TL;DR: Jisoncase is making quality products for a great price. From look to feel, both the iPhone 8 Plus Slim Case and the Apple Watch 42mm leather band are worth it — and the only downside came in the form of incomplete coverage for the iPhone 8 Plus case, which is something a lot of brands suffer from.
Full disclosure: Jisoncase reached out to GoGoDadget for a full review of their iPhone 8 Plus Slim Leather Case and their Apple Watch 42mm leather band, and sent us both products for free as samples for testing. All opinions, thoughts, and terrible jokes are our own.
There’s something about leather accessories that pair well with technology. It might be the high-tech meeting classic, but the way leather will wear and patina gives each accessory their own personality, and can withstand the test of time.
Jisoncase is making products out of genuine leather and selling them for great prices. Did they cut corners? Let’s find out!
DESIGN
First off, the iPhone 8 Plus leather case. It feels just as sturdy as, say, the Nomad Leather iPhone 7/8 Plus case, and has a nice texture to it that has roughed up over time, making sure it’s not too slippery. As you can see, Jisoncase sent us the brown one, which we requested.
Honestly, at first it seemed a little too reddish-brown, but over time that has faded and has a nice redwood look and feel to it. On the inside of the case is a soft fabric to keep your phone from scratching, and it feels durable.
Instead of covering the bottom of the device near the lightning port, however, Jisoncase has opted to leave it open and free — just like Apple’s own leather case — so you still have to be careful.
For the leather Apple Watch 42mm strap, Jisoncase also sent this in brown — but it’s more of a tan than the phone case, and has a stitched aesthetic as well. At first glance I preferred this color over the case, but both have grown on me in different ways.
At the ends of the straps are the metal connections for the Apple Watch, which slide in and out of the Apple Watch easily, without issue. I don’t even mind that the metal color doesn’t match my Apple Watch, as it gives the whole setup some character.
IN USE
The Jisoncase leather iPhone 8 Plus case feels great, functions nicely, and the buttons are not hard to press in the slightest. Like I said before, the wear has added grip to it, and the color is starting to patina nicely.
My only complaint is the open bottom of the device. Leaving the bottom edge of the screen vulnerable to scratches is an odd choice that I can’t really figure out. This is one of those preference things, though, because obviously if Apple thought the design was good enough for their own cases, a lot of customers and competitors do too.
I would much rather have full piece of mind, though, but at the prices Jisoncase is offering the accessories, I’m not about to make a huge stink about the lack of a bottom lip.
As for the Apple Watch 42mm leather strap, it took a while for the leather to wear-in, but at no point was it uncomfortable, even in the stiff stages. It had to be worked a little bit to make sure the watch sat on top of my wrist completely though, and until it did I just wore it one notch tighter than usual.
This is a minor inconvenience, though, as sometimes the watch would lift up and lock itself. It maybe happened just 2 or 3 times total before being worked in, so it wasn’t a big deal.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Look. Leather accessories are awesome, but they’re expensive. Jisoncase is proving it doesn’t have to be that way.
While I do prefer the build of the Nomad Leather Case, at less than $20 you can’t really go wrong with a Jisoncase. If for some reason it doesn’t hold up as well as you’d hope (I only tested it for two weeks), buy two of them for less than one official Apple case.
You can find the iPhone 8 Plus (it also fits the 7 Plus) case at the Jisoncase official website here, on Amazon here, or even Aliexpress here.
If you decided to skip the 8 Plus and go straight to the X, Jisoncase also has a version for you, too. And if you hate upgrading your phone altogether, the iPhone 6 cases are still available as well.
As for the watch straps — who doesn’t want a smartwatch to look classier? With the Jisoncase Apple Watch 42mm leather watch straps, you won’t look like you just finished at the gym and you won’t look like a tech nerd either.
As the band wears, the more comfortable it gets too.
You can find the Apple Watch 42mm watch straps on their official website here, Amazon right here, and if you have a 38mm Apple Watch, you can find those sizes right here as well. For $16.99 at the time of publishing, that’s impulse-buy level of affordable.