Both Sal and myself have experienced a cracked iPhone screen within the past couple of months. In my case my son grabbed the iPhone from me and then threw it (he’s less than two years old so I excuse that behavior) and in Sal’s case, it went for a pretty big fall. Sal previously detailed his experience and walked us through dealing with it by placing an anti-glare screen cover on it. Of course, that’s how you “deal with it”, but how can you prevent it from ever occurring?

Back in July I wrote about how my wife’s iPhone withstood a 55 mph drive thanks to the Otterbox impact series. While that case certainly does protect the iPhone’s back and sides, it doesn’t look very pretty. This is what led me to search out a sexier alternative, which I found in the Speck iPhone case.

Speck makes a variety of iPhone cases, including ones that are SeeThru and others that it calls CandyShell. In both offerings you get a lightweight, flexible one-piece case that protects from scratches and looks and feels great. The case also offers a rubberized interior, which serves as a great shock absorber for those inevitable falls. As I mentioned above, the case also comes with a cleaning cloth and a screen protector film. All together it’s a great prevention kit, which doesn’t add too much bulk to your sleek iPhone.

The most interesting part about the case design is how it wraps around the iPhone. To get the case onto the iPhone you first put the bottom corners of your iPhone into the bottom of the case. Then you gently bend your case around the iPhone by flexing the top corners of the case around the top of the iPhone. It’s actually best to put your ringer switch in the off position, since it will inevitably go to the “on” position once you finish installing the case.

Removal of the case is pretty interesting, too, and much easier than you would think. Instead of trying to force the iPhone out of the case, you place your thumbs on the Speck logo on the back of the case and then gently flex and bend the top corners of the case off of the iPhone. I’ve actually tried a variety of other ways to both insert and remove the iPhone, so make sure to do it the “Speck” way, or you may end up snapping your iPhone in two.

I’m currently using an iPhone 3GS and while I’m not a fan of cases or screen protectors, I’ve been sporting a Speck case for a few weeks now. I did try the screen protector film but I removed it almost immediately since it took away too much of the beauty of the screen for my taste. Then again, there’s a pretty decent scratch on my iPhone 3GS’s screen so perhaps the film is a worthwhile tradeoff.

Speck offers so many different iPhone cases that there’s bound to be a style for just about everyone’s taste. The cases themselves range from $30-$35, which is a small price to pay for protecting your iPhone.

Source: www.geek.com