Tool reviews come in many forms. Since our phones are with us during projects as anything from flashlight to ‘what do I do now?!’ machines, I see them as tools. Like a miter saw or nailer, they must be versatile and tough. Since they’re not, MeeMojo’s case is. It’s a thing of beauty too.
So far, I have not found the perfect solution for an iPhone case, but the MeeMojo Edge unit comes darn close. Aluminum alloy, uber durable and cool-looking, it hits on a lot of metrics for me.
As a carpenter, contractor, writer of tool reviews and bona fide klutz, I need my phone to be protected during the work day, whether that’s resting on a workbench or snugged inside my tool pouch.
Likes
Assembly is easy and wonderfully simple. Use the provided Allen key to screw the halves together. Two precisely machined plastic wedges tuck in between that metal sandwich to trap the phone inside. This is 10-times better than the plastic units I’ve owned that require surgical skill, some Jedi powers, and a 8-ton press to snap together just right.
It’s tough. The MeeMojo case is two pieces of solid aluminum alloy. The engines in some Ford F-150 trucks are aluminum. And yes, I have dropped the phone with nary a scratch or hiccup seeing if I got any likes on Instagram.
Smooth but easy to hold is a tough balance to reach—same with gloves, ironically— but this iPhone case does just that. There are no latches, doors, port covers or other $%^&* festooning or complicating this case. It slides into and out of my pocket or tool pouch with ease. At the same time, it is not slippery.
The open body of the phone case gives your fingers surface and ridges to nestle into, so when you’re holding it, there’s something to actually hold. Say, for example, you’re taking that epic selfie and your wrist is contorted just so to press the shutter button and hold the camera at the angle where you look your most heroic: The MeeMojo is easier to hang on to than other phone cases I’ve owned. Similarly, though less selfie-y, it works if you’re craning your neck to see under a sink or in an attic using the phone’s flashlight.
It is incredibly reasonably priced for what it delivers: About $80.
It is mercifully NOT plastic giving it an oddly ‘tooled’ feel. It’s like a person touched this to create it somewhere in the supply chain. Like it was made, not molded. That said, I know its milled on a CNC machine, but still.
It looks cool and people actually ask me about it. Yeah, I said it.
(Not Really) Dislikes
It’s hard to say I have any dislikes about the MeeMojo iPhone case.
Reason is, it doesn’t claim to be anything beyond what it is. I had a $100 LifeProof (plus more $ for a belt clip that failed and a windshield mount that was baffling) that claimed to be waterproof. I suppose it was until the port covering the charger at the base of the phone immediately failed and wouldn’t shut. And they forget to mention that sound quality is trash once the phone is gasketed in that plastic tomb. With the MeeMojo, it’s not waterproof—I really don’t need that feature, even on a jobsite—and the charger ports, camera, and flash are accessible; sound quality undiminished.
I can also reach and swipe the utility feature on iPhone that immediately pulls up the flashlight, camera, etc. Again, LifeProof and (I think the OtterBox I had before that) masked it so I had to search for a flashlight app. #FirstWorldProblem, but still, it’s six steps instead of two.
And I suppose that open body style could be a weak link for some users.
While the phone body is housed in bad-boy aluminium (as the British say, apparently incorrectly), it is also open. This, in my opinion, protects the unit more from me dropping it than me dropping something on it—which, knock on alloy—has never happened. To that end, I think a screen protector would be a smart move as an insurance policy for the glass. And not dropping a shovel or concrete block on it will also help.
For belt-clip enthusiasts (yes, harkening back to the days of smaller phones, being able to clip anything to a belt rather than have it in my pocket is good in life and on the job site) there appears to be no provision for a belt attachment. To date, all the smart phone belt clips I’ve tried have been more trouble than they’re worth. I point this out not because it’s bad, rather, if you’ve got to have it on your belt like Kirk and Spock-style communicators, you’ll need to tigg weld something yourself.
While the name sounds like an animae game my son might like—MeeMojo!—the phone case delivers grown-up performance.
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