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Kinetic Case Review

B

bmxracer182

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 26, 2010
19
0
I got my Kinetic Case today and here is my initial review of it.

The finish and feel of the case is as a good as it looks on their website. I like the rounded edges and the fit on my phone. I ordered a silver one with a carbon fiber back plate so I can switch things up.

I found a video on their website that is a good how-to for how to put the case on the phone. It seems pretty self explanitory but was helpful.

My initial concern with using an aluminum case was the impact on the signal. I tried to get a pic of the signal but I could not get my camera to get a clear picture of it. Before I put the case on, I ran a field test and I was getting -97. I put the case on with the carbon fiber back and my signal went to -105.

After reading their website some more, I did not that in the FAQ section, they did mention that some of their testers noticed a 1 bar decrease with the carbon fiber back. Still at -105, I have no problems making calls, getting calls or texts, email, etc.

I swapped backplates and put the clear one in and did a field test and my signal was back to -97. So far, I am not seeing any impact on my signal. I'm crossing my fingers but I think I have a winner!!!

I attached some pics for you to check out. I'm glad my phone finally isn't naked anymore :D
 

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Last edited:
enemi said:
Thanks for pictures and review.
It does make the iphone look a tad bit beefy though.
Click to expand...

I'll try to get some other pics when I get home but I put it up next to my wife's iPhone 3G and it not much different in size compared to her phone.
 
Nice review. However that has to be one of the ugliest (if not the ugliest) aluminum cases I've seen for the i4. I guess it's nice if you want your i4 to look more similar to the 3G/3GS but it makes the phone look quite fat. Also not a fan of how much the lip of the case covers up the sides of the phone. I think that contributes quite a bit to the case looking big.
 
maverick86 said:
Nice review. However that has to be one of the ugliest (if not the ugliest) aluminum cases I've seen for the i4. I guess it's nice if you want your i4 to look more similar to the 3G/3GS but it makes the phone look quite fat. Also not a fan of how much the lip of the case covers up the sides of the phone. I think that contributes quite a bit to the case looking big.
Click to expand...

I just measured the case thickness and it's only 1/2" total thickness. Obviously you are entitled to your opinion but I disagree. I think it looks awesome. Gives good protection, I think looks good, and feels better in your hand. That's the point of a case right? And most importantly, it doesn't kill the signal.
 
maverick86 said:
Nice review. However that has to be one of the ugliest (if not the ugliest) aluminum cases I've seen for the i4. I guess it's nice if you want your i4 to look more similar to the 3G/3GS but it makes the phone look quite fat. Also not a fan of how much the lip of the case covers up the sides of the phone. I think that contributes quite a bit to the case looking big.
Click to expand...
I must say I agree with you on this one. I am not one to criticize a vendors product but I just do not like the look of this case at all. The rounded corners and the shape reminds me of the alumacase alot. Even the way it attaches to the phone is exactly the same. I am glad the OP likes it because he bought it and really his opinion on it is the only one that matters but I am not a big fan of the look of this case myself.
 
That's weird !
The Carbon fiber backplate is messing up the signal instead of the alum case itself ???????:confused:
 
I'm curious as to how they've avoided the signal loss - the case, while put together differently, is almost a dead ringer for the alumacase in terms of appearance once assembled...and at least for me the alumacase SHREDDED my reception.
 
scelzifan said:
The rounded corners and the shape reminds me of the alumacase alot. Even the way it attaches to the phone is exactly the same.
Click to expand...

Hi everyone,
I thought I would jump in and say a couple things from Kinetic Case…
I will respond with a more thorough answer in a few minutes for anyone who wants to read more.
Our case could not be much more different than the Alumacase or any of the other brands that I have seen. The way the phone attaches are totally different. Alumacase and other brands use two pieces that look like a large U and are capped by a smaller U. We use two symmetrical J shaped parts. Alumacase and other brands also use something like foam tape to insulate the case. Our approach on insulation material and the actual points of contact are totally different. This might seem like small differences but we found in our four months of testing that it was a number of small things that allowed our case to not affect the signal any more than a Silicone apple bumper.
I will respond more soon.
 
Hi everyone, I thought I would jump in and say a couple things.

First of all, I am sorry that everyone doesn’t think we made the most beautiful case on the market. We set out to achieve a handful of specific things with this case. We decided four months ago when we started developing this case that if we could not achieve these key goals we would not make the product.

1. Make an aluminum case that would not affect the signal, data, or GPS reception any more than a silicone apple case.
2. Make a case that was nice to look at, hold and use.
3. Make all of the features easily accessible.
4. Make all of the accessory openings big enough to fit most accessories.
5. Offer a significant level of protection.

We tested quite a few prototypes and passed the cases around through MANY hands and the case we offer was hands down the most liked case. Most people like the look of the iPhone4 but most people we encountered don’t like how it feels in their hands when using the phone.

It would have been MUCH easier to make a case that killed the reception, didn’t work with any accessories, and made it difficult to access any of the buttons. But, we set our standards higher than that.

As far as our case looking like the Alumacase and mounting and attaching like the Alumacase… Obviously I cannot argue with someone’s opinion regarding the looks of the case. But, our case is much different than the Alumacase. The most obvious mechanical difference is they use a BIG U shaped piece that is caped with a little u shaped piece. Our cases mount together using two symmetrical J shaped parts. We designed our case to accommodate the large tolerance variation that Apple has on the iPhone4. Making an affective aluminum case would have been a lot easier if Apple held tighter tolerances, but I understand why they don’t being that they are making 3+ million phones a month. I am not sure how Alumacase, Or any of the other brands that use the larger U shaped pieces can accommodate the size variation with that BIG U shaped part.

The other obvious difference between all of the other case brands and the Kinetic Case system is that we created a case that has no hard, squared or chamfered lines and edges. We originally came up with the contoured and rounded design to meet the requests from our testers to have a phone that felt nicer in their hands. We than developed it further to help protect the phone by deflecting energy in a drop rather than trying to absorb it on a large flat, square or broad surface. This technology is widely used in industries like high end motorcycle helmets.

Regarding the reception issues so many people are talking about…
I’ve always said that in design and machining the devil is in the details. This is a perfect example of that. I’m not in business to show other brands how to fix their problems so please understand why I am not attaching a detailed diagram of how we resolved the antenna issues. We did experience a verity of little details that created various levels of antenna attenuation. Our manufacturing capability allowed us to make small and large changes quickly during the development stages to isolate the numerous small issues that could cause any signal attenuation. Without giving a road map to our competitors… The answers to solve the challenges with building an aluminum case for the iPhone4 comes down to the material you use to consistently isolate the antenna from the case, how and where the case is attached to the phone and most importantly being able to accommodate for the tolerance variations that the iPhone4 has.

For better pics to see how the case does look different than others go to http://www.kineticcase.com/

In the end if you don't like the Kinetic Case system, return it.

I hope this helps. Feel free to email me with any more detailed questions regarding our Kinetic Case system.
Tech Questions… Tim@kineticcase.com
Sales Questions… Info@kineticcase.com
 
Last edited:
bmxracer182 said:
I got my Kinetic Case today and here is my initial review of it.

The finish and feel of the case is as a good as it looks on their website. I like the rounded edges and the fit on my phone. I ordered a silver one with a carbon fiber back plate so I can switch things up.

I found a video on their website that is a good how-to for how to put the case on the phone. It seems pretty self explanitory but was helpful.

My initial concern with using an aluminum case was the impact on the signal. I tried to get a pic of the signal but I could not get my camera to get a clear picture of it. Before I put the case on, I ran a field test and I was getting -97. I put the case on with the carbon fiber back and my signal went to -105.

After reading their website some more, I did not that in the FAQ section, they did mention that some of their testers noticed a 1 bar decrease with the carbon fiber back. Still at -105, I have no problems making calls, getting calls or texts, email, etc.

I swapped backplates and put the clear one in and did a field test and my signal was back to -97. So far, I am not seeing any impact on my signal. I'm crossing my fingers but I think I have a winner!!!

I attached some pics for you to check out. I'm glad my phone finally isn't naked anymore :D
Click to expand...
Thanks for the review, I like the look of it. But I would maybe go for a different colour.
 
KineticCase said:
Hi everyone, I thought I would jump in and say a couple things.

First of all, I am sorry that everyone doesn’t think we made the most beautiful case on the market. We set out to achieve a handful of specific things with this case. We decided four months ago when we started developing this case that if we could not achieve these key goals we would not make the product.

1. Make an aluminum case that would not affect the signal, data, or GPS reception any more than a silicone apple case.
2. Make a case that was nice to look at, hold and use.
3. Make all of the features easily accessible.
4. Make all of the accessory openings big enough to fit most accessories.
5. Offer a significant level of protection.

We tested quite a few prototypes and passed the cases around through MANY hands and the case we offer was hands down the most liked case. Most people like the look of the iPhone4 but most people we encountered don’t like how it feels in their hands when using the phone.

It would have been MUCH easier to make a case that killed the reception, didn’t work with any accessories, and made it difficult to access any of the buttons. But, we set our standards higher than that.

As far as our case looking like the Alumacase and mounting and attaching like the Alumacase… Obviously I cannot argue with someone’s opinion regarding the looks of the case. But, our case is much different than the Alumacase. The most obvious mechanical difference is they use a BIG U shaped piece that is caped with a little u shaped piece. Our cases mount together using two symmetrical J shaped parts. We designed our case to accommodate the large tolerance variation that Apple has on the iPhone4. Making an affective aluminum case would have been a lot easier if Apple held tighter tolerances, but I understand why they don’t being that they are making 3+ million phones a month. I am not sure how Alumacase, Or any of the other brands that use the larger U shaped pieces can accommodate the size variation with that BIG U shaped part.

The other obvious difference between all of the other case brands and the Kinetic Case system is that we created a case that has no hard, squared or chamfered lines and edges. We originally came up with the contoured and rounded design to meet the requests from our testers to have a phone that felt nicer in their hands. We than developed it further to help protect the phone by deflecting energy in a drop rather than trying to absorb it on a large flat, square or broad surface. This technology is widely used in industries like high end motorcycle helmets.

Regarding the reception issues so many people are talking about…
I’ve always said that in design and machining the devil is in the details. This is a perfect example of that. I’m not in business to show other brands how to fix their problems so please understand why I am not attaching a detailed diagram of how we resolved the antenna issues. We did experience a verity of little details that created various levels of antenna attenuation. Our manufacturing capability allowed us to make small and large changes quickly during the development stages to isolate the numerous small issues that could cause any signal attenuation. Without giving a road map to our competitors… The answers to solve the challenges with building an aluminum case for the iPhone4 comes down to the material you use to consistently isolate the antenna from the case, how and where the case is attached to the phone and most importantly being able to accommodate for the tolerance variations that the iPhone4 has.

For better pics to see how the case does look different than others go to http://www.kineticcase.com/

In the end if you don't like the Kinetic Case system, return it.

I hope this helps. Feel free to email me with any more detailed questions regarding our Kinetic Case system.
Tech Questions… Tim@kineticcase.com
Sales Questions… Info@kineticcase.com
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info - very professionally written and please don't take it personally but: the proof is in the pudding. We've seen everything from claims of no signal loss, to claims of signal improvement, to folks posting pics of their cases (here's looking at you alumacase) showing no signal loss.

There any live reviews done yet by people that regularly post...people that we know?

Again, nothing personal, but I want to see one of the players here get one to review before I'm going to get on board :)
Yes I saw the review above - looking for more of a vid review :p
 
bighabeeb said:
Thanks for the info - very professionally written and please don't take it personally but: the proof is in the pudding. We've seen everything from claims of no signal loss, to claims of signal improvement, to folks posting pics of their cases (here's looking at you alumacase) showing no signal loss.

There any live reviews done yet by people that regularly post...people that we know?

Again, nothing personal, but I want to see one of the players here get one to review before I'm going to get on board :)
Yes I saw the review above - looking for more of a vid review :p
Click to expand...

We currently have some out for review on other sites and some you tube reviewers as well. Check our website as we are keeping that updated as new reviews are posted.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I bought the silver version of this case--along with the carbon fibre back piece. The clear back piece that comes with it works OK for the iPhone signal with moderate interference.

The carbon fibre back piece, however, sent my signal to "no service" and completely obliterated any GPS receptivity.

With the clear back piece, my GPS can be determined to within a few metres. With the carbon fibre back piece, my GPS location jumps from 500m away to 1pm away. The GPS is basically useless with the carbon fibre back piece on, and 3G connectivity is non-existent.
 
I too didn't think it was the nicest aluminum case available. You guys should start working on a newer design, why not?

Kinetic%20case%20carbon%20fiber%20plate.jpg
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

SchneiderMan said:
I too didn't think it was the nicest aluminum case available. You guys should start working on a newer design, why not?

Kinetic%20case%20carbon%20fiber%20plate.jpg
Click to expand...

Did your carbon back effect your reception?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

SchneiderMan said:
I too didn't think it was the nicest aluminum case available. You guys should start working on a newer design, why not?

Kinetic%20case%20carbon%20fiber%20plate.jpg
Click to expand...

Did your carbon back effect your reception?
 
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