Cygnett Boston Leather Pull Tab iPhone 4 / 4S Case Review

I love my smartphone cases and have around a dozen so you might if you like call me a bit obsessive. The amazing thing is though that some of the cases i’ve got are truly shocking and love to trap dirt on the inside, resulting in crushed grit and ‘stuff’ which blemishes the back of my iPhone 4. This has become an increasing problem with hard shell cases in particular, so I decided I needed something new. Enter the Cygnett Boston, a case which boasts genuine leather and a pull tab with a ribbon feature along the middle allowing it to stand out amongst the two dimensional images of cases across the internet. I have tested this case for around 2 and a half weeks, so read on to find out if it is worth your dosh.

Review: Design, in use, protection

There isn’t always a lot of things to say about iPhone 4 cases in general surrounding design and the same applies to the Cygnett Boston. Key features aside, the Cygnett Boston is an iPhone 4 case made from genuine leather and the one shipped to us was the brown leather with red and white pull tab variety. This I feel would be my choice between the two options available (the other being black leather with black and white pull tab) but that’s just personal preference.

The leather on the case is of a very high quality and has a nice soft feel to it but not too soft that it’ll blemish and look shabby within a month. The feature I suppose which will stand out the most to people is the wrap around effect the red and white ribbon has on the Cygnett Boston, with the pull tab completing the look. The ribbon and pull tab itself is weaved in a seatbelt sort of fashion, leading me to presume it’s tear resistant and during my usage it feels pretty well put together indeed. On the inside of the case it is a soft touch, suede type material which kindly cleans your screen a little bit from all the smudging that occurs on a touch screen smartphone; this isn’t noted in Cygnett’s marketing material, but it’s true none the less.

The pull tab works by inserting your iPhone 4 in to the Boston, which pushes down the rest of the tab so that it can be fastened securely to the front of the case. The Cygnett Boston does this through trusty magnets, which are pretty good and hold their own under stress. To bring your iPhone 4 out of the Boston, all that is needed from you is to pull up on the tab and then pull your smartphone out manually. For some people this may seem a little bit backwards when they could have a hard shell with instant access to the display, but remember this case offers full protection whilst a hard shell won’t.

Branding wise Cygnett have placed their graphic on to the front of the pull tab clasp (check image above), which as noted is magnetic. Towards the back of the case you’ll find another bit of branding, where Cygnett have amply applied their name to it. This doesn’t affect the design much and branding a product is only natural.

Towards the back of the case Cygnett have kindly provided a velvet lined credit card slot to hold your driving license, debit / credit cards etc and I found this very convenient indeed, as well as a nice touch to add more functionality to a case designed for a smartphone.

Inside of the packaging for the Cygnett Boston is a handy screen protector & microfibre cleaning cloth which are very nice additions to a product already well priced within its respectable market (check pricing below). The screen protector supplied is of a decent quality and as my current screen protector was nearing the end of its life, I could only oblige but to apply this new one (thanks, Cygnett).

Pricing

This is generally the tipping point for products like this and currently through a Google search you can pick up a Cygnett Boston iPhone 4 case for arounf £27 on Amazon, which is a pretty reasonable price considering both the quality of the leather on the product and also the screen protector and microfibre cleaning cloth supplied.

Overall

To sum up this review in one sentence here we go; the Cygnett Boston is a keeper. Using it for two weeks, I have fully enjoyed using it and it makes my iPhone 4 look ever so more stylish. The combination of great leather, effective pull tab, small touches like a credit card slot and extras such as a screen protector made me feel like Cygnett cared about my smartphone’s protection just as much as me. Overall, I can’t recommend this case enough.

Rating: (10/10)