You know how sometimes you try to lean your smartphone at the perfect angle against a book or cup to watch a YouTube video or something and it's too slippery and the phone slides down? Totally annoying. Luckily, there's a simple solution for naked phone fans who want a little extra grip: A rubber band.
After spotting Industrial Designer Tim Wikander's cord-control paper pocket last week, I had to check out the rest of his Instructables account — and this genius idea stood out. Use an extra-wide rubber band as a grip bumper case for your iPhone or iPod Touch.
The secret is that this isn't an ordinary rubber band; it's the wide, super-strong rubber bands you see strapped around bushels of produce like broccoli in the produce section of the grocery store.
Grab one of those the next time you shop for groceries, then stretch it around the outside of your phone (if there's printed text on one side of the rubber band, flip that side in. Or don't. Whatever strikes your fancy) for an easy and inexpensive no-slip grip.
And if you're using an iPhone 3/3G or iPod Touch with the curved back, like Tim is in these photos, you can still access the charging and headphone ports while the rubber band grip is on. Check out Tim's post on Instructables here.
(Images: Tim Wikander/Instructables)
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Inovative idea love it. I have a rubberized case but outfitted dh's phone with one of these a year or so ago...on a whim, in a pinch. He's still using it.
Anyone know what clock app that is in the first picture?
Hi pghkatie,
You can try finding the app in Google search simply by posting the picture in google search. If it has been listed in Google, they will have a listing of it for you. So if you can save an image of the app from this article, you just might be able to find it quickly. At least you used to be able to do that.
The only other idea I can think of is if your iPhone carrier shows pics of their apps, you could take the time to scroll through the Alarm clock apps to find it.
Good luck!!
toddsmom
I don't have one of these phones for a variety of reasons (my "shoe phone" sized cell that only makes/takes calls is enough technology for me!), but my husband does & is forever replacing it with- you guessed it- ANOTHER Slippery Cell Phone! With all that technology- they do everything but massage your grandmother, but at least they call tell you where she is!- why the heck aren't these so called "smart phones" designed to not constantly slip out of ones hand? Is it a marketing ploy to force people to either buy the insurance or buy a new phone? If so, they succeeded with my hubby who has gone through 6 phones in one year. I'm still using the same cell phone that I bought for $35 six years ago. His cast $200 each. Crazy! The rubber band idea is a good solution, but it seems sort of ridiculous to have to resort to such a cheap problem solver for such an expensive phone!
I believe that the app is the areaware clock app, it's meant to be used with their wooden alarm clock dock but the app itself is free and works fine on it's own!
what a simple yet effective idea! and free. i will definitely try this.
kmh425 - Thanks! I was able to find it in the app store with that name. Love the design, too bad it doesn't seem to be rated as highly on the functionality...
OMG Love it! Now to find one of those big rubberband!