It’s no secret. I’m a big fan of the cases Speck Products had been churning out for the entire iDevice lineup. One of their newest offerings, The Candy Shell for the iPod Touch 4G recently arrived on my door step and I was happy to welcome it. I’ve owned the Candy Shell for both the iPhone 3G/3Gs and the iPhone 4 and have come to appreciate the hybrid style hard case for all it has to offer.
How does the iPod Touch 4G version of this case fare? Read on to find out.
Speck was kind enough to send me the “Moon Rock Gray” version of this case. But the Candy Shell for the iPod Touch 4G is also available in “DarkLord Black, “LoveHate Pink,” “BubbleMaker Pink” and MoonSicle White.”
The Candy Shell is a hybrid style hard case that’s made from both silicone and plastic. The inside is perforated which helps the case to absorb shock and impact if you should ever drop your device.
The outer shell of the case is made from a hard plastic. Like the iPhone version of this case the plastic material does scratch easily and I’ve found that the lighter colors of the Candy Shell show the scratching less. And bottom line – better the case gets scratched than the chrome back of your iPod Touch.
Once your iPod Touch is safely inside the Candy Shell you gain a ton of “lay-on-the-table” design. The silicone lip comes up and over onto the glass of the iPod Touch allowing you to safely lay down your device screen first. You needn’t worry about this case bubbling your screen shield though. I experienced no such issues.
The bottom of the case features one large cutout for access to the dock connector, speaker and headset port. Because of the design of this cutout I was unable to successfully dock my Touch into my Griffin Simplifi Dock.
The sleep/awake button gets covered by the softer silicone portion of the case and this offers very nice feedback when you press it.
Same goes for the volume buttons on the side. They also get covered by the silicone but are easily pressed.
There is one large, pill shaped cutout on the back of the case for the camera lens and the microphone.
I love the look and the fit of the Candy Shell. Once you’ve got it on the iPod Touch it’s as though it was meant to be there. The tight fit it provides just conforms to the shape the iPod Touch so well it’s a match made in heaven. With the silicone accents pressing the Touch’s buttons becomes easier and the case has the added feature of offering a large amount of drop and impact protection too. If you don’t use a dock (for me not being able to do so is a deal breaker) this is one case I highly recommend you check out.
The Speck Candy Shell for the iPod Touch 4G is available now directly from the Speck Products web site here.
MSRP: $34.95
What I Liked: Great protection, superb fit.
What Needs Improvement: Unable to dock.