BookBook wallet case for iPhone review

Posted February 28, 201410 yr

Twelve South's BookBook wallet case for iPhone 5s and iPhone 5 looks, for all intents and purposes, like a gorgeous old leather-bound book. Like something out of a pulp-fiction library or fantasy role-playing game, magic bound within. And indeed there is! Open the BookBook up and your iPhone — and cards and cash — are safe and secure inside!

The leather front, back, and spine are all hardened to protect your precious iPhone against bumps and minor falls. It also disguises your iPhone as a book which, if someone were to come across it on a table somewhere, might dissuade them from making off with it. However, thanks to the smaller size it doesn't quite look as much like a book as the iPad version, and thanks to the lack of an elastic to keep it closed, the cover tends to pop open and reveal its true nature anyway. If you flip it upside down the weight of the iPhone will keep the BookBook closed but the opening for the camera will again betray what's inside. Since you have to work to keep it closed even when you pick up the BookBook to use your iPhone as a phone — who does that, I know! — and I've poked myself in the eye when I've forgotten, I really do hope we'll see an elastic or magnetic closure in a future version.

The BookBook's inside is just as beautiful as the outside with a plastic "window" slot of a picture ID and four slots for other IDs and credit cards. There's a convenient thumb-slider so you can get cards out as quickly as you put them in and a slot for cash, though you do have to fold it carefully to avoid it getting crumpled. (At least my Canadian-sized bills!)

Putting your iPhone and your wallet into the same inclosure has its pros and cons. It does help keep things simple and gives you only one thing to remember to take with you. However, it also gives you only one thing to lose or get stolen. At least with a BookBook case, Find my iPhone will help you locate your wallet along with your phone.

If you're into matching products, you can also get BookBook cases for your iPad and even your MacBook. (TomeTome?).

I love the Twelve South BookBook case for iPhone. The look is as perfect as the leather, the quality as gorgeous as the design. Add that closure and I'm all in!

Recommended!