by Kavaj creates leather cases for iPhones and iPads that stick out as being stylish and, as they put it, “insurance for your technology”. I’d love to take my iPhone out naked, but being a klutz means I always have a case after one too many incidents of iPhone meeting floor… Kavaj were good enough to send me a Dallas Leather iPhone case for review.
Showing you don’t have to spend a vast amount on packaging to look classy, Kavaj’s case arrives in Amazon packing but wrapped in a tissue paper wrapping, protecting the case adequately yet showing care has been given to packing. After all, even if it’s a gift to yourself or someone else, first impressions count.
First Impressions.
Once unwrapped I was initially unimpressed with the case, writing it off for looking fairly insubstantial to start with, and an almost “is that it” moment (to my own detriment).
Much like with the Apple product “is that it” moments, it could come across as uninspiring until you start to use it, and then you appreciate the quality of the case.
Sure, the first few hours of use was a frustrating affair with everything feeling stiff, which wasn’t helping me at all whilst on the bus to the airport. The flap has a small magnetic strip to keep the screen flap down, but rendered ineffective as it wouldn’t close properly and then stay closed.
Adding to the initial issues, I couldn’t charge my iPhone either. The leather around the charging port was just oh, so slightly in the way of the connector, preventing it from making contact. After a small amount of fiddling with my thumbs around the opening for the charger port, charging could be resumed.
Trying the same tactic on the headphone socket was less successful. Somehow I managed to tear a piece of leather around the headphone port. Granted, that’s more my fault than the case due to rushing things. After all, if something looks fragile then it probably is.
A few hours later…
All of my first misgivings started to evaporate as the case developed its own personality in a way. The seams and lining were breaking in nicely, becoming more flexible with each passing usage, and that flap clicked the cover shut with a satisfying sound even it “flapped” over.
In short, I’d forgotten leather needs working in.
Most importantly, the case had started to feel good. Leather works better with usage, and it’s often a matter of how good a case feels in your pocket. As the Kavaj Dallas case barely adds any dimensions to the iPhone, it certainly was no pocket bugler. If anything, I would like to see an option for a more aged leather look in their case choice.
I’m not entirely sure if the back compartments for credit cards or business cards will give any more evenly with repeated usage. Try as I might, no credit card was going into those compartments no matter how much persuasion was applied.
Overall.
My time with this case was fairly brief as during a moment in Oktoberfest, I had to swap to an iPhone case with a battery, late at night and slightly worse for wear. Come the morning, I realised that there was no Kavaj case I was actually missing the case. Despite the initial frustrations of that “breaking-in period”, I’ve ordered a replacement.
As with all iPhone cases, the look and feel is completely subjective so there was no reason not to recommend this case other than if you don’t like its physical attributes.
It’s thin and snug, but yet doesn’t need much effort to slide your iPhone into the case, which in this instance, was incredibly important. In my Oktoberfest testing period, I ended up flitting between cases as the iPhone doesn’t seem to cope too well battery-wise in different countries.
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KAVAJ leather case cover “Dallas” for the Apple iPhone 5S, iPhone 5 cognac brown
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