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Atomic Hybrid Case Pix / Testing / Review

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peteisanidiot

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2010
120
0
I received my Atomic Hybrid Composite (delrin) case today and did some testing. Overall the numbers look very good, but I do have some non-performance issues. To be totally clear all of my testing was done with a LuckyLabs wrap on the aluminum antennas of the iPhone and in the same place in my house, all within a few minutes. I get very consistent reception here so I expect field testing to be reliable plus or minus 2 points. The bumper tested is by Apple (legitimate).

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Testing was the same whether I left the phone untouched or gripped it as I normally would.
 

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Photos:
 

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Last photo and initial impressions:

The packaging was pretty simple. I don't keep packaging so I don't particularly mind, but for a $90 item you generally would expect more.

Two extra hex screws were included as was an Allen wrench for installation. The wrench should have been looped at one end to both prevent over tightening and to have a spot on my keychain. I'll have to disassemble a multi Allen tool to do this for myself.

The machining of the aluminum is great. Very well done and it feels very solid. The delrin feels pretty good, but around the dock cutout there was some excess material left from the machining. Not a huge deal but again a little unrefined for the price.

Installed the case feels very good in the hand. Solid and well built. I wasn't a fan of the grip design at first but it actually does seem necessary as the case does not otherwise have much grip to it besides its corners.

The dock connector accommodated every cable I tried, which is nice. Unfortunately it seems waaaaay deeper than I had expected. I'm doubting this will work with my car dock without an extension which is definitely less than ideal. EDIT: the Atomic dock end is far too deep to use with a ProClip mount. Time to buy an extension.

The lock/sleep button is slightly recessed below the delrin. This may be due to the Lucky wraps making the phone dimensions slightly larger. Overall not a problem but it will take some getting used to. A larger issue, however, is that despite the cutout the volume buttons are pretty difficult to access. Much like the mute switch with a bumper installed, to reliably manipulate the volume I have to hold the phone sideways and see what I'm doing. The bumper is far more tactile and superior in this aspect.
 

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So by looking at your numbers, you actually got the best results with the Atomic case on then with the phone being completely naked? That's pretty impressive really. Sounds like the rest of the things you mentioned should be manageable. I kind of like that white, makes me want to turn my phone white. An all white phone with that exact case would be awesome looking.
 
SchneiderMan said:
Meh. Thanks for your writeup but it looks really bulky.
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That E13ctron case you gave glowing reviews doesn't seem much different and you stated that "The S4 is very lightweight and doesn't add much bulk to the iPhone 4, it's just slightly wider than the Apple Bumper case"

The difference between the Atomic and that S4 is negligible at best.
 
Mr. Biggles said:
That E13ctron case you gave glowing reviews doesn't seem much different and you stated that "The S4 is very lightweight and doesn't add much bulk to the iPhone 4, it's just slightly wider than the Apple Bumper case"

The difference between the Atomic and that S4 is negligible at best.
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From what I have seen I agree, but I think this case's numbers will smoke the E13ectron case's numbers. We will see when bigabeeb (could have spelled that wrong)does his total review.
 
+1 for zero signal/gps degradation ....
But strangely : at times, my signal is even better then naked ip4!;-)
 
e13-Stone said:
those speed tests are so inconsistent
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I recognize your obvious bias.

The case isn't flawless but with regard to signal and GPS I have noticed no negative impacts. Repeated speed tests have yielded consistent results so I'm not sure why you'd dismiss the data as unreliable.

Today I noticed an unexpected benefit of the case's length - the speaker output seems louder, similar to when an iPhone is set on a table. The dock depth helps direct the sound better. I'm getting used to the volume buttons but the cutout shouldn't be so close to the volume down button.
 
Hey appleexpert, are you ufc? Because your writing seems to be exactly like Ufc and you just joined when Ufc had just been banned.
About the signal and and gps of the Hybrid , why are you guys so excited about the good results and not to sound smart### but it should be the same as any other plastic case because it's a plastic case.
 
kaikai830 said:
Hey appleexpert, are you ufc? Because your writing seems to be exactly like Ufc and you just joined when Ufc had just been banned.
About the signal and and gps of the Hybrid , why are you guys so excited about the good results and not to sound smart### but it should be the same as any other plastic case because it's a plastic case.
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Yep, same person. Who the hell is UFC, I know what UFC is but I take it your referring to a person? And from reading some of your posts, it kind of sounds like you might be affiliated with a certain cell phone manufacturer. Just from what I can see, it sure looks that way.
 
appleexpert15 said:
Yep, same person. Who the hell is UFC, I know what UFC is but I take it your referring to a person? And from reading some of your posts, it kind of sounds like you might be affiliated with a certain cell phone manufacturer. Just from what I can see, it sure looks that way.
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Yea, you don't know who ufc is but you've seen some of my posts and ufc post much more than me . So what does that say? And yeah I'm affiliated with Apple;)
About the good reception of the hybrid, I don't doubted it as I said it shouldn't have any issues because it's a plastic case. Actually ,after seeing many more pictures of it ,it doesn't look as bad as I first thought.
 
kaikai830 said:
Yea, you don't know who ufc is but you've seen some of my posts and ufc post much more than me . So what does that say? And yeah I'm affiliated with Apple;)
About the good reception of the hybrid, I don't doubted it as I said it shouldn't have any issues because it's a plastic case. Actually ,after seeing many more pictures of it ,it doesn't look as bad as I first thought.
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Honestly I looked you up before posting to see why you would make a post like that. But I also seen that almost half of your post are in a Atomic thread or about the Atomic case so it kind of seems like a personal vendetta against them. If you don't like the company, that is your prorogation. But the way you post negatively about them in EVERY post makes it look like your affiliated with a certain case manufacturer. Just read your post and it seems like you have something personal with them because clearly the case works great, looks great and obviously is selling great so that is what makes me wonder if your a little jealous or annoyed by their success. Your posting pretty much says it all.
 
appleexpert15 said:
Inconsistent? Are we looking at the same numbers? Those numbers looked very consistent. Within a couple hundred on speed test everytime. How much more consistent can you get?
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hey ufc i was talking about the test itself being inconsistent. u can run that test ten times with no case and it will be different everytime
 
e13-Stone said:
hey ufc i was talking about the test itself being inconsistent. u can run that test ten times with no case and it will be different everytime
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Well if I am this "UFC" that you talk about, you must be alumacase!!;)I am sorry you have had not 1 case that failed but now its 2!
 
i havent even said anything about my case haha, i was talking about the speed tests and no i dont know alumacase they actually ordered just our inner plastic pieces so why would i sell parts of our case to ourself?
 
e13-Stone said:
i havent even said anything about my case haha, i was talking about the speed tests and no i dont know alumacase they actually ordered just our inner plastic pieces so why would i sell parts of our case to ourself?
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Who are you referring to? And why do you seem to always pop up in the Atomic threads? Don't you have your own case? You seem to be overly worried about this case for some strange reason. Any particular reason? I am still waiting for someone to review your case!
 
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e13-Stone said:
i havent even said anything about my case haha, i was talking about the speed tests and no i dont know alumacase they actually ordered just our inner plastic pieces so why would i sell parts of our case to ourself?
Click to expand...

Why the hell would you sell parts of your case to a competitor who seems to be lacking that? Not many businesses survive by giving up their competitive advantages.... I would love to see you stop posting such garbage
 
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