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Review: Asus Nexus 7 Tablet case

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Very recently I gave in and bought an Asus Nexus 7 tablet.  I’ve had it about a week and a half now I suppose and I love it.  It’s so much better then the company provided iPad 2 for lots of reasons, the 2 that come to mind though are 1) It’s not an Apple and 2) it doesn’t require Arnie sized muscles to hold it up and use for a couple of hours.  I’m use to the size factor the Nexus 7 as my Amazon Kindle is about the same size.  I won’t bother doing a review of this since there’s 100’s out there already.

Nexus 7 (8GB)

So, wanting to protect the investment I immediate ordered a case and screen protector from Ebay.  Sadly, neither have arrived and it’s been 10 days … one can only think the worst in cases like this.  So I turned to the great folks over at Mobilefun.co.uk and Lovecases.co.uk.  They have quite a selection of camera cases as well as phone, tablet and cases for most things.  So I ordered the Leather Style Rotating Case for Google Nexus 7 (in black).  Unlike Ebay, this arrived the next day, quality service, like usual.

Photos of products can always be a bit .. hmm not sure, you known you look at something and think WOW or Meh but turns out to be the opposite when it arrives (or in some cases exactly as you thought? haha) .. this was one of those cases.. I saw the photos but really didn’t get the feel of how I’d like it.  So, what arrived in the post then .. here are some pics of the product I shot (you can see the professional photos on their website).

You can see from the photos of what came out of the mailer bag and some with my tablet installed.

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The tablet is inserted through an opening on one side with a Velcro flap that folds in and under the tablet.  The tablet is given mostly complete protection in the case with every corner and side protected plus the back and the front if it drops on it’s face.   I only say mostly because either the top or bottom corners are slightly exposed or at least flush with the case, I don’t really know how these would protect with a direct impact on those corners.  There are holes on the back for the speaker bar plus easy access to the USB socket.  The buttons on the side are pretty accessible but I find getting to them a little annoying.

The case is basically in 2 parts, I wasn’t sure if I liked this when I first opened it, but now I actually think it’s a huge plus.  So, you get the sleeve that the tablet is inserted into plus this book cover bit that wraps around everything and also forms the basis of the tablet stand, as seen in the product photo from Mobilefun.co.uk

Leather Style Rotating Case for Google Nexus 7 - Black - Mozilla Firefox_2012-10-03_12-02-54

This book cover is both good and .. hmm I don’t want to say bad, just a little bit annoying.  Ok the good bits of the cover, firstly it has magnets in the corners of the cover that folds over the screen, the photo above that’s the bit with those ribs you can see.  Those ribs actually provide a couple of functions, one is they let you lodge the tablet at different angles, these can be used both in landscape and portrait as shown in the photo.  The second function is when you close the cover over the tablet they also provide a rigid impact zone to protect the screen.  As I mentioned this cover has magnets that also do two things, one, they hold the cover closed and two, they activate the sleep mode when you close the cover, opening the cover wakes the tablet and brings the screen on.  This certainly isn’t something new in tablets, the iPad has had this since the iPad 2 came out.

What’s bad about this book case cover?  2 things.   One, those cool aforementioned magnets, when you fold the cover right over and back under the tablet these can activate the sleep mode when you’d rather it didn’t .  I’m not sure who’s fault this is, it could be the magnets are too strong or it could be the tablet is too sensitive.  The magnet in question is actually the one in the bottom right corner, the tablet’s sleep mode is controlled in that corner of the unit.   The second bad thing about the book cover bit, as you’ll see in this close up, the bendy bit that’s highlighted will end up hanging down if you’re not holding the case right or you just grab it quickly when it’s open and folded back.  BTW, that bendy bit is actually attached with Velcro to the back of the case containing the tablet, so you can easily position it how you would like it to stand.

Leather Style Rotating Case for Google Nexus 7 - Black - Mozilla Firefox_2012-10-03_12-10-482012-10-03 12.12.09.jpg - Picasa Photo Viewer_2012-10-03_12-13-56

The way I’ve been using this case is to keep the 2 bits separated and leave the tablet in the protective cover for day-to-day use, then just slip it into the book cover when I’m taking it out of the house.  All in all though this is a pretty good case and doesn’t add a lot of weight really considering the protection it gives.

Case + Tablet 490g
Case only 155g
Tablet only 335g

The pros and cons of this case are pretty simple

Pros

  • Inexpensive
  • Mostly fully protected (see Cons too)
  • It’s a flexible case in terms of how you use it
  • Smart cover so sleeps the tablet when closed (see Cons too)

Cons

  • Could provide a bit more protection for the corners by adding about 5mm more material on the corners
  • Magnets a bit strong, but this could be the tablet being too sensitive

I suppose giving this a score out of 10 I’d have to say it’s a 7 out of 10, fix the protection on the exposed corners and I’d give it a 10.

You’ll see other reviews on here Camera Bags and cases, check them out: REVIEWS

** UPDATE ** Jan 9, 2013

Well it’s been a few months since I’ve been using this case so I thought I’d give an update.   I’m going to add to the Cons list .. the Velcro patch that holds the case with the Nexus to the outer case has pretty much worn out.  This means the 2 parts of the case don’t really stay together.  I think it’s a bit of a let down when the only way to connect things is with Velcro.