks may have problems.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC597ZM/A

 

Belkin Grip Vue - $24.99

(Case Weight: .75 Ounces)

I wanted to like this case, it was the second that I was able to find in store at Best Buy and is now available at Amazon as well. I could only find it in clear, but I think I would have preferred the darker model since the clear made the sides look a bit too cheap. The plastic that is used is fairly rigid, which I liked and the buttons were a little stiff but worked ok. I did notice that the front lip of the case did seem to be a “micron” smaller than it should be because I could frequently feel the case click forward into the proper position and then slide back ever so slightly. Also, note that this case didn’t want to stand up on its own for the photos (not a problem in the real world) so I propped it up with my old iPhone dock.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003R6KW7A?ie=UTF8&tag=blogdrisgillc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003R6KW7A

 

Rocketfish Silicone Fitted Case - $15.99

(Case Weight: 1 Ounce)

Not my favorite case by a long shot. It was available day one from Best Buy so it was my first and only option for a bit. I believe it is a Best Buy exclusive case. It is large, heavy (1 full ounce, the heaviest from this group!), and generally not very attractive. It seems to pick up every piece of dust that touches it. Also it doesn’t fit overly snug, which is concerning to me because it could allow dirt to get inside the case and potentially cause problems. The buttons work well but they are thick and molded into the same plastic so they aren’t the easiest to press down. I will say though that it would probably protect the phone nicely from falls, I’m thinking it would just bounce gently because of the type of rubber used.

Rocketfish™ Mobile - Case for Apple® iPhone® 4 - Black

That’s about it, so far my favorite are the Apple Bumper and the Griffin Reveal. If I get a chance to review any others, I will add them directly here or perhaps add a link to the new review. Let me know if you like any other specific cases and why.

Updated 2010 Starter Master Pages up on CodePlex

Just a quick note to tell everyone that I have updated my starter master pages on CodePlex. I have made several minor tweaks that should help them be more “minimal” for easier use in your branding projects.

Here are some of the bigger updates in this release:

• Additions to the SharePoint Server starter master page to include some My Site support
• A third starter master page that works with the Meeting Workspace (yes they still require a unique master page in 2010 but unlike in 2007, they are very similar to the standard master page)

You can grab my latest starter master pages from: http://startermasterpages.codeplex.com

If you still need the previous version here is the link: http://startermasterpages.codeplex.com/releases/view/36075

Microsoft’s SharePoint 2010 Starter Master Page

Last week, Microsoft’s Dallas Tester (http://twitter.com/dgtester) posted a new starter master page for SharePoint 2010:

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/odcSP14StarterMaster

For those that don’t already know, “Starter” is the new term for minimal master pages that were available for SharePoint 2007. Here are some screenshots of the starter master page in action, you will see that it is quite minimal:

This is a great resource for learning about SharePoint 2010 master pages. If you are interested in another type of starter master page experience, you can always check out my own starter master pages at http://startermasterpages.codeplex.com. They are less minimal, but still are a good starting point for SharePoint 2010 branding projects.

Removing the Name ActiveX Control Warning in SharePoint 2010

When I initially looked at SharePoint 2010 I was disheartened to see that my old nemesis the Name.dll ActiveX control warning was still popping up on my sites. If you haven’t seen it yet, here is a screenshot:

The warning has to do with SharePoint wanting to show presence info (the little green icon next to people in your organization that are currently online). It often ends up showing on public SharePoint sites because it is elusive in development environment, it will only show in these circumstances:

• IE7 or IE8
• Site must not be in the Intranet zone, which typically automatically includes any site that you are local to or share a domain with
• Must have Office, or Messenger or any other similar program installed
• Must have NOT already said yes to IE installing the ActiveX control

If any one of those criteria isn’t met, the warning doesn’t show for you, but it most likely WILL show for anonymous internet users. In the past we had to use some JavaScript in the master page to hide this warning, but thanks to Kirk Evans’ blog post (http://blogs.msdn.com/kaevans/archive/2010/01/28/presence-in-sharepoint-2010.aspx), I have just learned that the message can also be turned off via Central Administration in SharePoint 2010, here’s how:

Open Central Administration and click Manage Web Applications. From there select your web application from the list and then from the ribbon click General Settings > General Settings:

After that, simply change the “Enable Person Name smart tag and Online Status for members” to No, and click OK:

That’s all you have to do to get rid of the warning, so no one has any excuse now if you are working on a public SharePoint site it should be turned off. Also, its worth noting that you can still get rid of the message via JavaScript in the master page if you prefer:

<script type="text/javascript">
    function ProcessImn(){}
    function ProcessImnMarkers(){}   
</script>

If you have access to Central Administration that is probably the preferred method, but if you don’t or you want to ensure that it never is turned on by mistake, the master page method is a sure fire way to hide it always.

Error in Current Docs for Upgrading Fixed Width Master Pages to SharePoint 2010

This probably affects anyone that has tried to make a fixed width master page in SharePoint 2010 (unless you have already noticed the error) it affects the MSDN article “Upgrading an Existing Master Page to the SharePoint Foundation Master Page” and my Starter Master Pages (expect an update to my starter master pages very soon).

In the article it states:

If your page is fixed width, add the class s4-nosetwidth to the bodyContainer div element. The updated div element would look like the following. <div ID="s4-bodyContainer" class="s4-nosetwidth">

In actuality you need to place the s4-nosetwidth on the previous div tag like this:

<div ID="s4-workspace" class="s4-nosetwidth">

Without that line SharePoint injects CSS inline to your <div> and sets the width the current size of the browser (which completely wrecks most fixed width design).

SP2010 Branding Tip #11 – Un-Floating the Ribbon in custom Master Pages

In the 2010 out of the box master pages, Microsoft has included code that causes the ribbon to float above the rest of the page content (you might say it sticks to the top of the page). You can see the effect here:

See how the right scroll bar stops at the ribbon? That’s the new functionality at work. It makes editing the page a nicer because you don’t have to scroll to the top of the page constantly.

But what if you are doing a VERY stylized branded SharePoint site? Sometimes this functionality can get confused, especially if you are using CSS to position the body “fixed”. I saw this happen recently when Paul Keijzers (@KbWorks on Twitter) was having problems using my Starter Master Pages (http://startermasterpages.codeplex.com). His problem would have been the same if he used Microsoft’s v4.master.

So, how do we make the page scroll in a more traditional fashion? Pretty easy, just follow these steps in your custom master page (or css):

1. Remove or override the CSS that hides the body overflow - body { overflow:hidden; }. You can override with body { overflow:auto; } Note: if you are using v4.master, you need to override this with body.v4master { overflow:auto; }
2. Remove scroll="no" from the <body> tag
3. Remove ID="s4-workspace” from the <div> tag that surrounds the page content (below the ribbon). You can remove the entire <div> tag and its corresponding </div> if you would prefer.

Save and check-in / approve and you should have a page that scrolls normally. The ribbon will stay at the top and scroll off the page if you have a lot of page content. Note, there may be an easier way to do this by using something like the class="s4-nosetwidth" code that takes away the width setting, but I haven’t been able to find anything that would change the scrolling behavior.

New SDTimes Article: The New Theming Engine

My latest article for SD Times has been published to their website, titled Spotlight on 2010: The New Theming Engine. Obviously, it's an overview of how themes work in SharePoint 2010. Check it out:

Spotlight on 2010: The New Theming Engine