Ballistic Cases for Apple iPhone 7

Since the iPhone 5c, I've settled on one brand of case: Ballistic.

Sure, I tried Otterbox and it saved me headaches, but as the size of phones has increased, Ballistic's hard and soft surfaces seem to fit my pocket better and their crash testing seems correct.

How much is a case worth on a US$749 phone?  You only have to look at a few drops and the repairs to see that US$34.99 isn't much to prevent repairs over the life of a phone.

This time, I bought two Tough Jacket cases, one white and black, and the other black.  At the time, they were on discount at US$19.99 each.  Now, they're US$34.99 each.  Signing up for their newsletter will notify you of discounts.

Apparently, you can use these for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, as well, but you can't use the earlier phone cases, as it partly covers the camera lens.

I don't get anything for doing this but here is the link: https://www.goballisticcase.com/

iPhone 6 cases and screen protectors

Oh, the trouble with switching phones can be huge.  At least, this time I didn't have to get new accessories because I changed cables and connectors.

(tl;dr : I bought a Ballistic Tungsten Tough case and Otterbox Glass screen protector)

My iPhone 5c was about one year old and I switched from an iPhone 4s then, also switching from the 30 pin connector to the Lightning connector.  When I got the iPhone 5c, I bought another Otterbox Defender case at the same time as I bought the phone.

It was poorly designed, apparently to be first to market.  People were cutting out the screen protector because it was too far away from the screen it was supposed to protect.  I swore I'd never buy another case from Otterbox.

I'd seen a load of Ballistic brand cases in another store near the Sprint store, and I was close to buying something else.  A couple of months later, I ordered an SG MAXX case from the company directly, as the local store was almost out of them.  It was just as good as that other brand, but it was easy to take off and put on the phone.  Something that was practically impossible with the Defender case.

Okay, so, here I was buying an iPhone 6 with no Ballistic case in hand and I couldn't find a store ahead of time that carried them.  I ended up with a Griffin case than claimed 3 feet for drop protection, and an Otterbox screen protector made of glass.

The screen protector was of great significance since that was a huge problem with the iPhone 5c cases.  As I wrote earlier, many people cut out the Defender screen protector because of the gap between it and the screen.  Ballistic had an add-in screen protector that made it difficult to see the screen.  A corner of the protector would slip out on occasion.  I ended up with an Invisible Shield protector, as it seemed an early and popular choice.

After that year, the Invisible Shield protector had become rather nasty.  The instructions recommended installing it again from time to time, I guess so that you could clean the phone's display.  Even when new, it seemed a bit wrinkled, and that seemed normal.  Even car tint carefully installed can look like this because of the various layers.

The glass screen protector is practically perfect.  There is some adhesive keeping it tightly attached, and it feels as though I'm directly touching the device.

While I could appreciate the Griffin case for its minimalistic design, I prefer not to break my phone if I drop it.  No phone is attractive when it's in more than one piece.  I also don't care to advertise the Apple logo out the back of the case.  Why invite trouble?

So, I was in a Best Buy a few days later during the Christmas rush and found three Ballistic cases that were not on the company's website.  I'm guessing that these are higher profit, lower cost cases made specifically for Best buy.  I'm cynical, but is that wrong?

$34.99, $39.99, or $49.99?  I wasn't sure what to trust.  I still wasn't sure if they were fakes.  I chose the $39.99 Tungsten Tough case, labeled 7+ feet drop tested.  It's not as thin as the $34.99 case, but I had been using a case with a holster previously.  I'm thinking that I still want that extra protection, although it's a pain to get the phone open quickly to answer a call.

How much is $849.99 worth to you?  If you don't have enough protection and need to have the device fixed or replaced, what if that cost exceeds $49.99?  Is a pretty case worth the extra cost of repairs?

Update 2015.04.03: The Ballistic brand case has been as good as the previous case for the iPhone 5c.  I've dropped the iPhone 6 a few times and the case has kept the phone safe, and even the case seems to be fine.  In fact, it is incredibly difficult to separate the phone and case.  That's almost a good thing, although there was dirt inside of the case.  It's surprising how good the iPhone 6 feels by itself but I'd hate to see it smashed on the floor.

It was a while later that Ballistic's web site showed the Tungsten-branded models that are apparently only available at Best Buy.  That gave me a better feeling about spending US$39.99, because I'm not always trusting of Best Buy.

I still miss the holster clip, so I may buy one of those.  I've noticed a problem with the phone further down in my pocket--lint.  It's having more trouble with charging than usual.  Some cables aren't working 100% of the time.  The car charger sometimes stops charging during a trip, so I find that the phone is at 50% or less.  I guess that's the problem of not having a case with a flap over the Lightning port.

Got an iPhone 6 last night and stayed with Sprint

As you might have read already, I live in an area where the LTE installations haven't been finished.  While much of the town is on LTE, I live on the edge of LTE and a roaming zone.  In fact, my bedroom seems to be a transition area between 3G/EVDO and LTE, so I end up with 1xRTT too many times for too long.

Verizon First

I went to see Verizon, but after seeing the local reseller's Yelp ratings, I went to a city 15 miles away where there was an official company store.

They currently have a $150 switching rebate, and I had found that the data sharing plan of 12 GB had been upgraded to 15 GB.  This is important as I already have a mobile hotspot with the company.  Service is better than Sprint but not great, as though it's bordering on overloaded.  We apparently don't have enough towers in town.

I waited about 15 minutes until there was an available associate.  We talked, and he explained the rent-to-buy plan.  It sounded fine, and then, he talked about the data plan--6 GB for $120, along with talk and text messaging, which we didn't even discuss.  I told him that I'd really have to think about that, since it would drive my total expense up by $40.

Then, I said "I thought there was a 12GB 15 GB sharing plan" and he seemed to tap his headset, and looked surprised "Oh, why didn't I think of that?" and as if he'd been given information by someone behind the curtain, he remarked "That would be $160."  That pretty much ended the conversation but I asked if he was on commission, and he said yes, and had someone get his card for me.  I figured that he would get a little extra each month by not suggesting the cheaper plan.

Sprint Next but not Nextel

I went to one of the two Sprint kiosks in the mall just after that.  The first was busy, so I went to the other.  I said "Give me a reason to stay with Sprint.  I'm ready to pay my ETF." and we started a discussion.

Within only a couple of minutes, he mentioned an extra discount for long time customers on the lease plan.  This also supposedly doesn't include a contract.  They get to keep the phone at the end of the lease or you can pay an extra $200 to keep it.  I was a bit confused, but it still sounded okay.  Except for prepaid service, is it ever 100% straightforward?  Since I wanted a 64GB iPhone 6, it cost a bit more.

Naturally, with these plans, you leave without paying anything.  They put certain things on your initial bill, like the !@#$ $36.00 activation fee--yes, they need to pay for the rigamarole to handle all the crap of paperwork.

My plan is a bit old, so they had trouble deciding which reason to use to make the lease work.  They need to add "Hella Old Plan" to the list.  Eventually, everything was fine, and they also sold me a Otterbox glass screen protector and a Griffin case.  Amusingly, my old address from 2000-2008 was there, and now, with one of the receipts sent by e-mail, they showed me Indiana taxes, where I haven't lived for months.

What's bad about the lease discount is that I had to stay with my current service plan.  They have a better, cheaper plan now.  Actually, last year when I got the iPhone 5c, they add an Unlimited Everything plan or some such that was the same price but had no limits.  Still, I don't talk on the phone enough to need my current minutes.

Oh, and I didn't have to pay the ETF, so far.  Hopefully, it won't show up, since I was told that it wouldn't happen.

They asked me if I wanted insurance, and I told them AppleCare+ but I'm not sure that it will arrive or not.  They didn't charge me for it, but then, they didn't charge me right away last year.  I didn't want Asurion to handle it, as they want lots of money each month, and they have no problem refusing service.

In any case, the iPhone 6 is much better than the iPhone 5c.  That's a surprise?  I suppose not.  I'm thankful that the iPhone 6 is a bit more efficient than the iPhone 5s.  I was concerned about buying a first-generation 64-bit processor from Apple, so I didn't buy the iPhone 5s.  The phone keeps up with me, except when service is poor.  Given that the iPhone 5c is a two band LTE device and the iPhone 6 is a three band LTE device, I should have great performance in certain areas where the Nextel 800 MHz frequency band has been re-purposed.

Most apps I use seem to have been updated for iPhone 6, as well as iOS 8.x and they seem fine.  However, there seem to be so many bug fixes, with apps being updated every few days.  Asphalt 8 takes advantage of the new abilities and has some extra special effects.  I'm not seeing anything else like that from other apps, but everything else seems smooth.

As it has only been a little over 24 hours, I don't know how the battery life really is.  I was in a habit of charging whenever possible--in the car, in the house, and I have a Sony charging kit with a 10,000 mAh battery.  I'm not comfortable enough to let it go overnight without a charge, though I suspect that it will be fine.

The display seems so good.  I wish that they'd picked a more standard size, such as 1280x800 but had 1334-by-750-pixel resolution at 326 ppi.  That's big enough to play 720p video, finally.  Seeing "Full sRGB standard" makes me happy.  I can't tell you how many times I've looked at photos I've taken and the color range and dynamic range is lower than expected, leaving my photos not looking their best, requiring imagination.

TouchID seems to work well.  I was carrying on a conversation with the salesperson while trying to set up the phone and I wasn't synchronizing my movements well, but the TouchID setup was very patient.  It works fine and it's good to be able to put my thumb on the Home button to unlock the phone.  I'm not ready to use Apple Pay.  Let someone else live through the problems.

The thing I don't like is the size of the phone.  It's not horribly big, but it is a big difference.  When I'm playing games in a landscape position, it's great.  When I'm trying to use it as an internet device in portrait orientation, it's a little uncomfortable to use with one hand.

What else?  I'm planning to buy another Ballistic case, so I don't have to worry about dropping it.  The current Griffin case was labeled with "3'" but does it actually work after a drop of three feet?  The glass screen protector from Otterbox seems fine, but for such a price, it should be fine.

Oh, the speakers are in the way of my hands.  Yes, I know that doesn't make sense.  Playing games or watching videos in landscape orientation, I can barely hear the sound at all.  If they'd be a little less obsessed with thin and light, they'd likely have made it so headphones aren't necessary.  Maybe, I can charge my Bluetooth-connected Motorola S9 headphones and hopefully, the synchronization of sound is better than way back when with the second generation iPod touch and iOS 5.x.

Update 2014.12.12: I found Best Buy-only Ballistic cases for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.  They were $34.99, $39.99, and $49.99.  I bought one of the $39.99 priced cases that was labeled Tungsten Tough.  You won't find these on the Ballistic web site.  It's a similar situation to the Klipsch speakers that are made for Best Buy.  I suspect that there is a higher profit margin.  The case has what seems to be anodized aluminum in back.  The drop rating was 7+ feet.  The case for $49.99 added water resistance, a screen protector, and an 8+ rating for drops.

I'm not sure if I'll miss the clip (it didn't turn the case into a viewing easel), as it has hung on to my pocket when I didn't quite have the case far enough into the pocket, but the company's protection is great, so a 7+ rating should handle a fall from my pocket easily.

Update 2015.02.10: I have to say that the situation with Sprint in California isn't as good as it should be.  I understand that it is a long state, but seeing "No Service" should never happen, and it happened too often on my trip from Northern California to San Diego.

The compensation is that when LTE was available, it worked very well.  I've found too many transition zones, just like in my apartment, where they still haven't got overlapping towers.

Update 2015.11.06: Sprint provided better technology and therefore, a better connection.  After 1 month, they took it away, and things are back to the way they had been.  Where they have good service, the phone works just fine.  Elsewhere, the service is poor and the phone works poorly.  I was told I needed to have the phone serviced.  I told the @sprintcare team that I didn't know that humor was a new service they offered.

I almost wish that I had not got the new phone so I could switch to T-Mobile, which has improved their service.  Even paying more to Verizon might have been worth it.  I've been with Sprint since 2000 and the last couple of months have made me wish that Sprint would go out of business.  I actually mentioned that to the @sprintsavings people on Twitter.

The phone has been good.  Now, with iOS 9.0.2, it seems even better, if still a bit buggy.

Apple didn't bring Elvis back, either

Another Apple announcement--nothing to report, really.  Yes, I'm kidding.

I've already seen the fanatics on both sides hammering out comments.  Geez!

I suspected that unless the company brought back Elvis, there was nothing really important, and the company would go out of business in short order.  It's an obvious conclusion, isn't it?

I'm glad to see a number of phone choices with realistic storage sizes.  (It's odd that my 32 GB iPhone 4S was enough but not my 32 GB iPhone 5c.)  Double the storage is good, especially since the world has changed.

The fingerprint scanner will be available for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.  That's a good thing because they're introducing a rather comprehensive payment system and payments can be done with a touch of your thumb.

Do the new phone sizes (4.7 and 5.5 inch) change things?  They will make a difference for those people who think bigger is better without being able to discern much of anything else.  Of course, for people with huge hands, the 5.5 inch model will be helpful.  The bigger model's 1920x1080 resolution ticks another box as it meets full HD resolution.

The operating efficiency enhancements are more important and they've switched to more powerful and more capable processors, switched to larger batteries, and you may get better battery life in your real world experience.  Of course, a lot of your battery life depends on your carrier, and how much you use those new, bigger displays.

I'm a bit enamoured of the LG G3's display but of course, not with the battery life.  Samsung has also been showing its best components with little regard to real life usage but they do have great displays.

My only question is whether a bigger phone will suit me?  I remember looking at the HTC One (M7) and thinking that it was too large, along with its Android competition.  I was so close to buying one of those or the LG G2 and I wanted something smaller.

I'll be looking forward to iOS 8 at some point, but I doubt I'll be an early victim, errr, adopter.  Too often Apple doesn't finish their thoughts and leaves users hanging.

Is anyone interested in the Apple Watch?  I wish that I was.  It is interesting, but starting at US$349, I won't be buying one.  Do I wear a watch now?  No, so it would be something new for me to take off and forget somewhere.  I have a load of watches I have not worn since 2004, so it would take a very good reason for me to wear one.

The user interface looks incredible and I think they've got good ideas in there, unlike the other brands--something Samsung will want to borrow.  (Even if you don't like Apple, it's obvious that Samsung has used products from Apple, Nokia, Motorola, BlackBerry and others as design templates for many products, coming close to verbatim copies in many cases.)

I've seen people who are crazy about watches, and I know for a fact that shopping channels like ShopNBC/ShopHQ have special programming just about watches.  There are customers out there.

I've been wondering how Apple will collapse not just health-oriented watches and monitors business but the industry of runners' watches.  I could see the company buying Polar and other smaller companies in the business.

The only real surprise I got was the lack of iPad replacements.  Update: Late October launch event?

Oh, and what's not a product but a change in the way we'll all do business is Apple Pay.  Strange to think about it but it may finally put to rest checks, cards, and even cash within 20 years.  Apple has a way of putting together procedures to make life easier.  I'm not saying that it will be perfect and it will take a few generations of devices before it's into everyone's wallet, but it has a good chance of making payments easier.

There need to be a lot of things in place before I would trust it, but I say that about everything.  I'm not trusting of current physical cards and procedures.  I want to sign for purchases of $10 or more--not $50 or more.

Of course, the government will have to do some research because Apple is claiming some counter fee that card issuers should pay it for sales going through their system.  It should be interesting.

Update 2014.09.19: The iPhone lines are being satisfied all over the world.  I can't imagine how or why people would switch so often.   Would I pay the ETF (early termination fee) to get a newer phone?  It had better wash dishes and cook for me, if I'm going to pay extra.  They cost enough with or without subsidies.  I know both sides of the story, and yes, if we didn't have contracts but could get similar service without it, I would pay the full price for a phone.  Standing in line for a new phone that hasn't been tested by millions of people yet?  No, thanks.

iOS arrived the day before my birthday this week.  I'm interested but considering the typical flaws, I would rather wait until version 8.1 but considering how long it took them to get to 7.1, I might turn blue in the face holding my breath.  We'll see how many security issues are outstanding in 7.x.

Oh, and if you're on the iPhone 4S, you might want to wait--there may be issues, as there were with iOS 7 and iPhone 4.

Update 2015.01.01: I had updated to iOS 8.x and was constantly up against my storage limits.

About three weeks ago, I got an iPhone 6, even though the products were in somewhat limited supply still.  I went from the 32 GB iPhone 4s and iPhone 5c to a 64 GB iPhone 6.  This was the second iteration of the 64-bit processor, so I felt a bit comfortable.  However, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are still not fully supported by third party apps.  There are some strange bugs, also.  iOS 8.2 is in beta testing.

Performance is great, and battery life is better, even though the display has increased in size.  It seems odd being past 480x320 pixel displays.  It also seems odd having switched once a year.