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Clarifi - Griffin Technology

MRSP: $34.99

What’s in the box:

Clarifi Case
Cleaning cloth
Static-peel screen protector

The Clarifi by Griffin Technology is a rigid, polycarbonate shell that solves a problem that I didn’t really know I had: blurry close-up photos. Of course before I had the Clarifi I hadn’t even thought of taking close-ups with my iPhone. We all know the camera in our iPhones is, how should we put it, less than optimal. That’s probably why I’d never thought of taking a close-up with my iPhone. I knew it would look bad.

Along comes the Clarifi and it’s slick little sliding “macro” lens and Bam! You’re taking much closer close-ups and they’re almost sharp! I wasn’t exactly skeptical about Griffin’s claims but I certainly wasn’t expecting this noticeable of a difference. It really is striking. Check out the with (left) and without (right) photos below. The first two were taken at approximately 4 inches from the text, the distance Griffin states is as close as you can get. The second set was taken approximately 6 inches from the text. Both are clearly, well, more clear. Griffin also claims that colors are more accurate but in our AYAAW testing lab, a 4 inch thick cardboard box sitting on my dining room table, we couldn’t tell the difference.

The case itself is made up of two pieces. The top piece is about three quarters of the entire case. Once your iPhone is inserted into the top the bottom piece slides over the bottom of your iPhone and snaps into the top. As you put this together on your phone you can tell that it’s a well made case. The sliding action is so smooth it just feels nice. I don’t know any other way to describe it.

The great thing about this design is that if you own and use a dock for your iPhone it’s very easy to slide this bottom piece off. Once removed your iPhone fits perfectly into the dock: no need to remove the entire case. The top piece fits your phone very snug so there is no danger of your phone slipping out while you’re handling it. Griffin calls this it’s EasyDock design.

The bottom piece and about a quarter of the top are manufactured so that they almost have a rubbery feel to them even though they’re clearly polycarbonate. It almost feels velvety and has a very comforting and tactile feel to it. It feels good in your hand. The inside of the case is also manufactured with this finish and this appears to be the reason why the Clarifi grips your iPhone so snugly. You might be thinking that I’m making way too much of this but it really does make a difference.

All buttons and ports are accessible via cut-outs in the case. If there is one flaw in the design this is where you’ll find it: the rail that runs along your iPhones screen just above the silence and volume buttons is just a bit too thick. It actually makes adjusting the volume, especially when you have it up to your ear, somewhat difficult.

Now the big question: how well will the Clarifi protect your iPhone in the likely event you drop it? I don’t know and I’m not going to find out if I can help it. I know that’s kind of a cop out but I only have one iPhone (Apple said they’d get back to me on sending AYAAW a tester iPhone for dropping, NOT!) and I try really, really hard every day to not drop it. Sorry, you’ll just have to try this yourself. The case is made out of pretty sturdy polycarbonate so I’m sure it would help protect your phone in a fall.

The Clarifi’s macro lens is a great idea and Griffin has incorporated it into a great case and design. AYAAW Highly Recommends the Clarifi.

Bonus review: Snappr

In combination with the Clarifi’s macro lens, Griffin is promoting a free third party iPhone app: Snappr from Snappr.net. Snappr is designed to take photos of bar codes and provide information on the product the code belongs to. When it works it’s pretty cool. The trick is to figure out what distance to take the photo at and of course to have a steady hand. Easier said than done after a full pot of Starbucks Breakfast Blend. I found the best distance to be approximately 6 inches from the bar code. I also had the best results when bracing the phone on something. Once you take the photo scale the image up a bit. Just don’t go hog wild: scaling up too much seemed to have a negative effect on whether or not Snappr finds your product.

The app can be excruciatingly slow and seems to sort of lock up at times when you click the little “X” symbol to stop Snappr from “working on your photo”. You can always quit the app completely by pressing the Home button and if you don’t you’ll be watching the little white progress wheel spin around indefinitely while Snappr is “aborting your transaction.

If Snappr finds a match for the product bar code you photographed it pops up “Shopping results” which lists the item and price from various online retailers. Tap on one of the listings and you’ll see a larger view of the item and an option to “Buy at” the retailer. Snappr is ad supported so you’ll see a small banner ad placed across the top of the results. No big deal.

Snappr also allows you to manually enter the code via the iPhone’s keyboard, but if you use this be warned that you need to enter all the digits including the zero preceding and following the bar code. Also, if the reason you’re entering the digits manually is because you’ve got caffeine fueled jitters, trying to enter them via the keyboard (only available in portrait mode) is only slightly easier.

Snappr is a pretty neat app when it works. It does take practice to consistently get results but if you’re out and about shopping and want to compare pricing of “Night At The Museum” at Target, Amazon and other retailers it’s worth a shot.