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weisjt

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 8, 2010
866
0
Southern Pines, North Carolina
Sw-Box iPhone 4 Bumper

The Iphone 4 apple bumper is the official case to come from apples camp, this is a knock off bumper from sw-box that comes in many different colors but the same design. I was skeptical about getting these from sw-box because of all the problems that were reported with the quality of the case such ass the buttons falling out of the case and the rubber and plastic separating. With that being said I tested this case longer than I normally would before reviewing. The packaging comes with just a simply package that looks much like the apple bumper packaging.

PROTECTION
This bumper is no different than any other bumper for the iPhone 4 as far as overall protection goes, it does not protect the screen for the front and back and also does not come with screen protectors so its up to you to keep the glass protected. The bumper has a plastic center with silicone molded around the outside edges that wrap the edge of the iPhone glass, the silicone does offer lay on table protection as well as anti sliding grip from the silicone. The volume buttons and the on/off button are covered by plastic with metal button covers that are very responsive and they are metal so they look great too. The bumper will offer some drop protection but you want to be careful with you phone when using any kind of bumper style case.

FUNCTIONALITY
Sw-Box bumper isnt the most functional bumper style case out there. It keeps a slim design and looks pretty good, you get pretty good protection for a bumper style case as well as the really nice buttons. The headphone jack is kinda small so some bigger jacks will not fit in there, and the 30 pin dock connector is also fitted for the apple cable so you wont get many cable in there either. the slim design lets you get the phone in and out of the pocket easily and the silicone on the case do not attract to much lint and dust although it is noticeable I have seen much worse. Overall the functionality is ok with the bumper, everyone likes to use third party accessories and this case really limits that. The case will not bubble screen shields and will work with most skins, as mine is pictured in with a carbon skin on the back

QUALITY
Like I said before these cases have not gotten the best reviews in the quality department, I personally did not experience any of the problems I stated before, the only quality issue I had was that the headphone jack hole looked slightly stretched out and I used this case taking it on and off for about three week, I even pushed on the buttons without the case on to see if they would come off or start to and they did not. I personally like bumper style cases and these come is a large amount of colors, and at the price of 3.20 it might be worth a try.

I would recommend this case to someone who is set on getting a apple bumper cause you can get a bunch of these for the price of a bumper from apple and a few of them will have good quality if not all so it is a hit and miss but I think worth the try. If you just want a bumper case don't get it, there are many other really nice bumpers out there and this is not the nicest one. All of the pics are shown with lucky labs carbon skin on back and power support crystal front. The case can be bought at Sw-Box site. There are many more pics on my site, feel free to ask any questions.

Thanks For Reading
 

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Sw-Box iPhone 4 Bumper
feel free to ask any questions.

Good Review. I would think that the bumper case you got has to be quite good because I’ve seen the quality in the wholesale market and now most bumper cases are very good.
I am more interested in the business model that this and other China discount resellers use. Shipping is an area of concern to many buyers so if you could give us some information it would be very helpful.

1. Did you order this case using Hong Kong Air, Registered Hong Kong Air or Air Express such as DHL?
2. How long did it take to go door to door from Hong Kong to the country you sent it to from the date you got your tracking number or your notice that it was shipped if you did not get a tracking number?
3. What time of the year did you order it. The reason for this is to make some sort of judgement on the shipping time bases on busy shipping periods during holidys?
4. The country it was shipped to if that is not personal
5. How much did they charge you for shipping if that is not personal?

Thank you once again for your review. :)
 
Good Review. I would think that the bumper case you got has to be quite good because I’ve seen the quality in the wholesale market and now most bumper cases are very good.
I am more interested in the business model that this and other China discount resellers use. Shipping is an area of concern to many buyers so if you could give us some information it would be very helpful.

1. Did you order this case using Hong Kong Air, Registered Hong Kong Air or Air Express such as DHL?
2. How long did it take to go door to door from Hong Kong to the country you sent it to from the date you got your tracking number or your notice that it was shipped if you did not get a tracking number?
3. What time of the year did you order it. The reason for this is to make some sort of judgement on the shipping time bases on busy shipping periods during holidys?
4. The country it was shipped to if that is not personal
5. How much did they charge you for shipping if that is not personal?

Thank you once again for your review. :)

hongn kong air
3 weeks
no tracking
late december
U.S.
i got 5 or six items it was i think 9 or 11 dollars
 
Looks real nice for what you pay, I went with the Scosche Bandedge case, a little different but ultimately the same thing.

I was going to order a white and black Sw-box case, but the site is shut down until med February cause of Chinese New year.

can you post the link to the case, cant seem to find it again on the Sw-box.com site
 
Looks real nice for what you pay, I went with the Scosche Bandedge case, a little different but ultimately the same thing.

I was going to order a white and black Sw-box case, but the site is shut down until med February cause of Chinese New year.

can you post the link to the case, cant seem to find it again on the Sw-box.com site

Chinese New Year started today. Lots of factories are closed.
 
Chinese New Year started today. Lots of factories are closed.



Actually most Chinese factories and shipping companies are totally shut down until Feb 10th. Chinese take their New Year serious. Workers go home to see their families. They eat, drink (boy do they drink) set off fireworks, visit friends, talk all night, play cards, play mahjong, give red envelopes, buy new clothes etc. They and their bosses forget work and rightfully so.. You see here in China family means just that. Most of these workers send most of their money back home to support their parents, grandparents, any of the family that is less fortunate than they are, they do this with great pride and love. To the worker your plastic case is just something that comes out of a machine just like the iPhones and the iPads they build for you. If you were to tell them how much you guys pay for a plastic case that came out of their machine they would say, “tamen shenjingbing la”

You are not going to see your cases board a plane to the USA until after Feb 10th no matter how much you pay. If, and that is a big if, these Hong Kong companies have stock they can bring it to Hong Kong Post in a couple of days and send it to you. If they don’t which I they they don’t, they will have to wait until the whole markets opens again and buy what they sold from the agents there.
 
I have bought the bumper before...

It was good when it came.

Within first week of usage, my power button of the bumper dropped off...and unfortunately I lost it outside. :eek:


1 month later, the decerease volume of the bumper dropped off as well. :eek:



Disappointing...and from there I threw away the bumper.

They still owe me a bumper(I emailed them, and they offered to send a replacement only if I made another purchase)


But the bumper still offers superb quality protection though. Dropped my phone from around 1.5m and the bumper's rubber helped to absorb the shock. nothing happened to the phone.
 
I have bought the bumper before...

It was good when it came.

Within first week of usage, my power button of the bumper dropped off...and unfortunately I lost it outside. :eek:


1 month later, the decerease volume of the bumper dropped off as well. :eek:

QUOTE]

I was in NonameChina and saw them using a glue to hold bumper buttons in place. Apparently the bumper case that come from the Chinese factories only use a pressure fit snap to hold those buttons in place. If you pull on them, they will come out. All the Chinese discount sellers have to do to step up their quality control is to use glue. From my experience they must do this themselves, the Chinese factories will not because it requires too much addition work and if not done carefully the glue will get onto the surface of the case making it unsellable.

I hope to visit DealXtreme and SWbox after the New Year. I will give you a report of what I find and post some pictures if my membership has that privilege.:)
 
I have bought the bumper before...

It was good when it came.

Within first week of usage, my power button of the bumper dropped off...and unfortunately I lost it outside. :eek:


1 month later, the decerease volume of the bumper dropped off as well. :eek:

QUOTE]

I was in NonameChina and saw them using a glue to hold bumper buttons in place. Apparently the bumper case that come from the Chinese factories only use a pressure fit snap to hold those buttons in place. If you pull on them, they will come out. All the Chinese discount sellers have to do to step up their quality control is to use glue. From my experience they must do this themselves, the Chinese factories will not because it requires too much addition work and if not done carefully the glue will get onto the surface of the case making it unsellable. QUOTE]

I’ve been trying to buy a good bumper case at a reasonable price from a seller in Amsterdam but no luck. I’ve read all sorts of problems members had with Hong Kong product and service but you write that China products are as good as the ones we see in Stores. Why? :confused:
 
I have been using and selling "chinese" bumper cases myself for well over one year. I have neither had buttons falling of nor customer complaining. Must have been just getting the right suppliers I guess .... btw: nice photos weistj !!
 
Most if not all of the cases you are buying today come from China. There is no real magic to get good cases. Name brand case companies and retailers like AT&T buy from Chinese manufacturers every month then they have independent company check the products again to make sure they reject the bad cases and most of the time a foreigner will spot check the master cartons before the product is shipped. This adds some cost but well worth it. If the Chinese discount sellers follow the same formula they will also ship out good cases.
 
I have been using and selling "chinese" bumper cases myself for well over one year. I have neither had buttons falling of nor customer complaining. Must have been just getting the right suppliers I guess .... btw: nice photos weistj !!

thanks, i have been using this bumper still and have not had any problems , like i said be fore i get curious and even push on the buttons to see if they will come out but they dont .
 
I have been using and selling "chinese" bumper cases myself for well over one year. I have neither had buttons falling of nor customer complaining. Must have been just getting the right suppliers I guess

If someone is supplying you with trouble free bumpers, stick with them. Don't be temped by a lower price because it comes at a price. Good suppliers are worth their weight in gold. ;)
 
I have been using and selling "chinese" bumper cases myself for well over one year. I have neither had buttons falling of nor customer complaining. Must have been just getting the right suppliers I guess .... btw: nice photos weistj !!

Looking at your site, you're in the same scenario as myself. The only cases I have ever had customer problems with are these 'non-apple' bumpers. It's not a major problem but the buttons do fall off. Easy to fix or replace though.

Other than that, no issues sourcing quality stuff either.
 
i have this bumper but the power button doesn't seem to match up, so i can't press it up and down, is there a fix for that?
 
Why not just go for those real knockoffs from dealextreme? They're as close as you can get to original without the price tag.
 
the deal extreme and sw box bumper are the same thing. there arent knock offs of knock offs......

exactly, this is the same one from the sw box site, i just bought it off ebay so i wouldn't have to wait on the shipping from overseas.....
 
sw-box has become my favorite source for iPhone stuff.

I've since switched from their transparent/black bumper replica to

Carbon Fiber Skin: http://www.sw-box.com/Carbon-Fiber-Skin-Sticker-Cover-Protector-For-Iphone-4-Black-.html


With their "Thinnest Case" (Ordered both Clear and Smoke):http://www.sw-box.com/Worlds-Thinnest-Case-For-Iphone-4-Transparent.html

I'm really digging the thin case!

i also like their stuff, the otterbox and apple bumper knock offs i got were pretty nice, i did get a white back from them and the post holes were to small for the screws to go into which sucked but oh well, i like those thin cases might give them a try.
 
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