2005-07-26

Smartcaze, a review

I received my Smartcaze yesterday, kudos to Stylebird online store for their quick delivery.
I bought two of these, the first one is Urban FX Flipover Gold. It can hold up to 10 credit cards and looks like a tiny Samsonite briefcase.



Inside there is 7 plastic pockets that fans out when the wallet is opened, thus making it easy to find the card you need. You can fit more then one card per pocket, but the upper limit is about 10 cards. It has a snap-lock that keeps the wallet securely shut. If it had a rubber seal it would properbly be water-proof.



My business card is slightly higher then a credit card, and it could barely fit into the Urban FX so it is really as small as you can make it.

The other Smartcaze is a Special Edition Luxury Curve Leather (ooo, me like long names). Now this one is even smaller on the outside than the Urban FX.



Inside its shiny chromed exterior (decorated with fake leather) you'll find even more shiny chrome. This is what I would call a "party wallet" because you can only fit one or two cards plus a drivers license. Smartcaze says it can take 5 cards, but I doubt that.
It has a small ring in one end, so it seems that you could add a strap (like one for mobile phones) and hang it around your neck. Why? I don't know...



For the time being, the Urban FX Flipover will be my wallet of choice.

All in all, the quality in both wallets is really good, my only worry is the plastic snap-lock on the Flipover that may wear out in time.

As for using these as luxury Hipster hPDA? I don't think so, they are to small. Maybe if you are one of those who use business card sized Hipster hPDA, but the wallet is too thin so you can't carry around that many cards.

More about the Smartcaze later when I had time to use it.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for reviewing these. I only wish I could order them here in the USA.

Question #1: how does it actually deal with paper money? Their website made this sound like "the wallet of the future", but, in my opinion, if it doesn't have a good solution for paper money/bills . . . then what's the use?

Question #2: I would assume most men keep their (soft leather) wallet tucked safely in their back, hip pocket. These wallets look like a hardshell case (very similar, in fact, to some PDA holders I've seen). How comfortable are they in the hip pocket? Heavy? Any fear of cracking the case etc. if you sit on it wrong? Given that's it's the same thickness on the top and bottom (unlike a leather wallet which is narrower; basically conforming to the curve of your butt over time), does it fit comfortable into, say, a pair of jeans? Or does it feel like you've got a deck of cards in your back pocket?

(Okay so #2 was more than one question!)

Seeking to simply,

Scott

5:50 PM  
Blogger Mel said...

Interesting...these look similar to cases by Pocketpaq, which are available in the US. I just ordered one last night, so I can't say what they are actually like yet.

9:41 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home