The Speck PixelSkin HD is a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) case that’s designed to give you “slim and smooth” protection for your iPhone 5, while offering “grippyness [sic] with high-contrast matte pixels.”

Its raised bezel aims to keep your iPhone’s display free from scuffs and scratches should you drop it on its face, while the rubberized covers for the volume keys and sleep/wake button prevent fluff and grime from gathering within nooks and crannies.

The PixelSkin HD comes in a variety of colors — including red, purple, blue, black, and grey, and it’s priced at just under $30. The PixelSkin HD was one of my favorite “simple” cases for iPhone 4S, so will it retain that status for the iPhone 5?

One of the things I miss most about the design of the iPhone 4S is the ability to easily change the back of my iPhone to something different, like a non-standard color, or even teak.

You simply can’t do that with the iPhone 5, but Gizmodo just pointed out an even better idea: you can laser engrave the back of your iPhone 5 with your own custom design.

This is awesome, and there’s a laser engraving place right around the corner. I might just have to give it a try. The only questions are, which design should I get, and is this going to void my AppleCare+? After all, technically, it’s just a bunch of scratches.

There’s more laser-engraved iPhones at the link below, so check them out.

Source: Gizmodo

The iPhone 5 has quickly become Apple’s fastest-selling iPhone of all-time, meaning it’s incredibly difficult to get hold of — even more than three weeks after its launch. And the situation is about to get a lot worse, according to Bloomberg. Apple has had to increase quality-control at Foxconn to prevent damaged devices with nicks and scratches from leaving the factory. As a result, iPhone 5 production rates have dropped.

It doesn’t look like Apple is going to be making its own dock for the iPhone 5 and its new Lightning connector. You could go the third-party route and order something like this unofficial Lightning Dock from TLD, or you could get creative and use Legos.

There’s a 42-peice Lego set available online that’s specifically designed to create a minimalistic dock for the iPhone 5, and it looks awesome.

So, you know how to take a panorama photo with your new iPhone 5, right? Launch the Camera app, tap Options, then Panorama, and then point it at something suitably panoramic. An arrow appears on the left side of the iPhone 5’s screen, and you tap the shutter button, keeping the arrow centered between the two lines as you move your camera from left to right.

Guess what, though? You can do the very same thing from right to left. Revolutionary!

The iPhone 5 is expected to launch in India on October 26, more than seven weeks after making its debut in the United States. The device is also expected to come with “wider availability” than previous models, which were hard to get hold of, and should come with a similar price to the iPhone 4S when that first launched in India.

If you think the iPhone 5 is hard to get hold of where you live, spare a thought for those in Hong Kong, where the device is in such short supply, users must play the “Apple Store lottery” to be in with any chance of getting their hands on one. According to one analyst, locals have more chance of winning the real lottery than picking up the Cupertino company’s latest smartphone the day after they order.

Following reports of a riot between 4,000 employees earlier this month, Foxconn has acknowledged that two disputes between workers did take place at one of its Chinese plants. However, the company has denied claims of a strike over iPhone 5 production pressures, and says that production is on schedule.

The iPhone 5 is the most complex phone Apple’s ever made, which makes it extra hard for Foxconn’s employees to assemble. There’s so much pressure at Foxconn to produce an increased amount of iPhone 5s that some managers have been beat up by their workers after demanding too much.

According to a new report by China Labor Watch thousands of Foxconn workers have gone on strike due to the immense pressures involved with building the iPhone 5. The main problem is that unqualified workers are being asked to build intricate devices without proper training. They keep messing up and the quality control gets on to them and they get pissed.

The advocacy group Consumer Reports wasn’t too friendly toward the iPhone 4, even after Apple offered free bumpers. They didn’t even like the iPhone 4S either. But with the iPhone 5 they’re changing their tune and saying that the iPhone is “among the best smartphones in our Ratings and the best iPhone yet.”

After conducting a series of tests on the iPhone 5, Consumer Reports concluded that the iPhone 5 doesn’t just surpass the iPhone 4S but also a number of other Android smartphones. They even said that despite the widespread criticism its received, Apple Maps is “competent enough.”