[Galaxy Note 10.1 Accessories] Mark.helsinki:
Kalaideng Sharp Series

Case review for the Kalaideng - Sharp Series for Note 10.1

Price: €20 through CaseRich.com. I bought the khaki version.

Nice box for the case (my wife stole it). First impressions.

Build quality:

The PU leather is quite slippery out of the box, very plastic feel, but a quick spray of screen cleaner took off the sheen and gave it a more natural leathery feel.

Stitching was excellent. That was perhaps my biggest concern with this, as I couldn't find any reviews anywhere. The Note fits like a glove and is held in with no seeming danger of it falling out.

There is no slack on the magnetic clasp that closes the case, so a little push is usually needed to close, but once closed, it's a good tight fit all round. There is enough clearance around the whole case to give protection to the corners.

Once opened, the soft velor is nice to the touch, though it does attract hairs, so be careful if you have a dog in the house. It's good quality materials.

Colour:

Colour is not as warm or 'tan' as in some of the photographs. More like a khaki brown. Though seeing it under the bright strip lights at work, it does look more or less like it does in this photo, but at home, maybe the monitor was making it look much warmer. Cannot say if that is the monitor or the photograph.

Practicality:

Very practical. Adds some weight, so it's equivalent to the weight of a hardback book of the same size. However, as I can now prop this on the table, I'm actually handling it less, which is already saving my wrists. Two positions are obvious - both landscape. The first is the pop out stand, which actually has a small magnet to help keep it in place (nice!) and sits vary squarely and solidly on a flat surface. Good position for writing or web surfing while sitting at a table. The other position is flipped over and stood like a wedge that you can have more or less open to set the viewing angle. Good position for watching videos. The case is grippy on the table and it seemed quite stable to a seperation of about 3 inches.

The pen is not easy to get out. You have to dig your finger between the case and the device. As the base strapping is actually offset to the other side of the device, I think that digging the pen out will not distort the shape of the case over time, though. It's not very hard, but it is not an instant thing.

Hand strap at the back is a very nice and useful addition. I would like that you could put your hand through the strap and carry it like a book, but with obvious extra safety, but the position of the strap means the device can easily flip forward from that position.

Design:

Very good on the whole. Cut outs are sensible and the spacing for the speakers is I think the ideal design. Case stretches almost to the bezel edge, so touch screen in the corners is a little restricted, but not anything annoying.

The strap is about the only annoying thing. Once opened, it just becomes a dangling distraction. One solution would have been to have the possibility to fold the strap behind the device, thus locking the device in the open position, but this would obstruct the IR slot.

UPDATE: Actually, it is possible to make the strap disappear in almost exactly this way, by simply folding it back on itself and closing the strap when it's open:

When folded open, the spine of the case is a bit weak to hold it in any kind of rigid symmetry, but this is very common with most cases. You just have align it while you are holding it if you are bothered by that kind of thing.

Conclusion:

Value for money is excellent. Postage was free to Finland from Hong Kong and on such a cheap case, no customs tax. This is a nice case. It doesn't have the quality feel of leather, but it's excellent design and perfect fit for the device do make it a very nice case to hold, nonetheless.

I would say it's very practical. When it comes to design, there are always tradeoffs, with position, folding, slots, speakers etc. I think the designers have made all the right decisions.

Very happy with my purchase. :)