TLBHD - Thinner Lighter Better

Piel Frama iPad case review – luxurious leather cover for the iPad

By Andrei Girbea , updated on November 8, 2013

If you’ve got one of those iPad tablets, I’m pretty sure you already love it. Both the applications and the ultra-sleek looks.

But, in order to keep it looking as good, you do have to get some proper protection for it. And there are many options out there, like I already showed you in my post on Best iPad cases and covers. Still, out of them all, I for one am mesmerized by how good some of the leather cases are in terms of quality and aesthetics.

One of the covers that manage to distinguish from the vast majority are the Piel Frama iPad cases . And for good reason.

First, this is a genuine leather protection accessory, not one of those faux leather ones. That means the exterior is brilliant, and I’m not lying.

Just see the pictures in this post. And I guarantee they are even better live.

Piel Frama case - genuine leather and top notch quality and aesthetics

Piel Frama case – genuine leather and top notch quality and aesthetics

In fact, Piel Frama are known for their leather protection accessories. They’ve been in the business for a while (since 1984) and their products have all received high marks during all this time. They are in fact a Spanish company but you can find their cases all over the world, including US, Japan or even Australia. All their accessories are hand-made from genuine 1st quality cowskin, carefully selected.  That means that each product is unique and comes with its own particularities. And they say they do not use leather from mature cows, but rather veals , as their skins are smoother and have not been damaged by time.

The cases are of course ecological, as no forbidden substances are used during the entire build process. The company even has certifications to prove that from commissions and Authorities in Spain, EU and Germany (and you know how hard it is to impress them Germans :P).

Now that we determined how is that the Piel Frama cases look so good, you should also know that their products are rather exclusive. First, because they are hand made, you don’t get them on every corner, and second, because they are expensive. For the iPad, this luxury cases can go for around 100 bucks in the States, which is not nearly as much as a Vaja (by far my favorite leather iPad case these days), but it ain’t cheap either.

For this kind of money, you get a couple of different finishing options (regular, ostrich and crocodile cowskin) and colors (black, light/dark brown, red, orange or pink).

Various designs and colors available

Various designs and colors available

All of them come as a leather portfolios with a magnetic lock (producers guarantee that will not interfere with the device or damage it in any way), which I’ve also seen on other premium leather iPad Cases. But you can pick it with a regular clip as well. And they are all sturdy and reliable, as it is known a genuine leather product, if treated correctly, can last even for tens of years.

Clip or magnetic closures

Clip or magnetic closures

Inside there are 2 compartments: a tighter one for documents and the one for the iPad. You device will fit snugly in there (so snug that you might struggle getting it in at first, but that’s the case with all new leather cases – they stretch up to a perfect fit in time) and you will get easy access to all ports and connectors. There’s even a place on the front for where future versions might bring a front-camera, so smart thinking from Piel Frama on this.

Comes in a cool boxing and the inside is stamped with Piel Frama. Plus, there's a front-facing camera slot, as future proof

Comes in a cool boxing and the inside is stamped with Piel Frama. Plus, there’s a front-facing camera slot, as future proof (pic from here)

This case does not come with a screen protector, so you will have to buy one on your own. The ZaggShield will be my first choice, for $29.99 . However, it’s cool that the margins of the case wrap the edges of the iPad’s display, thus if you get a thin film protector on, it will be a lot harder for it to peel off during time.

Acts as a stand as well

Acts as a stand as well

Stitching and all the tiny details are just as they should be and you do get a Piel Frama logo on the outside. Plus, the interior of this case, made of smooth leather, is stamped with millions of Piel Frama symbols, which actually looks quite nice.

And there’s one more thing: like most other Top Leather cases, this one also can act as a iPad stand and that will come in handy when using it to watch a movie or for typing. And there’s actually a version specially designed to act as a stand too, as you can see in the picture on the right.

See the video review below as well for details on this case (the crocodile leather finish):

All in all, this is for sure a case I would love having on my iPad. It looks absolutely brilliant, it is one of the most solid built I’ve ever seen (with that extra care for details you only see on hand-made and limited edition covers) and it comes with a fair price for what it has to offer. Like I said, this one goes for around $120 in the US, of course with the possibility to return it, no-question-asked, in 30 days, just in case you don’t like it (which I doubt will ever happen). You should be patience though, might take between 2 to 4 weeks for delivery, as it takes time to produce and ship such a fancy cover all the way from Spain.

My favorite is the Black Regular Cowskin version, but all the others look OK too. Still, this one is, if I were to quote Steve Jobs, as magical as the iPad itself 😛 . Don’t you think?

Of course, if you own one of these Piel Frama Apple iPad cases or plan to get one, don’t hesitate to leave your questions and impressions below. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: Our content is reader-supported. If you buy through the links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
Andrei Girbea, Editor-in-Chief at TLBHD.com. This project was born as part of my search for capable mini-laptops that I could easily lug around to work, and still provide the performance that I'd need on a daily basis. I'm primarily using such ultracompact devices and have been testing them since 2006.

4 Comments

  1. Maria

    June 30, 2013 at 11:29 am

    When do you expect ASUS to offer a 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processor on its laptops and notebooks?

  2. Maria

    June 30, 2013 at 11:30 am

    I’m not sure why this question ended up on this page – sorry about that 🙂

    Maria, R.B.*

    * Registered Blonde

    • Andrei Girbea

      June 30, 2013 at 5:06 pm

      Not sure where was this intended to be posted, but Asus will have Haswell i5s (and i7s) in their new lineups, that will be available in stores by July

  3. Maria

    July 3, 2013 at 12:02 pm

    My mistake. I wanted to post it at the right place, viz. “performance 4th generation Intel Core i-5/i-7 laptops”.

    I have no idea how I ended up here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *