Over the past two weeks, we’ve been flooded with clear hard plastic iPod cases — eight for the third-generation iPod nano alone. Highly similar from product to product, we’re covering all eight in comparative reviews today, pointing out their few differences as appropriate. In the order we’re covering them in, there’s DLO’s Shell ($20), Griffin’s iClear ($20), Tunewear’s Tuneshell ($20), DLO’s HybridShell and MetalShell ($20 each), Speck’s SeeThru ($25), Gecko Gear’s Ice Case ($25), and Contour Design’s iSee nano V3 ($25).
DLO’s Shell is this comparative review’s starting point because it is the most basic, and typical, of all of the designs here.
It consists solely of two pieces of clear hard plastic—one for the third-generation nano’s face, and one for its sides and back. They snap together with four clips, two each on the left and right sides, and like all of the other cases here, the completed Shell covers all of the nano except for its Click Wheel and bottom, which provides full access to the nano’s Hold switch, Dock Connector, and headphone port. The case is fully compatible with Universal Dock-equipped iPod accessories, as well as oversized headphone plugs, but does not work with other Dock Connecting accessories that have larger plugs than Apple’s own USB cables.
Tunewear’s Tuneshell provides the same completely clear coverage as DLO’s Shell, but with two small differences.
Unlike the side-clipped alternatives, the front half of TuneShell actually snaps inside of the rear half, and sits slightly recessed inside; consequently, you can feel a slight edge around the front shell if you run your finger across it, versus the smoother edging of the DLO design. We preferred the way Shell felt in our hands, thanks to the roughness of Tuneshell’s edging, which doesn’t serve to make the case much thinner or more solid, but like iClear, TuneShell permits connection of any type of Dock Connecting iPod accessory, whereas Shell does not. Visually, the DLO and Tunewear cases are otherwise almost identical, save for two small holes in Tuneshell’s back: Tunewear includes a simple detachable lanyard in the package if you want to wear Tuneshell upside down around your neck.
Our overall feelings about this group of clear plastic iPod nano cases were generally positive—these are all good cases—but there were no superstars in the collection: small accessory compatibility issues took away from what were otherwise the two best offerings in the group, Gecko’s Ice Case and Contour’s iSee nano V3, while the other cases looked good and worked well, but didn’t provide as much protection.
