eTeknix: On the go – Part 1

Pong iPhone 4/4S Case

When you first get a new mobile phone, you tend to go through the “must take amazing care” phase, so it always helps to have a protective case to not only increase the longevity of your phone, but personalise it and with Apple’s iPhone 4 signal issues, fix the problem. Our choice of case today is from a company called Pong, who specialise in providing a unique iPhone case that contains some interesting features.

Standing aside from your typical iPhone case that just helps with the signal issues, the Pong case has a different construction that actually embeds a antenna extension that not only redirects the radiation away from your head, but also improves the signal strength. By doing this, Pong not only decrease the amount of radiation directed at your head by 95% but also boost the signal by up to 46%, thus improving battery life and call quality.

So lets take a look at the case:

The Pong case comes in a simple white box, with a door to view the case inside. On the interior of the door, the various features are listed. Inside the box, not only do you get the Pong case, but also two screen protectors and a small cloth to clean the screen with.

The case itself has a very clean design and is available in many different colours. Pong have opted for an open end case design, which helps with certain docking stations, but not with protecting the top and bottom edges. There is a small hole, which allows for the camera to be unobstructed. The thickness of the case is approximately 1mm thick, so would help against drops. The case has a soft touch coating, which not only feels great, but also allows you to remove the phone from your pocket without too much hassle.

The sides and corners are raised enough to protect the edges, which also includes the volume and silent button. Overall the appearance is very sleek and looks great when on the phone.

When it comes to testing the performance of the case, there is very little we can do in quantitative terms, as this would require a specific laboratory, with fixed variables. What we can test is real life, day to day performance and how we perceive it. Luckily, at the place of testing, mobile phone reception isn’t great, so the Pong case would be well suited. As for drop testing? Well, we are not brave enough to drop the phone from great heights, but will test things like pocket height.

When it came to testing, straight away after putting the case on we noticed we were getting reception (albeit not a lot) in places where there often was none, or very little.  Whilst we cannot measure the amount of radiation the phone is producing, it’s a nice piece of mind knowing that we’re receiving very little. As for the drop testing, whilst we were a little reluctant, we did drop the phone from several heights, making sure the ground impacted the case. For each of the tests, we noticed no damage to either the phone or the case, so its certainly doing it’s job.

Overall we are very pleased with the Pong case as there was a noticeable difference in signal strength. The case also looked and felt great. The only daunting side to it is the price: at around $60 (~£40) it ain’t cheap, so it’s really down to if you think the little boost in signal and the looks are worth it compared to a cheapo case. At the end of the day however, its just a case, and whilst we do applaud Pong for making it more practical, we don’t really think its interesting or popular enough to make it award worthy, but still, kudos to Pong for trying!