You’ve got to love Proporta, one of the world’s leading phone accessory makers. Not only are they British(!), they’re great people, they even have their own chatty office blog.
And, for the Apple iPhone, they’ve put together three cases and have kindly sent over samples for review on All About iPhone. In no particular order, here’s a look at their Perfora case, their Maya pouch and the all-conquering Alu-Leather Edge case. All three have their merits, as shown below…
The ‘Perfora’ is a horizontally belt-mounted pouch with leather top flap and magnetic closure. The leather and stitching is of good, though not 100% perfect quality and the rear belt clip is well designed to keep the device close to you at all times. In use, it’s easy to get the iPhone out with too hands and still possible to get it out one-handed. The choice of materials is great, with an odd but rather lovely neoprene insert.
Good for protection and good for style, but horizontally mounted belt cases aren’t to everyone’s taste or lifestyle. A personal choice!
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The Maya pouch comes in a wide variety of colours and is a simple, but stylish leather affair with soft, synthetic lining. There’s sadly no belt loop, but you do get a metal lanyard fixing point. I was a little disappointed by the the thickness of the leather used and the resulting minimal protection of the iPhone from knocks.
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Finally, the Alu-Leather Edge case is designed for device use while cased. This was (just) my favourite of the three cases, with the moulded hard plastic bottom holding the iPhone incredibly securely, while the synthetic rear inner protects the back from scratches. Volume and power buttons, audio jack, camera and serial ports are all accessible, without ever having to take the iPhone out of the case. The top flap has Proporta’s trademark aluminium protective insert and the closure is a simple press-fit, a system which seems to work well, though it’s hard to predict what will happen after a few months of use.
The only downside is the mounting arrangements. There’s a lanyard ring, but the belt option is via a screw-in swivel clip (not shown here, it’s too hideous) – when in place, this holds the whole assembly an inch or so off the hip and puts you firmly in ultra-geek territory. A simply belt loop or integral clip would have worked much better.
Still, by simply avoiding the swivel clip arrangement and leaving the dummy screw in place, you get a stylish in-situ case that offers great protection.
Thanks to Proporta for the review samples, go check out their range!
Steve Litchfield