I am all for gimmicky tech, and anything that might look like it dropped out of a 1970’s Bond movie is always a winner with me. But what I don’t like is gimmicky tech wrapped up in real leather and then being sold at a ridiculous price under the name of ‘fashion’. So, what is the XOO X Casely-Hayford? It is a wearable phone charger, designed with the help of Casely-Hayford, that has been built into a belt with the aim to fuse useful technology with high fashion. It fails at both. I will begin my list of dislikes with the moment I opened the box, although nicely packaged, you have no clue what it is supposed to be when you first open it, and you are also hit with an unpleasant chemically smell upon opening the box. On first impressions, it looks rather sleek, the power pack appears well made but it is heavy, cold, and bulky, which is uncomfortable if you intend on bending at the waist at all.

The power pack is a 1600mAh battery which won’t get you a full charge on any modern devices, this means you will have to recharge your belt every time you use it. This brings me to the next issue, you will need one of those fiddley little pins to release power pack from the belt every time when a button would be much more convenient. The belt is made from a Full grain Mongolian leather which is the best part of the product, the battery pack looks like a portable speaker, then clips onto the belt and ruins it. The cable to charge your phone is cheaply made with a poor finish, it isn’t easy to see which way the USB needs to go into the belt, and it is awkward getting it in. There is a stretchy sleeve to keep the cable hanging out of your belt and gathers weird looks while travelling on the underground, the sleeve on the product we received was already becoming unstitched which for something that will constantly be in contact with the trousers, doesn’t fill me with faith that it will last long. To sum up: poor finish, small power supply, weird smell, heavy, awkward, and to top it all off greedily expensive. The ideal passive-aggressive present for someone you hate, and whom expects you to spend a stupid amount on them. RRP $249

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0.5 out of 5

Pros

Keeps your trousers from falling down

Full grain leather

Cons

Sickeningly expensive

Stitching coming undone

Small power supply

Hard to get USB in

Cheap cable

Smells weird

Awkward to detach battery from belt