Apple's Bumper Case
The iPhone 4 is Apple's second product to launch with first party accessories. Like the iPad before it, the iPhone 4 is available with an Apple fabricated and sold case, dubbed the "bumper." At launch, this was the only case available. Most Apple stores (and online) only had black in inventory, though I'm told a few also had pink in stock. As of right now, the Apple store shows other colors shipping on July 16th - white, pink, orange, green, and blue eventually. I just went with black.
The bumper is an interesting beast. For $29.00, you get a hard plastic strip that runs atop the stainless steel antenna band, completely around the phone. On the outside of the hard plastic are two stiff rubber bands that seal over the side of the phone. If the Otterbox Defender is a bomb proof suit for iPhones, Apple's bumper is more like a slightly-scandalous bikini. It's literally just a continuous strip of material.
Apple brings the exterior metal volume and standby buttons out to the edge of the phone, and from what I can tell they're also metallic.
Buttons are metal and brought through the case, except the vibrate/silent switch.
Inside the case, there's a felt-like mask which rests atop the buttons and aligns itself up. It works surprisingly well, and the buttons feel like those on the device itself. There's no gap inbetween - hey, the buttons just work.
Putting it on is a little bit of a struggle. I've found the best way is to insert the top, standby button side first (so you don't accidentally turn it on and off while inserting it), and then shove the bottom part in. After you've got it in, there's just a bit of massaging to get the rubber seats settled, and then you're good to go. It's very snug, there's no flexing.
At the top, there's a break in the hard plastic for the headset jack. Instead, this is entirely rubber. No doubt this is to allow jacks that come out and have a 90 degree bend to be inserted, something we're all too familiar with being a problem on previous iDevices. There's a tiny hole next to it you want to be absolutely certain isn't blocked for the noise canceling microphone.
The nice thing about the rubberized strips is that you get a grippy surface to hold the phone with, and you raise the front and back glass panes about a millimeter off the surface you're resting it on when you lay it down flat.
The idea of having a glass back is fine and dandy until you lay the iPhone on another glass surface directly. The result (if both surfaces are very clean) is that the two will come in optical contact and become very hard to pry apart. It's the same sort of reason coasters aren't glass - the two seal together, and become difficult to separate. Not to mention any particulates underneath will make those hairline scratches (sleeks) I talked about before. Even the strongest of glasses will get micro scratches when rubbed in optical contact with other glasses. It's obvious that raising both the front and back were design objectives here.
Look ma, I can rest the phone face down and not scratch it up!
Apple's bumper case is unique that it doesn't cover the back of the phone. At all. If you prefer a case that covers every square inch of the device and offers total protection, don't get the bumper and instead wait for something else. If you want to show off as much of the iPhone 4's design as possible, Apple has done it with the bumper. If you already purchased an iPhone 4, well, you know that outside of a plastic bag or a rubber band, the bumper is really the only option.
Like we talked about before, the other hugely notable benefit is that the bumper insulates the stainless steel band from being detuned by your meatbag extremities (read: hands). Instead of a 24 dB drop, you'll incur a 10 dB drop completely in line with every other cellular phone ever made.
The only problem with the bumper is the dock connector port. It's about a millimeter too small.
That doesn't fit inside. Frustrating? Yes.
The unfortunate result is that all of my third party accessories don't fit. My Alpine iDA-X001 head unit in the car, three different vehicle accessory port car chargers with dock connectors, all my third party cables, and not to mention docks all don't fit.
If you've rolled with other cases, this is an all too familiar story that seems to repeat every single release, but it's frustrating in this case because the connectors don't match up by seriously under a millimeter. You can jam the dock connector in, but it doesn't go far enough inside to snap into place, and comes right back out.
The result is that I drive around with the bumper case halfway off, like this:
It's not the end of the world, but I would have to file down that edge a half millimeter on both sides to make my accessories work again. Considering just how much the bumper improves signal and protects against accidental scratching, it's arguably a must have accessory. One that should maybe be given away with every iPhone 4 purchase. But you already know our thoughts on that.
No doubt within a month or two the usual assortment of iPhone cases will pop up again, tweaked to meet the iPhone 4's slightly thinner dimensions. For now, however, the bumper is essential.
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Mike Wadner - Saturday, July 3, 2010 - link
Well then you're in pretty bad shape. Anyone who considers Microsoft not far behind Apple has their head up their F**KING ass. May be a nice review but I have doubts about their overall knowledge of whats going on out there.websitetrafficchecker - Wednesday, February 5, 2020 - link
If you want to check website traffic for free, visit https://seowebsitetraffic.net/check-website-traffi...jorpoka - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
People seem to making a big deal about the increased ram in iPhone 4, but I think it was almost required.The graphics chip shares memory with the system (just like in previous models) so you have to consider the fact that the screen resolution has increased by 4. How is the system going to deal with the higher resolution grahpics... the 512 MB of ram.
For now not every application on app store uses the updated resolution, but as more and more apps are updated for iOS 4 and the retina display i think the additional 256 MB ram benefit will decrease.
solipsism - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
The surprise wasn't that 512MB wasn't deemed needed, it was simply unexpected after the iPad with a higher resolution, faster processor and generally higher chance for more complex apps to run on the 8x larger display only being shipped with 256MB, like the 3GS, when 512MB was expected. On other words, if the iPad didn't get 512MB RAM, few expected the iPhone 4 being shipped just a couple month later to get it.John Sawyer - Thursday, July 1, 2010 - link
Not higher resolution on the iPad, but more pixels (but we get your meaning).Snotling - Thursday, July 1, 2010 - link
that's the point I'm trying to make since the iPad's release... it was not a planned product, it was ruched out just so they would not be assassinated by the press and the fanatics, my full conspiracy theory is on my blog:http://cyberpeste.blogspot.com/2010/01/letter-to-s...
Now with the iPhone 4, we see what Apple was actually working on before rushing out the iPad and its a very good product. superior in every way to the iPad.
tkoyah - Sunday, July 4, 2010 - link
Um, the iPad wasn't rushed. The iPad project actually pre-dated that of the iPhone. But when it became aparent that this would be the perfect interface for a Phone, the iPhone project began, and was given a higher priority.I expect this first iPad wasn't given more RAM: a) to keep the price-point under $500 b) because there was no pre-existing iPad software, so having less memory available wouldn't break any apps.
tipoo - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
The big deal is that the iPad, their tablet, has half the RAM of the phone they released shortly after. With a bigger screen and more pixels, people naturally would have expected the iPad to have the technological edge, but with only half the RAM of the iPhone that is not the case.AMDJunkie - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
Begins after this post.Zokudu - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
Wonderfully written article I love this line of high end smartphone articles you guys have been releasing. I love the quality of the writing at Anandtech.Just a few questions I have.
Doesn't AT&T have a 5 year exclusivity deal for the iPhone meaning they would still have around 2 years remaining before an opposing carrier could offer the device?
Also several of my friends with iPhones both 3G and 3GS constantly complained about AT&Ts coverage within New York and blamed the carrier. However several of them have gotten iPhone 4's and are reported fewer dropped calls if any at all. I have been using a Blackberry on AT&T's network for several years now and have had no issues with their coverage. Do you feel the dropped calls within hot spots such as New York should be blamed on the iPhone itself or the network?
Also where do you feel that Windows Phone 7 fits into the future of smartphones. Do you envision it taking center stage against both iOS4 and Android or falling to the wayside such as webOS ended up doing?
Once again thank you for the wonderful read and keep up the quality work.