Hardware Review: Agent 18 Eco-Shield for iPhone
When I received a press release about the Agent 18 Eco-Shield, I had very high hopes. It is an iPhone case that uses recycled plastic for packaging and is made from recycling plastic bottles. This would be an awesome way to reduce my carbon footprint while protecting my iPhone 3G investment. Unfortunately, while this wasn’t a case of greenwashing, I found the case inferior to others on the market and my green thumb couldn’t override my other nine fingers that didn’t like the case, in spite of reasonable pricing at $29.95 retail.
In general, deciding between the silicone style case and the hard shell case is a difficult choice. A hard case adds bulk, but also adds protection. A silicone case is minimalistic, but its protection is minimalistic as well. I generally keep my iPhone in my pocket and I found the phone very hard to grasp from my pocket. The case was slick and the grooves on the side simply did not provide enough traction.
When using the phone, I had difficulty operating the volume and the sleep/awake button. The case added so much bulk, you could no longer easily operate those buttons with your thumb because you had to press so deep that merely pressing your thumb on the buttons didn’t give it enough force. Granted, this isn’t the end of the world, but in the competitive arena of iPhone cases, every annoyance is magnified. I’d have to fumble just a little bit more when I forget to turn on vibrate during a business meeting. Also annoying was the inability to remove the SIM card while the case was on. If you often swap SIM cards then this is clearly not the case for you.
Aesthetics are an important consideration in cases. I ordered the black case, but the black case didn’t match the black of the iPhone. The Eco-Shield was a lighter black and light enough for you to notice the case didn’t match. Also, the plastic showed scratches very quickly and significantly more than an iPhone without a case. This is probably due to the type of plastic used.
As far as protection, testing is always difficult as I don’t have a bunch of extra iPhones to bang around, but the case did have some small shock absorbers protecting the back of the phone. Drop tests without the iPhone inside didn’t show shattering or cracks. The design is two pieces that snap together and the case wasn’t too difficult to remove, but didn’t come apart during my tests.
PROS: Eco-friendly recycling plastic reduces your carbon footprint
CONS: Difficult to grasp, showed scratches easily, and reduced accessibly of key functions
2 out of 5 Dog Cows
This article used with permission by the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group. The original article written by David Greenbaum aka DoctorDave™ or incorrectly Dr. Dave can be found here. RSS Feed for Dave’s writings