REVIEW – Things are not what they seem here! The TIZAG Customizable Digital Canvas iPhone Case enables you to customize that picture on the back panel, no bluetooth or battery required! How is this sorcery possible? Let’s learn more. To the review!
What is it?
The TIZAG is an iPhone case with an NFC-powered digital canvas on the back panel that you can customize with your own artwork or imagery, and change as desired.
Tech specs
Click to expand
Available for iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (iPhone 16 models coming soon)
4 bit NFC-powered digital canvas
Requires app for customization
You can remove this heading and section if it doesn’t apply to your review.
Design and features
Our TIZAG Customizable Digital Canvas iPhone Case starts with excellent documentation. The printed instruction guide in the package is clear and easy to follow, with QR codes all over the packaging to help with your setup.
One of the pleasant surprises in this gadget is the excellent build on the case itself. The housing is made from a combination of silicone, plastic, and a bit of metal (I think) in the buttons. It’s all well assembled, thick, and provides protection from all angles.
All of the port holes and button placements are precisely cut for your iPhone 15 or iPhone 16 in all of their variants. This case is not currently available for older iPhone models or other phone types.
My iPhone 15 Max snaps cleanly into the case for a tight fit.
Here’s the front view of the phone with the case in place…
… and here is the back side. The digital panel displays that default block pattern prior to customization.
It is important to note that the thicker case prevents the use of wireless charging or Magsafe compatible phone stands.
Once you have the case set up it’s time to load up the TIZAG app. The printed instruction booklet provides a high-level overview of that process along with Qr codes to download and register the app from the App Store.
The app for the TIZAG Customizable Digital Canvas iPhone Case is designed to select, edit and load images to the digital canvas. You’ll start by setting up an account and password, then the app will ask you some general preference questions to customize your experience.
Once you’ve completed the setup you’re presented with the home screen. You’ll be presented with a library of images that are updated regularly based on your preferences, current events, and popular images chosen by other TIZAG users.
If you see something you like you can tag it as a favorite to get it later (available from thet “favorite” button on the home page), or select it immediately to load to your digital canvas. To give you a sense for what is available, I was digging around the Halloween library during our recent spooky season.
You can also tap the camera icon to take a live picture or to browse your iPhone’s photo albums for a picture to use. Here I was scrolling through some pics from our vacation to Key West earlier this year looking for a sunset pic I took.
Once you choose your photo (or pick one from the library), you’ll tweak the cropping and rotation. The app automatically selects the right aspect ratio for cropping in this case.
You can now choose to edit the image further if you like. This gives you the ability to add text, stickers (basically emojis), or change the color schema with the filter option. “Signs” is basically road signs you can add to the image, which is odd. “Picture” allows you to select a different pic for your project if you want.
Once you have things where you want them, hit “next” to generate a preview of your finished image. This is where things get interesting. The digital canvas uses a 4-bit color schema at a high resolution, so your image is converted to something that resembles an old-school 80s video game with a lot more pixels!
Smack that “Tizag” button and the sorcery begins. The TIZAG Customizable Digital Canvas iPhone Case uses something called NFC technology, a short-range wireless prototol to communicate between the phone and the case. This digitally triggers the pixels in the canvas to “switch” to the desired colors. You’ll see the progress in the app as shown below.
If you were to flip your phone over, you would then see that digital panel start to shimmer and blink until the transformation is complete:
Once completed, the digital panel retains that image until you change it again. There’s no battery to charge, no drain on the phone’s power… nothing. It’s like it was printed on the panel.
The app also includes a “my projects” menu option which allows you to save your edited photos for later updates. You can start a new project here, give it a name, do all the things, and save it for later. You’ll also have the opportunity to do this with any new photo you take from the app or selected image from the library. Tao that “my projects” menu item and you can see all your saved work.
Performance
Purely from a build perspective the TIZAG Customizable Digital Canvas iPhone Case is pretty great. I’ve had no issues with the case loosening up after a month of use, and the burly build adds nice protection for your phone. The button design provides nice tactile feedback during operation. I give the folks at TIZAG props for providing a good case to house this technology.
The display itself is an amazing innovation that requires no battery, no charging, and no bluetooth. Once you set the pixels you can even take the case off the phone and the picture won’t change. It’s pretty wild. But the TIZAG marketing is also a bit misleading. The screen only supports warm colors and greys/blacks, which means that you’ll get very different result based on ythe picture you choose to use.
Here’s an example of what I am talking about. These Halloween images rely heavily on purples, greens and blues. I chose the one on the lower-right for my canvas the Halloween season. It’s the one with the glowing pumpkin head in the graveyard:
Here’s how that translated to the screen. See how all the blues and greens dropped out? They all turn to greyscale.
Thinking I may have made a mistake I started playing with some other stuff from my camera roll. Here’s a pic of a tortilla soup I made. Note the predominant reds and oranges in the image…
Here’s how it looks on the panel. While the placemat drops out to grays, you don’t really notice it because the colors in most of the pic pull through.
But in the example below I pulled in a pic from a trip to Jersey City last spring. We’re looking down at the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty here. See all the blues and greens?
All of that color drops out in the translation, and becomes a simulated grayscale image. You can see the preview and the final image on the digital panel below.
I also took my current wallpaper and gave it the TIZAG treatment. This is an illustration I did that mixes a bunch of warm and cool colors. In the second pic below you can see that all that blue/green drops out entirely.
It’s a bit of a bummer, and clearly a limitation of this evolving technology. Which is pretty cool on it’s own, but it’s something you should be aware of if you are thinking about buying this case.
The other big issue I see with this case is tha lack of compatibility with wireless charging & Magsafe accessories. It will slide right off a Magsafe vertical stand, and doesn’t connect to wireless charging pads. You’ll want your USB-C charger handy with this one, or you’ll be forced to take the case off for charging.
What I like about TIZAG Customizable Digital Canvas iPhone Case
- The technology is pretty neat
- Well made phone case
- App is easy to use
What needs to be improved?
- Does not work with wireless charging or MagSafe chargers (the case is too thick)
- Limited color palette struggles to convert some images, especially blues and greens
Final thoughts
The TIZAG Customizable Digital Canvas iPhone Case feels like a work in progress to me. The technology is undoubtably cool, but the wireless charging & Magsafe issues limit its usability. The screen is also limited by the color palette which presents with some disappointing results if your picture contains the wrong colors. If the technology grabs you it’s a really neat (and affordable) piece of tech. Just be aware of the limitations.
Price: $59.99
Where to buy: TIZAG and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by TIZAG. TIZAG did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
