We’re generally not big fans of sleeve-style cases because of their limited functionality, but we were interested to check out CalypsoCrystal’s CalypsoCase for iPhone 4/4S ($119) for one reason: the premium materials it’s made out of. It’s certainly luxurious, made with very high quality leather in your choice of black, white, orange, or purple. Each has a titanium frame for support, and a sterling silver band called the CalypsoRing running along the outside.
All of the materials look and feel very, very nice; really, it’s a beautiful design.
Unfortunately, CalypsoCase has a major problem. It’s easy enough to slide an iPhone in, but in our testing removing it proved to be extremely troublesome. Unlike some sleeves, there’s no opening at the bottom that allows you to push the device up and out, or a ribbon like the one Apple introduced in its infamously expensive iPod and iPod nano leather cases to help the devices come out easily.
Instead, you must grab and pull at the half-inch scoops around the top. The fit is so tight that every removal of the iPhone 4 took several attempts of hard pulling before we got the right grip and were actually able to remove the iPhone. On the first attempt, we were actually worried that the phone was simply stuck; even when we went back and tried it for the fifth and sixth times, after trying to flex the case to make it less grippy, the same problems persisted.
