Elan Holster for iPhone
Review

Elan Holster for iPhone
Company: Griffin Technology
Price:
$29.99
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/elanholster/

Style

Griffin’s Elan Holster receives 3 out of five stars for style. Its black leather sheath is embossed with two rows of dots that visually sets off what must, by necessity, be a box with a belt clip. As we would expect from a name brand such as Griffin, attention to detail has produced a well-made product.

Substance

Substance gets 3 1/2 stars. The biggest drawback to the Elan Holster is one of the necessities. It holds the iPhone snugly. and you feel confident that it won’t slide out of the open-end holster during normal movement.

Utility

Initially I gave only 2 1/2 stars for utility, since there was a real difficulty extracting the iPhone from the Elan Holster, actually requiring two hands. As days went by, it became less difficult, probably due to stretching and everyday debris on the fabric lining of the holster, but by no means was it easy. Later, it became ‘not difficult’ but you still had to exert more effort than was desirable. This is what I meant in the last paragraph by a drawback being a necessity. Since the Elan Holster is open-ended, the only thing holding in the iPhone is the snug fit. A very fine line for the design team to tread. Finally it became second nature and the effort required for unholstering the iPhone can only be called “just right.” Kudos to the design team at Griffin for a truly forward-looking design and a masterful prediction of the “ease of use” of the Elan Holster after several weeks of use.

Other Minuses
The belt clip does not come attached due to the two-way slots on the back. It’s a real bear to attach. And pick your orientation carefully . . . unless you notice the little metal tabs on the clip, you’re not going to get it off again.

Other Plusses
The Elan Holster comes with a plastic screen protector and a little prayer . . . er . . . cleaning cloth. The screen protector doesn’t seem to deter the touch screen functionality and I actually two-thumb-typed with it. Nice touch!

But the real secret design feature of the Elan Holster is how the earphone jack, sleep switch, silent switch and volume control are all accessible, thanks to the open-end design. You can manipulate these controls handily, with the phone fully holstered. (Recall also that while using Apple’s iPhone earbuds, you can answer a call by clicking the microphone button on the cord instead of unholstering your iPhone.)

Summary
Rita has appropriated the Elan Holster as her preferred iPhone case. How much more of a recommendation could a company want?