P&Q Luxury Pocket Book Is The iPhone Wallet Of Kings [Review]

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Luxury Pocket Book byPad&Quill
Category: cases
Works With:iPhone 5/S
Price: $85

My friends and family love Pad & Quill cases, mostly because Brian, the P&Q founder, keeps sending me cases to review, and I keep testing them for a month or so and then giving them away.

The Luxury Pocket Book is another of the bookbindery iPhone cases, this time with an absurdly luxurious list of materials (hence the name I guess). It’s also likely to cause fights to break out amongst my family and friends as they battle for ownership.

What It Is

The Luxury Pocket Book is a leather-bound book with a Baltic beechwood insert, a leather lining and slots inside the front cover for credit cards and cash (bills, not coins). It has cutouts for all your ports and buttons, plus a hole in the back for the camera and flash.

Lastly, there’s an elastic strap to hold it closed, just like on a Moleskine notebook.

The Good

This thing is absurdly well made. You know those books in old libraries that have lasted for hundreds of years? It’s like that, only it only needs to last until you buy a new shape of iPhone in the future. The leather on the outside is grainy and soft, giving a good grip in the hand an also on a pants leg (it won’t slip off like a plastic case or a naked iPhone).

Mmmm. Leather...
Mmmm. Leather…

Inside the lining is made of a smoother leather in a contrasting color, and the pockets are lined with what looks and feels like nylon fabric.

Cards fit snugly in the three slots, and the bottom pocket has a see-through front and a thumb hole to make removing an ID either unnecessary or easy, depending on your needs.

As for protection, you won’t find anything safer short of an actual ruggedized case. The wood absorbs shocks, the rubber corner bumpers not only keep the iPhone tightly fixed in place but also add another layer of shock proofing, and if you drop the iPhone with the cover closed you’d have to be absurdly unlucky to damage it.

The Bad

Despite being pretty light for this kind of case, the Luxury Pocket Book is still a little too bulky for the front pocket of a pair of skinny jeans. Then again, if you wear skinny jeans then this kind of case mightn’t really be your style anyway.

Add in three cards and a wad of cash money and you’ll really need to use the strap to keep it shut, which also has the result of pressing your cards onto the iPhone screen. This is harmless, but it might make marks in the grease on your screen and force you to clean it.

The Verdict

Tooled leather spine. Try to stop yourself fingering it all day long.
Tooled leather spine. Try to stop yourself fingering it all day long.

If luxury is your thing, and especially if you keep the iPhone is a purse or big pocket, then this is just about the best case you could find. It’s well made, it offers an absurd amount of protection for the size, and it looks beautiful. And while a month of use isn’t enough to really wear anything in, it’s pretty clear that this case will age as well as Paul Newman. Or Maybe George Clooney. You know what I’m trying to say. I’m saying it’ll look even sexier once it gets a few gray hairs.

One word of advice: try to keep your cards to the minimum. Three cards plus cash is too much. You’d be better off using one of the card slots for rolled-up notes and leaving the actual banknote pocket empty. And if you live outside the U.S, remember that this wallet, like any other iPhone wallet, has nowhere to put coins.

luxpb-gray

Product Name: : Luxury Pocket Book

The Good: P&Q’s most beautiful case yet. It’ll outlast any of your Apple devices.

The Bad: Bulky when fully loaded.

The Verdict If this is your kind of thing, you won’t regret the $85 price for a moment. If it’s not then you probably didn’t read this far anyway.

Buy from: Pad&Quill

[rating=excellent]

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