Review: Pacific Rim Leather Jacket for Apple iPhone

The Pacific Rim Leather Jacket is a simple flip-lid style case for the iPhone. It has a clean, elegant look, but is it clean and elegant to use? Read on for our review.

Buy: Pacific Rim Leather Jacket - $39.95

Build Quality

The PacRim Leather Jacket case is a very simple and clean-looking case. It's essentially made of a single piece of leather wrapped around two firmer pieces on the inside of the case. The leather itself is of decent enough quality, but it's not luxury-Italian leather, either. The inside of the case is felt to protect against scratches. The iPhone slides into the bottom and is held relatively snugly by the "tabs" on either side.

The best part about the PacRim Leather Jacket case is that, when closed, the iPhone is sealed up tight and clean. There are no gee-gaws sticking out - the entire package is as tidy as the iPhone itself. I also appreciate how little bulk the case adds to the iPhone, it's really a sexy little case.

Functionality

When sealed up, the volume buttons and ringer switch are exposed, as are the headphone jack and main power button. On the bottom are some holes for the iPhone's speaker and mic -- though that latter isn't strictly useful and you have to open up the flip to answer a call anyway.

Opening the case is fairly easy with two hands, you just pull it open and flip the lid around to the back. To open it with one hand you just push out next to the volume buttons -- the rest of the case is actually fitted so well to the iPhone that it's tough to get a finger in there to pop it open. Very nice. Most will want to flip the lid around to the back rather than having it flop around on the bottom -- though that's a problem that's common to bottom-flip cases.

The iPhone will fit into its dock without having to fully remove the case -- though you do have to slide it up a bit in order to make it fit.

Belt Clip

The PacRim Leather Jacket case comes with a belt clip - it's the standard "button and separate clip" variety. The clip operates well enough - the case locks into the clip securely and then rotates freely on it (no ratchet here). Unfortunately, the case is a tad wobbly on the clip, but not enough to worry me -- some relatively strongly yanking didn't separate the case from its clip. The clip itself is very sturdy - it's "weighty," has a strong spring, and doesn't seem likely to separate from either a belt or (as I usually wear it) a pocket.

Like most iPhone cases with clips, you can rest the iPhone horizontally on the clip for desktop movie viewing. Clipless, you can manage to position the flip lid for the same purpose, but it's awkward.

Nevertheless, I prefer to use the case without the clip at all - I just unscrewed the button. The case does an excellent job protecting the iPhone and without the clip feels just as sleek and slim as the iPhone itself.

Conclusion

If you're looking for a simple flip lid case to protect the iPhone, the Pacific Rim Leather Jacket ($39.95) is probably the case for you. Though I'm not a fan of the belt clip, I am a fan of its simple, protective design. I don't usually use flip-lid cases myself, but this one is better than most, it's on my iPhone now and will likely stay for awhile.

Pros

• Clean, simple design
• Protects iPhone nearly 100%
• Not Bulky at all

Cons

• Belt clip feels a little wobbly (but is secure)

Overall: 4/5