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Iusername20

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 28, 2011
122
3
I am really leaning towards the bumper for my verizon iphone in the upcoming weeks. It has such a minimal look to it and really hate cases that take away the look of the phone, also the feel of it. Will the bumper provide good enough protection?
 
I am really leaning towards the bumper for my verizon iphone in the upcoming weeks. It has such a minimal look to it and really hate cases that take away the look of the phone, also the feel of it. Will the bumper provide good enough protection?

a bumper will work just fine protecting your iphone from normal use, if youre one of those clumsy people that are always dropping their phone id suggest at least a silicone sleeve of some sort. the bumper is slighty raised so even when resting on a flat surface, the iphone itself is never actually touching the surface. there's worse ways to spend $30
 
How accident prone are you? I have butter fingers and have dropped my phone about once a month on the ground, in the recycling bin, etc. This is why I have the otterbox defender.
The iphone 4 is glass on both sides. While the glass is hardened and scratch resistant, it does not do well with drops.
If you don't drop things, the bumper will suffice. However, if that's not the case, get something with more protection--even if it's not the otterbox defender.

I am really leaning towards the bumper for my verizon iphone in the upcoming weeks. It has such a minimal look to it and really hate cases that take away the look of the phone, also the feel of it. Will the bumper provide good enough protection?
 
Get the atomic Hybrid case. It gives a bit more protection and still has that simplistic look with the iphone.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

IMHO the iPhone 4 is not drop resistant enough for my normal use.

Also, I'm serious about my sig line, so I don't worry about little marks on an antenna band I'll never see.

I prefer a case with more lift around the edges of the front and back glass, so I don't use a bumper. I've got an Incipio NGP and it provides good shock resistance with off the concrete lift around the front screen glass.

YMMV
 
I do not like silicon sleeves, bumpers or cases where you slide the phone into a plastic case. Why? They eventually damage your phone. Dirt/dust gets in between the case and the phone and causes scratches on the bezel and back. It happened with my 3g, 3gs and 4.

From now on I will only use a leather sleeve or go naked.
 
I love my bumper, but after about seven months of use it has now split along the top right hand corner for a couple of centimetres.

Great idea, but a bit crappy if you have pay £25 for a new one every seven months.
 
Will the bumper provide good enough protection?

Define "good enough." For most people I would say the Apple bumper is fine. What you really want is something that protects the exposed edges of the glass. Don't ask how I know this. The bumper does a fine job of protecting along those lines.

No, the bumper does NOT provide enough protection. In fact, it actually damages your phone: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1088253/

Meh. I suspect little Brasso and a Dremel with a polishing wheel will un-damage it right back.
 
Meh. I suspect little Brasso and a Dremel with a polishing wheel will un-damage it right back.

That would be nice but it is not a polished surface. It is a media blasted surface that would look much worse if you fooled with it. I keep the bumper on and it's fine. Does a good job with only a couple of minor rub marks. Carrying it naked would expose the edges of the glass. A sure sign of disaster. :(
 
I am anti-case. I used a 3G for 2 years with no protection.

The Apple bumper is the first case-like cover that I actually don't mind all that much. I use it on my iPhone 4 some of the time and sometimes I don't. I like that it's easy to take on and off. I like that I can still feel the glass on both sides of the phone while I have it on.

Mostly, I like it at work when I'm leaving my phone on my desk all day and sliding it around on the surface. When I'm outside on other days I don't find I need it. Taking the phone in and out of my pocket, I don't really care about it then.
 
Apple went narrower and thinner with the new phone and also made it more fragile with a glass back. All this means that you have to negate all those design decisions by putting a case on it that makes it fatter, thicker and more squarish. The phone looks sweet naked, but add a case and it has about as much aesthetic appeal as a brick.
 
I do not like silicon sleeves, bumpers or cases where you slide the phone into a plastic case. Why? They eventually damage your phone. Dirt/dust gets in between the case and the phone and causes scratches on the bezel and back. It happened with my 3g, 3gs and 4.

From now on I will only use a leather sleeve or go naked.
Does anyone make a leather bumper? That's a brilliant idea! (I realize you said "sleeve")
 
In most cases, yes. I've dropped mine from waist height a couple times and no damage to my phone. As a result of dropping my phone several times, I decided to upgrade to a little more protective case.

If you check the Accessories forum, there's a lot of threads on knock off bumpers which might interest you. I have a couple and they're pretty good and only around $5-$7 compared to Apple's $30.
 
I have a bumper on my phone with a carbon fibre sticker on the back, provides enough protection for me. Have dropped it a few times from small heights by accident and nothing has happened. If it was to get properly damaged, I have insurance so I'm covered.
 
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