I wish this selfie phone case was better for selfies

The Selfix telephone lawsuit is simply a classical illustration of a awesome thought successful mentation that falls isolated successful practice.

It’s a lawsuit for the iPhone 17 Pro pinch a information surface connected the back. It mirrors the mediate of your main telephone screen, making it easier to framework up selfies utilizing your phone’s higher-quality rear cameras alternatively than the selfie camera. A bully concept! I wish it worked better.

Selfie cameras person travel a agelong way, and the updated sensor successful the iPhone 17 series’ front-facing camera is much than tin successful bully lighting. But location are still ways that the bigger sensors and lenses successful your phone’s rear cameras outperform them: They tin do slow-motion video, amended low-light images, and much convincing image mode photos. The Selfix lawsuit makes each of that imaginable — if you tin put up pinch it for agelong enough.

The Selfix lawsuit is on preorder now done Kickstarter, pinch a afloat unit value of $129 and pricing for backers listed astatine $79. But I person immoderate existent hesitations recommending it moreover astatine the discounted early vertebrate rate. For starters, it’s bulky. I’m moving very difficult present to flooded my biases: I don’t usually usage cases, and I’m caller from a mates weeks of utilizing the iPhone Air. This lawsuit connected the iPhone 17 Pro was ever going to consciousness unwieldy to me. Still: I deliberation it is unreasonably big. You do get a built-in microSD paper slot, which is nice. It meets the UHS-I, Class 10, U3, and V30 standards, meaning that you should beryllium capable to grounds 4K video straight to the paper without dropping frames provided that you person a accelerated capable card.

My biggest title pinch the Selfix is that it conscionable doesn’t do the occupation very well. The surface is simply a circle pinch a 1.6-inch diameter, truthful it people cuts disconnected a large chunk of the rectangular preview image connected your main telephone screen. It besides has immoderate existent chunky bezels, truthful the usable surface area is simply a small smaller than the wrong of a insubstantial towel tube. All of that intends there’s still immoderate guesswork involved; if you framework your look successful the halfway of the rear surface you’ll get a selfie pinch a batch of blank abstraction supra your head.

The Selfix’s surface is touch-sensitive, but I couldn’t get tap-to-focus to activity consistently. The portion I tested is branded arsenic “Beta,” which whitethorn beryllium the culprit here. You request to usage the measurement keys connected your iPhone to return a photograph aliases commencement video signaling anyway, because the portion of the surface pinch the virtual shutter fastener is trim off. It’s besides benignant of unsettling shooting video and not seeing immoderate denotation that signaling has started. For thing that’s designed to trim the guesswork of utilizing the rear cameras, there’s an atrocious batch of guesswork still involved.

Then location are the broadside effects. The lawsuit allows for passthrough wired charging, but nary information connections, meaning nary wired CarPlay aliases transferring files to your laptop complete USB. There’s a magnetic ringing successful the backmost of the lawsuit truthful you tin support utilizing MagSafe accessories, but nary wireless charging. You request to return the lawsuit disconnected to do immoderate of these things.

On apical of each that, it’s beautiful easy to hide the rear surface is turned connected erstwhile you’re done taking your selfies. As a reminder: It mirrors immoderate is connected your telephone screen, truthful you could upwind up giving the remainder of the world a clear position of your banking app aliases immoderate you’re looking at. There’s a dedicated fastener connected the broadside of the lawsuit to move the surface connected and off, and erstwhile it turns connected you’ll spot a small USB plug icon successful the Dynamic Island to fto you cognize an accessory has been plugged in. But there’s nary persistent onscreen reminder that the lawsuit is mirroring the display, and I tin spot that going incorrect successful immoderate unfortunate ways.

Look, I emotion a weird telephone accessory. And I admit the Selfix lawsuit trying to do much than 1 point — thief you usage the rear cameras for selfies, grow your telephone storage, and protect your device. I conscionable wish it did its main occupation better.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge