Citizen Case

You might not know me. I’m Geir, Glenn’s buddy. I’ve gotten the chance to spam his blog now and then. See how polite I am? Introducing myself and all!

OK, so luck struck me about two weeks ago – I got my filthy hands on a used iPhone 3GS in exchange for an iPhone 2G and a handfull of Norwegian crazymoney.
“WTF?”, I now imagine you are thinking, “if you were getting an iPhone, why not get the iPhone 4, you god damn stupid piece of shit, I’ll break your neck and-” I’m going to stop myself digressing right there. Let me explain how things go down when buying iPhones in Norway:

Up until the releasedate, shiny new iPhones had only been sold accompanied with a 12 months involuntary mobile subscription, the cheapest ones for about 300-400 kr/month. At the moment I have a subscription with provider without iPhone 4, but where I only pay for what I use. As a result I usually have monthly bills for only 100-150 kr/month. I would be a dumbass to double my monthly bill just to get the iPhone 4. Only after I got the 3GS, news got around that Apple would be selling iPhone 4 without a subscription. No biggie, IMO.

Anyway, I’ve had my 3GS for a few weeks now, loving the thing (it’s white, you know). And I thought about the iPhone 4 and the flash it has for the camera – the one thing I reeaally envy it for. I sometimes take pictures in the dark. Drunk. Don’t ask. Fuck, I’m digressing again… ANYHWOOO!

I was lurking on eBay one day accompanied by a glass or two of whiskey and by pure luck and some fate I found an iPhonecase. And not just any case I might add: it can charge my iPhone and provide as a flash for the camera! That’s a BINGO!
The price? Only $1.25 when the auction ended. (The funny thing? The cost of the item is only 1/25th of the shipping charge. But I digress. Again. God damn my undiagnosed ADD and the devil that is parenthesis!)
I’ve looked at it and tried it for a couple of hours since yesterday, and being the technolusty impatient geek that I am, I’m already sitting here writing what seems to be a review about it. Yeah.

Installation

Installation - pretty fucking simple

This is not a Rubiks Cube – It’s pretty fucking simple:

1. Slide off the top
2. Insert the iPhone
3. Slide on the top
4. ???
5. Profit!

Usage, motherfucker!

See the red text and squares? Yeah, I made that. I'm fucking good at computers.

The case is described as «considerably designed to make up all the weaknesses of  iPhone 3G/3Gs». Compared to the iPhone 4, and considering my main reasons for wanting one, I couldn’t agree more.

The one and only button (1) on the case is used for (almost) all of the functions: press it once to see battery status (3) and hold it to (de)activate the flash (2). See the thing sticking out on the bottom right? It’s not a tumor, it’s the USB-cable. Yeah, it’s black and matches the case and everything. Not only does it synch with your computer like a normal iPhone-cable, it also charges: first the iPhone, and when that’s full it charges the case. When the iPhone is not inserted into the case, only the case will be charged. This is awesome.

When you’re using the iPhone and that fancy batterypercentagemeter, and suddenly you see only 10% left of batterylife, you feel like:

This is the on/off-switch, not an electronic clit.

«OMFG IMMA KILL SOMEONE TWICE IF I DON’T GET A POWERSOURCE FOR MY SMARTPHONE NAO!!!»

*smack*

Don’t fucking freak out, man! Chill! Just flip the switch on the bottom to «ON», and charging be initiated up in this motherfucker! FO SHO!!!

The itemtext on ebay also claimed the case was using something called «Super Bright Camera Flash™©®». The name itself screams obvious shenanigans and violent buttfucking, but despite this I tested it. As you can see, no buttfucking ensued, only flash:

The pictures are split in half: left part is without the flash, the right part is with it. The left picture was taken in medium light – inside, on the stove, and only one lamp in the room. Also, the lamp sucks big time, mind you.
The right picture has the lamp in the ceiling turned off, the only lightsource being a lamp from another room. You can see how well the iPhone handled that lightsetting with no flash (IRONY; OH HOW WELL I MASTER THIS ART!).

Since I don’t own an iPhone 4 myself, I am not in a position to be able to compare the external versus the internal flash. Someone most probably, possibly, with some chance, perhaps will try, so I don’t have to. Also, this case is available for the iPhone 4, though without the flash, of course (http://nstpower.cn/productshow.asp?ArticleID=340S9Q84R3).

Last, but not least, some technical facts for all us geeks:

	uNu Flash Battery Case	Mophie Juice Pack Air
Capacity:	1300 mAh	1200 mAh
Size:	126 x 65 x 20mm	124 x 66 x 19mm
Weight:	55g	75g
Charge time:	4 hours	4 hours
Cycle life:	500 times	500 times
Extra standby time:	240 hours	270 hours
Extra talk time:	8 hours	10 hours
Extra music time:	17 hours	20 hours
Extra movie time:	5 hours	6 hours

Compared to the Mophie Juice Pack Air, this uNu case is more lightweight, has a god damn flash, and still are able to match the specifications of its competitors. If Mophie was a bear, then the uNu would be a fucking grizzly, twice the size of the Mophie just waiting to eat some motherfucker for lunch.

The downsides

Not much, actually. The two things I’ve found is this:

• The case’s switch has to be turned on to be able to sync through the USB-cable.
• When the silent-button on the iPhone is activated, it is hard for me to switch again into un-silent-mode. Maybe I just need longer nails. This also goes for the volumebuttons.

Conclusion

To put it this way: if this case was a pussy (a hairy one, even a fucking Vaginus Chewbaccus) I’d fuck it to death!
If you have an iPhone 3G/3GS, buy this case immediately. Search ebay for «uNu case battery flash so fucking awesome you want to tear yourself another cornhole in pure joy». I’m sure you will find it amidst all the other crap people try to sell there.