Hands on with the Liquid Case for iPhone

We never understood the people who keep their Nokia or Sony Ericsson handsets in leather cases, which are invariably bulky and ugly.

With iPhone, though, we've changed our tune. Especially since that time we shoved ours in our coat pocket with some keys by accident...

We were pretty intrigued by Element Case's claim that not only is its Liquid Case "the Hot Rod of all cases", but also that it's been designed with gamers firmly in mind. Oh, and the way they let you customise the case with any graphic you want.

So we bagged one, complete with a custom Pocket Gamer logo:

So how is it? Well, the first thing to say is it turns your iPhone into a chunky ol' thing. The iPhone 3G's official weight is 133 grams, but once inside the Liquid Case, ours was 203 grams.

What's more, you actually have to screw it into the case, with proper screws. The upside of this is that once inside, it all feels very rugged indeed - no more worrying about dropping your iPhone onto hard floors. It feels tougher than any other iPhone case we've seen.

The front face plate attaches to the main case using little magnets in all four corners. That means when you're using the iPhone, the faceplate needs to be completely detached can be attached magnetically to the back of the case (edit due to journalist being dim...).

That said, the case is good for gaming. The extra weight means your iPhone feels more solid in your hands, which suits games making use of the accelerometer.

There are gaps in the case for all the buttons, the headphone port, camera lens, and the speaker/charger port at the bottom, which is good.

Looks-wise, we warmed to it, and are very impressed by the option to have your own logo or image on the front. Naturally, we went for a Pocket Gamer logo, but you could have anything you want, while there's a choice of colours.

Price? The Liquid Case costs $99 (plus shipping if you're outside the US). There's a $25 extra charge for custom logo engraving, too.

It does sound steep - think how many iPhone games you could get for that money - but it's hard to compare it with other iPhone cases, which tend to be made of softer material. There's a market for a higher-priced product like this, given its toughness.

We admit, we didn't expect to like the case the first time we clapped eyes on it, but a week of using it has turned that view on its head. Our iPhone will be staying well and truly screwed in for the forseeable future.