[Galaxy Note 8.0 (Tablet) Accessories] Juvenall:
Until my recent purchase of the official Samsung Book Cover, I was a firm hater of cases. To me, they never offered enough utility to justify the extra bulk and when opened, tended to annoy me enough that I'd simply rather not use the device. That's fine for a tablet that stays at your desk, but when you need to move around and toss the thing in your bag, you're really running the risk of scratching the screen. So my standard solution are cheep, easy to use sleves. Low bulk, screen protection in transport, and easily removed for device use. Sounds like win to me.

Normally I just go for whatever budget sleeve I can find on Amazon, but the Note 8.0 being such a "special" device, I wanted to treat myself and try something a little higher end. As it happened, Waterfield was already a step ahead of me and had updated their product page with a Note 8 version of their Waterfield Suede Jacket. I pulled the trigger as soon as I saw this as it sounded like it fit the bill perfectly. So how did it do?

Product Info

Waterfield Suede Jacket

http://www.sfbags.com/products/tablet-cases/tablet-suedejacket.php

Price: $19 + $6 for Optional pouch + Shipping

Ordering & Shipping

Apparently, Waterfield wasn't not as ready for the product as their order page suggested. About 4 hours after my order was placed, I get the following email:

Fair enough. This was April 12, mind you. So the tablet had only been on the market for a day at this point. As I'm sure you've figured out by now, I didn't have to wait until the 26th for the package to ship. In fact, I found a shipping confirmation email along with a FedEx tracking number in my email on the 19th. Sadly by that point I had already purchased the official Samsung Book Cover from my local Best Buy the day before, so I was already thinking of trying to cancel the order.

Unboxing

..or rather, unbaging as the cover is contained in a thin slip of plastic with a simple, nondescript postcard inserted as boxart of sorts. I assume they also have a retail location as the package itself was graced with a small, green sticker with a handwritten "19" on it as a price label.

First Impressions

This thing is thin and that's both good and bad. On the positive, it won't add any real bulk to the device and that's important when you're lugging around as much gear as I do day-to-day. This, however, also means my faith in the sleeve's ability to protect against scratches, which was its primary purpose, is equally as thin. I feel like it would survive a battle with a loose set of keys floating around in a bag, but any real pressure and I'm afraid it won't do a bit of good.

Another concern of mine is the suede itself. It wasn't out of the bag for more than 5 minutes before it started collecting a crazy amount of dust and pet fur. I don't own anything made of the material so I can't say I know the proper way to remove this stuff, but trying to brush it off was a pain and mostly unproductive as for every spec of dust I removed, a streak of dead skin and/or more dust would replace it. Only time will tell how big a problem this will be.

A third concern here is that for the opening, there is no flap or cover here. So an edge of the device will always be exposed. This seems like a big oversight in the design to me.

Beyond that, the construction seems really nice. The seams are well stitched, the material doesn't feel cheap and the fabric cuts look uniform.

Actual Use

The fit itself is snug. Not in a fat-girl-in-yoga-pants way, mind you. It's very glove like and putting the device inside is easier than most other sleeves I've used in the past and doesn't give me a feeling that the tablet is going to fall out. The only improvement with regard to the fit that I wish were part of the design is the sleeve has sharp, 90 degree corners at the bottom, where the Galaxy Note 8.0 is rounded. This leaves both corners a little more squishy than I'd like.

Sewn to both sides and again at the bottom are these little holding tabs for helping you remove the tablet from inside. This is a nice feature I wish were in more designs. Now, instead of fighting to find a place to counter-pull and perhaps stretch or rip the sleeve, it's very clear where I should do this. In tern, this makes removing the Note 8 super easy. So it gets high marks in that department.

Verdict

At $19, it's nearly 3x as expensive as other sleeves I've owned and now see on Amazon. I'm betting the build quality of those can't touch this guy, but that's not enough of a trade off for me considering the constantly exposed opening and the thin material. If I had been given a chance to play with this before hand, I can honestly say I wouldn't have gone with it as a solution for my needs. I'd even go so far as to return this one if it wasn't for the fact I paid an extra $12 for 2 day shipping.

Would I recommend it? Only if you have very basic needs. If your bag contains a laptop and this, it's a stylish option for sure. If, however, your bag contains a 5D MkII, MacBook Air, several lenses, memory cards, lens caps, lenspens, keys, cables, etc...not so much.

Photos

Coming soon.