Hasta La Gadget!

Automatic refunds, or so the email says. We’ve been on the receiving end of a deluge of tips this morning pointing out that Apple has begun funneling cash back into its users’ pockets — a most unusual event, to be sure — to live up to its retroactive promise of free Bumpers for all (who buy their iPhone 4 before September 30). If the particular wording is to be trusted, that should mean that even those who haven’t yet bothered to put in a claim, but did purchase a Bumper, will find themselves enriched in due course. Apple estimates this bandaid solution to its antenna problems will cost $175 million in real cash money, but we suspect the biggest price to pay will be in the form of pride and reputation.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Apple starts refunding Bumper purchases automagically originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you followed the Apple press event and decided that you should probably get a case for your iPhone 4, you could do worse than to pre-order a Vapor iPhone 4 case from ElementCase. The Vapor is machine carved from a solid block of aluminum to form a metal bumper that’s specifically designed for the shape of the iPhone 4, with precision carved openings for the headphone port, microphone and speaker ports, and volume and mute buttons. Since it’s aluminum, it’s light and fits the overall design of the iPhone 4, and a power button was built into the case so it can be turned on and off without having to remove the Vapor.

The finish of the Vapor case is anodized, and while the first iterations are metallic black on black and black on pink, ElementCase expects to release additional colors soon. The side of the aluminum is laser etched with “Vapor” on it, and the company expects to offer custom engraving in the future as well. Best of all, if you’ve been suffering from the “death grip” issue, the inside of the Vapor case is non-conductive, so you won’t lose signal while the aluminum bumper is on your iPhone. ElementCase has the Black/Black and Black/Pink Vapor models available now for $79.95.

You’ve got to keep that investment safe. Smartphone are expensive, and so easy to drop. The only thing you can do is buy a good sturdy case. Helping out is OtterBox, which now offers the Commuter case for the LG Ally, LG GW620, HTC Imagio, Nokia X6, and Samsung Moment. The Commuter series is a mix of substance and style. A silicone skin wraps the device for shock absorption, and a tough polycarbonate shell snaps around that.

The Defender series has been expanded to cover the HTC Hero. The Defender is extra rugged, and also includes silicone and polycarbonate layers. This case comes with a ratcheting belt clip. The Commuter cases list for $34.95 and the Defender for $49.95.

If you ask us, Apple should be giving away free bumpers, lollipops, and anything else it can think of to keep its otherwise loyal followers from revolting. But the Great Bitten One isn’t doing any one of those things, and most of us are stuck either having to pony up $30 for the official salvation from self-inflicted signal harm or looking out to the grey markets. Entering this morose situation with a bit of ingenuity is Oliver Nelson, who alerts us to the fact that rubber wristbands of the sort your favorite cyclist wears are apparently an almost perfect fit when stretched around the 4’s antennae. He advises that a 1.125-inch long by 0.125-inch wide incision (into the unstretched band) is necessary to keep the 30-pin port and speakers open, but otherwise it seems like a pretty effortless and dirt cheap way to avoid all this drama.

iPhone 4 gets a $1 alternative to pricey Bumpers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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