Incipio Feather for iPhone 4

Incipio’s $25 Feather case is pretty much what it sounds like (figuratively, not literally). Compared to typical iPhone protection, this ultra-light, ultra-strong-polymer, shell-style case feels about as thin as a case can get—the company says it’s less than 1mm thick. (To get any thinner, you’ll have look to adhesive films such as GelaSkin, InvisibleShield, and BodyGuardz.) The Feather is available in 12 varied colors, each with a “soft touch matte finish” that feels great in the hand but doesn’t cause the phone to get stuck in your pocket when you need to answer a call.

That said, I have mixed feelings about this case. On the upside, it provides access to all of the iPhone’s ports and controls, and it’s one of the thinnest cases I’ve seen. Though you can’t can’t leave it on while placing your iPhone in Apple’s official iPhone 4 Dock, Incipio claims that many third-party docks and dock-cradle accessories afford enough room.

The other side of that coin, though, is that the case doesn’t wrap all the way around to the front of the phone—it basically snaps onto the metal frame/antennas on the sides of the iPhone 4. (Many shell-style cases wrap slightly around the front of the phone, protecting all of the back and sides and providing a small “lip” that offers a slight bit of protection for the phone’s face.) This leaves plenty of unprotected area, although Incipio does include two (for some reason) thin-film screen protectors, so you still get some scratch protection for your phone’s most important surface. Incipio’s protector was easy to apply, and it didn’t seem to interfere with general multi-touch use of my iPhone.

Ultimately, I’m a fan of thin and light gadgets, and that goes doubly so for the cases I use to protect said gadgets. While Incipio’s Feather case probably won’t win any accolades from drop-prone readers, it’s a well-built, minimal iPhone 4 case with a great texture and plenty of color options for a little personalization.