Brando sent over 4 different cases for us to test out, and after ample time with each, we’ve got the skinny on what’s the good, the bad, and the ugly. And the just plain goofy.

 

 

 

When people realized the iPhone camera was half decent (compared to other cellphone cameras, you know), it meant it was only a matter of time before 3rd parties started trying to improve on it. Use jailbroken software to take better pictures, photo editing, video recording…but what about making a hardware improvement?

 

Well, we aren’t going to open up consumer iPhones to do that, because who would want to possibly void their warranty or go through the hassle? Not most of us. So here’s something you can pick up to make sure those pictures reach just a bit farther: a telescope for the iPhone.

 

I know what you’re thinking. Cool, right? It actually is a pretty nifty idea, but really only in theory. In practice, not so much. For anyone with any experience with a camera and zooming in, the picture becomes increasingly hard to take the farther you’ve zoomed in. The slightest movement will jar the picture, though in my tests pictures didn’t come out so poor. Here are some of mine, and I am by no means a steady hand.

 

 

 

 

What was more of a concern was the back of the case, which houses the telescope lens. Because it is built into the case, it is very uncomfortable to use as a case, even though it is the strongest enclosure of the bunch. Yet even with being the strongest case, it still would come apart when dropped though it did protect the iPhone from damage. 

 

After about three weeks of using it, the telescope housing broke off. It could be glued back on, but the lack of removable housing caused it to break off in the first place.

 

Verdict: The case itself is fine, as is the telescope lens. Together, it doesn’t meet our expectations, and breaks easily. It fits both the 2G and 3G models however, and also takes pretty decent pictures.

 

While some like hard cases, soft cases tend to be better for a number of reasons: they’re flexible, they don’t break easily, and they can take much more of a beating before giving in. Brando’s Silicon case is no exception. The black (or one of four available colors) case is sickly thin, and flexible to the point that it is flimsy. 

 

 

 

What the silicon case does right is make a flexible enclosure for any iPhone (it fits on both 2G and 3G models, but is more snug on the 3G. The 2G has the edges of the case stick out). 

 

What it does wrong is much more numerous. The case is not easy to grip in two hands, so writing up text messages is actually very difficult for the sole reason that the case is slippery. There also is no opening for the standby or volume buttons, which instead have a thickened section of silicon around it. While tactile, they don’t make it any easier to push the button you want, and slip frequently. 

 

What was worst was the thinness of the case. It’s simply too thin to take away the damage of a drop, which essentially defeats the purpose of having a case at all. In our tests, we found it too flimsy and thin to properly keep an iPhone safe from falls of anything more than 2 feet on a hard surface.

 

 

 

Verdict: Too thin to really protect, is best for looks.