[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Jaxom84:
Hello everyone,

I'm here again for a case review. This time, my curiosity got tickled by Carved and their Traveler line of phone cases.

As I wrote in my previous review (about the MOUS - Limitless 5.0), I've already got opportunity to experience their Live Edge line, which is more expensive and has some cons that I wanted to avoid with my new S23 Ultra.

What I like with Carved is that they pay attention to details, and it begins by the packaging, with their textured cardboard boxes magnet-closed. Looks great, feels great, and once you open it, you'll find your case in a little hand-made fabric bag. And like their One of 1 mantra, these bags are as unique as their cases (I didn't thought about taking pictures of that, but I'll add them later).

But back onto the main topic: the case!

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Can't say how much I'm delighted by the colours. Pictures aren't doing justice to it, and natural light is bringing the best out of the pigments used in their resin work.

The wood panel itself is pretty thin (under 3mm) but feels sturdy enough and you can choose the option to embed a MagSafe upgrade to it (additional cost of 6$ on your order).

The rubber case itself feels good, is pretty thin, but the textured sides provide some grip to it (more classic than MOUS' approach on the topic, but still effective).

The inside of the case is covered by a thin layer of felt to protect your phone's back panel from scratch. Unfortunately, the lips of the rubber shouldn't be preventing your phone to be heavily damaged if it falls flat, as they are having a low profile when you compare it to the competitors in the case market. On the other hand, Carved does warn about the point that their cases are more on the "work of art" side than the protective one. Soooo... If you're a little clumsy and are looking for something safer to use, maybe you should look for an other brand.

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As you can see on the last picture, uploaded above this sentence, that Carved doesn't really went for the hollow design I like so much on the S-Pen hole, but it's not a mood-killer, just a little less comfortable to use (IMO).

With a little more than a month of use with this case, I can tell that is you're a careful person looking for some originality in term of design, Carved is providing what you're craving for. With a generous designs choices to pick from, regular new ones hitting their online shelves and the fact that every case sold is a unique piece (you will never end in the situation where your best friend is wearing the same outfit as you and have to battle to death to know who's the right to keep it for the day, but case-wise), the Elkhart shop provides solid options for your S23 Ultra.

I avoided the topic until the end, but let's look at it now: base price for this case type is 59$, the MagSafe upgrade is 5.99$, the shipping to Europe is 16.45$ (48.25$ if you take express worldwide shipping with UPS), and if you add to that the customs (only for standard shipping)... Well, you end up with a case flirting with the 90$ (Live Edge ones will end up around 200$, for information). If you're up to spend that money on a single case, or not, is definitely a big point to consider here.

On my side, I can tell that I'm happy with this case so far and would recommend it to anyone ticking the boxes mentioned above.

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PROS

Unique

Great attention to details

Beautiful craftsmanship

Shipping is fast

CONS

Can become quite pricey (depending on your location)

Not as secure as most of the competitors on the case market

Unique also means that you might miss some designs for which you could have gotten a "love at first sight" situation

To check Carved's cases for Samsung S23 Ultra:

Traveler cases

Live Edge cases