Category: Cases
Works With: iPhone 5/S
Price: $20
Who’d have thought that four tiny stick-on plastic corners could make such a great iPhone “case?” Yet the Bezl, a case so minimal it doesn’t even have room for vowels, is one of my favorites. That might not be surprising for someone who avoids cases altogether, but they’re pretty useful for something so tiny.
What It Is
The Bezl is a set of four colored plastic caps that cover the corners of your iPhone 5/S, sticking on with removable (but not reusable) adhesive patches.
They’re small, weight almost nothing, and are shaped to allow you to not block the iPhone camera. And that’s about it.
The Good
The best thing about the Bezl is the size. They only add a few millimeters to the corners of your iPhone, and yet they absorb shock and stop the corners from getting dented up. In fact, I’d argue that they offer more protection than a bigger case, especially a case which doesn’t cover the front corners of the screen (which is pretty much all cases).
Think about it. If you drop your iPhone onto a flat surface, it’s going to hit corner-first. Next most likely is edge-first, and you’re covered here too. Then you have the unlikely possibility of falling perfectly flat on the screen.
A normal case wouldn’t help here. The Bezl suspends the delicate screen 1mm (ish) above the floor or table or whatever and stops it from scratching or cracking.
This brings me to the most important part of the “case:” The corners let you put the iPhone down anywhere, on dirty or damp tables, on rough ground, and it never touches. The corners keep it suspended at all times. I love this part, because my kitchen is always a mess.
The Bad
There is one single problem, but it’s a biggie: you can’t use any other accessories with the Bezl corners in place. And as you can’t unstick and reuse the corners, you’re kind of stuck.
Olloclip? Nope. Lightning port accessories wider than an inch or two? Nope. Docks? No. Nothing that would either cover or go near the corners will fit.
The Verdict
Great at what it does, with one possibly serious limitation. I use the Olloclip a fair bit, but I’m off it for a while thanks to the Bezl. The rest of the problems I don’t care about, but then I’m a special case – I will have to rip the Bezl corners off as soon as I have a new iPhone accessory to test.
So think about it, and if you decide that permanent corners are for you, buy these. They do their job perfectly.
Product Name: Bezl
The Good: Too light to bother weighing. Tiny. They make the iPhone a more rugged, less delicate device. The Bad: Prevents use of most other accessories. The Verdict: Good at what they do. If you don’t use docks, lenses or other cases, you’ll love them. Buy from: |