Introduction:

   I'm back today with another product review geared towards the ever popular Apple iPhone. I'll be looking at the iSkin Solo cases including the Solo, the Solo FX and the Solo FX SE. As you can see above they come in a variety of colors with only the finish itself differentiating the models. The Solo is the basic model with the Solo FX adding a circular pattern to the inside and lastly the Solo FX SE adds both a circular pattern inside and out and adds a matte finish to the exterior. That's the basics, now let's take a closer look at the iSkin Solo cases and see which one is right for you.

Packaging:

    The packaging from iSkin on all three Solo case boxes was eerily similar to the Griffin powerdock I recently reviewed, and that's not a good thing. Mother Earth is screaming into her pillow once again with the fruitful waste of plastic going on with today's products. Nevertheless, the packaging does an OK job displaying the product and describing on the back what you'll get and what's inside.

The 3 Solo case models have slightly different care packages included. The base Solo includes a clear screen protector only. The Solo FX upgrades it to a mirror screen protector and then the top of the line Solo FX SE includes both the clear and mirrored screen protectors. All three models include the high quality iSkin stickers though!

A Closer Look:

    I must say that at first glance, both online and even in person, my first thoughts were that this would be a crappy, sticky jelly type product and something that I'd never use personally. Boy was I wrong. After feeling and testing this product out I gotta say that I really am impressed with them. My wife loves them even more than I do. In fact the Solo FX is the one she decided to use day to day on her personal iPhone, even with her choice of all the cases out there. She likes the feel and protection of it that much.

Let me say this to the non-believers out there: the cheap chinese knock-off iSkin cases on eBay are NOT THE SAME! They are thinner, stretch out very fast and become loose, and are nowhere near the same quality feel. I say this from first hand experience. I bought a bunch of them off eBay in recent months for test comparison purposes. Hard shells, Gel cases, etc were all on my list of comparison units to test products. The original reason for this was that I was convinced that they were the same thing and when I reviewed the iSkin cases, I would be able to tell everyone to save your money and just buy the eBay cases because they were the same thing. They are NOT. The iSkin cases are better quality, the cutouts are more precise, they're thicker and they fit much more snug to the iPhone. Sure they'll cover your phone and if you want to spend $5 and wait a month to get it from Hong Kong, you can have one too. It won't last as long and probably won't come with a screen protector and definitely won't come with the iSkin stickers or instructions or customer service. The choice is yours.

Mirror Screen Protector Installation:

Installing the mirrored screen protector that comes with the Solo FX model was easy enough, however it is quite thick and that in conjunction with this style of case makes the edges of the protector susceptible to wrinkling up upon squeezing the case. It would bug me like crazy and I couldn't live with that, but maybe you are willing to sacrifice that to have the coolest looking iPhone on the block (which this can be if installed correctly!). Just be sure to clean your iPhone's screen thoroughly before attempting to apply the screen protector...and then clean it twice more because seemingly every molecular imperfection shows up under the screen protector! 

For my money, I'd get the iSkin Solo FX SE because it is without a doubt better than the other two models because of the awesome matte finish and design inside and out. The feel is top notch and much better than the other two. The Solo feels "ok", the Solo FX feels good but the Solo FX SE feels GREAT! The quality of all three are the same however so whichever floats your boat is a good choice.

A little tip for you guys out there with these types of Gel (TPU) cases: wash them in soap and warm water prior to using them. This will eliminate the very minor static cling on the case that comes from bouncing around a plastic package in shipping. Just like wetting your hair kills the static frizz, Washing these cases first clean off the dust and static. It's certainly not a problem with these cases, that's the rubber and silicone ones that are horrible in that area. I'm just helping make a better case even better.

Conclusion:

    Landing at the conclusion of this review we come to the final determining factor in your purchase; the price. Let me say this about price, don't buy from the iSkin website because if you do you'll be paying $29.99 for the base Solo case, $32.99 for the Solo FX and $34.99 for the Solo FX SE. At these prices I could not even recommend them. Fortunately however we have many online resources to buy from including Amazon.com and the prices there appear to be much more reasonable; in the $15-$20 range depending on which model you want (*cough*Solo FX SE*cough*).

It's a no brainer that if I'm buying one of them, it will be the Solo FX SE for sure. I can live with one of the 3 colors offered but can you? If not then the Solo FX will do nicely (just not as nicely). If you're in the market for a full protection Gel style case (not silicone and not rubber, this is much better than both of them) than the iSkin Solo series is a great choice if you can find a good deal and that shouldn't be hard.

I'd like to thank iSkin for sending out these review units. I will be using the Black Solo FX SE case on the days I need more protection for my iPhone than my daily hard shell case provides. I do however implore iSkin to lower the price on the Solo series on their website to become more competitive in this crazy market. Otherwise they may scare off some buyers with those ridiculous prices. I'd also like to see more color options in the FX SE model series.  I'm going to approve and recommend the Solo series cases because they are great gel style cases that provide wrap-around-the-chrome-edge protection, great feel in the hand and precise cutouts. Just be sure to shop wisely on sites like Amazon.com for a good deal!

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