Incipio Edge Polycarbonate Slider Case for iPhone 4

Incipio's $30 Edge Polycarbonate Slider Case for iPhone 4 is a thin shell-style case composed of “optical quality” (whatever that means) hard-shell polymer with a grippy texture. The Edge provides access to all the iPhone 4’s necessary ports and controls, and the bottom portion of the case can be easily removed to let you place your iPhone in a dock-cradle accessory without needing to remove the whole case.

Incipio claims that the back and side walls of the Edge are no thicker than 1mm, and the case certainly is thin. The company also stuck a rubber piece inside the back of the case to ensure that your iPhone stays secure and gets a little shock protection. The Edge comes with a cleaning cloth, a thin-film protector for the iPhone's screen, and an applicator card. I found the screen protector to be easy to apply and it didn't interfere with the accuracy of touch gestures while using my iPhone 4.

This case is ok, though its bezel on the front of the iPhone protrudes a bit too far beyond the phone's display, which means it can sometimes interfere with touch control or text selection near the edges of the screen. If you use dock-cradle accessories often and plan to apply the included screen protector, Incipio may have actually designed the Edge a little too close to the iPhone 4’s dimensions. The second time I tried to put the bottom of the case back onto my iPhone, it caught the bottom right of the screen protector and peeled it back a bit. After that, I had a difficult time keeping the film flat enough to get the bottom half of the case on. If you want to use the screen protector, it’s probably a good idea to forego using dock-cradle accessories with this case.

Incipio’s Edge case is built generally well, thin, and pleasantly devoid of overzealous design flair. If you don't do a lot of tricky touch gestures near the edge of the display or care about using the screen protector, it's a decent case that fits the iPhone 4 like a glove and comes in a choice of six colors.