And now for something completely different…

It’s really never occurred to me to try a novelty iPhone case. It’s not that I don’t find them interesting; I guess I’ve just never thought of myself as the target market. Then again, given my laundry list of iPhone 5 case misfortunes (read the full sob story here), I’ve been pretty much willing to try anything – so why not take the opportunity to take the Toonish Black Cat iPhone 5 case ($8.00 at EZ Buys Direct) for a spin?

There’s something oddly amusing about being an adult male with a cute cat case. Yes, it screams “hey look at me, I’m an attention-seeker,” there’s no doubt about that. But at the same time, it’s sort of funny to watch people struggle with whether or not to ask you about it. Most don’t, but the few that do seem to get that it’s a gag and all in fun. Obviously if I were a teenager I probably wouldn’t get the same reactions – I’m sure cases like the Toonish Black Cat are common among younger age groups – but still, it’s been an interesting study in peoples’ reactions.

Aesthetically it’s cute, there’s no denying it. It’s so cute in fact that my 15-month old daughter has been relentless in her efforts to acquire the case and call it her own – even though she doesn’t have an iPhone (yet). I consider that a plus, believe it or not; my kid is picky and doesn’t obsess over just anything. Huge points scored there. It’s definitely a hit.

So it’s cute and it’s a little awkward for an adult male to carry around, that’s great; how well does it protect the iPhone 5? The short answer: extremely well.

The Toonish Black Cat case is made of silicone so it’s flexible and easy to secure onto your iPhone. Once fitted, the edges and back of your iPhone 5 are very well protected thanks to the shock-resistant design inside the case (see photo).

Like most silicone iPhone cases, the fit is a little looser around the screen itself, allowing for easy removal; this also means that you’re probably going to want to apply a decent screen protector to your iPhone if you use this case because, while it protects the screen from direct “flat” impact, it isn’t built to prevent a whole lot of screen impact. I can attest to the durability of the Toonish Black Cat case though, my daughter managed to successfully get a hold of my iPhone about a half dozen times while I was testing the case and my iPhone survived each time.

Now for the secondary test: how would my friend Sabrina like the case? Sabrina is sort of like Mikey – that kid from Life cereal. Sabrina will try it; Sabrina will try anything. And she can get away with carrying around a cute cat case a little easier than I can.

SABRINA’S COMMENTS:

Pros:

• It’s cute – I got two compliments on it right away
• It’s lightweight
• I liked the ‘feet’ of the cat – it made it a bit easier to grip
• I thought the ears would bother me sticking out as much as they do but haven’t had an issue with them.
• It would make for a great case for those with little kids – they can chew on the ears if they need to and not damage the phone.

Cons:

• It’s made of silicone so while it’s easy to grip, it collects everything. I put it in my pocket and it got fuzzies all over it.
• It makes the on/off button at the top a bit harder to get to. It would be great if it stuck out a little more like the volume buttons do.

CONCLUSION

if you’re looking for a novelty case for your iPhone 5 you could do a lot worse than the Toonish Black Cat case from EZ Buys Direct. It’s definitely a worthwhile case for those looking for something different or a conversation starter; and at only $8.00 it’s pretty hard to beat. Despite it’s obvious “cute” factor it provides pretty good protection, certainly more so than at least two of the iPhone 5 cases I’ve owned so far – both of which cost at least three times as much money.