The first time I had my iPhone, I bought the Incase black slim sleeve. It was rubbery, had a nice grip texture on the back of it, but at the time of the launch, there were very few cases out there on the market that did any better than the Incase. The Incase suffered from dust getting inside of it on the edges and the chrome rim being heavily scratched because of the design. I returned it before my 14 days were up.

Fast forward to a little more than 2 months since the iPhone launch and you will be pleasantly greeted by a wide choice of cases at the Apple store. From hostlers, to arm bands to high-end leather cases, there is truly something for everyone.

When I saw the Agent 18 case on display, my heart just skipped a beat. The beloved case of mine from the Nano days is back, but this time its a bit different. Gone is the translucent front and back casing.

More after the jump…

Enter, the Eco iPhone Shield by Agent 18

The package materials says

EcoShield for your iPhone:

* Simple two-piece slide on/off design
* Form-fitting and sleek, available in natural or black
* Full-access to bottom connectors, mic and touch screen
* Docks with universal dock
* Eco-friendly material with minimum carbon impact
* Packaging made from recycled materials

It is true to it’s statements about recyclable materials. There is hardly an paper in it. It’s those great blister packs, but actually on the back of the package, there is a preferrated lines for simple extraction of the case.

When the package is off, here is how it looks like

As you can see below, the two halves of the Eco case come together towards the middle. They are interconnected by two little circles on each side, and lock towards the center. Kinda cool.. You may also note that there is a picture of a tree on the back of the case.. ehh okay?

The Install:

The installation of a case is a no brainer, but in case you wanna read it, there you go. When putting on the case though, there was a lot of resistant in slipping on the bottom half of the case. You basically slide it from the opening towards the center of the iPhone. It almost felt like I was scratching the phone, but it wasn’t scratched. Just be careful to line it up right before pushing the case into the center. The top half was much easier to slide in.

The Case:

With the two pieces connecting each other, it just kinda snaps in. Not much to write about there.

Guess this is where I talk about how it feels right? The texture of the back of the phone is definitely much improved over not having any case at all. Its not a flat plastic-y backing to prevent total slippage, but it has a very slight rough texture to it. That texture is all around the case though. (besides the Agent 18 logo space and the tree? wth?)

The top has openings for the headphone and hold button, the side for the silencer switch and volume, the back for the camera and the bottom for the speakers and dock connector.

The case itself isn’t super light either. I would say that the recyclable materials attribute to the weight of it. My iPhone with the Agent 18 case weighs about 1 or 2 oz more than before. I wished it was a bit lighter,

Fit wise, its almost spot on. I say almost because if you look at the picture below, towards the left side of the home button you will see a little gap. I can see the chrome on the bottom left side, but not on the bottom right side.. odd?

Unfortunately, I do not have a Universal Dock to try if it docks, but the bottom (where the dock connector is located) certainly is flat and curved like it would fit a Universal Dock.

Also worth noting is that there are three notches, 1 on top and one on each side. Probably a hostler coming soon from our Agent 18 friends?

Pros:

• Black is really black
• Has a slight rough texture to it
• Fits Universal Docks
• Seems sturdy and hugs the iPhone very closely
• Light weight for its hardness

Cons:

• Pricey at $29.99 at the Apple Store, but only $24.99 thru Agent 18
• Push it in to fit the case to close
• QA issues with front not being equal on both sides?

Conclusions:
Would I buy the case for it’s environment friendly packaging and materials use? Probalby not, but I would probably keep this case and just get a screen protector in front just for an added piece of mind. This is a simple case and it seems that Agent 18 has put a lot of research in finding the flaws with other cases before introducing theres to the market. If you want a case that works, protects the back and sides and leaves the beautiful glass front looking beautiful, look no further. There are a lot more pluses to this case than minuses.

Therefore, concurrently, because of -

I give this a 4.5 outta 5 monkeys!

Feel free to mouth off about this case.

Update (9/20/2007):

A couple of users asked me about whether the case causes any scratches on the bezel or the phone: - To answer your question about bezel scratching, I took my Agent 18 case off and there is NO signs of scratching on the bezel or anywhere where the case wraps the iPhone.

I too had the problem with the first gen incase case scratching the living daylights of the iPhone so I was hesitant with this , but  with the track record from Agent 18, I’m glad it was worth the wait.

I would not recommend getting another plastic skin like the Invisishield or the BestSkinsEver solution around the iPhone because I dont think the Agent 18 case has ANY room for it. It could be possible to put a skin on the front of the iPhone, but that will degragate the smoothness of scrolling a bit.