As we’re now dealing with a huge influx of hundreds of cases and other accessories, we’ve opted to issue abbreviated reviews of a number of late case arrivals for the iPhone 3G — ones that are substantially similar to cases we’ve previously reviewed. This review looks at Noreve’s Tradition C ($40-50), a simple leather sleeve with abnormally nice external leather. Updated October 24, 2008: Noreve this month released Tradition C for the iPod touch 2G, an identical case that doesn’t merit a separate review; we have added photos to the bottom of this review, and preserve our rating for this model.
We generally aren’t fans of sleeve-style cases, which strike us as lazy to design and inconvenient to use, but they do have their appeal: you just toss your iPhone inside and pull it out when you need to use it, hoping that you don’t accidentally drop it on the floor during each transition.
Noreve’s take is different from the pack in three ways.
First, it’s not especially slim—it feels a little thick in a nice, substantial way. That’s due in part to the leather, the second item: twelve smooth leather colors are available for $40 each, while three vintage colors such as the one shown here are sold for a premium price of $50.
We continue to really like Noreve’s leather picks.
Third, it takes an odd approach to iPhone 3G bottom coverage. Unlike some sleeve-style cases, it doesn’t cover the entire bottom of the iPhone 3G, but it also doesn’t expose the speakerphone components like some other sleeves we’ve seen. Thus, the speakerphone ports are blocked, but the Dock Connector is not, so you can conceivably go home and sync or charge the iPhone without pulling it from Tradition C, but you can’t access calling functionality without using the headphone port.
