iLounge

Here they are: the first official iPhone 4 cases arrived two weeks ahead of the actual release of the iPhone 4 in stores. Developed by the same people behind Hard Candy Cases, Gumdrop Cases' new Gumdrop Skin ($30) and Moto Skin ($30) each use grippy textures to differentiate themselves from what will doubtlessly be a huge wave of otherwise similar rubber skins for the new iPhone. Gumdrop Skin is sold in four colors and has dots on its body, while the three-color Moto Skin has miniature tire tracks and a somewhat more questionable cutout for the iPhone 4's top-mounted second microphone. They don't include screen protection. In actual testing of these two Skin designs, we found that the recessed button and port holes were all somewhat of a pain to deal with thanks to the thickness of the case and the continuation of the elevated textured surfaces around them; the rubber is also just a little too floppy. That said, we liked the novel textures and hope Gumdrop reworks the designs to be more practical.