You spend hundreds of dollars to upgrade to a new phone like an iPhone and you want to protect it, right? There’s tons of different cases to choose from, but there are a few well known names. One of these names is iSkin, who sent me a Solo FX skin to review on my own iPhone 3G S. They also included two Blackberry Bold Vibes skins, which I’m going to give away to a couple lucky winners, so keep reading for more on that below.

In a nutshell
iSkin makes a pretty decent product. I see them everywhere and have had my hands on one before, so this wasn’t completely new to me. I almost used the word “case” in the title of this review, but I hesitate to call it that because it truly is more of a skin than a case. I like a skin more than a case because it seems less in-the-way, but I also tend to worry that it might not protect as well. That said, my new iSkin does offer shock absorbency and really does have a cool look.

As you can see in the photos below, it also offers access to all your iPhone’s openings. I feel like that’s something every protective phone covering should offer, but some don’t, so it’s worth noting.

(click here for the full photo set)

Using it
I’ll be honest… Personally, I like my phone naked, so some of my dislikes are more about cases or skins in general, and not specific to this one. The first, of course, is that the rubber-like material sticks a bit to the inside of my pocket when I try to pull out or return my phone. The iSkin seems a little easier, but it’s still a concern. It is also pretty thin, so that helps. I’m not going to really throw my phone around to test this, but I did give it a couple small drops to see how it absorbs. The skin seemed to take some of that shock, but didn’t quite bounce, and that’s a good thing.

The skin slips on, which is a little tough do do because it’s so snug. It’s also a little tough to take off, but you’ll probably leave it on all the time, anyway. This is certainly better than it coming off way too easily. As I mentioned before, all the key openings are still open, but the power and volume controls are covered. This makes them not nearly as easy to use, although the skin is a little thinner to give you some access. I would have preferred them open like everything else, especially the power button.

This skin doesn’t add any noticeable weight to my iPhone and isn’t bulky, either. The rubbery feel takes a little getting used to, but I also feel more comfortable with my phone protected. The skin comes with a screen guard, as well. I had one of similar thickness and I could probably watch someone run a key across my phone with some pressure and not flinch (much). I love the screen guards and think they compliment any skin or case well.

Solo vs Solo FX vs Solo FX SE
One thing I was a little unsure about was the difference between the three different Solo skins. The jump between each one is in style. The Solo FX has some cool design effects added in and that just sets it apart from the Solo. Stepping up from that is the Solo FX SE, which is a little more rock star, but also has an added function. The SE is made with Microban® antimicrobial protection, which helps inhibit the growth of stain and odor causing bacteria on the product. I don’t know how necessary that is, but I think I’d pay the extra couple bucks for it. These things are $29.99, $32.99, and $34.99, respectively and can be seen below.

Get your free iSkin Vibe for Blackberry Bold
Here’s the fun part. If you want to win one of the Blackberry Bold skins, all you have to do is tweet. Just send out a tweet with the link, http://lnk.gd/bold with the words “contest”, and “iSkin” in it and you’re entered. I’ll pick two winners and DM them (so make sure you follow @joetech) and the first to reply with his or he choice of “Carbon” or “Red” will get that skin and the other winner will get the remaining one. Enter once per day from now until Wed., November 11, 2009 GMT-7 (Arizona time). That’s when I’ll pick my winners.

Conclusions
I’m not much of an iPhone case kind of guy, but I have been using this and it is a little better than my previous cases and skins and definitely looks better than my last plain black skin. If I were going to spend the $30 on a skin, I’d probably either get the FX or the FX SE and it really would probably have to be the Onyx colored FX SE. For the comfort of feeling like your phone is protected, it’s worth it to buy something like an iSkin, but the iSkin is a good choice if you want your phone to look good and stand out. Just buy one before your phone gets scratched and dinged up.

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