Designing accessories for an unreleased product
With the all but guaranteed success of Apple’s iPhone, countless companies rushed into production on any accessories they could think of based on the limited information that was available to them prior to it’s launch. The problem is that in some cases it’s quite obvious that the makers of the accessory had completed production before the product was released and that they never saw or even held a preproduction unit.
Being that the iPhone quite an expensive device, I wanted to protect mine with some sort of case. Since I was unhappy with the selection of cases inside the AT&T store I purchased mine from, I went to Amazon and ordered a case that appeared to be well suited for my needs. When it finally arrived at my house I slapped it on and was pretty happy with the it’s unobtrusive form factor. I was very happy, in fact, until I stepped outside into a very light environment.
There is a huge flaw in this product. One which completely negates two fairly important features of the iPhone. What the manufacturers apparently didn’t know is that built into the top of the iPhone’s display are two little sensors that are pretty important. The first is an environmental light sensor that sets the screens brightness when unlocked. When in very light environments, I have to peal the top of the case off when unlocking the phone to get the screen to appear bright enough. The second sensor detects the phone’s proximity to your face and is designed to turn off the display and disable the touch interface while you’re talking to prevent you from hitting any of the buttons. As one might expect, any case that is constantly pressed up against the sensor will render it useless.
Now the case was not expensive, so I’m not too upset about the purchase. I am, however, going to break out a box cutter and remove the top portion of the case to see if I can salvage the bad product design.
posted by Christopher Schnese
