I’ve added the Mobile Edition plugin from alexking.org. If you’ve got an iPhone or some other mobile device the plugin is aware of, and you visit this site, you’ll get a toned down version formatted for said devices.
This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but as you’ve no doubt figured out, I put off doing a lot of things on this blog. Thankfully, someone got around to doing it for me.
First of all the Griffin Clarifi is an iPhone case that just protects the back, leaves the front open, has a small bevel around the front edge, and it comes with a small microfibre cloth. The reason people are interest in it though is because of the small lens that comes with the case, affixed to the back via a small piece of plastic that slides on a track to cover the existing lend on the iPhone. What this does is it shortens the fixed focal length of the built-in lens to allow an owner to take pictures of objects closer up.
So I ordered from the Apple Canada store and it arrived Friday. First of all it’s a beautiful case, and it feels great in the hand (that’s what she said). The lower quarter of the case is rubber and pulls off to allow unfettered access to the bottom of the phone (presumably so you can still keep it in the majority of the case, while still have it fit in the Apple iPhone dock).
I use the Griffin Simplifi as my case without an insert so the phone fits in it just fine without needing to slide off the bottom.
The bottom cap that slides off stays on just by being a snug fit. Time will tell if it will continue to stay on after repeated use or aging of the rubber.
As for the lens itself, there’s a definite noticable ability to take photos of things closer up. The other reviews that show before and after shots are pretty much the results you’re going to get. There’s only so much you can do with the camera that’s in the phone.
I tried it out with the Snappr app that will scan barcodes and found it to be rather hit and miss. There’s definitely a knack to it that I haven’t quite grasped yet. I took me several tries under various lighting conditions at various distances before I even got it to recognize a barcode. I doubt I’d be able to do this in a department store with any kind of stealth. Still, with practice, who knows.
My previous case was from Roots and was designed to work with the first gen iPhone, so I had to do some custom hole-cutting to get the proximity sensors to work. One of the things I liked was it had a front flap to protect the screen (I don’t use screen protectors, though I did on my older iPod).
I thought I’d miss that front flap but it’s quite liberating not having it. I’m not worried about scratching the glass, but I’m also not brave enough to stick my phone and keys in the same pocket.
Anyway I give the Griffin Clarifi a thumbs up.