We’ve seen the concept in renderings before, but Lab.C’s USB Case for iPhone 4/4S ($39+) is the first USB flash drive-sporting case to actually make it here for testing. The case itself is a simple plastic shell with a slightly rounded back, leaving the top and bottom edges of the iPhone fully exposed. Inside is a recession for a “Transportation Card;” we’re assuming Lab.C intends this to be used with NFC metro cards.
At the bottom of the case is the standout feature, a tiny removable flash drive. It easily slides in and out when needed, with a magnet assisting the plastic rails in holding it secure otherwise. We were shipped four drives and had varying degrees of success getting them to work.
Only three mounted on the MacBook Air we were using, and of those only one showed up on an iMac. One contained three unlabeled .exe files, which might worry us if we used Windows-based computers. Included with each USB Case is a screen protector film, polishing cloth, bubble-removing card, two Home Button stickers, plus the packaging, which can be used as a desktop tray.