Like it or not, if you want to have a phone in mint condition months after purchase, a case is almost a necessity. With phones being more fragile and prices for repairs soaring, cases are a cheap way of protecting your investment.
Sure, you could buy a $2 TPU case on eBay and slap it on your phone, but why would you do that, when there are so many stylish options available? Lastu cases are one of the most polished cases I’ve seen, with real wood directly from Finland, superb craftsmanship, and the option to personalize it with text and/or logo engravings.
Appearance
When you receive the case, you can see that even the packaging has been given some thought. Rather than using a regular plastic packaging like the rest of case manufacturers, Lastu decided to go for recycled cardboard, conveying a stronger feeling of the product being closely attached to nature.
Lastu is very proud of the wood it uses. Since it is based in Finland, the wood it uses all comes from the north of this beautiful nation. Since making cases out of wood means that you actually harm the environment a bit, Lastu makes sure that the wood it uses comes from manufacturers with sustainable development and avoids endangered types, such as Ebony or Zebrawood.
The wood has been polished and waxed in such a superb way that it feels extremely smooth to the touch. Nevertheless, it still has the small imperfections typical of wood elements, which makes it look authentic (because it is). At the bottom, the Lastu logo makes its appearance in a minimalistic way.
Personally, I went for the Ovangkol option that was added just a few hours before I decided to pull the trigger on one of these cases. It looks similar to the Walnut option, but it has a reddish tone to it with black vertical lines. However, the other options, such as Curly Birch, Smoky Ash, and the previously mentioned Walnut look great too. Special mention to Kelo, which in my opinion is the best out of the rest.
It seems like Lastu added some kind of protective layer on top of the case to avoid scratches. I’ve been using this case for three months at the time of publication, and there are very few minor scratches, but they get lost among the colors and imperfections of the wood itself, so they shouldn’t be a problem for a long time.
One of the most noteworthy elements of Lastu cases is that you can add free text engraving, while a logo engraving can be ordered for an addition €5. For getting your logo engraved, you just need to submit one of the allowed file extensions and the company will do the rest.
I’ve read cases in which a Lastu representative contacts a customer in order to propose a final version based on the image you uploaded. Since I submitted an image with transparent background and black outlines, I guess there was no need for me to give any additional input.
If the authentic wood looks good as it is, the logo engraving and personalized phrase make the case truly yours. It is done in a superb way, making the wood just a bit darker than the overall case so that it is noticeable, and pushing it a bit down. It feels great to the touch, makes the case look stylish, and it’s nice to know that there’s not a single case in the world that looks exactly like yours.
Functionality
Before talking about functionality, I should talk about the case’s framework first. It is made of a very smooth, black plastic. It gives great protection on the sides of the phone. It even rises a little bit above the screen so that it doesn’t get scratches when placing your phone face down on flat surfaces.
Also, Lastu decided to make cutouts for the buttons, instead of covering them with said plastic. I welcome the decision since this means that operating these buttons is exactly as if the phone was without a case.
However, the top and the bottom sections of the phone are largely unprotected. After all, this is a slim case, not one of those cool armor cases available for iPhones, but it’s something you have to think about.
This has a great side effect, however. Since the top and the bottom are where the headphone jack and microUSB port are located, this means that you can connect headphones and chargers as big or as small as you like without worrying about the size of connectors.
Fitting the phone into the case is very easy, but taking it out sometimes makes me feel like I will break the very small plastic part that separates the power button from the volume keys. It’s only a feeling that I have, though, because so far, the case has proven to be very sturdy. I change my cases a lot depending on the situation, so it’s nice that the Lastu case provides this sense of durability.
The case obviously adds a little bit of bulk to the phone. I have two other cases for this phone, both made of TPU. The added thickness is really noticeable at first, but you get used to it after some time. This was very apparent when using the fingerprint sensor on the back since this meant that I had to dig my finger a bit deeper in order to get to it. As you might have guessed, it’s not a big deal, and, if you want a case made of wood, then all of them will add more thickness to the phone compared with regular TPU cases.
Conclusion
In recent years, we’ve seen companies like Motorola and OnePlus introduce wooden options for their products. Thus, overall interest in wooden products have soared, and we’ve seen companies like Carved and Cover-Up offering great alternatives to the regular TPU, plastic, and rubber offerings.
Lastu has put in place an outstanding product that harms the environment as little as possible and looks gorgeous. There are several wood types to choose from, so it’s guaranteed that you’ll find something according to your tastes. On top of that, Lastu lets you personalize it to your like in order to make it truly yours.
The Finnish company has cases for a variety of popular phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S8, LG G6, OnePlus 3 & 3T, Sony Xperia Z5, and Huawei P10. As always, there’s also a lot of options for Apple users. There are even leather straps for the Apple Watch. Unfortunately, there is no support for Pixel phones. I guess they’re not that popular after all…
If you want to know more about Lastu cases and other products, then head to their website and browse through the beautiful work they have for you. There are options to have wood+leather cases, stronger ones called armor cases, and an option to add a nice stand called Jalaka. They can be as cheap as €26.95 or as expensive as €89, plus, they can be shipped worldwide.
Buy Lastu cases from Lastu’s website.
