I’ve always hated mobile phone covers. Although mobile phones used to be ugly, so it didn’t matter as much. When mobile phones first became semi-popular, and looked like oversized TV remotes with big aerials, then by all means a case is fine, if not essential.

But when they became sexy and shiny, well, it seems like you’re doing a disservice to the designer. Someone has grafted to design something with curves and glass, that gleams in the sun, and then you shove it into a dull square leather box.

It’s like having an Aston Martin and covering it like this every time you park:

 (Picture borrowed from here)

Also, it’s the added hassle of it. There’s an added couple of seconds of ‘case removal’, during the mental panic of “is that my phone? Oh hang on..it might not be a withheld-number sales call, it might be someone I actually want to talk to….now where is it?”, period after it starts ringing and before it inevitably goes to voicemail JUST as you press the button to answer.
And I don’t even own a handbag. How do women manage? (They don’t. My girlfriend calls almost every person who calls her, back.)

There are the flip-open type ones where you can answer without removing the phone from the case, but who wants a phone that looks like a stereotypical-policeman’s notebook?

(That picture from here.)

The best idea was surely the old Nokia phones with the replaceable front and black full fascias. You drop it, crack it, and it was relatively cheap to replace the entire outer casing. Sadly, with all the aluminium, gorilla glass, etc. that goes into modern phones, that’s a design that doesn’t work anymore.

When I got an iPhone 4, and there was all the talk of  it losing signal when you touched it, Apple gave away cases to all customers, that covered either the edges, or the edges and the back. I had one, of course, but I chose the transparent plastic one (back and sides), so as not to completely spoil the design. However, lately, I notice that a lot of people I work with have big cracks in the front screens of their respective Apple and Samsung devices. So I’ve finally relented, and bought a case that covers the entire phone, hiding one of Jony Ive’s most famous designs away in the darkness. Just for traveling/work – not for when I’m at home or whatever. It’s fun, at least. Here it is:

It is not dunkable. I repeat, DO NOT DUNK THIS CASE in a steaming mug of tea/coffee.

If you’re wondering, the back looks like this:

It’s made of neoprene, and available from here.

Seems quite well made, given low cost. It fits the iPhone4, including the back/sides case already on the phone. It’s also available for loads of other phones, so you don’t have to be a fan of Apple, to support the image of the bourbon biscuit in all its delicious dunkable glory. I’m off now to put the kettle on. (After I’ve brushed my teeth. Neoprene tastes horrible.)