Techie Musings

iPhone 4 Really Thin Case

I’ve tried a few cases for my iPhone 4 and since it came out have been using Zagg invisibleSHIELD together with a “holster” that attaches to my belt. This is the same holster I used with the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The Zagg product is rubbish. Not only is it a beast to put on, but it peals easily and discolours. Currently the only part that I’m still using is the screen protector and I’m about to take that off because it makes the touch sensitivity much less sensitive, and this is particularly noticeable when typing. Ironically, the cheap clones of invisibleSHIELD are much better for a fraction of the price.

So I wanted to find some means of protection the iPhone 4 without adding to its bulk so that it could still slip into the holster. The various soft cases are too thick and don’t work with the holster. However, the new Macally METROCP4 case that is not very flexible is very thin and does work with the holster. As you can see from the picture, it is crystal clear with a tacky Macally logo on the back (but it looks like it will rub off with use thankfully). If there is anything on the phone like moisture, grease, etc. it will remain inside the case as you can also see.
It doesn't exactly offer full protection - the top and bottom surfaces are still exposed probably to make insertion, extraction and manufacturing easier. No doubt if you drop it, these are the areas that would get scratched...

At $30 is it worth it? For my specific use case it is - certainly better than that Zagg stuff.

Wireless Broadband

I recently tried several broadband wireless hotspots. One of the first was the MiFi available on both Sprint and Verizon. Sprint recently introduced a 3G/4G version and even more recently, Virgin introduced a 3G prepaid version. The devices I tried are as follows:

Device	Network	3G/4G	Price	Plan
Virgin MiFi 2200	Sprint	3G	$149.99	Prepaid $10 for 100MB (valid for 10 days) Prepaid $40 unlimited (valid for 1 month)
Overdrive	Sprint	3G/4G	$99.99 (after MIR)	$59.99/month with 2-year contract. 4G: unlimited. 3G: 5GB/month, $0.05/MB overage. 300MB/month roaming, $0.25/MB overage.
Rover Puck	Clear	4G only	$149.99	Prepaid $5/day Prepaid $20/week Prepaid $50/month
USBConnect 881U	AT&T	3G HSPA	$249.99 (no contract) Free with 2-year contract	$35/200MB, overage $0.10/MB. $60/5GB, overage $0.05MB. 2-year contract
Apple iPhone 4	AT&T	3G HSPA	$199 16GB $299 32GB with 2-year contract	$45 2GB Tethering Plan

 

I conducted three tests using Speedtest.net and Pingtest.net (where applicable).

Indoor office: located in Redmond, WA in a building with insulated glass, which acts as a good wireless insulator (Faraday cage), resulting in fair 3G and no 4G coverage

Outside office: located in Redmond, WA with reasonable 3G and poor 4G coverage.

Coffee Shop: located in downtown Bellevue, WA with good 3G and reasonable 4G coverage.

Indoor office results for computer

Carrier	Download Mbps	Upload Mbps	Ping ms	Pingtest
Virgin 3G	0.52	0.08	237	F
Sprint 3G	0.77	0.10	145	D
AT&T 3G	2.90	0.39	98	F

 

Note: for this test, no 4G signal was received, so there’s no data for Sprint 4G or Rover 4G.

 

 

Outside office results for computer

Carrier	Download Mbps	Upload Mbps	Ping ms	Pingtest
Virgin 3G	1.84	0.49	222	D
Sprint 3G	2.21	0.43	150	D
Sprint 4G	0.55	0.07	190	-
AT&T 3G	1.41	0.78	99	F

 

Note: for this test, no 4G signal was found for the Rover.

 

Coffee Shop

Carrier	Download Mbps	Upload Mbps	Ping ms	Pingtest
Virgin 3G	0.38	0.15	225	F
Sprint 3G	0.44	0.19	190	D
Sprint 4G	1.97	0.90	157	C
Rover 4G	1.22	0.82	76	B
AT&T 3G	3.42	1.03	119	D

 

I will publish the iPhone results later, but they were consistent with the AT&T 3G USB modem results.

My conclusion is that the CDMA devices perform very poorly in comparison to the AT&T GSM network. Further, there seems to be speed discrepancies between the Virgin and Sprint device (when forced into 3G only mode) even though they are using the same network. Also, despite the fact that the Sprint has a stake in Clear and their 4G networks are supposed to merging, there are discrepancies between the Sprint device (in 4G mode) and the Rover device.