My $0.01 iPhone 4 Case Review

I’ve always been a fan of getting cases for my various Apple products.  My MacBook Pro has an Incase sleeve, I use the Apple iPad case with my iPad, but I’ve still yet to find the perfect iPhone 4 case.  I have been using the Bumper that I got from the Apple Case Program, and have been satisfied with it.  Free is always the best price, but the next best thing to free is 1 cent, and that’s what DefaultCase is doing with their new line of cases.

A little bit of background about the company is that they decided to start making cases, and set aside a marketing budget to promote themselves.  Instead of using this budget to buy ads, they used it to subsidize their cases so that they could sell them as cheap as possible.  This brought down the price to $0.01 (with $4 shipping to Canada, but free in the States).  This was the right price for me, so I went ahead and ordered the “Outrageously Orange” case, as I decided I wanted to add some colour to my iPhone 4.

When I received the case, I removed it from its rather oversized shipping box and quickly put it on my iPhone 4.  It went on easily and felt nice in my hand, although a tad too smooth, but I feel that this will not be the case over time.  The case is quite svelte and fits tight to the iPhone 4.  It’s built quite well and seems to protect the iPhone from any minor bumps and scrapes, although I wouldn’t want to drop it from any height as it is just hard plastic and won’t absorb much of the shock.

With Flash

Without Flash

Unfortunately, my choice of colour seems to be the case’s biggest downfall.  Due to the bright orange colour, when taking a photo with the flash on, the flash picks up the colour of the case and causes it to wash over the picture.  While this does add a neat sepia like effect to the photo, it is not the desirable outcome for most of my photos.  I don’t believe a black case would cause this problem, but even so, I tend to stay away from using the flash on my camera, so it won’t be a major issue for me.

I do like the perforated design that DefaultCase is using.  Not only does it cut down on material costs for them, but it also reduces the weight of the case so that it barely feels like you’re adding anything at all.  I am tempted to buy more cases for my friends and family, but as of right now, the $4 shipping charge is per case, but I will be in contact with DefaultCase to see if there are any other options.

If you have missed out on the Free Case Program and are looking for a cheap case to use simply to alleviate any antenna issues, it might be worth it to check out DefaultCase.

As always you can contact me anytime at www.allthattechstuff.com or @jonpilon on Twitter.  I had some great conversations with some of our readers about the Mobile Wars post and would love to hear from more of you!

P.S. - Like our news? Support the site with a coffee/beer. Or shop with our Amazon link. We use affiliate links when possible--thank you for supporting independent media.