Review: 2Phone Dual SIM Case for iPhone 4

The 2Phone case for the iPhone 4 is a 3-in-1 case.  It is A) a case, B) a dual-SIM adapter, which allows you to use two SIM cards for voice at the same time, and C) an extended battery(ish..).  The team at RebelSim sent me one to review so read on to find out more about it:

 

Video Review:

Video review of the 2Phone 3-in-1 iPhone 4 case

 

As a case:

The 2Phone as a case offers full scratch protection for everything except the front screen; for front screen protection, you’ll want to pair this with a screen protector.

assembled

 

The inside of the case (the part that the rear glass touches) is a slightly textured plastic that protects the entire backside of the iPhone:
textured

 

The bumper that covers the sides is a relatively thin, translucent plastic that covers everything else except the front glass.  It comes in a few different colors, but it only comes with this “smoke” colored one (and I can’t seem to find a way to get/order other colors), but I personally like the color well enough:
plastic bumper

The bumper completely covers the volume and power buttons and unfortunately it makes it a bit annoying to change the volume. I find that I have to either press hard, or use my thumbnail, to actually get the volume buttons to press in (as opposed to being able to just lightly use the “pad” of my thumb).  Also, it prevents you from easily using your thumb to flip the vibrate switch – I now have to use either my thumb/index fingernail:
volume and vibrate

 

All of the port “cut outs” line up perfectly, such as the headset jack and camera:
headset jackcamera

 

What’s also nice is that it gets rid of the proprietary Apple port and replaces it with a micro usb port (which is used for charging AND syncing with your computer/iTunes):
microusb

 

The case is very light and when compared with the weight of the iPhone 4, I really can’t tell a weight difference when using it.  However, the case does add a bit of thickness to the phone – it almost (not quite) doubles it’s thickness, but at least it’s curved on the edges, so it’s not like you would be carrying around a brick:

thickness

 

As an extended battery / second SIM card:

The part that sets this case apart from all other cases I’ve seen is the fact that it lets you use a 2nd SIM card at the same time as the iPhone’s SIM card;  You don’t have to switch between two SIM cards like other dual-SIM solutions.

 

The case is essentially a second phone that you are attaching to the iPhone, except instead of having it’s own screen, you use a jailbroken iPhone app to use it.   The 2Phone case is powered by it’s own 800mAh battery and not the iPhone 4:
battery

 

This battery can also act as an extended battery to charge the iPhone 4 as well, however, it must have a remaining capacity of at least 50%. If it has less than 50%, it will not charge the iPhone as the case will reserve the remaining 50% to use for powering the case.   With a full charge of the 2Phone battery, I have been able to charge the iPhone about 20% before the 2Phone battery reaches 50% and stops charging the iPhone.  It’s not much, but think of it more as a bonus feature than anything else – in other words, don’t buy it to rely on as a backup power source.

 

The 2Phone is quad band 850/900/1800/1900 and unlocked, so it should work with any SIM you end up pairing it with.  It takes regular size SIM cards so you’ll need to use a microsim-to-regular SIM adapter if you end up using it with a microsim:

quadband

 

As mentioned earlier, in order to utilize the 2Phone’s SIM card, you need to install their 2Phone app which requires your iPhone to be jailbroken.  Luckily, at least at the time of this posting with 4.3.3 being the latest iOS, I believe all iOS versions are easily jailbreakable.   To get the 2Phone app, open up Cydia and add the 2Phone source (www.2phone.com/cydia) and then install the only app within that repository which is 2Phone. (Jailbreaking is bit out of the scope of this review, but feel free to comment below if you have any questions about doing so)  .

2phone app

 

The app itself is very similar to the built in Phone app on the iPhone.  The iPhone Phone app has options for Favorites, Recents, Contacts, Keypad and Voicemail whereas the 2Phone has Settings, Recents, Message, Contacts, and Keypad:
iphone vs 2phone

(on a side note…I find it interesting that on my UK iPhone, they spelled it “Favorites” and not “Favourites”)

 

There are a few different setting options you can change such as the ring volume and tone, text message tone, the phone number to use for voicemail, as well as setting/inputting the SIM pin.  As far as Ringtones, you are able to use the single 2Phone created ringtone, or any of the built in iPhone ringtones:

2phone settings2phone iphone ringtones

 

To place a call with either SIM card, you simply use the appropriate app (the default phone app for the iPhone SIM or the 2Phone app for the 2Phone SIM).  When you receive a call from the 2Phone SIM, you’ll get what looks like a notification popup which will then open up the 2Phone app to accept that call:

2phone incoming call

 

One thing that does bug me a bit is the fact that the audio quality of the speaker phone when using the 2Phone isn’t that great.  The audio is rather scratchy and not nearly as loud as when using the iPhone speaker phone.  Again, it’s nice to be able to use two SIM cards at once, but it’s disappointing that the speakerphone doesn’t perform well with the 2Phone. 

 

Wrap up:

If what you are looking for is the ability to have two SIM cards active at the same time, then this is the case for you (plus, it gives you great scratch protection and a small extended battery).  However, don’t buy it thinking you will be getting a big boost in call time (remember, it’ll only charge the iPhone if the 2Phone has 50% or greater battery left).  That being said, it works great for adding an extra line to your iPhone.  I would prefer it being a bit cheaper though, as at £130/$210, it’s the cost of a low end Android phone.  But if you are currently having to carry around two phones to have two separate numbers (such as a work and personal phone), it would probably be worth it to ditch one of them! 

Pros:

  • Lets you use 2 SIM cards at the same time
  • Light weight, scratch protection case
  • Looks sleek
  • Adds a micro usb port (instead of an Apple port)

Cons:

  • It’s expensive – currently £130 / $210
  • The battery doesn’t provide much extended battery for the iPhone
  • The bumper covers the vibrate switch causing it to require extra effort to switch it

 

Thinking about buying one and have any questions?  Already have one and have something you want to share?  Tell us about it in the comments below!

31 thoughts on “Review: 2Phone Dual SIM Case for iPhone 4”

  1. Hi
    I am in Dubai and would like to purchase the 2Phone Dual SIM Case for iPhone 4

    Thanks in advance for your reply

  2. Dear Nasser,

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    Let me introduce our company briefly,We are manufacturer and exporter of Q-Power ,Q-SIM and Q-USB,now we have new product Model FM-01 ,it’s dual sim card dual standby +Power Pack+Protective Case+Personalization Bumper for iPhone 4.

    If have interest,please let me know.Thank you!

    Hope to cooperate with you!
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  3. hi hello guys out there,i ve just bought this for £115.15 from advance tecknologies,bit of a fun to jailbreak and get cydia and safari extention and so on,but i ve cracked it in the end and now im sat back and am enjoying my efforts with this latest tecko, i recommend u get one if u want more out of life cos its very short must enjoy it to the full,happy days and good luck.

  4. Recipients can barely hear me and I can barely hear them on the 2phone. I consider the quality tooo poor to communicate with and would advise against purchasing it till the quality improves. 1 out of 10

    1. I didn’t test it, but I don’t see why not since the case doesn’t actually use the radio of the phone, so it shouldn’t matter if the phone is cdma (verizon?) or gsm – the unlocked and jailbroken cdma phone would still be able to run the 2phone app, which is all that is necessary for the 2phone case to work.

  5. 2phone great bit of a mission to set up if not tech savvy the new update from apple 5.1.1 screwed it all up with cydia but cydia has sorted it now so you can use iPhone with5.1.1 system just a few glitches the ring tones in setting keep on changing back to 50% volume and no ring tone just vibrate but other than that everyone should have this if u need a dual sim it’s great

  6. I cannot receive text messages with 2phone. Did everything what I had to do. The messages don’t come in. Does anyone has an answer on this problem?

    1. Do not buy this!!!!! 2Phone.com has completely dropped all support for it, it does not work with iPhone 4s/iOS 5.1.1, it locks up the phone, putting it into a boot loop, and crashed my wifes iPhone 4, making me do a DFU mode restore. 2Phone has closed down their support forum. Its a complete rip off.

      if anyone has used flashgadgets.es for support, can you please email me the .deb file and .dylib file they put in the system? you can get it using iFunBox. pls email me at [email protected]

      ginnz.

      1. Mine works great except my battery is slowly dying after a year its not bad if you want to send me your battery or if anyone can guide me to where i can buy one great but other than that my 2phone works great

        1. what phone are you using? (4 or 4s)? what iOS are you using? can you email me the software your running? at the e-mail i posted above?

  7. Can anyone help me out here?? God knows 2phone won’t. Their discussion forum is gone. Whenever I install the software via Cydia, and reboot my phone, it gets stuck in an endless boot loop and will not restart, just shows the apple logo. Then I uninstall the 2Phone.dylib file via iFunBox and it will restart. what a piece of shit.

  8. 2phone confirmed to me by email that it doesn’t need jailbreak or software to install for my iPhone 4S. Before they ship the device, I asked them several times to cancel the order if it needs jailbbreak. They disregars my cancellation emails and send the item. When I received early in 2013, I discovered it needs jailbreak, but was not available for iPhone 4S at that time. Only on February 2013 jailbreak was released. I jailbroke the iPhone and install the software, but disappointed to find out the software always exiting and not responding most of the time. I contacted 2phone but they are not responding. I lost nearly USD 100.00
    This device is waste of money.

  9. Nice case, but I would recommend the Pong Research iPhone case over this. I read that cell phones emit wireless energy a form of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation, which can be absorbed by the tissue closest to where the phone is held. That’s why I did research and found a case that can reduce radiation exposure. I read about Pong Research cases, Pong technology is custom-designed for each mobile device and works to redirect radiation away from your head and body. I hesitated about it, anyway, I bought a case Pong because is the only technology proven in FCC-certified laboratories to reduce the exposure to mobile device radiation by up to 95% below the FCC limit without compromising the device’s ability to communicate.

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