[Review] Mapi Tion Leather Wallet Case for iPhone 4S

I am a fond fan of the Wallet cases when out and about, it makes it easier to carry important cards with me, especially if for instance I am off to the cinema. I can leave my wallet at home, taking my bank card & Cinema membership card with me on the back of my iPhone and not have to worry about being bulked up with my wallet and other stuff when I only need two things. The Tion leather case from Maip Cases allows me to do this with ease, and in a quite stylish way with a rather bold and fetching red colouring on the case.

Naturally the main use of the case belongs on the back, but we will focus on the front first. The phone is practically all covered in the case, in some senses I feel this is good but in this case, not so much. I will include an image to demonstrate this but I had some issues with the way the case has been formed around the shape of the iPhone. Around the home button and base of the phone you have those two pieces hiding the black body of the front glass, they leave a pretty substancial gap in my eyes on the case, which can be a tedious annoyance when using the phone.

I have included an image to the right which explains this perfectly. Although most will say that you need to ware the case in longer, I have been using the case for some time on & off, and the issue has been persistant. Upon lending the case to a friend to give a little try with, he reported back the exact same issue as I had, which you can see on the photo.

I would say it'd be nicer if those lips weren't there and the case was more form fitting in design, with a more squared off front. The only other issue I have is the top cutting for the front facing camera, sensors and phone speaker. This I feel could of been done a bit more, with the same bowing effect that the bottom has occuring on the top of the case. I have tried sitting the iPhone in the case front down overnight with a paperweight on the back (I don't recommend this, due to the weight of a paperweight) but that had no effect come morning.

So now we move on to the storage for the cards, but first lets mention the camera cut out. I found it had no issues with picture taking from the rear-facing camera, and has no effects on the flash.

The card storage is a lot more tolerant than other cases I have used that offer this functionality. The cars were easy to get in and out, and the button they use to fasten the back is firm and locks easily. Personally I don't feel the locking parts are needed, the cards are firmly held in the case with minimal to no movement when in general use, and they are easy to pull out with a little force.

Other ports around the bottom were open well on the case, the only other issue I felt affected use was the volume buttons and mute switch on the side. I felt the piece of leather between the volume up & the lock button got in the way a little, and it would of been nicer if it wasn't there.

Overall, the case is good, and I may have some niggles with it but it proved to be a nice case. You can purchase the Tion for iPhone 4/4S at Mapi's website here, and they offer the same case for the iPhone 5, which you can see more information about here.

I give the Mapi Tion Leather Case a solid 7/10, and the only true modifications I would do are to remove the lips at the bottom of the case around the home button, and to make the overall front a bit more form fitting.