Review: M-edge Genuine Leather Cover For the PRS-700

[Andybaby]

The M-edge Leather Covers come in 12 different color patterns, and they make them for both the PRS-505 as well as the PRS-700 (and the Kindle2 Too).

• Marbled Ruby Red
• Smooth Sapphire Blue
• Smooth Jade Green
• Smooth Black
• Smooth Mocha
• Pebbled Navy Blue
• Pebbled Grey (Black Strap)
• Pebbled Cream (Saddle Strap)
• Pebbled Mocha (Saddle Strap)
• Pebbled Saddle
• Pebbled Purple
• Pebbled Fuchsia[/left]

They cost 29.99 at Amazon with free “super saver” shipping and is tax free assuming you live in a state other than where it is shipped from. I bought the Marbled Ruby Red, and received it 5 days after payment using Supersaver shipping.

The first thing you notice when you pick up the cover is the wonderful leather smell, it is most defantly leather. It feels great in the hand as well, the grey suede interior is very similar to the interior of the original kindle’s included cover. In fact the build quality is very similar, I loved the cover that came with the kindle 1.

There are five pockets on the left of the cover, two for memory cards, two for credit cards, and one large pocket. The Large pocket can fit a regular sheet of 8 ½ X 11 if you fold it twice.

The pen holder in the spine is attached firmly, but there isn’t a whole lot of space in the spine for a decent writing pen with some weight to is. Anything thicker than a pencil or a Bic will make the cover not close all the way, or close on an odd angle. I’m using a mechanical pencil which fits just fine, even when closed.

The dimensions of the cover is not much larger that the stock cover. it’s a little bit thicker, and a little bit wider when closed, but it still fits in my pocket, which is probably the most important feature to me besides being a leather cover in itself.

The color of the red is very nice, it’s a nice sharp red, not pinkish in anyway, one might call it a red the color of smeared blood on paper if that appeals to the Hannibal Lector side of you.

The cover feels great in the hand. My gripes with the original cover are, the edge the sticks out when you have it folded back, which hurt my hand. The crappy plastic feel of the stock cover, and the material they lined the inside with. I am happy to say the M-edge cover has fixed all these things, Due to the corner straps, the leading edge of the cover is flush with the reader. The cover consists of a Leather exterior and a suede interior, on the leather side there is a bit of padding under it, and then a nice stiff piece of cardboard. The cardboard insert did not bend with a moderate amount of force applied, it also seems to be tapered in the center slightly which lets the cover close evenly without making the spine even bigger.

Speaking of the corner straps, the bottom 2 straps are pure leather, the top two are leather and rubber strapping (sort of like underwear) they are all different lengths and attach slightly differently due to a number of factors. The 700s leading edge of the right is sharp and tapered, and the left is rounded. The bottom has a sound toggle, the top has a Stylus holder as well as the power switch. The straps don’t get in the way of any function or button or switch on the reader. I find that the cover holds it very securely, and if there is a weak point, it is the top left edge, which is the smallest strap of them all and may have a tendency to flip over and fall off if you brush it, the left strap doesn’t seem to have that problem due to its larger size.

The Buckle that holds its closed is both secure and easy to open and close. It just works right. I also find it nice to wrap my finger around while holding the reader on the right side. This is the same way I would hold my PRS-500 in the stock cover and the Kindle, but the extra material on the 700 made holding it like that very uncomfortable. Holding the reader like this I find to be the most sturdy of them all.

Also holding the reader like a real book is possible with the M-edge Jacket. The thinness of the stock cover led to hand pain if I tried that, or the cover would even bend. The weight of the Jacket makes the reader even sturdier. Just like a real book.

You can View More Images Here.

You can Buy them for the PRS-700 Here

And the 505 Here

[Wetdogeared]

Nice presentation and excellent photographs Andybaby. Where were you when everyone was clamouring for pics of the PRS-700?

The M-Edge covers look very stylish. My only concerns would be the added weight (something you seem to prefer) and the buckle getting in the way of my reading (I usually hold my reader in my left hand and flip pages with my left thumb). Any specs or guestimate of the weight? Can the strap be tucked out of the way?

(*note* This Dropbox photo repository looks like a good method for presentation and backup and I'm going to look into it further.)

Thanks for the excellent review. I'm glad you like it.

WetDogEared

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

Nice presentation and excellent photographs Andybaby. Where were you when everyone was clamouring for pics of the PRS-700?

The M-Edge covers look very stylish. My only concerns would be the added weight (something you seem to prefer) and the buckle getting in the way of my reading (I usually hold my reader in my left hand and flip pages with my left thumb). Any specs or guestimate of the weight? Can the strap be tucked out of the way?

(*note* This Dropbox photo repository looks like a good method for presentation and backup and I'm going to look into it further.)

Thanks for the excellent review. I'm glad you like it.

WetDogEared

I love dropbox, you set a folder on your computer to sync online automatically, there is a photo folder (which you automatically get the above type of gallery for what ever images you put in that folder, there is a Public folder, whatever file you put in it, you right click it and click get link and it copys the link to your clipboard, works for any file, Including images, no ads, nothing bad. PM me your Email address so I can Invite you if you havent joined yet, and I know I get 250 megs of extra space. I think you do too.

I did take some pictures of my 700 back way back when.

as for weight. my brother has a small scale, I will weigh them tonight and give you some hard numbers.

the strap can be tucked into the slot in reverse.

[Parastie]

Boy that does look very professional. When you say you're able to keep it in your pocket, do you mean like a jacket pocket? As small as the 700 is, I wouldn't expect it to fit into any pocket.

[thibaulthalpern]

[removed; double post]

[thibaulthalpern]

Thanks for the review!

See...now that you've received your M-edge cover, you will have forgotten about the waiting time and "anguish" after several days to a month. ;-) Patience eh?

And it's definitely Not defantly or whatever else it is that others spell it like ;-)

And man, those corner straps really don't appeal to me. Not one bit. The leather, I like but those corners....

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by thibaulthalpern

And it's definitely Not defantly or whatever else it is that others spell it like ;-)

aww, silly word didn't catch it. it must have been something I added after I removed it from word.

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by Parastie

Boy that does look very professional. When you say you're able to keep it in your pocket, do you mean like a jacket pocket? As small as the 700 is, I wouldn't expect it to fit into any pocket.

The back pocket of my jeans, though it wont fit for everyone.(Especially you skinny people with the 28s) it will fit anywhere the stock case did, due to it not adding all that mucl bulk, its about 3-5 mm wider, and maybe about the same thicker.

[GlennD]

It looks gorgeous - I'm tempted to grab one for 'at home' use even though my 700 travels with me in a bookarmor case. The straps at the corner were my big concern, but from your review it sounds like there's no need to worry.

[narbeauchamp]

Thanks for posting-great review and great pictures !!!!

[thibaulthalpern]

I'm a little concerned that carrying cards in the pockets will mar the PRS-700's screen. Do you think this will happen?

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by thibaulthalpern

I'm a little concerned that carrying cards in the pockets will mar the PRS-700's screen. Do you think this will happen?

I think a credit card with the raised numbers and sharp edges might scratch the screen if you shift the case alot while closed.

a paper card (business card like) or a Metro card (very thin plastic) wouldn't do anything I think.

I wouldn't want to hold my credit cards in one of those pockets anyway. no reason to show those off to people.

Credit Cards can go in the Big pocket, and will be totally hidden, Secure, and easy to acess (its about half a cm under the lip of the pocket) I think I might just do that with one of my cards.

SD cards get almost totally sucked up in their pocket, so they wouldn't do any damage either.

[imaredr]

Thanks for the review. I was over at their site today and was so glad to finally see a cover for the 700. I wonder what took so long? Anyway, it was a nice surprise. I was originally there looking for the covers that Foxit announced for the e-slick reader. I got the email today, but the covers weren't posted yet. Probly tomorrow. So I will wait til then and order the 2 covers at the same time.

Ellen

[Pangolyn]

Finally got mine today. Took 9 days w/ free shipping.

I got mocha. It's dark brown, soft, and smells like leather. It's not perfectly smooth--it does have a fine grain to it, maybe twice as fine as the cover that came with the device. I expected it to be very smooth and easily scratched, but I scratched it lightly with my fingernail near the edge and it didn't mar the surface.

The strap is sewn on with contrasting stitching. It is noticeably crooked, lower on the spine than on the outer edge, but it's not bad enough to send back. Otherwise, the quality is excellent. The interior is very soft and fuzzy. The pockets are very low profile. The strap used to close the case does its job very well. I have no fears of it becoming loose over time.

The straps on the top do seem a little odd with exposed elastic, but it's almost required to give access to the power switch and the stylus. If the top straps were like the bottom then these two items could not be accessed.

The internal structure is much stiffer than the standard case. The 'binding' part is pliable and easily bends back to fold flat against the back. I have no fear that bending it will cause a problem, like I do with the standard case. A thin Moleskine fits with no fears of it messing up the screen. I have not tried the pen loop because it's very skinny--maybe a thin Cross pen would fit.

It feels great and is exactly what I expect a nice leather case to be. I will definitely feel more comfortable using this than the standard case because it looks much more book-like (well, Bible-like, anyway).

No point in posting pictures because hers were just fine, but I will post pics upon request if you want to see something specific.

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by Pangolyn

hers .

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH someone cut off some bodyparts of mine...

also the pen loop is small, but a normal bic pen fits fine, or a pencil, or something similar, but it doesn't fit my favorite pen very well