Since the invention of the modern cell phone, there has been the cell phone case. An often oversized, clunky, and unsightly piece of equipment, most of us had no choice but to don these horrors on our beautiful, expensive smartphones as the only means of protection the market offered us. Then came the phone skin.
Phone skins are adhesive on one side, and gorgeous on the other. Most offer no-to-minimal protection while some offer more case-like protection. It’s no secret that Toast has been making some of the most premium skins around. Their wooden skins offer a functionality and a beauty that is hard to find, even among the other top manufacturers in the industry.
Recently they’ve introduced leather skins to their line, and me, not wanting to be left out, was eager to try it out. So here’s our review of the leather Toast Cover for my Nexus 6P.
The First Steps
I was going back and forth about the Toast cover. Generally, I love phone skins, but I was looking at them soon after purchasing my Nexus 6P, and I was terrified of dropping it and breaking it. But when I got a closer look at it online, I pulled the trigger.
The cover is much more than a skin. It actually offers some protection. The whole cover is leather providing a layer of cushion between your phone and the tile floor. I did have several small drops with the cover on, and my phone remained protected. It’s no Otterbox, but if you only need minimal protection, the leather cover does offer that.
Installing skins gives me panic attacks, so normally I let my much more detail oriented wife install them. But, I gave it a go myself this time, and it actually wasn’t bad. The cover came with detailed instructions which worked very well for a nice install. If you’re familiar with other skins, you may be familiar with having 2-3 tries to reposition your skin if you’ve applied it. I just want you to know that’s NOT the case with these covers. The instructions warn to get it right the first time, and it’s important to heed that. Of all the skins I’ve applied, none have even come close to the adhesive power of these skins, so make sure you line everything up accurately before beginning.
The Cover Itself
The quality of the leather Toast cover is something to behold. The leather is genuine and is incredibly soft in the hand. It completely changes the feel of the device in the hand. I had the cover on my device for over a month, and during that time there was slight wearing of the leather. Not in an integrity-compromising way, but in the way that leather should wear over time. It was actually quite remarkable.
I have only one comment besides all the wonderful things I’ve already stated. There are “wings” that fold over the corners of the device. I found they did not meet tightly in every corner, and I could feel the seems a lot where they did not meet. I can’t comment if this was because of a poor install (I felt that everything was ok), but it was a small inconvenience nonetheless.
Final Remarks
Toast is known for their quality products, and their new leather cover fits comfortably into that description. If you’re looking for something a little different and a lot of premium, you should definitely check out what Toast has to offer. In addition to the new leather offerings, Toast also offers high quality wood covers as well.
Have you ever installed a phone skin before?
Do you prefer skins or cases?
Will you give Toast a try?
[Image via iTechTriad]
Eric Dye says
I checked out their website. They’ve got some seriously cool covers. 😀
Drewski says
Thanks for the review, Jesse. After a month how are the wings that wrap around the corners holding up?
Jesse says
Hey there. Had it on for about a month and they held up just fine. Ended up removing it after that time.
David says
Quick question. How did you remove it? Did you just peek it off, or is there a trick?
Thanks.
Jesse Gruber says
Wow, been a while, but I believe I carefully peeled it off. I’m sure the longer it’s been on there, the more caution you should use. Perhaps reaching out to them to see if there’s a process they recommend might not be a bad idea either. Cheers!