Review: GizmoSkin Black Lambskin Leather Blackberry 8800 / 8830 Pouch

img_3285.JPGGizmoSkin Black Lambskin Leather Blackberry 8800 / 8830 Pouch
[rating:8.5] 8.5/10
Link: www.GizmoSkin.com
Cost: $36.95

The first thing that struck me about the GizmoSkin pouch is the quality of the leather. The case leather is extremely soft and smells of quality leather. The case is a perfect fit for the 8800 and has a very interesting clip ratchet mechanism that is hidden inside the leather. The only real complaint I had about the case is that the clip is not very strong and may come off your belt when you remove your BlackBerry. Check out the full review below.

The Review Unit: The review unit is a standard black leather case with a ratchet clip. Unlike other case makers GizmoSkin does not have any customization or color options beyond the basic case.

A Closer Look: One of the major reasons we do these reviews is because there are no really good pictures of the cases available online. We also try to be as specific as possible when it comes to the case descriptions.

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Above you will see the front of the case. You can see the quality of the leather in the picture above.

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The left and right sides of the case can be seen above. There is sufficient room on the sides to get a good grip on your 8800 when you pull it out of the holster. There are cutouts on the side for the headphone jack, USB jack, and volume buttons. A nice touch on the case is the fact that even the sides of the case are covered in high quality lambskin leather. You can also see from the picture the nice tight fit that the case provides. Unlike other cases the sides are not sown with the leather facing inwards. I find that cases that have the leather facing inwards make it harder to insert and remove the BlackBerry.

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In the pictures above you can see the top and bottom of the case. The top has left cutouts for the mute and power button but they do not have an opening for the speaker phone opening. From the second picture you can once again see the high quality stitching that was put into this case. This also takes into consideration that the front and the back of the case are made out of one piece of leather which wraps around the bottom.

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From the pictures above you can see how the closing flap of the case looks. The flap is made out of quality leather and has a magnetic closing mechanism. The flap closes on the case into a cutout fabric area of the front of the case. The flap magnet is sufficiently strong to stop a BlackBerry from falling out accidentally but is also soft enough that when you grasp the sides of the BlackBerry and pull out it will open the flap easily.

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The pictures above show the back of the GizmoSkin case including the hidden ratchet clip. The clip has 8 locking positions and stays in the position very well. The clip is covered in a different kind of leather (not lambskin) and only sticks out about a 1/4th of an inch from the case. My major complaint on this case is that the clip is not as strong as it should be. I found that sometimes when I removed the BlackBerry from the case that the clip came off as well. Hopefully this can be fixed in future cases by GizmoSkin.

Pros:

  • High quality lambskin leather
  • Hidden clip ratchet mechanism
  • Nice magnetic flap closure
  • Perfect snug fit for BlackBerry 8800 (Couldn’t be any better!)

Cons:

  • Clip is not as strong as I would like
  • No customization or color options

Conclusion: The GizmoSkin 880/8830 pouch is a great pouch in my personal opinion. I docked the case a point and a half for the clip issues but even that was not a deal breaker. The quality of the leather that is put into this case is better than any other case I have seen to date. The hidden ratchet system for the clip is ingenious and works like a charm. Unlike other cases the ratchet has a very strong grip and does not wobble. Hopefully in a new revision GizmoSkin can strengthen the clip and make this case a BerryReview Editors Choice.

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