First, a disclaimer: I’m neither an iPhone user nor a big phone case aficionado. I put an Otterbox case on my Samsung Galaxy phone the day I got it, and likely won’t ever remove it. However, when Eyn approached GeekDad about reviewing their storage cases for the iPhone, I knew someone who would be perfect to test it: my daughter. She not only has the required make and model of phone, but also loves cases and for a time seemed to change cases on her phone multiple times per day.
After some back-and-forth with Eyn over colors, they kindly provided a sample case. My daughter put it on her phone shortly after it arrived, and fairly soon after made the first, and perhaps most important, endorsement: she wouldn’t end up removing the case in favor of another for a month.
My initial impression of the case was that it seemed thick. There’s a door on the back that opens to reveal the storage area, which is deep enough to hold multiple credit cards, money, and more. She had two ID cards (don’t ask why she needed or wanted two), her ATM card, her babysitting certification card, and occasionally even school papers folded up in there. So yes, while it does make the phone bulkier than other cases she uses, she found the storage to be handy enough that it was a worthwhile trade-off.
The inside compartment also contains a mirror. She didn’t use the mirror too much, and she said it did get dirty after a while, but it would be a feature that others might enjoy.
The case also includes a wrist strap, which she liked a lot since it saved the phone from falling as much as it would have otherwise. The strap included a small plastic piece that would have allowed her to cinch it tighter on her wrist, but she quickly removed that because she found it didn’t help.
The feature about the case that I know most parents will want to know about: it does its job protecting the phone. From the number of cracked screens I see on my students’ phones, it seems that my daughter doesn’t drop her phone any more or less frequently than just about everyone else her age, but this case did a fantastic job protecting it. It was probably the best case she’s had from a purely protective point of view.
Her one complaint about the case is that she found it difficult to remove when she finally decided to swap it out for one of the others. It can be taken off my sliding the bottom portion of the case down, thus releasing the phone, but that bottom piece is in there pretty securely (which, in reality, is probably a good thing). She ended up needing to use one of the tools she has in her nail care kit to loosen it enough to remove the phone. However, I didn’t have nearly as much trouble pulling it off as she did.
Despite this, she did think very highly of the case. As I mentioned above, the mere fact that it remained on her phone for so long speaks volumes. She finally switched out because she simply wanted to switch cases, not because there was anything inherently wrong with the Eyn. And I do suspect that we will see it back on her phone at some point, when the practicality of the storage overrides her desire to change the look of her phone.
The Eyn case retails for around $30, and can be purchased from Amazon or directly from the Eyn website. They have models available for the iPhones 4-7 and the Galaxy S4.
(And thanks to my daughter for testing the case and providing her feedback for the review.)
