Slick iPhone mod
We all know that the iPhone is beautiful (OK, not all of us). The only thing I dislike about its appearance is the chrome band that separates the top and bottom halves. The iPod touch is much more attractive without it.General [M]ayhem forum user KnightKrew felt the same way, and did something about it. Check out this beautiful iPhone mod. With its entire body encased in black TiAlN, it is the Sith Lord of iPhones.
What the heck is TiAIN? It's a ceramic coating used to improve the performance of cutting tools. KnightKrew decided it would be the best material for his project after examining the composition of the phone's external surfaces with an electron microscope (see the pictures here). He states that it's now even more durable.
That's some serious modding. It looks great, KnightKrew.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
austin said 6:02PM on 2-24-2008
umm, colorware?
Reply
Peter said 6:33PM on 2-24-2008
Did you even read what he wrote in the forum? He said he needed more durability. Colorware just coats it in paint. This actually protects it from scratches and such better.
Matt Punk said 6:39PM on 2-24-2008
i got a Sharpie
Reply
MacGeek Pro said 6:48PM on 2-24-2008
That is amazing! Apple, hire this guy and make the second-gen iPhone like this!
Reply
blah said 8:04PM on 2-24-2008
This is wayyy better than colorware, the finish on their paint sucks. This would be cooler if they let you selectively choose which parts you wanted painted rather than having to use the whole thing. Colorware has this problem too. For example I don't like the all black one. I just want the apple on the back black. What's really cool about this is it's the first time that you can change the color while keeping the original finish. Imagine when they start doing it to LAPTOPS. So long as i can choose just one part to paint....i'm in. I want Black apple logos on alll my stuff. I love the black on aluminum look.
Reply
Castillonis said 4:07AM on 2-25-2008
I would be more worried about the durability of the components inside of the case due to dropping the phone. I believe that a sleeve would be better at absorbing some of the energy from a collision upon dropping your iphone.
Maybe a sleeve could have holes spread throughout in order to absorb collision energy, but allow more heat transfer at the holes. Of course, you would need to couple the hole idea w/ an aesthecially pleasing pattern of holes since that is a paramount priority to apple customers. I think that you could design a cool pattern of holes.
A sleeve might cause heat dissapation issues if there are heat transfer issues related to the case. This coating might cause some heat transfer problems if there are any.
You also might think about the heat expansion coefficient and elasticity of the covering.
Reply
matt said 8:17PM on 2-24-2008
Very badass, but does it hinder cell or wifi reception, or heat dissipation? iPod Jonny picks his materials for a reason. :)
Reply
Jarle said 8:25PM on 2-24-2008
The interesting part is that the user didn't just do it for himself, he has obvisouly gone through all the hard work to do it for others: http://www.gigapascal.com/ - they are going to sell the modificaton for iPod touch, iPod 3G and iPhone. Check out the gold edition of iPhone - talk about bling :)
Reply
JoeSchmo said 9:16PM on 2-24-2008
An optical microscope & an electron microscope are very different things. While it may be cool to say an electron microscope was used, it is simply not the reality. He correctly states in his posting that he used an optical microscope. This is backed-up by the full-colour images provided. An electron microscope could not, by limitations of its nature, provide such images. Electron microscopes, in their numerous varieties, are wonderful tools for many applications; it just so happens one wasn't used in this case.
Reply
Machsurfer said 9:40PM on 2-24-2008
Both the author and JoeSchmo are correct. At the top he states that he uses an optical microscope. Then at the bottom he says that to figure out what he should use to coat it, he would use an electron microscope...
clair said 11:05PM on 2-24-2008
Check further down the post. There are photos from the electron microscope in the thread.
cynyc said 3:23AM on 2-25-2008
I hated the chrome so much I took a fine grit sanding sponge on Day 1 and "brushed" my iPhone. (Taped up all other surfaces and proceeded really carefully...) Looks great.
Reply
Jonathan said 8:04AM on 2-25-2008
I just picked up one of these sweet cases from Incase on Saturday, and so far, it's the best iPhone case I've used to date. Gives the phone the appearance of an all black finish, very slim and sweet. The fit is very tight.
http://www.goincase.com/products/detail/slider-case-cl59031
Reply
e said 12:12PM on 2-25-2008
where did you pick one up? i am trying to find it as well... Thanks in advance.
Jonathan said 2:31PM on 2-25-2008
Hey E, I got it at my local Apple Store, alongwith the new incase hard shell for the macbook too. Both are very nice.
coleman said 9:57AM on 2-25-2008
link to the electron microscope images:
http://www.genmay.com/showpost.php?p=22304502&postcount=24
Reply
Bill G said 2:57PM on 2-25-2008
Anyone else think "Oh, they've encased him in carbonite! He should be very well protected, if he survived the freezing process that is." as they were reading this?
Reply
aromatorio said 7:18PM on 2-25-2008
I emailed them straight away after reading the writeup on this process, asking about pricing. Haven't heard back.
I also asked if there would be any effect on the phone's cell or Wifi signal reception. Anyone? They aren't coating the black antenna portion of the phone, but could this process still hinder the performance in any way?
Reply
nG said 1:57PM on 2-26-2008
How does this compare to Colorware's modded iPhones?
Reply
onedollarbill said 12:37PM on 2-27-2008
FYI anyone with Websence at work genmay.com is a filtered site for "Adult Content"
Reply