made this for you | the future isn’t what it used to be

Incase has always been my company of choice for cases. They have consistently been able to provided good design and well thought out functionality, while maintaining a moderate price point.

Incase recently introduced the Power Slider case for the iPhone 3G. The Power Slider is the latest addition to the growing market of third party devices out there trying to compensate for the iPhone’s lack of adequate battery life.

I myself am an admitted iPhone-a-holic. I have all 9 possible screens filled with applications; and use my iPhone for everything under the sun. I am consistently stranded without power, to the point where I’ve missed many calls and messages. At one point I even considered changing my voicemail to say, “Hey, my phone’s probably dead, try back later.” Needless to say, I welcomed this product with open arms.

From the front the Power Slider looks great. It’s designed after Incase’s highly popular original Slider case. The case leaves the screen fully accessible, and doesn’t hinder the appearance of the phone- from the front. Take it on it’s side however, and you’ll notice the phone looks like it’s sitting in a fat suit. The phone is no longer the slim sleek techno gadget to lust after, but just a big bulky rounded box. The case comes with a pouch to cover it up; I’m assuming because you wouldn’t want to look at it otherwise.

Being a girl, I have a ton of stuff in my purse or handbag (especially being a girl who loves gadgets). I usually keep my iPhone in a pocket within my purse to give it a little added protection (from my keys scratching it, or some gum accident happening).  But with the new case, it doesn’t fit anymore.  Layne keeps his phone in his pocket and the extra bulge just doesn’t work at all.

Besides just the form, there are other downsides to this device. The first of which is the fact that the design covers up the original iPhone sync port, and replaces it with their own usb implementation. I was open to this at first, the phone still syncs and still charges; but this became an issue relatively quickly for me. I can no longer hook my iPhone up with my car, or any other standard third party device, without removing the phone completely from the case. That means no car charging without toting along their cord (or for some people buying a new car charger).  Or hooking up my phone in my bedroom to listen to tunes while reading.

When the original Slider case came out, it was useful because you could just pull the bottom of the case off to easily hook it into third party devices or in the iPhone dock. As you can see pictured below, the case is now designed so that the battery is connected to the bottom portion of the Slider.  Thus making quick removal and accessibility impossible.

The case also creates a new process for syncing with your computer. No longer can I just plugin and forget about it. With Incase’s implementation, I now have to remember to hit the sync button on my phone to sync it with iTunes. Not that big of a deal, but still an added step which reminds me of my old Palm Pilot.

Overall, I think this case will possibly work for some people who are willing to make sacrifices in form and function- but for me it’s a no go. I’m just hoping Incase will consider this write-up, and that they’ll be a gen 2 out soon. In the mean time, I’ll be looking at other options, and setting my voicemail message to say, “Sorry, my phone’s still dead.”