SwitchEasy Nude iPhone 4 Case Review

On July 14, 2010, in iPhone, Third Party, by Marilyn

Howdy mac-fusion readers.  Rob here, from such websites as The Simple Llama, and GL3 Media.  You can also listen to my incessant ranting on Twitter, if you like that sort of thing.

After about a week of gingerly handling my shiny new, all glass iPhone 4, I decided it was time for some sort of case.  If you know me at all, you’d be in semi-shock.  I hate cases.  I briefly had a silicone case for my trusty iPhone 3G, but it never felt right.. and I quickly went back to using it naked. I considered Apple’s own bumper case – and even went to my local Apple store intending to drop $30 on the little rubber band.  Unfortunately, they were sold out, so I continued on caseless. Hunting on my iPhone during breaks in work led me nowhere.  There aren’t a ton of iPhone 4 compatible cases out yet, and several of them have very real issues with the camera and flash.  What’s the point of a case if it prevents you from using your phone’s features?  No, none of those faulty cases would do. Just when I was about to give up, I followed a random link to a company called SwitchEasy, and their iPhone 4 case, called, oddly enough, NUDE for iPhone 4.  Liking what I saw, I plunked down the $23 and waited.
The SwitchEasy NUDE comes in a little plastic package, touting all it’s features.  Cool stuff like 1MM thin, and Lexan construction.  Like any modern plastic packaging, it was more fun than a barrel full of rabid monkeys to open.

My first thought once I extracted the case was, “Wow, this thing is really thin and light.”  Let’s be crystal clear about this right now – if your’e looking for a case to protect against drops, this is not the case for you. My iPhone 4 snapped easily inside the case.  I would recommend wiping down the side and back with a lint-free cloth first.  You don’t want to trap any dust back there – it could scratch the glass back. Once on, the iPhone feels pretty close to normal.  This case really is small – it doesn’t add much very much bulk.  It took just a few seconds for my hand to get used to the difference.  The texture is smooth, but not particularly slippery.  All the cutouts are high quality – everything lines up properly, and there are no sharp edges.  There appears to be plenty of room around the flash – and the edge is beveled as well to insure no flash issues. There is also no front glass protection.  By that I mean that the side of the case sits flush with the front glass.  If you lay your iPhone front-down on the table, the glass will touch.  For some that’s a big negative; for me that’s a big positive.  I can’t stand having a “lip” on the edge of my phone.

To sum things up:

The Good:
Very thin.
Very light.
Minimal design.
High quality.
Not particularly expensive.
No “lip” to get in your way.

The Bad:
No drop protection.  None.  At all.
No front glass protection.
Slightly harder to access the power, volume, and silence buttons.

The Verdict:
If you like your cases slim, you can’t go wrong.  I chose white, though there are a variety of colors.  At $23, I would say this is a Buy unless you’re looking for drop protection.

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  • Kurt

    Not nit picking, but this case is very cheap and it’s Quality Control is bad.

    There was a plastic break nub on the bottom. (at the dock connector opening) Probably where it was connected to a manufacturing holder piece. (reminds me of plastic model car kits, you had to twist off pieces to break from the holders)

    There is a another manufacture wrinkle between the up/down vol button locations. It is smooth, but very visible. Once in the case there is a gap on the upper left corner between the case and iphone. you can squeeze the phone and case and see it wiggle inside.

    As mentioned by other reviewers, the bottom edges by the dock opening, are very sharp.

    The packaging is a nightmare. Be extra careful opening. I don’t know if I scratched the case or it was scuffed prior to my opening. It looks like it’s wrapped in multiple layers of plastic, but at the point you notice the case is exposed, you may scratch it with your knife or scissors. My case is clear which compounded the issue. Be very careful!

    The back of the case is very prone to scratches, even using a soft (clean) glasses cloth. The case back will get scuffed a lot.

    Finally, it’s a nightmare to get in and out of the case.

  • Kurt

    Clarification, it’s only a nightmare getting OUT of the case

  • Robert

    Hello – This looks great. I bought clear but am returning because I could imagine all of the dust that would get behind it and you need to constantly clean it. I am going for the dark black color. Any thoughts – agree/disagree with the clear version and dust getting behind?

  • monkeyboy

    I agree the case is a very nice and very thin case. It does what it does best, shows off the design of the iPhone 4. I like the case except the bottom of the case scratches EASILY! Just using it for a few days, and I’m very careful with my phone and it’s in a leather hip-case. But the case is so scuffed up that it loses its appeal very quickly. Be warned! This case will scuff up in matter of no time!

  • http://www.gl3media.com/ Rob

    Sounds like you may have gotten a bad example Kurt – my case has none of the issues you’ve mentioned. I have heard some folks complain of sharp edges, though mine seem fine.

    I’ve not tried to take it out of the case yet. I can see how it would be difficult though.

    Re: Monkeyboys – I’m guessing you got the clear case. I went with white to avoid this exact problem. If I was worried about the glass iPhone back getting scratched, clear plastic is 10x worse. At least with the white, scratches don’t stand out.

  • Marilyn

    Hey Kurt, Rob replied but I’m not sure if you get notifications on other commenters. Thanks for the feedback on your experience with this case.

  • Marilyn

    Hi Monkeyboy, Rob replied but I’m not sure if you get notifications on other commenters. Thanks for the feedback!

  • brock

    Yep. I confirm a lot of the above. While it will keep your iPhone safe from scratches the case scuffs up instantly, very sharp edges and the wobbly case fit is awful. It covers the little mic hole by the earphone plug adapter unless you wiggle it back. For $20 bucks didn’t expect a whole lot.

    Not mentioned above is the extremely wasteful packaging of this case. All the extra stuff you get is really not necessary but still it could have been packaged in something 4 – 5 times smaller.

  • http://iphonecasesblog.com Pat

    Nice choice. We have it on our 3GS as well and we love it. They have a great customer service as well.

  • Razvan

    It is horrible .. I used it for 3 weeks and the metal antenna it’s scratched. I am very careful with my iPhone 4 ..

  • henry

    I agree with Kurt. I had the exact same issues: (1) bottom is scratchy; (2) impossible to keep clean so it never looks good, unless you never touch your phone or use it in a clean room; (3) hard to take off the iPhone; and (4) poor fit at volume buttons.

    I am exchanging for the Colors case, which I have for the 3G. I should have gone there in the first place except I don’t like the colors except for black (boring – my 3G case is the brown one with the green/camo home button jelly bean). I wish they had more subdued colors; they are all colors that a 6-year old girl would choose.

  • Leon

    I was so impressed with with the pictures of the iphone 4 nude case. They looked very impressive. I ordered two a week ago, a clear one for me and the aqua blue for my daughter. I received the nude cases today, the packaging is very impressive and hard to open. Finally, I got the package open. It looks so cheap and no protection at all, although I am not looking for drop protection but at least this case will give some kind of protection. The back has already scratched every where and it looks like this case has been returned before. The corners are sharp everywhere, very low quality. Well, I do not care at least I can use the screen protector and back to my original iphone black bumper. “DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT, YOU WILL BE REGRETED” BUT YOU WILL LIKE THE PACKAGING.

  • ifonefor

    the nude case by switcheasy is absolutley crap. if you like cuts on your ear from holding the sharp edges of the phone on it, then get it.

  • Miss Bee

    I just bought this case, in the transparent version. It is great indeed, but a pain in the *** to get rid of. Taking it off is really very difficult.

    Other downside, it gets scratched quite easily, too.

  • gbruner

    I’ve had this case (the ultra clear) for over a month and I can’t find much good with it. FYI, I take very good care of my products. It’s very difficult to put on and remove, and because of this, it has two cracks, by the headphone and volume holes. I like that it has no “lip” to get in the way, but it also doesn’t have a seal, so dust and dirt gets in easily and rests in the back, contrasting nicely with the black iPhone :/. That’s why I take it off so often, to clean it. All this for $20? Not worth it.

  • Rackman999

    I had my SwitchEasy NUDE case for about 8 months now, and it’s all but destroyed.  Mind you, it’s never been dropped, not even once.  This case is just not a high quality case at all.  I started getting scratches on it within 2 weeks of purchase.  I’ve only taken the phone out of the case 2-3 times because it’s so incredibly difficult to do.  The last time I took it off, I notice a slight stress mark between the mute switch and Up volume button.  A couple of days later, that part cracked.  After a few more days, it cracked again and about 1/4″ square piece fell off.  3 weeks later, another, slightly larger chunk fell out between the two volume buttons.

    Again, I’m not hard on this phone AT ALL, as I intend to keep it for some time.  This case is just flat-out bad.  It’s only redeeming quality is that it is so thin and light.  But for $23, it should last longer than 8 months.  My old $30 case lasted 2.5 years on my iPhone 3G.  Surely $7 doesn’t make a 3x higher quality product…