Review: MoonSkins Glow-in-the-dark iPhone cases
When I gave my daughter my “old” iPhone 4 this Christmas, I began looking for a “cool” iPhone case that she’d like to help sweeten the gift. It turns out this was unnecessary as she was so excited when she opened it that she was visibly shaking, but she got a cool case anyway – the MoonSkins glow-in-the-dark case ($29.99 Amazon). How cool? Well, check out these dancing people. If it’s cool enough for them…
MoonSkins.com from Moon Skins on Vimeo.
Actually, it IS pretty cool (although not without it’s flaws). The MoonSkins DO indeed glow, and quite brightly, depending on your charge time and the darkness of your room. They are available in a variety of colors, and for the most part the color that they glow depends on their “daytime” color (although there IS some overlap. EX: the blue and purple and white, for example, all seem quite similar in the dark). you can roll your mouse over the images here to get an idea of the nighttime colors if you’re curious.
Functionally, the MoonSkins work the same as any other silicon-style iPhone case, leaving all ports open and covering the Lock and Volume buttons. There is no included screen protector, so if you’re looking for scratch protection, you’ll need to buy one separately.
The back of the MoonSkins have a slight raised textured pattern that reminds me of the Q-bert blocks, because I am 1000 years old. MoonSkins claims the cases “Glow All Night”, and I can verify they at least glow for about 6 hours after a decent charge. My test was I placed my iPhone face down on a table with my desktop halogen lamp shinning brightly on it or about 15 minutes. If you happen to have a BlackLight, the MoonSkins will glow quite brightly under that as well. We have a a couple blacklight flashlights in our house and my daughter uses them to “draw” glowing patterns on the back of the MoonSkins, and they’re great for giving the MoonSkins (or ANY glow-in-the-dark item) a quick charge.
Issues
There is really only one downside to the MoonSkin cases I have found so far, and it’s potentially a big deal, depending on how big a low-light iPhone photographer you are.
As you can see from the shots above, despite the holes cut out for the flash and camera appearing to be of the usual size, their super glowy/light-reflecting material causes it to cast a glare back into the lens when the flash goes off. In fact, if you take a picture with the flash, the area around the cut-out hole will begin to glow from the quick charge from the flash. So, if you rely on your flash often, you may want to skip the MoonSkins case. Otherwise, it’s pretty cool.
Conclusion
The MoonSkins glow-in-the-dark iPhone cases are very cool, and a great choice for younger iPhone owners who will think the glow-in-the-darkness is cool, or for lame older iPhone owners like me who also think it’s cool. The only real caveat for anyone thinking of buying a MoonSkins case over a traditional Silicon case is the problem with flash photography. Personally I rarely take flash photos so it’s not a problem for me, but it could be a deal-breaker for some.
Price: ($29.99 Amazon)
Pros: Glows in the dark! Glow charges quickly, lasts for many hours, provides decent protection against drops comparable to other similar cases
Cons: Pictures with the flash tend to reflect back on the lens, No included screen protector
hmmm… a case designed for night, doesn’t work when shooting at night. oh the irony