We’ve covered Noreve before at Essential Apple and we liked their range of cases to suite all tastes and sizes without that “made for mass market so it feels cheap” normality. Having covered the Noreve Exceptional case before we present for your indulgance the indigo version.

Continue reading → Noreve Exceptional Selection Indigo iPhone 5 Case

Noreve launched their line of Ambition selection iPhone 5 cases and we’ve been hands on with the Papaye iPhone 5 case over the holidays. It looks like they listened to our comments and sent us a case which is more suited to the rugged traveller.

Once again we go into this review like we did on our last Noreve iPhone case review by starting out that if you don’t like the color, don’t panic! There’s 11 colors to choose from and I’m kinda glad they sent me this color to add some brightness to a particularly dismal winters day.

As always it starts with the presentation along with the experience of opening the box.  More and more companies put the effort into the protective surroundings as these days it’s not just enough to use a plain old corrugated box.  Sure this box has a slight texture to it, name embossed along with the logo so you experience the branding yet it’s when you open it up.

Coming with a bag might seem pointless to some yet those with sunglasses keep them protected with a soft case or box so why shouldn’t phone cases.  After all Noreve specialise in different ranges for different occasions, again this was covered (pardon the pun) in the last review. Small touches are what makes products stick out.

Onto the Papaye iPhone 5 Case.  Of course I’m aware that it’s spelt Papaya not Papaye but that’s the way it’s on the website so I’m sticking to it.  Just to re-iterate again 11 different colors are available.  At least with a color case like this you won’t be getting phones mixed up or lossing it in a hurry.

The last Noreve case I felt was for use in a more fine dining situation, covered in suede it leant itself to belmishes after a few days of rucksack treatment.  Pebble grained leather adorns the case in that typically well put together and finished off style which all of our review cases have exhibited.  This type of leather lends itself nicely to weathering and the all important, slipping in and out of the jeans pocket with ease.

Clamshell in design your precious iPhone 5 is held in place securely  with purpose by lips covering over the metal band on the iPhone case.  Being leather a little give is expected after some usage but not so much that the firm grasp is lost, just that it’s easier to insert and pull out an iPhone.

Imprinted throughout the inside areas of the case is the Noreve wording so you’ll be wanting to avoid sandy or dusty places or indeed any area where something abrasive could slip into the indents.  You don’t want another scratchgate on your hands.  That being said it will take some effort to get anything scratch worthy with how snug it wraps around the phone.

After a few inserts and removals and just like a good pair of leather shoes, things bed in nicely. That camera hole is nicely chamfered and it’s nicely finished off.  All too often cases can look like they’ve sped off a production line to get numbers out without any proper finishing.

Generous spacing along the bottom means all your cables and headphones are going to fit nicely.  Double check with Noreve about lightning adapters.  I don’t have one to test at the time of writing.  The left speaker / microphone is covered and that does impact when making a call with the case closed.  The flap extends nicely all around to the back of the case so the caller can hear your voice and doubling up as hiding any cards you may have inserted.

Tried and tested, the almost patented flap.  Annoyingly you cant quite use your fingers to unlatch the flap yet the slightest tease with a fingernail helps things along.  That holds on for dear life, I tried to pull the flag itself and it dodnt budge without quite a bit of effort.

Bring NFC To Your iPhone 5

On the backside you’ll find some handy credit card sized in.  Kudos for that as it becomes my night out case in an instant.  Sure i’ll feel a bit awkard just due to the color but one things for sure, no one will mistake my phone for theirs.

So the solution for NFC is to get a bank card with NFC enabled, stick it in the back slot and bingo, you’ve got NFC on your iPhone (and yes I tested this a few times)

Overall

Material and functionality wise there’s not much to fault here.  Once again it’s down to personal preference but this is a case with a lot going for it.  Leather which wont scuff, water resistant enough to deal with any spillages and certainly wont scratch.  None of this comes at the cost of any weight

You can see this and more cases over on the NoReve Website