Yeah, yeah - I can hear you long-time readers pointing-out that I bashed all the hype on the original iPhone a year ago, but now I bought one (albeit the 3G update)? Yep, I did and so far I love it. But this isn't a review about the iPhone 3G.

It seems that many of the iPhone cases are a design that leaves the screen wide-open, for example, those rubber backing type cases that go for about $15-30. That's great for the back of the phone, but if I'm throwing it into my pocket which may have some coins or other items in it, I'd prefer a bit of protection for the screen as well.

The other most common type of case covers the back and screen, but these usually use an ugly plastic window that, well, frankly looks like crap when it get partially stuck to the screen. One of the primary great things about the iPhone is the nice, bright, high-res screen, after all.

So, I was on a mission to find a decent "folio-style" case. The DLO HipCase Folio is what I've been using on my iPod Touch since I bought it and it's an awesome case. It's sturdy, fits well, protects the precious Touch inside, and looks good to boot. If you have an iPod Touch, I highly recommend this case.

The iPhone is a bit thicker than the Touch, though, so it can't use the same case. Oh, I tried, but it's just about 1/8" too thick to comfortably slide into that DLO case.

Searching for iPod cases that have the flipping screen cover and magnetic "latch" wasn't too easy. There just aren't that many of them out there to choose from yet. A friend at work sent me the link to the PDO Flipp iPhone 3G case and since they were running a special for free shipping and I found a coupon code for 10% off, I decided to try it out.

Construction:
The Flipp is made from a nice, soft leather much like the DLO case. It's slightly padded and feels good in your hand. It has a subtle leather "texture" on it, which looks nice unlike one of the other cases (which is sold in the Apple Stores) that has a hideous shiny alligator-skin pattern embossed on it - yuck! The interior is lined with a black velour type "fuzz" which will not scratch the iPhone. The edges and seams are stitched nicely and don't have any hanging threads or any other visible quality issues.

It features a belt clip that is strong and appears to be well attached. The clip rotates, so you can orient your phone to point whatever direction you prefer. The cover is held-shut by two strong embedded magnets, one on each side of the iPhone's button.

Various cut-outs on the Flipp case allow you to connect to the headphone jack, dock connector, push the volume buttons on the side, and let the speakers in the iPhone play.

Fit:
Unlike some cases which I've read reviews of where the iPhone sits loosely inside, the Flipp's fit on the phone is slightly snug. That will keep it from accidentally sliding-out, which is something my old DLO case wasn't perfect at.

The cut-outs for the speakers and dock connector align well. The volume button cut-outs are just barely large enough. Actually, even with my phone pressed all the way down into the case, the top 1/16" or so of the volume "up" is covered with the thin leather. This doesn't appear that it will be a problem, but it may have been better for PDO to make one single cut-out for the volume and ringer-mute switch than to try to make them separate.

The camera cut-out is one thing that doesn't align very well. Because the case is leather and there are slight variances in the shape/etc., my iPhone sits just a tad off-center which places the camera lens out of alignment with the matching hole in the case. It's a simple matter to push the iPhone over slightly when you take a photo, but for those who snap lots of photos using their phone, it might be annoying. More on this below.

The magnets that hold the flip shut are strong and I don't anticipate any issues with unexpected openings. Closing the flap gives a satisfying muted "snap" as the magnets pull it shut.

Use:
I like that I can connect the dock connector without removing the iPhone from the case. The headphone jack is readily accessible and other than the minor issues I described above regarding the alignment of the volume and camera holes, the case is quite nice. It definitely makes the iPhone 3G chunkier, but you have to expect that when you're enclosing it in padded leather.

The flap/folio design is great in my opinion because it provides protection for the screen, but it moves completely out of the way when you want to see and touch that big, beautiful screen. It's the best of both worlds for me. Someone who takes pics with the built-in camera, though may not like the folio design as the flap folds over and will cover the lens unless you hold it up with your hand. For me, I'll probably just pull the iPhone out of the case when I need to take a photo, but if you're like a teenage girl who takes photos of everything every minute of the day, the folio design won't be for you.

Because of the added thickness when the iPhone is in the case, you very likely won't be able to put it into any kind of dock without removing the phone. I have a set of Logitech speakers which I don't have a dock adapter in, hence making the opening very large, but with the belt clip, I still can't put the iPhone into the speakers while it's in the PDO Flipp case. Adding any kind of case will probably affect many docks, so that's just common sense, but I figured it was worth noting anyway.

Conclusion:
The PDO Flipp is a nice folio-style case for the iPhone 3G. It is well constructed and will offer good protection for the iPhone without looking silly like some of those bright pink rubber cases. The screen is easily accessible and you can actually touch the screen, which I think is better than the cases with a permanent plastic window. The Flipp comes with a free screen protector also, which is a nice bonus, although I haven't tried it yet and I'm not sure that I will need it.

The Good:

• Quality construction and materials.
• Access to all buttons and ports on the iPhone 3G.
• Rotating, strong belt-clip.
• Competitive price (other similar cases are $10 more).
• Snug fit keeps the iPhone in place.

The Bad:

• Makes your iPhone 3G a bit thicker.
• Camera cut-out may be an issue.
• Volume button cut-out is too tight.

Overall, I think this case is a good purchase for someone wanting a nice leather folio-type case for the iPhone 3G. It's well-made, nice to look at, and very reasonably priced at $30 in a field of extremely over-priced iPhone 3G accessories. I'm personally happy with it and think it's one of the better options for this style of case at this time.

Amazon is offering the PDO Flipp case for $24 right now, which is an even better deal than I got. And, here is the manufacturer's page for the PDO Flipp iPhone 3G case.

Here are some photos I took. Sorry for the "1 per line" format - I don't know how to get this stupid Wordpress caption thing to not do that (if you know, please leave a comment!)

PDO Flipp case for iPhone 3G box front

PDO Flipp case for iPhone 3G box backside

Flipp case for iPhone 3G box side

Flipp case box bottom

Flipp case next to my iPhone 3G

Flipp case opened with the cardboard iPhone inside

Back of the opened Flipp case

iPhone 3G inside the Flipp case

Side view of the iPhone in the case

Top view of the opened case

Top view of the opened case

Bottom view showing the dock and speaker cut-outs

Side view showing the volume and mute switch cut-outs

Showing the camera cut-out slightly out of alignment

Well, I made it back from my trip to Las Vegas, Disneyland, and Laguna Beach. I'll have a more detailed trip report of Disneyland and DCA later, along with many, many photos (I need to figure-out how to present everything).

Anyway, the first night away from home on my trip, I stayed in Las Vegas at the classic Tropicana hotel. For those who don't know, the Trop (as it's called by the hip crowd apparently) has been in Vegas for at least 20 years. I remember going to Vegas as a child on family vacations and the Trop was always there. It's been such a landmark in Vegas that the major street it sits on is even called Tropicana Avenue. Being 20+ years old, it's getting a bit dated looking compared to the flashy new neighbors like the MGM Grand, the NYNY, and Excalibur. They cleverly spin this aging with a tagline "The way Vegas was meant to be." And, yes, it does actually feel like "old Vegas".

It feels old when I had to circle the building two times looking for somewhere to park so I could check-in. There is a sign for hotel registration but when I got to the part of the building I presume was for temporarily parking to get your room number (remember, these hotels are gargantuan and you really do want to park near your room to avoid walking many extra miles) all I found were "Bus only" and "Taxi only" parking. Where are the GUESTS supposed to park to check-in? To be fair, I had the exact same problem at Luxor on the way home. Maybe you're supposed to just ignore the signs and park anyway?

I finally said "screw it" and parked at the closest huge lot and walked inside to face the age issue again. The Trop is designed to "old" Vegas standards where the casino is as confusing as possible with no real navigational aids like SIGNS to tell wandering wanna-be-guests where to go. I finally cornered a casino employee and inquired as to the whereabouts of the check-in desk. He says, "Uh, it's right over there" and points across the room. I vaguely see an area all the way across the casino that's slightly darker than everything else, as though it's got a lower than 100% slot machine density with all of their blinking lights and neon. Sure enough, after a couple minutes of dodging games and people, I'm at the front desk.

I won't get into the sub-standard desk employees who had the friendliness of salt-mine workers or the $1 (yes, one dollar) charge they don't bother to openly tell you about for "unlimited phone use" (just include the lousy buck in the damned bill!) I eventually got my room assigned and managed to escape the un-signed casino to find my car, although out a different door than I came-in somehow.

Pulling the car around by entrance #4, which according to the map is the closest to my room, I am greeted by an ocean of ugly cracking pavement and a gigantic air conditioning unit for the conference rooms right next to the staircase. Several hundred feet down the hallway, I found the elevators up to the rooms and boarded. My room was on the second floor, but there was no way I was going to try to find the stairs in this place!

Way down a dark, again "old school" Vegas hotel hallway, I find my room. It's OK - not the fanciest, but with a reasonable amount of space and in fairly good condition. Except one thing - the in-room safe. I found this to be somewhat ironic that the safe was completely broken. How do the maids or other guests not report this? I guess probably much like myself -- not wanting to navigate to the dreaded front-desk and speak to the downtrodden employees, I skipped reporting it also.

Anyway, I figured some of you might find this a bit funny and for those who are planning a trip to Vegas, this might provide a bit of information on whether they want to stay at the famous Tropicana or not. It's not a bad place and it's bound to be one of the cheaper deals during high-price periods (that's why I stayed there - the other rooms in the area were triple in price for some event that was happening in Vegas that week). Of course, if you want that "old Vegas" feel and still want to be on the south Strip where all of the newer stuff is, this is probably a good hotel to consider.

I finally got my Shapelock plastic molding beads today and decided to try it out. I'm not associated with Shapelock in any way and I (unfortunately ) do not get any payment for this mini-review.

For those who don't know, Shapelock is a polymer (plastic) similar to polypropylene except that it has a very low temperature softening point. The idea is that you heat some water to around 160 degrees F and dump some of the pellets into the water to soften them to a moldable state. After molding, you then allow the plastic to cool and it once again takes-on its hard form. The label likens Shapelock to "modeling clay on steroids" and that's a pretty good analogy.

Chances are that people reading this site have varying interests in such things as pinball machines, electronics goodies, robotics, and other nerdly, gadgety stuff. I doubt that I need to explain why something like Shapelock is useful for such hobbies, but just imagine being able to mold a custom mount for a bank of LEDs or create a new bracket to test the improvement to your pinball machine you've been thinking about. Yeah, that kind of stuff.

Having a bit of experience with plastics, I knew basically what to expect of Shapelock, so I just ordered the 500 gram container. It was $24.95 plus about $6 for Priority Mail shipping. The also have a "free sample" that you can order and just pay $4.95 for shipping if you're unsure that it'll be useful for your purposes.

Now, onto the test...

Molding
I grabbed a small Pyrex bowl and my trusty Sunbeam Hot Shot Beverage Machine to heat the water (I'm impatient and the Hot Shot takes care of that )

The Shapelock instructions say not to heat the water to boiling, which the Hot Shot does, but I figured that was more of a safety issue than anything. So, I blasted a coffee mug of water through the Hot Shot and dumped it into the Pyrex bowl, thus promptly cooling the small quantity of water signifiantly right away. Next, I added a few spoonfuls of the Shapelock pellets to the water.

Immediately upon hitting the water, they became slightly sticky and began to clump together. With another minute or two, plus some prodding with a spoon, the pellets were a large, malleable mass in the bottom of the bowl. The individual pellets were still visible, as the plastic does not become totally liquid when heated to these temperatures.

I carefully retrieved the Shapelock blob from the water and drained it over the sink to shed any excess, potentially hot water. The instructions recommend using tongs for this operation, again to prevent anyone from hurting themselves - follow the directions!

With the blob in my hands, I was able to knead the plastic and the individual beads formed into a more uniform modelling clay like texture. The plastic was very easy to stretch, bend, and mold being much the consistency of Play-doh. I rolled it into a long tube with my fingers and joined it into a circle and fiddled with some shapes. I did not find the Shapelock to be gooey or have any problems with it being overly sticky, although it is highly recommended that you not use other plastic implements to work the material as it may stick.

Once I had a suitable shape (suitable for a mini-review), I left it to cool and harden. It took a couple minutes before the plastic was firm and after about 15 minutes, it was pretty cool and hard to the touch. You can accelerate the cooling process with ice water if desired and I'm sure that pieces of Shapelock with more mass will take longer to cool.

Results:
Now, with my folded-ring test object fully cooled, I can say that the Shapelock resin is very strong. As you can see in the photos, I formed a shape that would allow me to attempt to fold the object and it resists quite well. The plastic is hard enough that fingernails won't do major damage although with lots of pressure, will leave a visible indentation/scratch. For anyone who has worked with high-density polypropylene, this will be very familiar. It's fairly slippery, ridgid yet flexible prior to breaking, and a milky white color.

The material can be drilled and machined as long as you watch the temperatures. Anything causing too much heat softens the material and will cause sloppy surfaces or gum-up your cutting device. I drilled several small holes in my test piece and all drilled easily, but the material does not cleanly remove from the hole due to it's slighly rubbery nature. This was not a problem and, for example, a screw could be driven into the holes without any issue, but the hole did not look clean after drilling. Also, without reversing the drill, there was quite a bit of resistance removing the bit, most likely due to the remaining material in the bit flutes. Overall, though, the material is easy to drill.

Conclusion
Overall, I am pleased with this initial experience with the Shapelock. I honestly believe that it will be useful for molding various brackets and gizmos for my pinball machine, slot machine (when I get around to it), radio control airplanes, and many other projects. It is not cheap, but it took a surprisingly little amount to create a blob of useful size. Shapelock is reusable as well, simply requiring a re-heat to soften it and move-on to another project.

However, I cannot recommend this for all projects. Shapelock's strength is the low-temperature melting point. Shapelocks' weakness is the low temperature melting point. In other words, simply due to the nature of the material, it obviously cannot be used for anything that generates much heat, such as making a mount for a high-powered motor which generates heat. However, for room-temperature needs, I doubt that there is anything better for the hobbiest who doesn't want to buy an injection molding machine or pay to have parts machined at the local machine shop.

If this sounds interesting to you, I'd recommend grabbing the free sample or perhaps one of the smaller tubs to try-out. I know that I'll be using it for all kinds of projects and I expect this 500g tub to give me at least 50 more blobs the size of the one you see in the photo (sorry for the imprecise guess) and that's if I don't re-use any of it.

NOTE: It appears that this product is also available under the brand name "Friendly Plastic" so you can keep an eye out for that as well.

Please head-over to the www.PlasticFanatics.com and join the plastics discussion forums to post your questions, ideas, and projects. There is a forum for Shapelock/Friendly Plastic specifically, as well as a forum to post your projects, and several others. I'll select projects from time-to-time and feature them on the top-level page too! The forums are new, so don't be shy and if you have ideas to suggest a better structure or anything, use the Contact link.

CLICK HERE to order a discounted tub of Friendly Plastic which is more commonly available if you can't find Shapelock.