It is no secret that I use casings for the portable stuff I carry around. Some people dislike these things as, according to them: why slap a cheap case on an expensive, nice looking device? This is a good point, and: that’s why I like my casings to be well designed.

A while ago I bought a Noreve case for my mobile phone. They have models for many phones and a wide range of colours and materials to choose from. If you like your phone to dangle around your waist: they have nice clip-ons for that as well. As far as my casing is concerned, the pros: well designed, solid and has a nice feel to it. The cons: colour gets a bit darker after a while, the edges are not very well protected, and there’s a useless, overly tight, pocket inside for holding business cards. However, I am nitpicking, overall I am happy with it.

Another casing gem that my brother pointed me to is a Dutch designed case for holding credit card sized cards: the secrid card protector, winner of a red dot product design award. The cards `fan’ out of the case making them easy to pick out without even opening the surrounding wallet cover: see the image below. It is a very small wallet, which is actually a good thing: I found out that I carry a lot of useless stuff around, and a smaller wallet forces you to make choices and kick-out the things you hardly ever use. Furthermore, because the shell is made of metal it prevents unwanted reading of RFID chips that are being embedded in such cards at an ever increasing rate. The pros: small, rigid and looks pretty. The cons: it’s a bit heavy, the slide-out mechanism seems robust, but it uses a lever which may wear down over time. Additionally, it only holds up to about six cards, which may not be enough for everyone. Even though they have a `double’ version available: that, for me, kind of defeats to point of having a small wallet. Nevertheless, if you’re concerned about RFID, or just looking for a new stylish wallet: the secrid is recommended.