With the official arrival of the 2012 Summer Games, there’s no better way to show off your Olympic spirit than via a gadget you display most often: your iPhone. If you prefer to represent the overall spirit of international convergence, Trü Protection’s Spirit of Competition 2012 line might be of your interest. Consisting of three limited edition prints, Trü Protection iPhone cases aim to combine performance with style just in time for the next coming weeks. But are these little designs worth the long term investment?
The Spirit of Competition 2012 line comes in three prints: “Worldview,” which consists of various country flags, “Zen,” which features colorful Olympic rings, and “United,” which looks like the Great Britain flag with various sports-associated words sprawled across. The body is hard plastic with a matte print finish, providing a scratch-proof protection. These cases easily snap on with designated volume and hold buttons, camera, and power socket slots readily cut-out. Getting the case off, however, was a bit tougher. Since the body is so airproof to protect dust from getting in, it took some digging to get the frame to slightly wiggle off your device. This made us nervous, because we didn’t want to accidentally break the case.
While the cases are lightweight and thin, we found the plastic itself it be rather brittle. It’s a bit tougher on the hands, which is great protection-wise, but not particularly the most comfortable to hold. The case is also rather minimal as it does not offer any frontal coverage. All this could possibly be explained by Trü Protection’s use of 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic in its case productions. We do give the company credit for this fact, and for producing the cases locally in the United States. Even the case packing itself makes use of recycled material, apparent in the cardboard construction.
On the other hand, the colors on the cases are vivid, lively, and truly give off the international spirit. You can tell these cases were made with a fashion focus more than performance, as the product description itself even states that it’s made for “low velocity impact.” With that, keep in mind that the cases can be worn just for fun until the London Olympics come to an end, and don’t expect the case to offer life-proof protection.
Based on these implications alone, we prefer to classify the cases as more like fashionable garb for your phone this Olympic season — the kind of outfits you can throw on that happens to have protective qualities. You shouldn’t anticipate to replace a sturdy phone case with these guys, but they are fun to have on to get into the international spirit.
At $30 apiece, these Trü Protection cases run on the pricier side for a rather minimal coverage. Still, there’s some good news if you’re a Digital Trends reader. Trü Protection has offered to give away one of each Spirit of Competition design later this week so you can keep up with the Olympics trends without spending a dime. Stay tuned to learn more!
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