Firstly I wanted to thank Noreve for sending me this case for me to review. I want to cover the whole experience that I have had from the unboxing to the personalisation that you can get when choosing your case. But first, let me start by telling you a bit more about Noreve Saint-Tropez.
The Company was founded in 2003 in Saint-Tropez and uses French craftsmanship that specialises in creating premium protective leather covers for smartphones. The company offers 10 different leather finishes, over 100 different colours, and 12 options to customise your case which are made in workshops in France.
You can create a unique and handmade cover, in the simplest way possible :
- Choose your cover according to the reference of your smartphone or your tablet.
- Choose the colour and options of your choice according to your needs.
- Receive your handmade case within 14 days, anywhere in the world.
It’s not just phone cases that they make and have a wide product portfolio which includes leather cases for tablets as well as other small leather goods and belts. If you are interested in seeing the full range of products that Noreve Saint-Tropez offer why not check out their website at https://www.noreve.com/en/
As for this blog, I will be focusing on reviewing the leather iPhone 13 Pro that I have been using for the past few weeks.
Packaging/unboxing:
the first thing that hit me when I received my case was how premium the packaging was. The case comes in a lovely bright red box with the company logo on the front, but it doesn’t stop there. When you open the box you are greeted with a red string-tied bag which keeps the case protected. It’s nice to have a protective sleeve to put the case in if you are not using it for whatever reason so that the leather is nice and protected so it will look like new when you come to use it on your phone again.
Look and Feel:
My first impression when I removed the case from the sleeve was that it felt nice and of good quality. I choose to go with a red case and it certainly is that. The red is bright but not too overpowering and is matched nicely with the white text for my name to add that personalisation to the case. I will talk about the leather in a bit more detail later on but it feels thick and you can see the grain which I think looks great.
This is a handcrafted case and therefore is a bit thicker than what you would probably be used to but it doesn’t make the iPhone feel overly bulky. I think that if you are opting for this kind of crafted case then you should expect it to have a bit of thickness and that it’s not going to be something that bothers you for the protection and premium look that it gives your iPhone
Protection:
As mentioned before one of the first things that I noticed about this case was that it was quite thick. The case doesn’t wrap around the whole of the phone and has cutouts at the side for the side buttons and sim tray and at the bottom so the speakers and charging slot are open. The corners of the iPhone are well covered and I think offer a good level of protection if you were to drop your phone. Now I don’t go around drop testing my phone (let’s be honest they are not cheap bits of kit) but with day-to-day use and little knocks, I have found that there has been more than enough protection.
I do actually like the look that the cutouts give to the overall look of the case on the phone, it also makes the side buttons easy to access and use. I have found with some other cases that I have used that where the case covers the buttons it can make them hard to press and often have to repeatedly press them.
Leather Finish:
The leather finish that I have on my iPhone case is the dentition Tropezienne which is made out of Calfskin Leather and has a really soft texture to it, which is why it feels really nice in hand. The finish has really saturated colours so as per my previous comment the red that I have chosen is really nice and vibrant.
The saturated finish means that the colour will not fade when they are exposed to light so it keeps looking as vibrant as the day you received it. The leather used is also more resistant to abrasion and rubbing, the processes that are used to make these cases make them very durable for everyday use.
Personalisation:
When you order your case you can also choose to customise the case. Noreve offers more than 12 options to make your case unique. For example, you can add a shoulder strap, two additional slots for credit/business cards, or personalize your bag with your company logo or your initials.
This could be using a hot stamping technique which consists of using a heating block with a stamping tool to create the text or pictures selected.
In my case, I opted to have my name added to the case which was created by using UV Printing. A special printer is used to print several layers of ink on the case. This technique is used as it is particularly resistant and durable meaning that the ink is long-lasting and less likely to deteriorate. You can choose text or a picture to add to your phone case using this technique. It will certainly make your iPhone stand out from the others with standard cases.
Ease of use:
I found that the case was easy to get on my phone and only need a little bit of force to get into position correctly. Once it is on it was very secure, I didn’t find that the iPhone was popping out which I have on some other cases.
Again it’s straightforward to remove the case and certainly doesn’t feel like a mission to get your phone out to give it a clean.
Pricing:
Touching on the price as these are handcrafted cases you are going to pay a premium. For instance, the case that I am using is £65 and then there would be an additional £43 for the text, but again this is optional. I think if you think of this in terms of the Apple Leather case which will set you back £59 pounds it’s not all that expensive when you think of the craftsmanship that goes into making these cases.
Conclusion:
I have had a pleasant experience with this case, from the unboxing to everyday use. You can tell that the case has been handcrafted rather than just another case of the production line which I think is nice to see. It’s certainly a case that gives you that premium look and feel.
If you are looking for the best iPhone case, that is a bit different and is handcrafted then I would certainly suggest you check out their iPhone range at https://www.noreve.com/en/116-apple
And if you have recently upgraded to the iPhone 14 Max then check out the latest https://www.noreve.com/en/1621-iphone-14-pro-max