Trunket's little elephant is back to smother your iPhone 5 with wood awesomeness. Our most favorite wood-made skins received our highest rating a little over a year ago when we reviewed them for the iPhone 4. And now we're excited to take another look at what Trunket has to say for themselves with their latest American Rosewood skins for Apple's taller, slimmer iPhone 5. If wood is your thing, and we know there are quite a few of you who are in love with nature's timber, you won't want to miss our review on Trunket's $38 charming wood skins after the cut!

Trunket's iPhone 5 American-made Rosewood skins are just as amazing now than they were when we first got our hands on them for the iPhone 4. One of the biggest advantages in using these wood skins is that you can keep your easily scared iPhone 5 protected against scratches and nasty scuff marks each time you slide it on a table or keep it in your pocket with objects that without a doubt want to harm the finish on your iPhone. The back portion of the Rosewood skin is applied using a special adhesive that can be easily removed after use without leaving any residue behind, while also allowing you to reuse the skin on a later date. From our long running with using Trunket's skins, these are proven to be reliable with use, never leaving residue and always sticking back when need be.

Looking at the front side of the iPhone 5 and you'll notice Trunket's Rosewood skin covers the front and bottom portions with matching pieces of trim cut to perfection. It's entirely optional whether or not you'd like to apply these two pieces to the front of your iPhone 5 as you may not like the wood pressed up against your ear, not that it will leave splinters but it's significantly less comfortable than touching the wood with your hands and fingers since the ear is more delicate to touch. But if you do choose to apply these, you'll be protected handsomely with the amount of elevation the skins provide so that the screen remains lifted away from coming in contact with say your desk.

So what has changed? No more key-hole shaped camera cutout! The new iPhone 5 skins now feature a much more elegant and lovely looking pill-shaped cutout for the back facing camera. What's more is that you can take photos using the LED flash without issues. Other than that, the skins appear to be taller too. Wink.

Removing the back portion is now a little more cumbersome because of how much longer the skin is, meaning that it'll flex more than before when peeling it off. The adhesive also seems to be a bit stronger this time. You must be careful when removing the skin as to not crack it, gradually lifting it. Otherwise Trunket's Rosewood skins do come off the back of the iPhone 5 fairly easily.

The brushed metal Trunket elephant logo inlay seamlessly sits flush with the wood and adds that original and really unique touch that we think makes these skins so different and elegant. Note the detail of the grain and staining tone of the wood, it's absolutely amazingly good looking. Trunket's Rosewood iPhone 5 skins are available in multiple stained wood including the Orange, Hickory and Jet Black flavors we have on hands, as well as Sea Blue and the all intensely constrasty Blood Red colors.

Picking out a color that will best suit your iPhone 5 can be a little intimidating since Trunket only displays a black iPhone 5 with their skins as a reference. Based on our experienced taste thank you very much, the black iPhone 5 will obviously look more at home paired up with a Jet Black colored Trunket skin for that ultimate stealthiness or Sea Blue, and constrasty with an Orange or Blood Red colored skin. Whilst the white iPhone 5 will look best paired up with a Trunket skin in Blood Red or Jet Black. Honestly, the Hickory is a plain and dull color that's overly old fashioned and doesn't do much justice to the iPhone 5 visually. 

Trunket's Rosewood skins have the same slender thickness this time around which is very thin yet pliable and durable, and are effortless when the time comes to install them onto your iPhone 5. The back portion of the Rosewood skin completely covers the back of the iPhone 5 leaving only the diamond-cut chamfered edges visible to shine. The combination is absolutely beautiful to look at and very much a unique niche that'll surely impress you as we are. 

The Rosewood skins virtually add no bulk to the iPhone 5 and don't degrade the comfortable feeling of holding and using it. The smooth surface of the wood feels great against the skin. Trunket's skins are so thin that you're still left with the original sleek design of the iPhone 5 while protecting it with the greatness of solid wood. If you'd like to slap on a bumper case without taking these skins off, you can do just that using similar low-profile cases like the Draco 5 aluminum case.

With these wood skins you don't have to worry about them getting damaged with daily use as they are truly durable and wear extremely slowly with time. In other words, Trunket did a fantastic job precisely cutting the Rosewood iPhone 5 skins to perfection so that not only  would they fit spot on looking as if they were a standard feature of luxurious wood trim, but the sanding is so smooth to the touch that it makes holding your iPhone 5 feel bearably comfortable knowing you've replaced glass and metal with the warmth of quality finished wood.

My personal stash of Trunket skins from over a year ago which have seen heavy usage and no cuddly care whatsoever, have withstood the test of time and haven't warped or cracked even after numerous re-applications.

Trunket has raised the fancy bar with proper box packaging this time as oppose to the raw cardboard packaging they've used before. Inside you'll find one back skin, two front skins that cover the top and bottom portions of the iPhone 5, a cleaning swab and of course some instructions you won't really need to read. 

Tree huggers, hold up! Trunket's skins are made using real American Rosewood wood that's been rehashed from luxury vehicle manufacturers instead of purposely cutting down trees in order to create these marvelous skins. Although we're happy to see that nothing really has changed, meaning that the superb craftsmanship and quality of Trunket's iPhone 5 skins continue to be top notch, it's disappointing to see that Trunket hasn't really improved or renewed any of their skins this time around. We had hoped for more selection like clean skins free of the elephant inlay, glossy finished skins as well as different color options like green, pink or even a mixture of colors added to the series.

All in all the Trunker Rosewood iPhone 5 skins are the fanciest wood skins you can get. Keeping your iPhone 5 protected front and back while adding sophisticated charm of uniquely stained wood is a dream come true if you're into the whole wood look and feel. It really doesn't get better than this as we've said in our earlier review. Unfortunately, Trunket's iPhone 5 skins aren't the only thing that became larger. The price has also at $38 compared to the $34 of the iPhone 4/S skins. With that said, we can highly recommend Trunket's little elephant stamped wood skins.

Trunket.com