I once fielded a tech support call from an unlucky customer who had cracked the screen of her cell phone; she expected me to help her navigate it blindly by telling her which buttons to press. Needless to say, this is not something I was able to assist her with. With its touch-screen interface, the iPhone would likely be even harder to use after sustaining physical damage. Unfortunately, hard cases for iPhones are not very common at the moment. However, there are at least a few of them available, including the Armor Case from the accessory specialists at BoxWave. Although its screen guard feature has limited value, overall the BoxWave Armor Case is effective for providing both physical and signal protection for iPhones.

Protection For Your iPhone...

Some iPhone hard cases are made from plastic or cheap imitation materials, but the Armor Case is one of only a handful of iPhone cases made from real aluminum. Available in black and silver versions, the case is a clamshell-style design that snaps closed at the top edge of your iPhone. The interior also has a slim foam coating to hold your iPhone in place, and a detachable belt clip is included. The case has cutouts for an iPhone’s screen, Dock Connector, power switch, headphone jack, camera, and volume/silence switches. The aluminum shell provides strong protection that provides serious protection against even fairly some serious impacts. This is especially important for a high-end device like the iPhone, because if your iPhone breaks, purchasing a replacement will probably cost you at least $399.

The Armor Case is available in two versions, either with or without a plexiglas screen guard. Without the screen guard, the Armor Case by itself does not provide any screen protection, but with the guard, you will have to open the case just to be able to use the iPhone, since you can’t use the touchscreen with the screen guard in place. Unfortunately, neither one of these is really a very attractive option, so you will probably need to buy the version without the guard and also purchase a separate screen protector to achieve both complete protection and a convenient setup.

If your iPhone makes you hear "rattlesnake" noises from your radio or speakers, or if it periodically interferes with your TV reception, then you are undoubtedly familiar with the nuisance known as GSM interference. An unfortunate “feature” of the iPhone is that it is normal for its communication waves to interfere with nearby electronics. This is one area where the case's aluminum makeup comes in especially handy, since it provides shielding against interference. Most plastic and silicone cases don't decrease interference at all, but I’m happy to say that the Armor Case has lived up to, and even exceeded, my hopes in this regard. I would estimate that the case has decreased interference by about 70% from an unprotected iPhone during my everyday usage. In spite of this, my iPhone remains able to find a strong network signal; in fact, I did not observe any correlation between using the case and a decrease of signal strength. GSM interference can be a pretty serious problem if you use a lot of electronics (or if your coworkers are trying to listen to the radio), so the Armor Case’s shielding gives it an advantage that very few iPhone cases offer.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (Now)

For a device as expensive and portable as the iPhone, strong protection is simply a necessity. BoxWave's Armor Case provides durable protection in addition to an almost unparalleled level of shielding from GSM interference. As long as you find a way to protect your screen without relying on BoxWave's own screen guard option, the Armor Case does a good job of keeping your iPhone safe - which is undoubtedly also good news for tech support reps everywhere.

Source: www.mobiletechreview.com