Of the thousands of cases that have appeared for iPods over the past six years, few have the potential offered by hard plastics. If you love Apple’s designs, these sorts of cases tend to show them off much better than any of their peers except for clear full-body film, and almost always offer superior anti-drop protection. But they differ in scratch protection, frills, and a number of other ways, so today we’re looking at 11 total new hard plastic offerings from major case makers Agent 18, Belkin, and Contour Design. Our Agent 18 review also includes a soft plastic case for the sake of convenience.
Agent 18’s collection of cases breaks down into four types: the company’s basic “Shields” are two-piece clear plastic shells, glossy in some places and frosted in others, while its “EcoShields” are made primarily from black plastic. It also sells “Shield Kits” that come with an additional accessory at a higher price, and now has introduced the “FlowerVest,” a flowery rubber case for the third-generation iPod nano ($20).
The standard Shield comes in NanoShield ($20), Classic Shield ($25), Touch Shield ($25) and iPhone Shield ($25) versions, while EcoShields are sold for each model at the same prices, and a Shield Kit is sold for the iPod nano for $30.
There’s only one unusual thing about each of these cases: they vary in pack-ins from model to model. The iPod nano, touch, and iPhone versions of the standard Shield come with specially fit Universal Dock Adapters, but the iPod classic version doesn’t; instead, it comes with separate rear shells for the 80GB and 160GB iPod classic models. EcoShields also vary from model to model: the nano version doesn’t include Dock Adapters, but the iPod touch and iPhone versions do. FlowerVest does, but the NanoShield Kit for the iPod nano doesn’t. Instead, that model comes with a neoprene armband.
Our most positive comment about all of these cases is that they’re highly compatible with iPod accessories.
Regardless of whether or not they include Dock Adapters, they’re designed to work properly in Universal Docks, and do—their open bottoms and generously sized headphone port holes make them compatible with oversized headphone plugs, as well. The flip side of each hard plastic design is that they’re comparatively lacking in protectiveness and other extras relative to more aggressive competitors. Each of the hard plastic cases has a fully open bottom surface and equally open holes for the iPod or iPhone’s controls. Unlike other companies, Agent 18 makes no effort to cover the front, top, bottom, or side control holes with rubber or film; these parts are just left open. You’re paying in each case for two pieces of plastic that cover most, but not all of the iPod or iPhone inside; the iPhone and iPod touch versions leave the screen completely open, too.
Overall, the Agent 18 lineup’s ratings are pretty consistent: for their generally reasonable prices, all of these cases are good but not great by comparison with other designs out there, and a step or two behind in features relative to the best 2007 releases we tested—the reason that Classic Shield rates a bit under the otherwise identical Video Shield, which was released at a time when competing options weren’t as impressive.
