Sena Cases for iPhone & iPod Touch

Posted by admin in Accessories, Case Reviews on February 9, 2009 | no responses yet

When it comes to selecting a case for your iPhone you have a huge, huge range of cases to chose from. For us here at iTalk Magazine it means we have the hard job of testing many of these cases, trying to sort out the good from the .. well, the rest really.

Sena are a US based company who specialise in leather cases for many different mobile devices. When we started talking to them about the types of cases on the market, they said “hey, we’ll send you some of our fantastic leather cases”. We had to wait a little while for the review samples to arrive as the guys at Sena were crazy busy with Macworld – which is great news.

Sena Cases awaiting review

Not to long later a package arrived and I had the pleasure of opening up these beautiful leather cases. Now of course the first thing I did, was stick my nose in the package and get a whiff of that leather smell – you know the one?

Sena Cases sent us two iPhone 3G cases and two iPod Touch cases. The one in the photo above with my iPhone in it is their Wallet Skin Case, which retails for US$52.00, the other cases included a Ultraslim cases for the iPhone and iPod touch along with a Premium Stand for the iPod Touch.

Using the case

I decided I’d try the Wallet Skin case for my iPhone, as I figured if I could put my RFID Bus pass, my credit card, drivers license and a coffee loyalty card in it, I’d not need to take my wallet anywhere with me.

Putting the phone in to the leather case should be pretty straight forward, open the clasp and drop the phone in. Of course as to be expected with the skin on my iPhone it does require a gentle push to get the phone into place.

I noticed the same with the Ultraslim case – with the skin on it’s quite a firm push to get the phone in. Both cases have a soft velvet lining while the Wallet Skin, does have a full leather back against the iPhone – making removing the phone difficult as the skin sticks to the leather.

I don’t recommend using a full skin with your phone if you are using these cases. However adding a screen protector to your phone will still allow it to work perfectly well with these cases

The Wallet phone I was sent is in an orange colour, which at first I thought was a bit too OTT, however having used it for a week or so now I actually quite like it.

Wallet Phone Skin Open

The case has a simple dome clasp on it, and opens to reveal 4 card slots, as you can see I have my drivers license and coffee cards on one said and visa & bus pass on the other (note: they are usually the other way around by like hell am I having a photo of my Visa in here sorry).

The bus pass I’m pretty sure is an RFID type system, where you simply wave the card over the drivers control and it docks a ride off it when he hits a button. This works well as all I do now is sit my phone on top of his console and it’ll read the card. No damage done to either my credit card or my iPhone – I can even keep listening to my music while getting my ticket.

The leather is quite soft and yet the case has a firmness to it. The screen cut out gives good full access to all parts of the screen and the only real issue I have with it is when a card is in the back (see the pic above) the hole for the camera is blocked.

Side View

The side has a cut out for the volume, and the top entry slot is low enough to allow access to the mute switch. The stitching is fantastic, the case is hand made in Turkey from either Turkish or Italian leather.

The UltraSlim Case

I then decided I’d try the UltraSlim case, which really is very very thin. Quite simply a slip on case, designed (I’d imagine) so that when you throw the iPhone in the bottom of a bag (or your purse ladies?) it doesn’t get all scratched up.

Slip on Ultraslim case

Simply slide your phone in from the top – note with the skin this was a bit more difficult. You might just see in the image above there are 12 holes (6 on either side) for the iPhone so you can hear the speaker when the phone rings.

Very slim case

You can see from the picture above this case really doesn’t add any more width to your iPhone. Once the phone is in place it’s really simple to get out. Simply push with your thumb from the bottom and the phone will slide out. The case is lined with a very nice soft velvet to help the phone slide in and out.

Summary

I do like the idea of having my pride and joy wrapped in hand selected, hand stitched Italian leather. I’ve been testing a few cases lately and none have the luxury feeling of leather. I really enjoy the Wallet Skin, and feel it’s the perfect mix of protection for my iPhone and practicality for me.

If you are looking for a leather case for your iPhone, I highly recommend the leather range from Sena Cases.