GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

The iPhone is already the spiritual successor to the Polaroid, able to deliver great results, instantly. So instead of wishing that whichever company currently owns the Polaroid brand-name would just make a great new camera already, why not just make your iPhone look like the iconic Land Camera?

Buy this skin, designed by Canada-based Ryan Astle, and you can do just that. The reusable plastic stickers come in a pack of two – one big one for the back, so the subject of your photo can see how retro-serious you are about your snaps, and a little sticker for the bottom panel on the front, adding a fake button on either side of the home button.

Of course, the Polaroid name itself isn’t mentioned, because this might distract Polaroid’s current owner from churning out cynical cash-in crap for long enough for a visit to court. There’s really no doubting what the design is “inspired” by, though, and it can be yours for just $15. The skin will fit any iPhone model, not just the current one.

Photoroid Skin [Infectious / Ryan Astle via Giz]

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Like books, e-readers and tablets need protection. Their delicate, computer-like screens can get cracked or smashed by the vagaries of life.

And like books, we spend hours staring at these delicate devices. So why not make them look more like books?

We don’t just want to protect tablets and e-readers, but honor and personalize them, and maybe bring back some of the quaint pleasures of reading an old leather-bound volume at the same time.

The most natural way to signal their special status as reading machines and engines of cultural consumption is to borrow what we know from the look and feel of book covers. And if making an e-reader look like an old hardcover book or a composition notebook adds a little trompe l’oeil fun, so much the better.

This slide show highlights some of the best faux-book covers for e-book readers and tablets.

Above: Covers made by Dodocase for the Kindle 3.

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You love your Apple iPad case. You love that it is more like a slim, slip-on skin than a thick case. You love that it seals in the iPad from all sides, and that it has a built in stand for typing. You love that, once fitted, you almost don’t notice it.

Problem: You don’t love the way it picks up dirt, or that you can’t fasten it shut. And you hate its utilitarian blankness, made to look like a corporate, trade-show giveaway by the Apple logo on the front.

Solution: The gorgeous Travelteq iPad case, almost identical in design to the Apple version, only fashioned from leather and costing a scary 225 ($300). The Italian leather is lined in a choice of colors and seals the iPAd in just like the Apple case. There are cutouts for all ports and switches, a fold in the front cover to bend the flap into a typing or movie-watching stand, and a strap to keep the case closed. You even get a business-card holder inside, should you need it.

If only this thing wasn’t so damn expensive. I’m an avowed fan of the Apple case, for all the reasons listed in the first paragraph, and I don’t even care about the cons in the second (apart from the logo). But even I would buy the Travelteq case in a second if it wasn’t over the half the price of an actual iPad.

Travelteq iPad case [Travelteq. Thanks, Brandon!]

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With the next-generation iPad rumored for a spring 2011 release, Asian websites are posting images of purported third-party cases for the device.

The cases, spotted by Apple fan blogs MacRumors, Powerbook Medic and iLounge,sport common characteristics: a hole for a rear-facing camera and a rectangular hole that could be for an SD-card slot.

The premature-accessory game is a crapshoot. Occasionally accessory makers have sources connected to Apple in the plastics industry, who leak characteristics of new Apple hardware so they can get a head start on making cases. There have been times when leaked case designs accurately foreshadow new hardware features, but also times when they were wrong.

If the iPad cases above are based on real characteristics of the iPad, they reveal some interesting tidbits. Many have speculated the iPad 2 would gain a front-facing camera, but a rear-facing camera, as the cases suggest, was less expected. Also, the possible addition of an SD-card slot would eliminate the need for buying acamera-connection accessory made by Apple.

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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ZooGue’s leather folio-style case for the iPad is called the Genius. That’s some fancy talking right there, but amazingly it actually manages to live up to the name. Almost. A slightly more accurate name would be Fat Genius.

Let’s get the problem out of the way first. The Genius might be incredibly handy, but it is also thick and heavy, thanks mostly to the profusion of clever extras. Empty, it weighs 16-ounces, or around two-thirds the wight of the iPad itself. It is also fat, looking less like you have slipped the iPad into a case and more like you have tucked it up in bed: The case is all but a full inch thick. All that material does help protect the iPad inside, though.

The Genius might be bulky, but the features it packs in almost make up for it. First, slot the tablet in. It works like the Apple case, with the iPad entering through a slot by the hinge. A flap then wraps around and Velcros into place, and all ports and switches are left clear. Flip the case open and the stiff front-cover sits around back, out of the way.

This cover has a pair of ugly Velcro strips along the top and bottom edges (along with a nasty plastic logo-badge, apparently shrunken from an earlier version). These strips engage with a Velcro-tipped kickstand on the back, letting you prop the iPad at any angle from around 35-degrees to vertical. This is the best part of the case: adjustment is fast and easy, and the stand is as sturdy as you could wish for. It is also very comfortable for reading, with the iPad either on your lap or on your chest (if you’re lying down).

The other gimmick is a strap that wraps around a car-headrest to keep the kids entertained. The strap is elasticated, and in two parts. Wrap both sides around the headrest and they Velcro together. It works well, and the straps can also be used to keep the case closed.

The leather is plush, but slippery. Prop this against a wall and it may slip and fall flat, unlike the grippy Apple case (still my favorite of every case I have tried).

If you don’t mind its size, then the Genius should be on your list: It’s well made and easy to use, and for what you get, pretty cheap at $50. If you’re looking for something simple and slim, move along.

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Like the joyfully “heavy” people on TV talk-shows that proclaim they’re proud and “full of life”, you too can celebrate the slab-like heft of your old, fat MacBook Pro with the Blackbox case, a solid oak sleeve that laughs at the supermodel-skinny MacBook Air. The cases, made in Golden, Colorado, are hand crafted and, like the MacBook itself, hewn from chunks of the raw material.

Despite its chunkiness, the wooden case is actually pretty light, weighing in at just 1.5-pounds (which the product page says is the same as a bottle of beer – appropriate for something made in the same town as Coors). If my MacBook ever left the house these days (my iPad has pretty much relegated the laptop to the desktop) then I might be tempted. Right up until I saw the $130 price-tag, that is.

Available now, for 15 and 13-inch MacBook Pros.

Blackbox product page [Blackbox via Uncrate]

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The feel of a print book in your hand is largely a function of its cover; it turns out, Kindle cases are exactly the same. Two new third-party cases do their best to imitate the look and feel of a hardcover book, but take very different approaches in doing so.

The first is by DodoCase, makers of a popular iPad case who’ve brought the same traditional bookbinding aesthetic to a Kindle 3 case, just announced today.

From a distance, the Kindle DodoCase looks almost exactly like a Moleskine notebook, but the exterior is a stiff black faux leather. If you knock on it, it feels and sounds like a hollow-core door — less like a Moleskine and more like a sturdy old Bible.

The Kindle’s enclosure is also deceptively simple. It’s carved of wood, and the exterior has a vertical grain that simulates yellowed or lightly gilded pages. My wife joked that it looked like it was made of popsicle sticks, but it’s sturdy, too, carved down from bamboo. Sloped gaps on the left and right edges allow access to the page turn buttons; a larger opening at the bottom lets you control the sleep/wake switch, volume control, and headphone and USB jacks.

The access to the jacks at the bottom is great, better than I’ve seen in many cases. The side buttons, though, are pretty constricted. You can’t really come

Rubber grips on each of the four corners hold the Kindle in place. I had my doubts about these, too (Kindle cases are notorious for not keeping the devices secure, but once my Kindle was squeezed in, it was definitely stuck. In fact, it’s a little tricky getting the Kindle out.

Just like with the iPad, each DodoCase comes with a different interior lining (see photo above): the original red-lined case costs $50, and $5 more gets you green, sky blue, dark blue, pink or charcoal. The linings are not exactly plush. The color is good, and I’d guess it’s made of linen — traditional in bookbinding, but a little slim for gadget cases, where everything’s been sueded up.

M-Edge’s Cambridge Jacket for Kindle 3

For a different take on the Kindle-cover-as-hardcover-book, I like M-Edge’s Cambridge Jacket ($45). It has more of an “Everyman’s Library” feel to it: canvas with leather trim around the spine and the interior, which has a place to store cards and notes.

The Kindle’s held in place with leather straps, too; not quite as snug as the DodoCase, but a little more managable to slide in and out. The main complaint I have about the leather straps, though, is that they make it a little trickier to get at the sliding sleep/wake switch. The access to the page turn buttons, however, is perfect.

To be honest, I prefer the Cambridge jacket. It really comes down to feel. It’s softer, it has more texture; the spine’s just as stiff without feeling hard. Readers with a more austere aesthetic might prefer the DodoCase. I prefer either of them to the floppy leather-and-vinyl covers that feel like repurposed purses. Maybe that’s a gendered thing, but I don’t think those work well on bookshelves either.

And if you’re left-handed, or have gotten used to using your left hand to toggle back and forth on the Kindle, you’re essentially out of luck. No case I’ve tried gives uncramped access to the Kindle’s left-hand navigation buttons. You could probably use the DodoCase upside down or a protective sleeve on the go. Not many good solutions here.

What makes shopping for all of these cases difficult is that it’s nearly impossible to know how one will function until you get a chance to try it out. Really, it’s the same with phone cases: with most of them shipping online or in store displays behind cardboard or plastic, it’s tougher than it ought to be to get the things in your hands to find one that fits.

Traditional readers complain that e-reading can’t simulate the look and feel of a quality book. With cases, short of actually turning the pages, it can. It’s just harder for each reader to get a chance to find just one cover that feels right.

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Somehow, Griffin has managed to take a laundry-list of dork-tastic follies and combine them into a single product that actually looks quite good. It’s called the Slap, and it turns your iPod Nano into a watch.

The Slap is a version of those old slap bracelets that are still used to make reflective cuffs for cyclists. Inside is a strip of memory-metal that you can straighten out, but that instantly circles your arm and grips it when you slap it against your wrist.

This strip is encased in brightly-colored silicone, recalling the poor fashion choices we made in the 1980s.

Finally, it copies the already unoriginal idea of turning the clock-faced Nano into a wristwatch.

And I can’t help but love it. Until you try wearing the new Nano on your wrist, don’t laugh. It’s a surprisingly practical place to put it, even if snaking the headphone cable up your sleeve out through your collar is a little fiddly. I have carried the Nano this way, both on my existing watch-strap and (nerd-alert) on a Honl Speed Strap Velcroed around my arm.

Griffin’s Slap has a semi-enclosed capsule for the iPod, with a single hole for the headphones to enter. The volume and sleep/wake buttons are covered, but have raised nodules over them to help you click through. The touch-screen is of course always exposed.

The Slap will be available soon, and comes in a double-rainbow of eye-searingly bright colors. For the boring Henry Fords out there, it also comes in black. $25.

Slap product page [Griffin]

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“Fake Moleskine Notebooks” has developed into an entire gadget case category, although ironically Moleskine’s own effort is quite awful. The idea is that you cover your new-fangled tablet or cellphone or e-reader with an old-fangled faux-leather book-cover. I have tried two of them out, the original Dodocase and the The Case from Pen & Quill, both for the iPad. I bought the Dodocase myself, and the Pen & Quill case was sent for review.

Both these cases have a rigid frame which holds the iPad at the corners with compressed rubber pads, and this sits inside a case made with traditional book-binding methods. And right there the similarities end.

Put them side by side and the quality of the Pen & Quill jumps out. It is sturdier, the cover is thicker and better made and, unlike the bamboo frame of the Dodocase, the wood frame holds the iPad so tight you can’t shake it loose. Given that the cases both cost $60, the answer seems obvious. It isn’t.

Much of the strength of the Pen & Quill comes from it’s size. The case is deeper, and almost an inch wider and longer than the Dodocase. As you can see from the pictures of them together, the wooden frame is chunkier at its edges and it also extends around the back of the iPad.

You’ll also notice that the cut-out for the iPad’s ports and switches are quite different. While the Dodocase opens up the entire top and bottom, the Pen & Quill has individual slots for everything. Especially good is the speaker-hole, which covers the speaker when closed, but reflects sound forward when in use. The Dodocase’s open ends don’t support the card cover when closed, either, offering less screen protection.

The sturdiness continues to the fastener. The Dodocase has a Moleskine-like elastic strap, which isn’t quite strong enough to keep the case closed should the iPad come loose inside (and it will). The Pen & Quill has a thick black ribbon secured by a sturdy press-stud. This also doubles as a strap to hold the case open in an A-shape for use as a landscape-oriented stand. Finally, the card itself is thicker on the Pen & Quill, and is covered inside with a lining that is stronger than the Dodocase’s actual cover (itself lined with paper).

But all this strength comes at a price. The Dodocase is both much smaller and much lighter. On my kitchen scale, the Dodocase weighs just 258-grams (9.1-ounces), while the Pen & Quill is a hefty 464-grams, or a shade over a pound. That’s almost double the weight.

This isn’t to say that the Dodocase is badly made (well, apart from its iPad-dropping habit). You’ll need to choose whether you want a lightweight, slimline case that offers less protection, or a juggernaut that will probably last longer than the iPad it protects but also makes it a little awkward to handle.

Which one do I prefer? Neither. I have settled on Apple’s own case, which is cheap (ish), slimline and protective. If these two faux-Moleskines could be described as Victorian chaperones, making sure that their charges remain virgin and untouched at the expense of being highly intrusive, the Apple case is more like a Durex Featherlite: it offers protection, but you hardly know it’s there.

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Photos: Charlie Sorrel

The Case [Pen & Quill]
Dodocase [Dodocase]

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The very best thing about the DeluxeGear Lens Guard is that it looks like it was designed and made by a three-year old. Take a look: it’s as if this protective cover had been squished out of Play-Doh and stuck straight on the front of the lens.

In fact the Lens Guard is a little more high-tech than that. An inner neoprene core is covered with Santoprene, a cross between rubber and polypropylene which can be molded when hot and sets to a bendy, waterproof rubber-like material. According to Wikipedia, Santoprene is also used to make the blades of “training knives, swords, and bayonets” which is awesome.

Back on the camera, the Lens Guard is like an extreme lens-cap. You pop the cosy over the end of the lens and the shock-absorbing cover soaks up bumps, whilst shrugging off dust and water. If you’re the kind of person who keeps a lens-hood permanently attached to your lens not to reduce flare but to protect the front element from whacks and smack, this is for you.

The Lens Guard comes in three sizes, to fit lenses from 2.5-inches to 3.9-inches in diameter, all of which cost $15. Or you could just buy a tub of Play Doh and put the kids to work.

Lens Guard product page [DeluxeGear via Photography Bay]

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Amongst the initial complaints about the iPad were that it is too heavy (it isn’t), that it is too big (nuh-uh) and that it easily slips out of your hand (it does). The Hand-e-holder takes care of the only genuine problem on that list, and it does it in the dorkiest way possible.

The Hand-e-holder comes in two parts. First is a clear plastic donut-shaped sticker which affixes to the back of the iPad (or any other tablet). The second part is an adjustable hand-strap with a matching circle that sits over your palm. Both sides are covered in 3M’s Dual-Lock fastening material, kind of like an ultra-strong Velcro that actually clicks into place (the hooks are mushroom-shaped).

Once locked onto the iPad’s back, the handle spins freely to let you choose landscape and portrait orientations, and to use the tough multitouch glass front to play ping-pong (note: due to the smooth glass surface, putting spin on the balls is all but impossible).

Why would you use this dork-tastic accessory? I guess that if you’re using the iPad in a work situation, like taking inventory or standing outside an exclusive nightclub excluding people for petty and arbitrary reasons, then this may be for you. There are also some wall-mounting plates and stands to which the same sticky-donut will fix, allowing the same 360 spins.

For the rest of us, a frictionful case will do the trick. May I recommend Apple’s own, which also protects the screen with a semi-rigid flap and doubles as a stand whilst adding almost no bulk to the slim device.

The Hand-e-holder is available now, for a not-quite-too-expensive $40.

Hand-e-holder [Hand-e-holder via Macworld]

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The Dodobag is an elegant bag designed to hold the Dodocase, and elegant case designed to hold your iPad. You read that right. The bag is a bag to carry a case, and it costs $80.

I live in Europe, where as many men as women carry bags, so I already have a closet-full of what you might call “murses”. From what I understand, the American gentleman tends to think carrying a small bag might somehow diminish his masculinity. This is, I presume, where the Dodobag comes in.

Made from black Cordura nylon with a bright-red interior, the bag looks a lot like the case it is made to coddle. Inside is a padded sleeve, offering a little more protection from knocks than does the cardboard and bamboo Dodocase, and there is a handy removable pocket for cables and the like. The shoulder strap is adjustable, and there are D-rings for attaching a cross-strap to stop the bag from flapping like a soon-to-be-extinct bird when you use it on a bike.

Like the Dodocase, the Dodobag is made in San Francisco, this time by Rickshaw Bags. I have a Dodocase, which cost me $60 plus a lot of shipping and duty. I used it for a week before switching to the Apple iPad case, which in turn I toss into any of my bags, including one from Eastpak which looks almost the same as this one and cost a lot less. Still, if you are in the market for an iPad bag, like our own Brian X Chen, then this one should probably be on your list, if only because it looks “manly”.

Dodobag product page [Dodocase]

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At last, Moleskine has come up with its own set of iDevice covers. Since the launch of the iPad, we have seen traditionally-bound covers from Pen & Quill and Dodocase, beautiful, handmade cases which both protect your iDevices and disguise them as old-style notebooks.

Oddly, the official Moleskine covers for the iPad and iPhone (3G and 3GS) are the least Moleskine-like of the lot. Whereas the others do nothing more than put a cover and retaining strap around your gadget, the Moleskine adds a paper notepad and a soft, suede-like lining to the cardboard and faux-leather cover. It also holds the iPad in place with an ugly bezel-covering rectangle, instead of the Dodocase’s elegant, if sometimes slippery, edge-gripping rubber pads.

The paper/iPad combo will surely prove attractive to some, but the added thickness makes things somewhat impractical. The iPhone version is especially encumbered: Look at the picture. So useless does this case render the phone that even Moleskine admits that “the Smartphone Cover is mainly conceived to be used with Bluetooth, headphones or loud speaker.”

The cases are on pre-order at Amazon, but neither launch-date or price have been announced. Our advice? Buy either the Pen & Quill or Dodocase, and sling a regular paper Moleskine in the bag along with it. Or just make your own.

Moleskine Covers for iPhone and iPad [Moleskine]

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After testing (and buying) far too many iPad cases, including the famous bamboo Moleskine-alike Dodocase, I finally settled on Apple’s own slimline sleeve. So good is it that I have removed it precisely once since buying it almost a month ago, and that was to show my mother the iPad inside.

Booq’s new Boa folio-style case looks a lot like Apple’s, and adds a few extras. Like the Apple case, the iPad slides into the Boa and is held with its edges enclosed, and with holes for the ports. Both cases also share a sticky-out bumper around the perimeter, although the Boa’s sits at the back, not the center. Booq’s case also folds into a stand for either typing or horizontal display using the same clever tuck-in flap as Apple.

Then things diverge. The Boa is slightly padded, which makes it thicker but more protected than Apple’s case. It also has a couple pockets: a document sleeve on the inside and an iPhone-sized pocket on the front. These, too, could add bulk. Finally, the case has a closing strap to stop it flapping open like dirty uncle Pete’s shorts and accidentally revealing the delicate object within.

For me, the Apple iPad case is pretty much perfect. I don’t care about its dirt-attracting abilities, and prefer its slimline, skin-like profile to more protective padding. But in taking the best points of the Apple case and slightly adding to them, along with using high-quality Napa leather and something called “Twylon”, the folks at Booq have come up with a nice upgrade. It isn’t cheap, though: the Boa can be had in a range of manly, neutral colors for $90, or in a ballistic nylon version for $50. Available now.

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Booq Boa product page [Booq. Thanks, Brad!]

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Over at Gizmodo, Kat Hannaford has this to say about the kind of person who might by this wooden notebook case:

You know that eccentric uncle, who sits surrounded by leather-bound books in his study, drinking whisky? That’s how I imagine these laptop cases smell..

When I read this, my hair prickled on my neck. I am that eccentric uncle, and I sit in my “study” surrounded by old books and dusty gadgets, sipping whisky. The synchronicities then pile up in a Jungian whirlwind: When I was in school, we made pencil-cases in shop-class (called “woodwork” in dusty old 1970s England) that were just smaller versions of this heavy, over-protective laptop case. Plywood, front and back? Check. Varnish chosen to make the wood look as cheap as possible? Check. Leather-lined interior and rare-earth magnets to hold it closed?

Actually, no. We were on a budget, and I believe the only way I knew to make a magnet as strong as these was to wrap a wire around a nail and hook it up to a transformer (which I did do, and often). But those aren’t the only differences. The wooden pencil-boxes we made cost pocket-money. These boxes, just as ugly as mine, top out at a pocket-stripping $350 for the 17-incher. I obviously can’t afford that. All my spare cash goes on whisky.

MacBook Pro cases [Rainer Spehl via Kat Hannaford]

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Here’s how to make some cash: Take one Etch A Sketch ($18), rip out its guts and call it an iPad case. Now, sell it for $39. You just made $21, and you still have a snuff of magnetic-dust left over.

This is what case-maker Headcase is up to, kinda. The Etch A Sketch iPad case is officially licensed from the Ohio Art Company, but it is made to fit the iPad, which is roughly an inch smaller than the Etch A Sketch in length and width, and half an inch thinner. You also get cutouts for the home button and the ambient light sensor (not that the sensor really works so well anyway).

There are more holes around the sides and underneath you’ll discover a pair of kickstands to make typing a little easier. Given that the white knobs on the front do nothing, taking this setup to the coffee-shop and getting some writing done is probably the most fun you can have with this toy. And it is a toy. Take another look at the back (click the thumbnail with the big Apple logo in it, below) and you’ll see it is just as veined and plasticky as any kids’ toy of today.

Still, it’s hard not to love it: It is an Etch A Sketch, after all.

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Etch A Sketch iPad case [Headcase via TUAW]

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For just $13, you can have your own Leica camera. Petapixel will sell you a pair of stickers for your iPhone 4 which will turn it, magically, into a rangefinder camera worth many thousands of dollars. Or at least, it wil make it look like one.

For trademark-infringement reasons, the sticker set has no Leica logos, but it’s pretty clear from the big red dot that the Leica Look-Alike Skin for the iPhone 4 is inspired by the legendary German camera. There’s even a sticker for the front of the iPhone, although that might be taking things a little to far. The peel-off vinyl panels will also protect the phone from scratches, and may even fool the less perceptive that you’re a lot richer than you are. Available now.

Leica Look-Alike Skin for the iPhone 4 [Petapixel]

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Cole Haan Leather Cover for Kindle 3. Photo from Amazon.com

Q: I love my new Kindle 3, but I’m always worried that I’m going to knock a cup of coffee on it, or that my son will use it as a Frisbee. Are there any good cases you would recommend? — Anxious in Akron

A: Akron, I’m in much the same situation with my own Kindle. The device itself seems sturdy enough, but I always have this irrational fear that the beautiful but curiously-static screensavers of famous authors are staring at me, or through me, with their cold, dead E Ink eyes, beckoning me to read their books. Unfortunately, all of the Kindle cases I’ve seen and tried have some serious drawbacks.

Let’s start with the cases available from the Amazon Store. Most of the cases they sell are still for the second-generation Kindle, which won’t fit your device; you just have to ignore those entirely. In the left-hand sidebar you can pick your Kindle model, and you’ll only see relevant results.

Amazon Lighted Leather Cover, from Amazon.com

Amazon itself makes two cases for the Kindle that are basically identical: they’re both leather and come in a range of colors, with a microsuede interior and straps and hinges to keep your reader from sliding around or worse, out. The basic model is $35; add an on-board light, and the whole package costs $60.

Now, when the Kindle cost $400, springing $35-$60 for a decent-quality case and $50 for a two-year warranty had a kind of logic to it. But I don’t remember the woman from the new Kindle poolside ad leaning over and saying: “It’s a Kindle. $139. I paid about as much for the case and the warranty on it.” That would be a really stupid commercial.

Even my friends who love their Kindle cases and want to wrap their beloved e-readers in the best have problems with Amazon’s cases. Everyone agrees that the light on the $60 case can be useful, especially outdoors at dusk and occasionally in bed at nighttime. Everyone also agrees that it adds a lot of weight to the overall package, turning the light-as-a-feather e-reader into a clumsy hardcover.

That leaves you with two options: go for broke with a high-end case, or actually be broke and find something cheap and easy. The Cole Haan Hand-Stained Pebble-Grained Leather Kindle Case costs $99, and has a great rep carried over from its much-loved Kindle 2 cases. But Amazon reviewers complain that Cole Haan skimped on strength and quality to get its case out in time for the Kindle 3 launch.

Apparently the Kindle 2 case had an extra patch of leather strengthening the spine, that added extra protection and made the Kindle in the Cole Haan case feel like a high-quality book. The company’s Kindle 3 case is just one-ply, making the spine less stiff and more likely to wear with use. At other price points, that might be forgivable, but $100 is enough to nudge loyal users into the angry zone.

The longer the Kindle 3 is out, the more manufacturers begin releasing cases for it. Belkin has a line of sleeves available on the Amazon store now that I don’t think were there when I started researching this last week. In particular, many companies are starting to sell sleeves, not cases, that cost around $20.

However, if you’re plan to go this route, the best tip of all comes from Instpaper’s Marco Arment. In his first look at the Kindle 3, he notes how the Kindle 3’s rubberized back (as opposed to the earlier version’s slick aluminum) and slightly-smaller size makes it the first iteration to be comfortably used without a case. As for a sleeve, his solution is ingenious:

Photo credit/permission courtesy Marco Arment at Marco.org

A standard 6×10 bubble envelope the size youd use for shipping a DVD in a case actually makes a decent low-budget Kindle 3 slipcase. And if your goal is to just throw it in a bag and have basic scratch protection until you remove it for use, its a pretty good solution.

Not bad at all. Next thing you know, those envelopes will be available in nano-patterned Naugahyde for $19.95.

In time, the marketplace will catch up, prices will (I have to believe) start to come down, and we’ll get more variety and usability out of our Kindle 3 cases. In the meantime, give one of these a whirl, preferably without putting down hard money first. If they don’t work for you, you can always go back to barebacking it.

P.S.: If you’ve hacked together your own Kindle/e-Reader/tablet case solution. I’d love to read about it in the comments. Share the love!

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Kensington’s PowerGuard Battery Case for the iPhone 4 would be just another ho-hum Mophie-alike design if it weren’t for one very clever little tweak. Around back there is a slot in the plastic, into which you slide a credit card to make an instant kickstand. It is placed smartly, too, so it will support the iPhone in either landscape or portrait orientations.

The case actually comes with a card, so you don’t have to risk your own, and the whole thing is actually rather slim and clean-looking, adopting the iPhone 4’s own squared-off lines instead of the swooping curves normal for external battery packs. It will add four hours of talk-time (or five hours of video or 22 hours audio) to the iPhone’s life, charges via microUSB and has a volume control button, just like Apple’s own bumper case. And given that simple cases can sell for $40 or more, the battery-totin’, kickstand-convertin’ Kensington’s $60 seems reasonable. Available for pre-order now.

Kensington PowerGuard Battery Case with Card Stand [Kensington via OhGizmo]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

I what has become an annual occurrence, the yearly leaking of new iPod cases has begun. In previous years, these have given us hints about the presence of cameras, whether correct (Nano) or not (iPod Touch). This year, things are more interesting thanks to the whole antenna-gate fiasco, and its subsequent fix via free cases from Apple.

Above we see what are likely to be the cases for a new Nano and Touch. The Touch case has a cut-out for a rear-facing camera, and we’d guess that it will also sport a front-facing camera for FaceTime calling. Notice that although it has a bumper-style colored strip around the edge, the transparent rear is curved just like the current Touch. My guess is a form-factor almost identical to the current one, only with cameras, a Retina display and the game-friendly gyroscope.

The other, smaller case is probably for a touch-screen Nano. What? Yes, I think that the small square screens that have leaked out over the last few months are not for a shuffle but for a tiny Nano. It probably won’t run anything from the App Store, but if the Nano is to get any smaller, the only way to do it is to combine the screen with the controls. The cut-out on the rear is probably for the existing video camera to peek out through.

As ever, all will be confirmed at the Apple Event next Wednesday September 1st, and I can begin my own yearly ritual of buying the new Touch and passing the old one down to the Lady for use as an alarm clock and not much else. This year the lucky thing will have a 32GB, multi-tasking monster to wake her up.

Accessories appearance early exposure iPod touch 4G leaked [SJ.91 via iLounge]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Remember when we actually used to carry a little black book? It may not have actually been black, but a little pocket notebook was essential if you wanted to remember a phone number, address or any of the snippets that today make their way into our cellphones. But what if you could combine the aesthetic of a leather-look book with the power of your phone? With the Little Black Book for the iPhone 4, you can.

The pocketable Moleskine-alike looks like a miniature version of several faux-book iPad cases and is in fact the little brother of the The Case, and iPad cover from Minneapolis-based Pad & Quill. The book comprises a wooden frame (birch) and a cardboard cover swathed in simulated leather. A bookmark-ribbon also sits in the case, but lies underneath the iPhone 4. One tug and the iPhone is popped free of the retaining corners and can be removed.

Yes, I made my own iPod Touch case from a real Moleskine notebook, but it hasn’t fared so well. If I wasn’t the kind of guy who goes commando with any gadget small enough to slide straight into a pocket, I’d probably consider this $40 case over trying to make another one myself.

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The Little Black Book [Pad & Quill]

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

The BookBook case for the iPad, from Apple accessory makers TwelveSouth, swaddles your precious tablet in a thick slathering of dead-cow, its hand-crafted, hand-distressed covers recalling beautifully bound books of old. It zips shut to keep out the dust, and the padded inner-chamber also contains a string and a button on either side to help make a stable a-shaped stand. It’s lovely, and will probably last way longer than your iPad.

It is also thick, doubling the depth of Apple’s slim tablet to an inch. And remember, the iPad only measures an in in its thickest part, while the BookBook will be that fat everywhere. TwelveSouth’s other BookBook case, for the MacBook Pro, also adds about a half-inch to the machine inside, but that’s a smaller percentage on a thicker computer.

It is nice-looking, though, in a lottery-winner’s bookshelf kind of way, and can be propped up next to the leather-bound sets of classics that you will never read. The price for this “tasteful” case is $70, in red or black. Available now.

BookBook for iPad [TwelveSouth. thanks, Johnny C A!]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Most people I know who have an Apple Magic Mouse hate it. They hate the carpal-tunnel-inflaming multi-touch gestures, and they hate the stupid shape, which fits nobody’s hand. One thing they probably don’t hate, though, is the resilient glass surface on top.

Even the most cautious of Magic Mouse lovers would likely shy away from this $15 MouseGuard, essentially a screen-protector for something that sits on a desk all day. A screen-protector makes sense when that screen is swinging around your neck (camera) or sitting in your pocket with some carelessly forgotten keys (phone), but not when the worst that could befall the glass panel is being lightly scraped with an untrimmed fingernail.

It’s not even like you need to look through the screen. Seeing a scratch on the LED panel of your $800 camera is frustrating at best, but a mouse is something that is always covered by your hand when in use. In fact, the MouseGuard comes in two opaque flavors, white and gray.

What next? A case to protect your case? Even my friend Pedro, who buys cases for pretty much everything he owns and will likely be spending the next few weeks handling his new iPad with cotton gloves until he finds the perfect sleeve, would shy away from the MouseGuard. And when it comes to protecting gear from scratches, Pedro is an expert. You should listen to him.

MouseGuard [Moshi Mode via Oh Gizmo]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Apple has started to refund buyers of the $30 rubber-band it calls the Bumper Case. The refund was promised to buyers after Apple offered free bumper cases to iPhone 4 owners to fix the signal-dropping death-grip.

With little fuss, Apple has been refunding customers’ credit-cards for the $30 purchase price plus any tax or shipping. If you paid cash, lord knows how you’ll get your money back. A postal-order or a check, probably. Why not fax Apple to find out?

Some have looked at the bumper cases, which perfectly cover the troublesome exposed external antenna-band on the iPhone 4 and nothing else, and seen conspiracy. “Apple knew about the problem all along,” they cry, “the Bumper proves it!”

That Apple would realize the problem and, instead of fixing it just try to sell a case seems unlikely. I’m with Daring Fireball’s John Gruber on this one: I think that Apple just wanted a slice of the lucrative iPhone case market. After all, at Apple’s entry-level $30 accessory price-point, a rubber-strip costing a few cents will certainly generate a profit.

For those of you who sensibly held-off buying a $30 piece of stationery, you can now get one free. Apple has also launched its iPhone 4 Case Program. This is an actual application, available from the App Store. Download it, log in and order.

iPhone 4 Case Program [Apple]

Apple Automatically Refunding iPhone 4 Bumper Purchases [Mashable]

Photo: By Mr. T in DC/Flickr

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

When you’re a professional gadget blogger, you see a lot of oddities. None of them, though, makes me weep for the future of the human race more than the keyboard case, a sleeve designed to protect possibly the hardiest piece of computer hardware you own.

These two cases, from WaterField Designs, happen to be for the ridiculously resilient, tough and lightweight aluminum bluetooth keyboard from Apple, but their absolute wrongness would apply to any keyboard. But first, lets look at just what perils await a poor keyboard in the horrific depths of your bag.

Let’s assume that you don’t throw in handfuls of grit and half-eaten packs of Cheetos into your bag along with your more valuable goods. Perhaps you may have tossed in some keys? Or a picnic knife has worked its way loose? While a cellphone or tablet computer may risk a scratch to its screen, a scrape on a keyboard won’t make any difference. Who cares if the home keys get a chunk taken out, or the back of the ‘board gets dirtied up? Just typing on the thing with your filthy hands probably does more damage.

And then, why are you carrying a keyboard in the first place? Perhaps you are on a business trip and plan to do some heavy work on your iPad? Then pack the keyboard in with your clothes. Otherwise, you don’t even need that keyboard. Your laptop has one built-in, remember, and you probably aren’t carrying a desktop machine on the road.

Even so, I guess there must be a market for such things, and this is what causes the tears of pity and sorrow to moisten my normally parched, cracked ducts. If you are in fact thinking of wasting some money, you can have the budget Keyboard Socket for $15, cut from the finest “scratch-free material”, or opt for the Keyboard Slip, a $30 case fashioned from ballistic nylon with a padded interior. What’s more, “a piping trimmed edge let’s [sic] you chose [sic] to add a splash of bold color, or to stay under the radar with subdued tones.” Cheeky!

Keyboard Slip [WaterField Designs via MacUser]

Keyboard Socket [WaterField Designs]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews