The night we bought our iPhones, it was too late to go anywhere else in the mall and get cases for them.  I was pretty nervous about carrying around my naked iPhone even until the next morning.  I really like keeping my phone or my iPod in a case to make sure that it suffers the least amount of damage possible from daily use, keys in my purse or pocket, or (heaven forbid) even dropping it on the very rare occasion.

I had done quite a bit of research on the iPhone cases out there, and of course none of the ones I really wanted were available at the Apple Store the morning after our iPhone purchases.  The only one they had that I’d looked at before was the Agent18 Eco Shield, which did not impress me in person at all.  The plastic looked cheap and dull, and I didn’t want to put my baby in a cheesy looking case.  One thing I had also realized was that I didn’t want to put my iPhone in a bulky case.  It’s a sleek design that fits great in my hand, and I didn’t want to add a lot of heft to it, even in the name of protection.

It’s quite funny–as we were searching for cases, I noticed an empty-looking box that had been opened and put back on the rack.  In the name of being a good Samaritan, I took it to the nearest Apple genius and explained that I had found this empty box over in the case section and I wanted to bring it to their attention.  The guy thanked me, looked at the box and said, “Oh, actually the case is still in here!  See, it’s right there!”  He held it up and I looked a little closer than I had before–what I thought was part of the plastic insert that held the case WAS the case.  It was so thin I hadn’t even noticed it!  Needless to say, I was intrigued–so intrigued I bought it!

The case in question was the Power Support Crystal Air Jacket for the iPhone 3G.  The Air Jacket consists of a back piece that snaps on to protect the plastic back of the iPhone and 2 full screen protectors (crystal and anti-glare) that cover everything but the Home button and the earpiece.  It comes in both Crystal, which I got for my white iPhone, and solid black, which Shawn got for his black iPhone.

The Air Jacket adds only 0.7mm to the body of the iPhone–the plastic back is thin but feels very protective.  I have noticed that it scratches easily, but you can’t really tell until you take the back off the phone.  And hey, it protects my iPhone from getting scratched, so it can scratch all it wants!  There are small, sticky clear plastic “dots” that you put in strategic places on the back of your iPhone to ensure that the plastic back fits without being too tight, which creates little gray pockets of trapped air that are harmless but unsightly.

I have quite a bit of experience with screen protectors given my background with PDAs, and I have to say that both the crystal and anti-glare screen protectors are among the best I have ever used.  I had issues getting mine on the first time (per usual) so I just cleaned it of hair and lint by running it under the tap, shaking off the water until it was mostly dry, and using the corner of a paper towel to barely touch the protector and soak up any remaining water droplets.  It went on very easily even after being cleaned, and after a couple of tries I got my protector on perfectly.  I used the crystal screen protector and Shawn used the anti-glare, and I think we’re both very happy with them.  I like that the case comes with both the crystal and anti-glare so that you can choose your favorite and also have one in reserve.  If you already have a case, the screen protectors can be purchased separately in packs of two.

The AirJ acket will not, of course, protect your iPhone from a steep drop or something really abrasive, but I think it does a great job of protecting from every day elements without adding bulk.  I have been really happy with my choice and I highly recommend both the Power Supply case and the screen protectors.