Appletell reviews the UrbanTool ihipHolster

Provides: Protection and transportation for your gadgets
Developer: UrbanTool
Minimum Requirements: Gadgets
Price: $129.90
Availability: Now

UrbanTool makes unique products to help make carrying around all of your gear a little easier. I say unique because many of their products are ones you just can’t get anywhere else, even on the internet. There’s usually a good reason why you can’t get things anywhere else; sometimes it’s because a company may be the first to think of it, and sometimes it’s because they’re the only company that thinks it’s a good idea. Which better describes the ihipHolster? Perhaps a bit of both.

The ihipHolster is the kind of carrying method that I think a lot of geeks imagine to be pretty cool, but the reality never lives up to that. Are hip holsters awesome? If you’re Han Solo, yes. If you’re Joe Shmoe, probably not. And the fabric that this holster is made out of doesn’t really help to convince anyone that it’s anything other than a strange looking fanny pack. It’s too flimsy and cheap looking. The pictures online make this holster seem like it’s sleek and thin, when in actuality the pockets are anything but flat or tight. Pictures that aren’t representative are a big offense in my book, especially when you can’t look at one of the things in real life before buying it.

The idea here is that you want easy access to your iPhone and a few other small gadgets on your hip. There are enough pockets to keep your iDevice, another small portable device, some change, keys, condiments, wet nap, a handful of prime number sided dice, a calculator…okay, I jest. But there are enough pockets here to not only carry most everything small that you need with you, but to also keep them organized. There’s even a pocket that comes with a retractable leash for your keys, plus a pen holster.

The coolest, and possibly the only, feature here is the iDevice controller. Inside of the main pocket is a dock connector that, once connected to your iDevice, can control playback of your music from a number of buttons along the top edge of the holster. These buttons are easy to press and do exactly what they are supposed to. But connecting your headphones to your iDevice while in the holster is a bit tricky at best, unless you have an iPod touch, since the dock connection and headphone connection are anticipated by the holster to be on the same side of the device.

Ultimately, the biggest problem with this holster is that it’s not a holster, it’s a fanny pack on your side. Holsters are made of leather, or other similar material that doesn’t move a lot. This is made out of a stretchy smooth material that struggles to hold any sort of shape. It bags out and looks terrible, which sadly isn’t evident in the product pictures available online. In my opinion, a holster should not completely cover anything. It should be an open and form-fitted pocket.

Honestly, this product does not live up to what you might want it to be. The playback controls are nice, but they’re less useful than the on-cord controls of the standard iPhone headphones. They also don’t redeem the fanny pack nature of this bag. Plus, your headphones always have to be plugged in, but you don’t have to connect the dock connected controls of this holster.

I just really don’t think many will find this product to be worth its price tag.

Appletell Rating:

Buy the UrbanTool ihipHolster