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Originally Posted by ig88
The IRex website doesn't show the front, so it is hard to tell.
The other thing I can't tell from the pics or posts is how the iIliad is held in place.
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I only have the executive leather case, I can't comment on the lesser one iRex sells.
The problem isn't with the pictures: the iLiad is not securely held inside the case. There is a leather pocket, with no friction material added, that attempts to grip the iLiad at the bottom. Being only leather its grip against gravity or inertia is non-existent. Which is to say if your case goes upside down or you swing it too vigorously the iLiad goes sailing right out of it.
The other clever design feature is the magnetic closure on the strap. The little metal button that sticks into the magnet? It loves to collect energy as you pull the front cover open and then when it slips past the front cover it releases that energy right smack into the e-ink panel: Pow! Try to push it out of the way to use your iLiad in the case? Pow! Close the front cover and catch the strap on the way down: POW!
I would have been much happier with my e-ink being slapped around with soft leather, but getting hit with what is basically a metal stud just isn't my idea of a good design. Especially since it keeps hitting in roughly the same place: over and over and over. Just sitting an iPod on the e-ink panel can damage it... I shudder to think what the panel thinks of that metal stud.
The case was supposed to protect the iLiad not abuse it.
The clever pockets in the front flap are also another invitation to damage. You load them up, squeeze the case when closed and those items transfer pressure right into the e-ink panel. Which was the point of the sheet of plastic in the front cover: to prevent pressure transfer into the e-ink panel.
The case is also loose to the touch. There is "extra" leather so the case never has that feel like it was designed for the iLiad but rather was designed for some other larger device. Combined with the lack of positive attachment to the case, this causes one to feel the need to grip the case rather tightly.
The power switch is impossible to slide without grasping the top of the iLiad to stop it sliding out of the case.
The left hand stylus loop is placed so that the pen/stylus beats against the side of the iLiad. A Cross Penabled Stylus pushes the iLiad sideways so it doesn't sit properly in the case when closed.
The right hand stylus loop I've found no use for. In my opinion it is too awkward and exposed to use properly.
I feel the case doesn't live up to the price point charged. Its fit and over all design are such that if someone told me they'd found the exact same unit being sold by a street vendor in ZhuHai, PRC for $15 RMB: I'd believe them.
I don't use the case, it sits on my shelf, one more reminder to me of iRex's design prowess. Don't ask me to sell it, or send it to you: I'll only sell it back to iRex.