A weeks back I showed you guys “the world’s thinnest case” for the Google Pixel and many of you took a liking to them. It’s been a sort of personal journey of mine to find the thinnest cases possible for my smartphones, something far easier said than done.
As I mentioned in that post, I have particular tastes and those run of the mill “slim” cases just aren’t doing it for me. It doesn’t help that just about every case manufacturer these days claims their cases are “ultra” or “super thin.” The term has mostly become synonymous with those generic TPU cases you find littering online market places and are more suited to protect your device from a catastrophic drop than enjoying its natural, slim, god-given form factor. What about those of us who are already careful with our phones and want to keep it looking new without strapping a huge life-preserver around it?
Skins are a good case alternative for some folks, but they’re not for everyone. They offer the thinnest amount of protection possible but I find that most of the time they’re extremely difficult to install, have rough edges that feel horrible in the hand, slowly peel off over time, and they can’t be reused.
Those looking for a paper thin protection — something to protect your device from cosmetic damage and swapped out as often as you like — your options are limited. If you’ve spent any amount of time on Instagram or other social networks, you probably ran into ads from a company called Peel.
Not to be confused with the universal remote app, Peel has carved out a name for themselves by offering minimal, super thin cases for the iPhone. Peel’s cases offer full body protection (with cutouts for the buttons, speakers and ports) while still allowing you to enjoy your phone the way the manufacturer intended. Let me be clear: there is no bulk here at all. Just a precision cut, perfectly crafted case that protects your phone from life’s mishaps. The perfect case for people who hate cases.
While Peel’s product portfolio was originally built around the iPhone, they’ve recently branched out to include the Google Pixel as well. Of course, I wasted no time in contacting Peel who was nice enough to supply us with a Peel case in every color, so I decided to give you guys a quick hands-on.
While you can find similar cases for a few dollars less on Amazon, Peel is the only one who offers paper thin cases in “Really Blue” and “Very Silver,” making them perfect for Pixel owners. I even tried mix and matching the blue case with my white Pixel and it was almost convincing enough to pass as the real thing. With the Really Blue Google Pixel capping out at 32GB, this could be a great way to add a little extra color to your white color.
The downside to these cases is that they’re extremely fragile. The plastic is really soft — making them especially susceptible to scratching — and although they flex, they can crack when dropped or not placed on the phone properly. Of course, better your case than your $700 smartphone, right?
Peel’s cases retail for $24.99 on their site, but you can get 20% off by using the code DISCOUNT20 at checkout, bringing it down about 5 bucks.