The Contour Flick is a shiny black case made to be easy to dock. Simply flicking the lower half of the case backwards at a rubber hinge does this. It works well, and the material seems durable enough for extended usage. The hard polycarbonate covers the back, sides except ports and controls, and only extends 1 mm on the front. This meager millimeter is still enough to protect the screen when placed face down on a table. The case won’t protect against higher drops, and when it hits the floor there is no soft material absorbing the impact. My prediction is that the case will protect the iPhone at one phone damaging impact, and then it will be cracked.
The case is about as slippery as the iPhone itself, and the rounded edges actually makes it quite slippery when playing games. It has the same kind of indentations as the Contour HardCase inked found a bit below the middle of the phone. These help getting a good grip by letting you find placement for thumb and index finger. Still these only help the grip in portrait mode. For most games played in landscape mode the grip has been worse than just using the barebones iPhone.
There isn’t that much to say about the Contour Flick other than that the experience has been quite underwhelming. Once the review is done I will switch to something giving me a better tactile feel to it. As the protection isn’t better than that found in more interesting cases it falls quite flat in my opinion. I can tolerate having inferior gaming performance from a case like the OtterBox Defender when I know the iPhone will survive being thrown in the wall.
A strange protection choice is the inclusion of a silicone cover for the silent/hold button. With this in place it is near impossible to use the silent button with accuracy. I take a lot of screen captures, and half of the times that great boss battle picture has turned into me watching the home screen as the silent button failed to register. This cover can be removed. I found it strange not to go the full distance, and include covers for the dock opening and headphone jack. In my mind the least vulnerable of the three is the silent/hold button, and that is the one getting extra protection.
Summary
Pros
Dockable.
Lightweight with tight fit.
Access to all ports and functions.
Cons
Hard slippery glossy finish.
Sharp edges.
Unusable thankfully removable silent/hold cover.
Not adding anything other than dockable protection.
No screen protection included.
The Contour Flick case doesn’t add grip, tactile stimulation or supreme protection. Sure it will protect the body of the phone against scratches, and it will probably sustain one major impact. For the price it isn’t worth it, and you could just as well pick up a no name hardcase at half the price. The only customer this could probably cater fully to is the one demanding convenient dock solution.
Final Rating
Contour Flick Case for iPhone 3GS at the US Apple Store $29.95
