Got one today! I was really excited until I found out about this....
sigh, I guess handcrafted might not be as good as it sounds....
What did you "find out"
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Deff Cleave/DRACO IV Aluminum Bumper for iPhone 4 Discussion & Questions Thread
- Thread starter Austin M.
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
What did you "find out"
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)
So what is the problem exactly and can you post more pics?
So what is the problem exactly and can you post more pics?
Got one today! I was really excited until I found out about this....
sigh, I guess handcrafted might not be as good as it sounds....
??? Found out about what? Am I missing something?
Got one today! I was really excited until I found out about this....
sigh, I guess handcrafted might not be as good as it sounds....
Heck I'll take it off your hands, shoot me a pm and a price.
To much material was taken off and the screw hole on the left of the charging access is blown.
Last edited:
im just saying imo this case looks like it will be bulky ass hell, look how far the 30 pin dock connector is set into the case when connected in the pic. just saying
Looks about the same as the Atomic or Element to me, but of course, we are just looking at photos. I will say, it does not look like it would work with 3rd party docks and accessories, contrary to what the interview-ee implied...
As far as the incorrect cutout, that is a little bit troubling. I thought these CNC-machines eliminated errors like that? I hope that was just a 1 time mishap, like the machine got thrown off its axis or something. I guess we'll have to see...
+1 for wanting to hear about reception/GPS issues and seeing more pics...
I dont think he meant the dock area (charging access) is incorrect. From what I understand, its the screw head/hole thats stripped. So you would have to drill the screw out to get the case off of your iPhone ? Or is just that the screw would be loose in the hole ? Either way, it points to some shoddy workmanship 
I really like the looks of this case.
But, after hearing about some negative experiences with the Vapor Pro, which was supposed to cure the signal reception issue, I dont think going with an all metal case, Vapor Pro or Deff Cleave or otherwise, is a good idea if you have reception issues in the first place. (If you have a strong signal, by all means, give it a whirl, I love rocking my Vapor nickel or ar-15v.)
I really like the looks of this case.
But, after hearing about some negative experiences with the Vapor Pro, which was supposed to cure the signal reception issue, I dont think going with an all metal case, Vapor Pro or Deff Cleave or otherwise, is a good idea if you have reception issues in the first place. (If you have a strong signal, by all means, give it a whirl, I love rocking my Vapor nickel or ar-15v
.)
Last edited:
I dont think he meant the dock area (charging access) is incorrect. From what I understand, its the screw head/hole thats stripped. So you would have to drill the screw out to get the case off of your iPhone ? Or is just that the screw would be loose in the hole ? Either way, it points to some shoddy workmanship
2 completely separate issues. My comment about the dock was in response to the post that said the case was very thick. The issue with the screw head as far as I can tell was not that it stripped, but that it was drilled into the case too far laterally, and that the bored out hole actually broke through the aluminum on the side of the case...
Again, these are not handmade, they are CNC-machined, so "shoddy workmanship" should not be possible. I don't know what is going on, but it looks like a machine error - 1 that I hope is self-limited and corrected before any more are made. Otherwise they would all come out like this, right?
This is what I have found out
1) As far as I can tell, reception is same with the plastic bumper that I was using. 5 bars at work, 4 bars at home, and no difference in call quality.
2) Design in Japan, but made in Taiwan.
3) To Polzii and Jbromer: No sir, the screw hole isn't stripped. The part of the main frame that covers the screw head had chipped away. The tragedy happened when I tried to scratch off a paint bulge on top of the chipped off area. The aluminum easily crumbled away when I applied force with my finger nail. For something that cost 99 USD, this shouldn't had happened. My theory is that they might had took off too much material from side, which then weakened the structure towards the outer screw head.
4) Today, I took the bumper back to the store hoping to get an exchange. The manager was really nice, he opened up two more Draco IV bumpers for me to inspect... Sadly all of them appears to have the same paint bulge and thin structure... I returned the bumper and got a full refund... Now my baby is shell-less again
1) As far as I can tell, reception is same with the plastic bumper that I was using. 5 bars at work, 4 bars at home, and no difference in call quality.
2) Design in Japan, but made in Taiwan.
3) To Polzii and Jbromer: No sir, the screw hole isn't stripped. The part of the main frame that covers the screw head had chipped away. The tragedy happened when I tried to scratch off a paint bulge on top of the chipped off area. The aluminum easily crumbled away when I applied force with my finger nail. For something that cost 99 USD, this shouldn't had happened. My theory is that they might had took off too much material from side, which then weakened the structure towards the outer screw head.
4) Today, I took the bumper back to the store hoping to get an exchange. The manager was really nice, he opened up two more Draco IV bumpers for me to inspect... Sadly all of them appears to have the same paint bulge and thin structure... I returned the bumper and got a full refund... Now my baby is shell-less again
Attachments
This is what I have found out
1) As far as I can tell, reception is same with the plastic bumper that I was using. 5 bars at work, 4 bars at home, and no difference in call quality.
2) Design in Japan, but made in Taiwan.
3) To Polzii and Jbromer: No sir, the screw hole isn't stripped. The part of the main frame that covers the screw head had chipped away. The tragedy happened when I tried to scratch off a paint bulge on top of the chipped off area. The aluminum easily crumbled away when I applied force with my finger nail. For something that cost 99 USD, this shouldn't had happened. My theory is that they might had took off too much material from side, which then weakened the structure towards the outer screw head.
4) Today, I took the bumper back to the store hoping to get an exchange. The manager was really nice, he opened up two more Draco IV bumpers for me to inspect... Sadly all of them appears to have the same paint bulge and thin structure... I returned the bumper and got a full refund... Now my baby is shell-less again
This should be anodized, not painted. Anodizing won't chip off. It becomes the top layer of the material itself. If this is chipping, and is painted, its definitely not worth the money, IMO
This is what I have found out
1) As far as I can tell, reception is same with the plastic bumper that I was using. 5 bars at work, 4 bars at home, and no difference in call quality.
2) Design in Japan, but made in Taiwan.
3) To Polzii and Jbromer: No sir, the screw hole isn't stripped. The part of the main frame that covers the screw head had chipped away. The tragedy happened when I tried to scratch off a paint bulge on top of the chipped off area. The aluminum easily crumbled away when I applied force with my finger nail. For something that cost 99 USD, this shouldn't had happened. My theory is that they might had took off too much material from side, which then weakened the structure towards the outer screw head.
4) Today, I took the bumper back to the store hoping to get an exchange. The manager was really nice, he opened up two more Draco IV bumpers for me to inspect... Sadly all of them appears to have the same paint bulge and thin structure... I returned the bumper and got a full refund... Now my baby is shell-less again
Thanks so much for the update and clarification. The other picture looks great on the phone - black is the way to go IMO...
That's great news about the reception - sounds like it is OK. On the other hand, that is interesting about the aluminum. It may not be painted, it could be anodized, but incorrectly milled with the bulge. And then it might just have been so thin in that area that the aluminum itself (not the paint) cracked/chipped off. If so, that sounds like a design flaw. And based on 2 more cases, it sounds like the machine is actually set that way. I think we need to see a review unit or 2 to get a definitive answer (Austin M, Weisjt???) I have to say, as long as the screw stays set in place, I wouldn't mind too much, as it is the back of the phone...
Pretty cool that you have a store and can see them in person...
ongharry1014, thank you for the update
Im having second thoughts about the case after the review posted. Will wait until they go to version 2.
Ha ha, yeah - I feel like we are all Charlie Brown with Lucy and the football. We get so excited with each new case and then... There will be no perfect aluminum case. At this point I will buy the 1st one that I can be pretty confident:
1) Doesn't kill reception
2) Fits the CDMA iphone
3) Protects the phone (has at least some lay on the table design and fits with a front/rear screen protector)
That's it for me - It seems to be a race between this one, the Jawcase, and any of the others (Element, E13ctron, Apex Armor, Xcel) getting their acts together on updating for the CDMA iPhone - I know I could buy the e13ctron now, but I just won't pay that much to have the mute switch mis-aligned... I will not buy an Atomic (see other thread for my story there). I am just afraid all those manufacturers have just not publicly stated that they are just holding their breath for iphone 5 and aren't really going to update...
Very true. I already have a LOT of iPhone 4 cases, at least 30 different ones
I like the looks of the el3ctron but I prefer the atomic hybrid (havent had to deal with CS, lol) and the vapor (Ive got good reception) designs. Also like the iChair design. I dont have to have another aluminum case, but the Deff Cleave looks really cool and different.Ive got the Magpul case and the ID america cases coming in soon too. So, I can afford to wait, not like I will run out of cases any time soon
.The Jawcase looks interesting too, I'll probably order one when it is released.
So what magic store are you buying these defective cases?
Ill take a defective one (I know exactly wat needs to be done to fix the issue). Played lots of paintball with lots of aluminum parts that sometimes need to be fixed.
Ill take a defective one (I know exactly wat needs to be done to fix the issue). Played lots of paintball with lots of aluminum parts that sometimes need to be fixed.
i wouldnt take the reception review from this one case as a good sign, as you know if you are in a high reception area it might not be enough to make it drop on bar but could drip a couple of decibels for someone that is on the border or 2 bars it could drop you to a low 1 bar, this case really needs to be tested with decibel readings they tend to tell the truth the best. i would love to get my hands on one but i can pay 100 dollars for cases that i am sure will give me problems as i live in a low signal area, i have to use the micro cell at the house just to make calls. i have contacted but no reply. chris975 is the man for aluminum case reviews in my opinion, he writes up the best reviews on these cases cause he has had every one.
it downs look as bulky as i though it would but at the corners and the top still seems kinda fat would have been nice to see a bunch more pics before he returned
it downs look as bulky as i though it would but at the corners and the top still seems kinda fat would have been nice to see a bunch more pics before he returned
Thanks for the kind words weisjt! I agree, there needs to be decibel readings of the signal, not "bar" readings. As each "bar" ranges approx 11dB, dropping just one "bar" in a high signal area can mean drastic potential reception issues in lower signal areas (anyone that understands the dB scale can attest to this). I would get one of these to test, but from what I'm seeing in the pics, I'm thinking it's not going to perform any better than the original Vapor for most people. It looks thick (thick aluminum spells serious trouble for iPhone 4's reception), and I just don't like the design. I've got plenty of experience in testing these all aluminum/aluminum hybrid cases (I have over 30 different aluminum cases in my desk cabinet as we speak...many are prototypes from different companies that never made it to production due to similar signal issues), and I see nothing in this case that would make it much different than the Vapor. Again, this is just from personal observation through pictures, but one thing I've found in testing/trying so many aluminum cases is that certain things remain the same from case to case...covering the entire antenna with aluminum WILL impact the signal...no way around that. And the thicker that aluminum, the more the impact will be.
True enough - need more data on reception... I am hoping some of the regular reviewers will score a free unit...
Got the e-mail and the link from them. Only looks like the AT&T versions on Amazon though. E-mailed them about CDMA availability, but I am not holding my breath...
Very true. I already have a LOT of iPhone 4 cases, at least 30 different ones
Ive got the Magpul case and the ID america cases coming in soon too. So, I can afford to wait, not like I will run out of cases any time soon
The Jawcase looks interesting too, I'll probably order one when it is released.
Wow! Can you do a little comparative review about them? Be great to know your experiences.
I did a comparo between Vapor and Atomic (with emphasis on signal reception issues) in these two blog posts :
http://polzii.blogspot.com/2010/09/vapor-for-iphone-4-from-element-case.html
http://polzii.blogspot.com/2011/03/atomic-hybrid-for-iphone-4.html
ETA: Please pardon the pictures, I need to learn how to take good pictures. Good lighting helps apparently
lol.cheers