Vaja ivolution SP Case Review

First, I must admit something to you about myself.  I am a natural materials fanatic.  Which means that I love when items are made from natural materials (wood, stone, leather, etc.) instead of plastics.  And if those natural materials are of a high quality, all the better.  After reading through Vaja’s site, I noticed that they claim to use the top 10% of Argentina’s full grain leather hides, which ensures a higher quality, strength, character, and grain.  So imagine my excitement when I opened the white box containing the sample Vaja case sent to us, and I immediately saw the unmarred, perfectly colored leather case.  I’m almost embarrassed to tell you, I even smelled the leather and knew this was the high quality which Vaja claimed on its site.

This review will cover three things about the Vaja case.  My initial impressions, the aesthetics of the case, and the protective qualities of the case.

First off, the color choices for the leather are extensive.   The case that Vaja sent us was their ivolution SP iPhone 3G case.  The color is Steel Grey with Vibrant Orange for the stripe and inside.

Vaja lets you pick your color combination on its web site and there are 40 choices of different leather colors for the background and 40 choices of different colors for the stripe and interior.  These custom options provide you with a truly unique looking case.  In addition, Vaja will personalize the back of the case with text or a graphic ensuring that you get a unique one-of-a-kind design.  Vaja will also add their ultra clip to the back of the case if you prefer to carry your iPhone that way.

The case frame is completely wrapped in high quality leather inside and out, and the leather on the interior of the case matches the stripes color perfectly.  As I said initially, I love leather products and can tell very quickly the difference between quality leather vs. cheap processed leather.  This is by far, one of the nicest leathers I have seen in any case for any phone.  Not only did Vaja do a fantastic job of picking top grain leather for their cases, but their coloring technique is excellent.  The orange color is vivid, uniform, and a pure joy to look at. 

The case itself covers the majority of the iPhone, including the complete back, bottom, and sides.  The only part that is left somewhat exposed is the top portion of the phone.  I imagine this is to allow you to remove the iPhone if you need to dock it. 

It also took some work to get the phone to fit into the case initially.  It’s very snug and there is absolutely no movement inside the Vaja case.  This is a good thing, as I have had a few problems with loose fitting cases on my iPhone before and it usually ends up creating scratches as various small pieces of materials creep their way in between the spaces.  That isn’t going to happen here.

The other thing about this case is that it has fairly thick “walls” which seem like they offer very good impact protection all around.  With something as valuable as your iPhone, this is the sort of protection you want.  Even though the top of the phone is more exposed than the other sides, the case protrudes just enough above the phone that it would probably take the hit before the phone if it fell.

Button and port access is also very good on this case.  All the buttons and ports including volume, speaker switch, dock, microphone, and speaker have easy access.  To access the home button on the front of the phone, Vaja has created what can best be described as a floating leather button that easily pushes the home button without much effort.  In the beginning, I was pressing that button fairly hard thinking it required that type of force, but after getting used to the case, I realized it doesn’t require much effort at all, and is quite easy to use without lots of pressure.

Overall, with a retail price of $95, this isn’t the cheapest leather case on the market, but trust me when I tell you, it is the best leather case I have tested thus far, and worth every penny.  If you’re as much of a fanatic about leather as me, you will not regret this purchase.

Vaja cases can be purchased and customized at their website at www.vajacases.com.