M-Edge has managed to find a completely own niche in the market with their MyEdge idea. It lets you put your own personal design onto a sleeve for the iPad and iPad 2, as well as Kindle and Nook devices. For more information on the actual process an article will be available in our free iPad Magazine issue 1. This is a review of the finished product that I ordered, and had in my hand within ten days.
The case looks, and feels like a rather large book. The iPad is inserted into two leather straps on the bottom, and two flexible leather straps are hooked around the upper corners. This is a great way of securing the iPad without any intrusion to the screen estate.
The outer front, and back sides are covered with fabric with your design printed on them. The print/dye is deep, and doesn’t seem to wear off with usage. The seams are done with precision, and there are no loose threads to be seen anywhere. The spine is made from leather, and matches the colour of the straps holding the iPad in place. Brown or black leather of medium to high quality. On the spine M-Edge is pressed into the leather. I would have liked to be able to have your own text on the spine to make it stand out in a bookcase.
The inside of the sleeve is made using a tan suede material. On the inside of the front there is a slot that lets you place a piece of paper or two. The inside overall is quite boring compared to the outside that you have designed yourself. Continued very good seams.
For protection the MyEdge sleeve is quite good, as long as it stays shut. There is no closure mechanism holding the sleeve shut. To me this is a huge omission. A strap, a magnet or a button would have done marvels for protection.
The sleeve is also rather unwieldy since the stiff spine doesn’t allow for you to fold the front around to be held on the back. This means that you have to walk around with the iPad like an open book if you want to use it in the sleeve. This is also a problem when using the iPad in landscape mode if an App or game won’t let you choose which way to hold the device. With the front flap at the top you have to hold it when using the iPad.
Finally some functions get lost when inside the sleeve. First of all the rear facing camera, as there is no camera cut-out. This can be excused since this sleeve is also for the original iPad. Worse to me is the fact that the volume controls, and mute/rotate switch are disturbed by the top right strap holding the iPad in place. This got me really annoyed, as this issue is also evident in the original iPad.
By frozendragon, found in the style library. I get hungry just watching this sleeve.
The MyEdge sleeve is not as good as the concept, but it is a great starting point. I really hope to see thinner, lighter and more versatile sleeves in the future with your own designs. The one on offer today is great as a gift for someone dear to you, or for a group of team members at work. For personal everyday usage it is not that practical, especially not for iPad 2 users who want to use the camera. It is however easy to insert, and extract the device. As such it can be used much in the same way as a pouch. There are better and more practical cases and sleeves out there, but none offer the chance to place pictures of your kids on it for grandmas birthday.
Final Rating
