First Looks
Welcome to our new, continuously-updated First Looks - a collection of previews showing brand new iPod, iPhone and iPad accessories that we’re currently in the process of testing. Here’s what’s hot right now:
Company: Speck Products
Website: http://www.speckproducts.com/
Model: DustJacket
Price: $TBA
Compatible: iPad
Speck DustJacket for iPad
Based upon its earlier, same-named case for Amazon's Kindle, Speck's new DustJacket for iPad ($TBA) is a red or black leatherette iPad holder and mount. Designed like a folio, it opens to reveal Apple's tablet computer on one side, and a flap on the other, working together to provide tabletop mounting alternatives. Unusually thick by both Speck and iPad standards, the case uses a swinging hard plastic iPad frame that nonetheless leaves much of the device's side metal exposed; the frame helps DustJacket perform like Apple's official iPad Case for keyboard-orientation mounting, while offering superior viewing angle versatility for videos. It's due to show up on Speck's web site and in stores soon; pricing is yet to be announced.
Company: Speck Products
Website: http://www.speckproducts.com/
Model: SeeThru + ToughSkin
Price: $30-$40
Compatible: iPhone 4
Speck SeeThru + ToughSkin for iPhone 4
Though the names are familiar from earlier Speck cases, these two new iPhone 4 designs each incorporate some interesting new twists on earlier themes. SeeThru ($30) is a hard plastic shell with soft clear rubber sides capable of protecting most of the iPhone 4's body while letting you see the device's color and branding through the back. By comparison, ToughSkin ($40) marks a return to a product that has appeared and disappeared from Speck's lineup over the years, now resembling a rubber-laden vault with a hard plastic iPhone 4-grabbing frame inside. ToughSkin is one of the rare iPhone 4 cases with Home Button protection built into the front, and so much rubber on the sides and back that accidental drops won't seem as scary as with an unprotected device. No screen protection is included with these cases. Note that we updated this First Look in January, 2011 to reflect major changes to the design of ToughSkin, and final pricing for both products.
Company: Incipio
Website: www.Myincipio.com
Model: Dermashot, Feather, Silicrylic
Price: $20-$25
Compatible: iPod touch 4G
Incipio Dermashot, Feather + Silicrylic for iPod touch 4G
As upgrades to the company's same-named products for earlier iPhones and iPods, Incipio's new Dermashot ($20), Feather ($25), and Silicrylic ($TBD) offer various combinations of hard plastic and rubber to protect the fourth-generation iPod touch. Dermashot is a pure silicone rubber case, available in several colors with a hard plastic video stand; Feather is a 1mm-thin hard plastic rear and side shell with soft touch rubber coating, and the two-toned Silicrylic combines a thin rubber case with a hard plastic frame and video stand. Each case comes with protective screen film, a cleaning cloth, and applicator card.
Company: Griffin Technology
Website: GriffinTechnology.com
Model: TuneFlex Aux Handsfree
Price: $50
Compatible: iPhone 3G/3GS/4, iPod classic, iPod nano 4G/5G, iPod touch
Griffin TuneFlex Aux Handsfree
The latest iteration of Griffin's TuneFlex Aux line of combination car mounts/chargers/audio-out accessories is TuneFlex Aux Handsfree ($50), which uses a decidedly un-Griffin-like workaround to deal with the challenge of offering both audio output and handsfree car phone features. Unlike prior TuneFlex Aux models, which actually used the line-level outputs from iPods and iPhones for peak sound quality, TuneFlex Aux Handsfree uses the iPhone's or iPod touch's bottom port solely for charging, and has you connect a separate cable to the device's headphone port for both audio output and microphone input. This cable has a small microphone at one end, designed to sit right at the headphone port to pick up your voice at whatever height the device has been mounted at, and you connect it to the aux-in port of your car stereo, adjusting the volume manually. As with earlier TuneFlex designs, this one has a flexible steel neck; the new cradle passively holds iPods and iPhones in place with a soft plastic set of arms.
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