Are Cheap iPhone 5 Cases Worth Buying?

iPhone 5 Cases: The Various Options
iPhone 5 cases come with the widest variety and options in the world. There are the ultra-thin slim cases which are light-weight and fit in the pocket and then there are military grade cases from brands like Otterbox which come as one of the strongest protective cases for your iPhone 5.

Amidst all this, people are fond of cases that are not only good but also affordable. With Chinese manufacturers supporting a lot of people's fancies, the focus is on producing large quantity of dirt-cheap cases which are often very poor in quality.

Of course, that doesn't make all cheap iPhone 5 cases poor in quality. But with most cases – where the manufacturer only thinks of quantity - the quality gets hit and you have really worthless piece of iPhone 5 cases that only waste people's money.

Cheap Cases: What's The Problem
Most cheap cases you'll find in the marketplace are often available for less than $5.00. You can find insanely dirt cheap iPhone 5 cases even under $3.00 that ship en mass. But then, not all of these are going to be really useful.

The problems with cheap cases are many. For instance:

• They're quite flimsy, made of substandard material and come with a very weak protective cover
• They're flexible but that comes at the cost of them being “tear-able”
• The design isn't neat-fitting; sometimes, the buttons are not easily accessible
• The case leaves a telltale mark on the iPhone 5, damaging the casing of the smartphone

And we can actually go on listing a lot of problems.

Good-quality Yet Affordable
But as we mentioned before, there are iPhone 5 cases that are cheap and quite good too.

How?

1. Some cases are really priced upwards of $20 but the manufacturers run cheap, discounted sales on websites like Amazon and eBay. You can grab them before the stocks run out – as in most cases, they are limited edition.
2. A decent price to spend on a decent iPhone 5 case is often in the range of $20. Belkin, Case Mate and Griffin offer cases that are in the $20 price range. We think that a decent price to spend for an iPhone 5 case would be $20.

Even with the branded cases, be sure to check out Amazon for discounted prices. Often, there are discounts of over 70% on the list price.

Tips on Selecting the case for your iPhone 5
Getting the right case for your iPhone 5 can be a chore in itself with the available options. But then, when you're talking about cheap and affordable iPhone 5 cases, the choices do get smaller. When you're looking at under $20 iPhone 5 cases, big brands do come in: Griffin, Belkin and Case Mate have cases that are in that range.

Some of the most important thing you need to look at, when you're searching for iPhone 5 cases are:

• Durability
• Design: how good it fits and leaves the buttons accessible
• Flexibility: so it's easy to fit and take out
• Thickness: you don't want a case that'll make it hard to carry the iPhone around
• Extra features: a card-holder or a kickstand won't hurt, right?

Preparing for A Tour With Your iPhone: The Checklist

Going on a tour with your iPhone can be great because you can turn your iPhone into a tour guide, have all the info about the place you are traveling to and much more. Here are some essential checklist things before you go on a tour with your iPhone.

Are you going to be traveling? Of course you are going to take your iPhone with you. But before you do, here are some things you should check out so that your iPhone is safe, you don't end up spending a lot on roaming charges and everything is perfect.

1. AVOIDING ADDITIONAL CHARGES

Turn off Data on Roaming:
One of the first things you have to do before you begin your journey is to turn off cellular data on roaming. Roaming Data charges are sky-high no matter who the provider is and if you don't want to burn a hole in your pocket, turn it off.

Also, turn off automatic updates, sync, iCloud etc. In fact, if you just switch off cellular data, everything gets done automatically.

GSM, Unlocked iPhones Are Better:
Being able to switch to a local GSM SIM is something that most non-iPhone users enjoy but if you have an unlocked iPhone, you are going to be happy about it. You can simply pick a local SIM card, insert it into your iPhone and get going.

Of course, with the iPhone 5, things can get a bit tricky because you need a nano SIM. But then, if you can get one, all the more better.

Subscribe to International Plans
There are some really decent International plans for texts, calls and data. If you are going to be abroad for a short time, switching over to International data plans could turn out to be beneficial.

Free Wifi + Skype
Skype: low-cost international calls. This is something everyone knows. And if you get free Wi-Fi, that's cooler! There are even apps that help you find free Wi-Fi sources in your vicinity. Make sure you load up your Skype account with some credit so you can make cheaper calls to home.

2. ACCESSORIES

Some Protective Gear
Cover your iPhone with a good case. Dust, pollution and other problems are quite frequent when you are traveling. Making sure that your iPhone or iPad is covered well and protected well can save you a lot of time and problem in trying to fix an unresponsive home button or a malfunctioning display.

Chargers, Adapters
Chargers are the lifeline of iPhones and iPads. Of course, you can opt to go for additional juice packs like the Morphius Juice Pack we reviewed awhile ago. These will provide continuous charge support over the usual 8 hour period. You can go without charging your iPhone from a traditional power source for more than two days.

Adapters are a must-have for the voltage differences we have between countries and continents. You can of course get one from the local country but having them in advance sure saves money and time.

Carrying Pouches
Large bags or small poches - whichever carry bags you are comfortable with are a must-have if you want to carry your gadgets in a safe way. Depending on where you are going, opt for water-proof, dust-free and some hard-skinned bags or pouches.

3. APPS FOR PLANNING/GPS ETC.

TripIt and More
Apps like TripIt are amazingly cool in keeping track of your flight bookings and other travel-related plans. When you are going on a tour, there are things you shouldn't forget to take and apps like Packing Pro which help you keep a track of all those things. More like a reminder app which aides in travel planning.

Offline Maps
Offline Maps like oMaps and Galileo Offline Maps are a boon if you rely on maps a lot. They are cool because you can access most of the information about where you are going without connecting to the network.

While most apps let you download a particular area, there are some city-specific maps which you can download so every inch of the data is available on your iPhone whenever you want.

Budget Control
Ah, of course. Money.

When you are traveling, you will need to keep a tab on how much you spend. Budget apps help you do this easily. There are also quite a few currency converters you can use when you are abroad.

Location-specific Apps
Like the city-specific Maps app, there are travel guides based on specific cities. For instance, you can find a lot of apps that act as travel guides for Madrid, or say, Hong Kong.

Just search for the city's name (the city where you are traveling, or the country where you are on tour) and you will find a lot of location-specific apps which can help you find interesting places to explore, routes to get there and other interesting tidbits.

Traveling with the iPhone could mean a real difference in the entire traveling experience because you've got so much info in your hand. Check out essential iPhone travel apps that you should use on your next trip