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Why are 99.5% of iPhone cases Toys 'R' Us garbage?

R

Radiating

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 29, 2011
1,018
7
This has never made any sense to me. These companies seem to never learn the lessons that the manufacturer of the product learned decades ago.

Lesson 1.

Do not plaster your abysmaly lame logo all over the product. Nobody has ever read your company logo and thought "gee I want to buy that case" 99.99999999% of people that buy your case buy it because it has good reviews, word of mouth or by asking the owner "what case is that?".

Do you know what pasting your logo in big front everywhere does? It makes me not buy your case. If you absolutely want your logo on there (again no logo is ideal) put it there in extreme minimalist format, and leave it at that. Even the worst laptop manufacturers now use minimalist logos, and have learned their lesson.

Lesson 2.

Do not make your case look like a Fisher Price toy. I cannot stress this enough. You're making a product for a $650-$850 device. You're also charging $20-$40 it does not need to cost 0.000000005 cents to make it out recycled shopping bags. Have the decency to put some metal, ceramic, leather glass or any high quality material at all on it.

Lesson 3.

Actually make your case asthetically pleasing. Do not just randomly cut it to fit, because "whatever". This makes your product look disgraceful and like it was designed by somebody who does not care at all. Try drilling multiple small holes for the speaker or making buttons on buttons like Apple did with it's bumper. Give the thing clean lines. 95% of cases look like a designer tried to describe the case to someone else using morse code. I highly suspect a designer was never even near most case designs. This is unacceptable.

Lesson 4.

Stop making incredibly huge cut outs for the camera, ports, buttons, speakers etc. Seriously if a 5 year old can cut tighter cut outs for the camera using scissors than your company can then you should serious reconsider your product designs.
 
Last edited:
TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!!!! I looking for a quality metal case without huge cut outs for the buttons and even bigger holes on the back exposing the has of the iPhone. It's completely stupid to make a metal case and have holes or slots cut in the back just so you can see the color of the phone. Useless....
 
Especially agree with Lesson #1. I would never buy a case with prominent logo on it.
 
I agree with all of the above. I barely changed cases between all of my iPhones, because I wasn't able to find anything worth buying that properly accented the beauty of the naked iPhone. Most of the cases out there look like the Hello Kitty Case I have on my daughters iPod. Even the supposed high end cases look like crap. I mean, is it that hard to use the CNC Machines to make ultra thin/sleek cases that integrate wood accents and aesthetic design features? Some of the CNC cases I see look like a highschool workshop student designed them.

Good Post!

----------
Fernesto said:
This case here looks like a quality case. https://www.lunatik.com/products/taktik?variant=70

I was debating on weather or not to buy it. Won't be shipped till November. Does anyone know of any other cases similar to it?
Click to expand...

Yes it does, however it adds a lot of unneeded bulk to the phone IMO. If they made one of these cases that acted more like a thin bumper case, then I'd be all over it!
 
I'm a welder and landscaper. I really don't care how big the case is on my phone just as long as it protects it. That's why I liked that Tiktak cause it was big and protective. I personally love the big and bulky cases.
 
The taktik case looks amazing but it just makes the phone so bulky. Pointless imo.
 
Radiating said:
This has never made any sense to me. These companies seem to never learn the lessons that the manufacturer of the product learned decades ago.

Lesson 1.

Do not plaster your abysmaly lame logo all over the product. Nobody has ever read your company logo and thought "gee I want to buy that case" 99.99999999% of people that buy your case buy it because it has good reviews, word of mouth or by asking the owner "what case is that?".

Do you know what pasting your logo in big front everywhere does? It makes me not buy your case. If you absolutely want your logo on there (again no logo is ideal) put it there in extreme minimalist format, and leave it at that. Even the worst laptop manufacturers now use minimalist logos, and have learned their lesson.

Lesson 2.

Do not make your case look like a Fisher Price toy. I cannot stress this enough. You're making a product for a $650-$850 device. You're also charging $20-$40 it does not need to cost 0.000000005 cents to make it out recycled shopping bags. Have the decency to put some metal, ceramic, leather glass or any high quality material at all on it.

Lesson 3.

Actually make your case asthetically pleasing. Do not just randomly cut it to fit, because "whatever". This makes your product look disgraceful and like it was designed by somebody who does not care at all. Try drilling multiple small holes for the speaker or making buttons on buttons like Apple did with it's bumper. Give the thing clean lines. 95% of cases look like a designer tried to describe the case to someone else using morse code. I highly suspect a designer was never even near most case designs. This is unacceptable.

Lesson 4.

Stop making incredibly huge cut outs for the camera, ports, buttons, speakers etc. Seriously if a 5 year old can cut tighter cut outs for the camera using scissors than your company can then you should serious reconsider your product designs.
Click to expand...

Lesson 1.
Never seen a case where its theres logos all over it...
lesson 2.
theres tones of cases with the materials you mentioned.
lesson 3
I guess im looking in all the right places for cases because i'm seeing some great designs.
Lesson 4
I like the simile, and this is your first complaint if found to be true on a couple cases iv seen. Still doesn't seem worth complaining about when there are plenty that have nice size openings for the camera.

Maybe you were bored and irritated when you posted this, but wow way to complain about something thats hardly true.
 
Stadashic said:
Lesson 1.
Never seen a case where its theres logos all over it...
Click to expand...

Let me rephrase, any tacked on logo is bad. Tacked on logos detract from design.


lesson 2.
theres tones of cases with the materials you mentioned.
Click to expand...

No, there isn't a single case made from ceramic or glass. Would it kill a manufacturer to make these things out of them? The metal ones are unessesarily extremely bulky and usually garish and the leather ones aren't cases but wallets. There are only one or two leather backed cases.

lesson 3
I guess im looking in all the right places for cases because i'm seeing some great designs.
Click to expand...

That's interesting because I have a degree in design and I see almost none of the elements of design in any case. They all look tacked on.

Lesson 4
I like the simile, and this is your first complaint if found to be true on a couple cases iv seen. Still doesn't seem worth complaining about when there are plenty that have nice size openings for the camera.

Maybe you were bored and irritated when you posted this, but wow way to complain about something thats hardly true.
Click to expand...

The reason I made the post is because I am frustrated with case manufacturers. They all seem to be made by first time entrepeneurs out of their basements or chinese bulk manufacturers and do not reflect good design like that found in any major company.

If you compare every other case in the world to the Apple bumper you will clearly see the difference in good design vs bad design. Good design flows, you don't notice it's there. Show me a non-Apple, non-Gresso case that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb for the 4/4S/5.
 
Radiating said:
This has never made any sense to me. These companies seem to never learn the lessons that the manufacturer of the product learned decades ago.

Lesson 1.

Do not plaster your abysmaly lame logo all over the product. Nobody has ever read your company logo and thought "gee I want to buy that case" 99.99999999% of people that buy your case buy it because it has good reviews, word of mouth or by asking the owner "what case is that?".

Do you know what pasting your logo in big front everywhere does? It makes me not buy your case. If you absolutely want your logo on there (again no logo is ideal) put it there in extreme minimalist format, and leave it at that. Even the worst laptop manufacturers now use minimalist logos, and have learned their lesson.

Lesson 2.

Do not make your case look like a Fisher Price toy. I cannot stress this enough. You're making a product for a $650-$850 device. You're also charging $20-$40 it does not need to cost 0.000000005 cents to make it out recycled shopping bags. Have the decency to put some metal, ceramic, leather glass or any high quality material at all on it.

Lesson 3.

Actually make your case asthetically pleasing. Do not just randomly cut it to fit, because "whatever". This makes your product look disgraceful and like it was designed by somebody who does not care at all. Try drilling multiple small holes for the speaker or making buttons on buttons like Apple did with it's bumper. Give the thing clean lines. 95% of cases look like a designer tried to describe the case to someone else using morse code. I highly suspect a designer was never even near most case designs. This is unacceptable.

Lesson 4.

Stop making incredibly huge cut outs for the camera, ports, buttons, speakers etc. Seriously if a 5 year old can cut tighter cut outs for the camera using scissors than your company can then you should serious reconsider your product designs.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you might like our case. No cutouts.

Lesson 4 - Apple recommends a big "keepout" hole around the camera and flash. We tried to make it as large as possible, while not looking like a gigantic gaping hole. Think we did pretty good. :)

Smaller keepouts on cases contribute to flash reflection, especially where there is a gap between case and phone.
 
mysterydate said:
Sounds like you might like our case. No cutouts.

Lesson 4 - Apple recommends a big "keepout" hole around the camera and flash. We tried to make it as large as possible, while not looking like a gigantic gaping hole. Think we did pretty good. :)

Smaller keepouts on cases contribute to flash reflection, especially where there is a gap between case and phone.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the response. I would actually love to see a bumper style case made of Richlite with rubber edges similar to the old Apple style bumper for the 4. Make it in matte silver, matte white and matte black and I'll buy one of each as long as you maintain the same button on button layout and tight tolerances around the ports speakers etc.
 
This is the most pointless thread of the day, CONGRATS! That's an accomplishment because there are some REALLY pointless things on here lately.
 
shenan1982 said:
This is the most pointless thread of the day, CONGRATS! That's an accomplishment because there are some REALLY pointless things on here lately.
Click to expand...

Discussing poorly designed cases is pointless? I disagree. What's a bit strange, though, is taking the time to say that if you have nothing else to contribute to the discussion.
 
dejo said:
I love all the hyperbole in the OP.
Click to expand...

Isn't using the word hyperbole, borderline, hyperbole? :)

I like the Incase sliders. Sleek, good protection. Overpriced for sure, but generally a quality product. The trick is using the Verizon brand screen protectors which are undersized so as to not lift or bubble at the edges/corners.
 
Radiating said:
Let me rephrase, any tacked on logo is bad. Tacked on logos detract from design.




No, there isn't a single case made from ceramic or glass. Would it kill a manufacturer to make these things out of them? The metal ones are unessesarily extremely bulky and usually garish and the leather ones aren't cases but wallets. There are only one or two leather backed cases.



That's interesting because I have a degree in design and I see almost none of the elements of design in any case. They all look tacked on.



The reason I made the post is because I am frustrated with case manufacturers. They all seem to be made by first time entrepeneurs out of their basements or chinese bulk manufacturers and do not reflect good design like that found in any major company.

If you compare every other case in the world to the Apple bumper you will clearly see the difference in good design vs bad design. Good design flows, you don't notice it's there. Show me a non-Apple, non-Gresso case that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb for the 4/4S/5.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't cases made out of ceramic or glass make the cases heavy?? I don't think people want cases that will add lotta weight to their phones. And I don't think it'll do a lot in protecting the phones either. If I drop my phone encased in ceramic case, not only would I worry that the case will shatter, but it will damage my PHONE with the debris. plus it offers no shock absorbency. Btw, I agree with your number 1 and 3. There are some really ugly cases out there. Dunno who the designers are but I say put them back in design school. :p
 
mysterydate said:
Sounds like you might like our case. No cutouts.

Lesson 4 - Apple recommends a big "keepout" hole around the camera and flash. We tried to make it as large as possible, while not looking like a gigantic gaping hole. Think we did pretty good. :)

Smaller keepouts on cases contribute to flash reflection, especially where there is a gap between case and phone.
Click to expand...

Yes, Your cases look great! You need to make one out of Rich Mahogany! J/K :p
 
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