review: Griffin Outfit Shade

March 10, 2010 by Bill Palmer

The dirty secret with iPhone cases is that most of them are essentially the same product. Cover the back, sides, top, and bottom, with cut-outs for the controls, and leave the touchscreen accessible for finger interaction. Within those tight design constraints it’s not easy to do something inspired, which I found it surprising, then, that Griffin’s Outfit Shade managed to stand out to me, even after having tested dozens of iPhone cases over the years – especially when you consider that the Shade is not that complex of a product.

Two pieces that have the structure of hard plastic, but look like rubber, slide together from top and bottom. The shiny metallic color that starts off at the top of the case fades through a gradient pattern to equally shiny black by the time you reach the case’s bottom. And that’s about it as far as the case’s description.

So what makes the case stand out, then? First off, it’s (very) easy to attach and remove (contrast that with Speck’s one-piece rubberized Candy Shell, a case I really like by the way, which is much more of a challenge to remove). I had some fear that it might be too easy to remove, but carrying it around in my pocket showed that the bottom piece isn’t prone to slipping off during use by accident. And by design or happy coincidence, the bottom piece can be left off to make it easier to slide your iPhone into a form-fitting dock or docking speaker system. And the fade pattern just looks really cool in person (at least the gray/black model they sent me does; I’m not sure if green fading into black would be quite as attractive).

So what not to like? Most cases with this kind of a price tag come bundled with screen film, and this one doesn’t. And on top is one big cut-out, where it could have been two smaller ones, exposing less of the surface. But if you can get past those imperfections, the Outfit Shade is a well designed case that looks really cool as well.

Learn more about the Griffin Outfit Shade for iPhone 3G and 3GS at GriffinTechnology.com