I haven't held either, but I have certainly spent some time scrounging the corners of the internet for peoples input on the wood backs. Basically what I've gathered is that the bamboo has a real nice grip to it, but all the other woods are a rather smooth.

The leather has gotten a lot of praise for its nice feel and grippy-ness. At first I was worried it might not hold up well over time, but then remembered, I have a leather wallet that is about 3 or 4 years old, and has definitely been through more than any single phone I've owned. It still looks just fine, with an amount of wear that I would be more than okay with seeing on the back of my phone. Furthermore I've heard that the leather company that is being sourced has a very good reputation.

Personally, I've settled on the leather (just not which color!), because it looks classy, is supposed to grip great and I think it will age nicely (as good leather does) and not be beat and ugly after a year.

 

Almost every reviewer that had the leather loved it. With that being said, one of them did mention that after a couple weeks of using it the corner of the leather started to peel up.

 

My wife has one of the wooden backed 2013 models (for about 10 months now) and it's held up just fine. I think it's the bamboo one but I could be wrong. It's really sharp though; she gets a lot of compliments about it.

 

I've been chatting with some people with 2014's over at reddit, and while the wood does look pretty fantastic, I've been hearing that the walnut is quite smooth/slick feeling, and that the ebony is as well, at least on the 2013 model.

Meanwhile I still have only seen one comment about the leather peeling (I believe from that Technobuffalo review, whom I'm not particularly familiar with), Someone on reddit did mention there was a bit of a gap between his leather back and the antenna/casing (and posted pictures) but he's already getting it replaced by Moto. I'm not entirely convinced that the peeling TB experienced isn't due to a defective unit that would be easy to replace.

 

The peeling leather was also a concern of mine after reading that review (don't remember which one). But you're right, that would probably be a warranty issue that could easily be replaced.

 

A lot of the pictures of the leather that I've seen show that it scratches easily. I'm going with wood.

Justin

 

Yeah, but part of the appeal of quality leather is the way it can take in those scratches and scuff marks elegantly and build character. Of course you can always polish with leather conditioner. I have a leather wallet thats a few years old and the kind of wear on it is nothing I would be upset at seeing on the back of my phone.

 

I agree, they now have them in stock at ATT stores so I am going to check Bamboo vs Leather, in person, in the hand. Then make my decision. All I know is that I got my first car with leather seats about 20 years ago, and 3 cars later I still require leather.

So like you, I assume with conditioning and care it will give it an aged, "tooled" leather look and feel that might well, spoil me.