My iPhone Setup!

Ryan Hammoud
Jan 11, 2017
5 min read

Today, I received a package in the mail with a new iPhone case I ordered. That inspired me to write a little bit about the phone that I use on a daily basis, and the accessories I use to keep it safe.

Lets start off with the case I purchased on Amazon UK.

I was first interested in buying a metal bumper case for my iPhone after coming across the '$1000 iPhone Case'. The Advent iPhone Case by a company called Gray International (pictured below). Despite it being f***ing overpriced, I loved the idea and design behind the case. I thought it made the iPhone look pretty slick.

The Advent iPhone 6 Bumper Case. Photo credit to http://mensgear.net. Click the image for link to their article.

To see more of this titanium iPhone case, check out UnboxTherapy's overview video, embedded below:

Anyway, I wanted a case which shared a similar aesthetic style, but did not cost more than the iPhone that it was protecting. I looked up alternatives to the Advent case, but came up with nothing. I even went as far as looking for 'replica' (Chinese knockoffs) of this case, but still nothing.

Then came a long search for metal bumpers for the iPhone. I eventually came across the "Luphie Sharp Knife Aluminium Alloy Metal Bumper Protective Case" (I'll call it the Luphie Knife) for iPhone 6 and 6S on Amazon UK, link is below. So after looking at a few pictures, I took the plunge and went for the red color.

I received the package fairly quickly and was not disappointed. Included in the box are the case itself (the metal and color are exactly as I expected), a free screen protector (nice addition, but I already have a pretty good one), a small screwdriver and some spare screws. The screwdriver is used to remove the already inserted screws, attaching the main section of the bumper, to the bottom section, allowing me to insert the phone. Once the phone was in, attaching the bottom section of the bumper was fairly easy, and securing it shut with the screws and screwdriver was fairly easy (just make sure to tighten both screws at the same time, a little on each side).

A picture of one of the screws on the case

A few pros of the case are:

It fits the phone very well. The phone does not wobble inside the case, and it is a good fit, ensured by the screws.
It looks great. The color is vibrant, the metallic paint is high quality.
It adds a nice grip, and makes the phone feel less fragile.
The volume and lock buttons all work nicely.
It redirects the downward firing speaker up towards the user.

A few downsides of the case are:

It is impossible to remove the phone from the bumper without the small hexagonal screwdriver.
The simcard slot is inaccessible without removing the case. It would have looked ugly if there was a space for the simcard slot, but I had to change simcard once today, and that required me breaking out the screwdriver.
The headphone jack and Lightning connectors cannot be reached by my non-Apple cables. My 2-meter Lightning cable and some headphones cannot be fully inserted into the ports because of how recessed the ports are with the case. My Apple Earpods, and the Apple Lightning cable fit just fine.
I would have preferred a small Philips head screw instead of this 'uncommon' hexagonal screw fitting.
The price of 18 pounds is significantly more expensive than other bumper cases.
The 'silent' switch is slightly recessed, making it difficult to reach. I can still reach it, but the extra half-second of effort caught my attention.

Overall, I would give the case a 3.5 out of 5 star rating on Amazon. It is exactly what I wanted, with a few downsides. However, the fact that I am unable to plug in my other Lightning cables and some headphones is what caused it to lose 2.5 stars. The other cons on their own wouldn't have mattered to me. I will still be using this case on a daily basis!

Anyone who watches a tech Youtuber has probably heard of dbrand skins. On their website is a fully interactive 'customiser' where you can select what skins you want, for what devices you want, and within a week or two (for international shipping), your device will look pretty unique.

On the back of my iPhone 6 is a Leather dbrand skin. It does a pretty good job protecting the aluminium of the iPhone from scratching, while looking pretty premium and without adding any extra thickness. At first I was hesitant that it would just be a simple plastic sticker that had the image of a leather pattern printed on it, but I was very wrong. It looks and feels like there is genuine leather on the phone. Very high quality product.

Not visible in this image, but the finish of the dbrand skin feels and looks like leather.

I ordered the full black leather back for the iphone, and dbrand was nice enough to send me the back section as a single, full piece, and another segmented one (incase I wanted to mix and match different skins). However, I chose to use the single, full piece. Application was fairly simple with the video tutorial on dbrand's website, and required a hair dryer and some patience. It really does give the back of my space gray iPhone, some much needed scratch resistance and colour coordination with the front glass side.

The dbrand skin on the corners of the iPhone started peeling off within a few weeks, however this may just be down to some mistakes I made in the application process. My Luphie bumper is now covering those small sections, and are not visible.

dbrand gets a solid 5/5 for their skins.

As for my screen protector of choice, I use a tempered glass screen protector made by Orzly®. This is the only tempered glass screen protector I have ever purchased (multiple times) and I love how easy it is to apply, how well it protects the screen, and how clear it is and it's premium feel. It feels exactly like the iPhone's screen. Before this screen protector, with my previous iPhones, I previously used some of those plastic film screen protectors that were impossible to apply without bubbles. This is a million times better than any of those. There are tons of tempered glass screen protectors out now on Amazon UK, however I have only ever used this one, since I know how high quality they are.

Orzly® also gets a solid 5/5 for their screen protector.