Often times when you read through product reviews, you don’t take into account how much time has passed since the reviewer’s first experience with it. There’s a lot that can be gained from learning about how someone feels about a product purchase months later so I thought it would be helpful to revisit a review I wrote roughly half a year ago.
When I first got my hands on Ekster’s Ultra-Slim Smart Wallet, I was blown away by how innovative and stylish it was. Wallets seemed like the sort of everyday item that somehow managed to oddly remain the same for the past century, sort of like a toaster, so the thought of giving a wallet a design upgrade seemed like a brilliant idea. More importantly, though, Ekster wallets are designed for everyday use so despite looking like something made for James Bond, if it isn’t something that holds up well over time then it just wouldn’t be worth purchasing. Thankfully I had a good two weeks of use before writing my review and the results were superb.
A significant amount of time has passed since I first wrote my review, and still today people stop me when they see me with my wallet to ask about it. Truth be told, my thoughts are a little different than when I wrote that first review. Though I stand by what I said, there are a few things worth noting when looking back at the past few months.
Firstly, the fact I’m still using it is the most telling sign of its performance since there have been other wallets that have come on the scene that claims to be revolutionary. As a New Yorker who constantly reaches for my wallet throughout the day for subway commuting, spontaneous purchases, and security clearances, I probably depend on easy access to my wallet more than most people; and I can enthusiastically confirm that it still continues to make my daily routines easier. I’ve eliminated the annoyance of fumbling through a bulky wallet and have also gotten a small psychological boost knowing the nightmare of losing a wallet isn’t that scary since I can track it through Ekster’s GPS card.
With that said, there is still one thing I would change to Ekster’s smart wallet. As mentioned previously, the GPS card is a major part of what makes the wallet “smart” since you can track it in the event you lose it. However, the card is substantial in its thickness so when inserted into the wallet, it becomes the bulk of its overall weight. By now I’ve gotten used to it but it’s still something I would want to see altered in the future. You can of course always elect to just take the card out to reduce the wallet’s weight but doing that reduces the overall functions of the wallet.
One last thing I’ll say about the Ekster smart wallet is that all this time later, I find myself eager to see more products. There’s a lot of lifestyle brands that exist online these days; some become one-hit wonders that release one great product and don’t really follow-up on it with anything else exciting. My hope for Ekster is that there are more products on the horizon that continue to push wallets forward. There are probably other improvements that could be made to wallets in general and I think that Ekster could be the company that makes that happen.
Luckily Ekster doesn’t show any signs of stopping its design innovations because, with the announcement of its new Kickstarter campaign, the next iteration of their current line of smart wallets is going to make it even slimmer. If the Ekster 3.0 smart wallet is even slimmer than the current ones, that would serve as a direct answer to issues I raised but it also comes with improvements to card trigger and exterior leather quality- something I didn’t even think could be optimized better.
I still stand by my smart wallet all these months later but when innovation is part of your brand, loyal customers will expect it to continue in other forms. This goes the same for how I feel about Ekster, but until then I’m happy with their smart wallet and still recommend it to anyone that’s bored with their own wallet.
