The BlackBerry leather journal casing is another of the premium casing solutions which RIM has to offer for the BlackBerry Playbook. As its advertised, “Precision fit with easy access to all ports, media keys and cameras”. Now, bear in mind that this would be and is a different casing from those we have reviewed earlier.
Back of the box
the silver BlackBerry logo
The rough leather
Firstly, the packaging is pretty standard and simple like its other counter part, the leather convertible casing; the black sleek box, with just the accessory itself and nothing more. The leather for this accessory is the rough ragged kind of leather, pretty much comparable to the premium OEM pouch that can be bought separately for the phones.
Front view
BlackBerry Embossed within
the cutout for the camera
Cutout for camera
First impression of the case is pretty positive. It indeed holds the “premium” rugged feel to it. It is very stylish and feels that solid, firm. The cutouts for the various components made it feel even more premium as it is different from the others (check out the camera cut out!)
the earphone/mic cut out
The buttons for media
the microphone cutout
So as we can see, its like sort of the hard shell case being glued or sealed onto the leather cover, similar to the cousin, leather convertible case. As I mentioned earlier on the other case, the good side of this, is that it will definitely provide a all-round protection against knocks and water to a extent while giving you that soft nice leather feeling. The down side, however, is that, it would be a little bulky.
The casing vs a naked playbook
The naked playbook vs the hard casing
Let's open it!
Unlike the other case, the journal case is really a journal and you can only use it as a journal. You can’t open it up like a stand or use it as a stand as the whole base of the case is stuck onto the leather cover.
The hard casing
How the buttons work
inside the case
Placing the Playbook inside the the casing and taking it out maybe slightly challenging as the casing is after all, a hard shell case. However, this would also mean that the playbook is unlikely to just slip out of casing by accident as well, which is a positive thing. This is similar to that of the leather convertible case
Yes indeed, it is a great case at the first glance.
Now, its been more than 2 weeks since I have used the case. Like most other cases, the case has to be open in order to charge the device, you wont be able to dock it. However, the most irritating issue of all is that the media controls, which they have special buttons for it, is that after awhile, it seems like it begins to be hard to press, which is very irritating indeed.
It is almost identical to the leather convertible casing albeit different functions and type of leather. The leather here looks much nicer than the convertible, but when holding and using it, the convertible is nicer to hold and offers more functionality. While the journal comes with a elastic strap at the back to “lock” the cover, unlike the convertible case, which is very useful, the convertible case could easily be modified to include this. Also worth noting is that the strap is kind of thin as well, which brings up fears of it breaking easily.
Now, bringing the attention over to mizvu case, it offers the combination of the 2, with a lower grade of leather. But at its much lower price, it is indeed much more value for money.
As a conclusion, for those who love to read books or use the BlackBerry Playbook as a “journal” will definitely appreciate this casing. However, this is not a suitable case for me.
Rating: 
Moved from:
http://reviews.ourberries.com/?p=435
