If there’s one category in the iPhone accessories genre that seems to be somewhat overloaded with a lot of lookalikes, it’s cases. That’s why Bumpies caught my attention a while back. Instead of surrounding your iPhone in plastic or metal, Bumpies cover just four places – the corners of your iPhone.
A set of Bumpies for your iPhone 6 costs just US$24 (affiliate link)– sure, you can get cheaper cases at your local dollar store, but they probably look cheap, too! Bumpies come in a variety of colors — black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, orange, pink, red, white and yellow.
To install the Bumpies, you use an included alcohol wipe to clean the corners of the iPhone, slip it into the cardboard package sleeve the Bumpies come in, remove a piece of backing paper from each of the Bumpies, and press them onto the corners — using the package sleeve as a handy installation guide — for 15 seconds each. You’re done!
Bumpies may look minimalist, but they’re designed in such a way that they’ll protect your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus just as good as most full cases. According to the Bumpies folks, they exceed military specs for shock (“Military specifications for shock (MIL-STD-810G-Test Method 516.6) calls for an object to drop from a height of 4 ft on each of its six faces, 12 edges, and eight corners onto two inches of plywood over concrete on a flat surface.”).
The Bumpies are just high enough to keep both the back and front of your iPhone from touching any surface it is sitting on, and smooth enough that they’re not going to hang up on your pockets when sliding the phone in or out. Since every part of your iPhone with the exception of the corners is now exposed, the company provides a nice cleaning cloth so you can keep fingerprints off of your device.
What if you want to take the Bumpies off? No problem — the 3M adhesive used makes it possible to remove and re-install the Bumpies. The company provides a two-year warranty replacement warranty, which is just about unheard of in the smartphone case business.
I like the fact that Bumpies protect my iPhone 6 Plus from drops, but keep all of the ports wide open for easy access. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to remove a case just to plug in an accessory, worrying all the time that I’m going to break one of the switches by doing so. That concern is gone with Bumpies.
My only gripe? The pricing. Seriously, $24 for four very small (although obviously well-engineered) pieces of plastic, some tiny adhesive strips, and packaging? I could buy three very cheap plastic cases for that price… although I wouldn’t.
