Customer Reviews

Kindle Leather Cover, Steel Blue (Fits Kindle Keyboard)

5 star:		(155)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(67)

 

 

Have a good scale and have now seen all cover colors, so here's data to help you pick. VERY well made cover.

Weights are for the cover only, not including the Kindle:
Cover without light -- 170 grams or 6 ounces
Cover WITH light -- 240 grams or 8-1/2 ounces
Only you know whether the 2-1/2 ounce difference in weight is worth carrying all the time to have a light always at hand.

The most accurate depiction of the cover colors is the photograph at the bottom of the sales page.
Burnt Orange -- same shade as a basketball
Burgundy Red -- closer to a vibrant brick red as it has no purple overtone
Steel Blue -- pure grey blue which shows well on web page
Hot Pink -- deeper shade than it appears anywhere but photograph
Green -- picture a Granny Smith apple
Brown -- very deep brown, not a chocolate color

Amazon hasn't reacted yet, but there are numerous discussion threads on the Kindle page here and the Kindle Facebook page about a technical problem with these non-light book covers. They appear to be causing the Kindles to short out (they actually hook into the Kindle with metal tags). Since it seems to have started in the winter months, I read a theory that it might be from static electricity transmitting from the cover into the device.

It started out as a mystery - my Kindle, which had worked well for the first few months after I bought it, began to malfunction in November, to the point that I could no longer use it for reading. It wouldn't wake up from its screen saver - I'd have to force it to reboot just to get it to unfreeze, and it would need to reboot two or three times before it would show me my desktop.

The battery would drain after only about 5 or 6 hours, meaning I could read it in the morning but not in the afternoon. Eventually, i couldn't read it at all - it would take so many reboots to get it operating that my dog walk or my lunch break would be over! Amazon said before calling customer service to report a battery problem I should leave it uncharged for 7 days to see if the battery could hold on that long. It bricked itself after 18 hours. No amount of charging it after that brought it back to life again.

But when the replacement product arrived and I placed it into the cover I'd kept from the first one, it happened all over again, right from the first day! Amazon told me they wouldn't send me another one (I guess they decided I was trouble for having to broken kindles in one week), so i started reading about the problem.

As soon as I saw the threads positing that this was a cover malfunction, I pulled my new kindle out of the cover. It's only been a few hours, but I have a normal Kindle again! Fast page turns, always wakes up from screen saver as it should, and in every respect has been worry-free since I took it out of the cover.

Please avoid any cover that hooks into the Kindle with metal tags. The problem is very hard to diagnose because it manifests as a battery problem, but the problem is probably static shocks coming from the cover directly into the Kindle's electrical system. And Amazon, stop selling these covers and allow us to return the ones we've already purchased as part of a defective product recall.

I am very pleased with this cover. It is very protective, a nice shade of blue and very compact. It does fold over. I know some people don't realize this. The leather is stiff at first but it will fold over and soften after a few days. I had the official cover for kindle 2 and they have made some improvements. The leather is a better quality, they now offer a choice of colors and the spine doesn't feel like it will fall apart. Overall having the elastic is nice as well as it makes it more secure. I like that it makes the kindle feel more like a book and the hinge system is really nice. I like the clean look and won't be buying any cover that puts corner straps on the device. My one con is it weighs 5.7 ounces and while that is not heavy it really could be more like 4 ounces as they probably make the cover heavier than it really needs to be and still be protective.

I had been having issues with my Kindle WiFi not turning on when it had been in sleep mode, or rebooting while it was asleep causing the last save location in a book to be reset. Amazon Support sent me a replacement Kindle and I had the same exact issues. I read a story on a forum about removing the cover and thought I would try it. I was very skeptical but removing the cover has fixed my problems. I have not had any resets with the device since removing it. It was happing several times a day before and now I have gone days without a reset. Amazon Support also would not allow me to return the defective item since it has been over 30 days.

Called Tech Support to check why my 2 day old kindle would not work and they said the cover seems to be causing the issue. They suggested the lighted cover. I will give that a try and review my experience. For now even kindle tech support doesn't reccommend this cover.

I thought this to be a wonderful case for about a month and a half. It is attractive, seems well-constructed, and I quite enjoyed the feel of it.

However, after that month and some change, my Kindle failed to wake up from its slumber. I had to do a restart every time I wanted to read on it. I checked the Kindle Customer Service Q & A Forum, where I discovered I was not the only one with the difficulty. In fact, it was not the Kindle - it was the case! The hinges mess with the circuity of the Kindle. Electronics are not my strong suit, but ever since I removed my Kindle from the leather case permanently, I have had no trouble with the Kindle itself.

There are some wonderful covers that work well with Kindle. Just not this one.

Best of luck - enjoy your Kindle!

THE COVER'S METAL ATTACHMENT HOOKS MESS UP THE KINDLE. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT OR YOUR KINDLE WILL FLAT-LINE! You will have problems with holding a charge, retaining page locations, and freezing. I manage 15 Kindles and only the new ones with these covers had ALL of these problems. Take away the covers, and they were fine. Amazon needs to recall these covers or their image will be blighted.

I loved everyting about this cover until my screen started locking up and rebooting at odd times. When I checked the discussion blog, the suggestion was made (by many) that I detach the cover from the Kindle. Since I did that, I have had no problems with my Kindle.

The cover is beautiful, but that's about it. The kindle constantly falls out from the hooks. You can't really read the kindle while it is in the cover. It does not lay well, and is cumbersome

Initially, the cover is beautiful, so it looks good, no funky smell and it works. I was in love it! I brought my kindle with me in my purse, and showed it off.

During the month that I had my Kindle in the cover, its had to be recharged multiple times. The first time I had to recharge I thought, ok I didn't turn the WiFi off, so I'll try that. It helped but not enough.

I also started to noticed that every so often the Kindle screen wasn't the same as the last one I had seen. So if I had been reading in bed at night and turned off the machine and the cover was Jane Austen, in the morning it would be the original 'slide the power button to start' screen. However far I had gotten in my reading was now lost, because it went back to the last memory it had before this reboot, which may have been a few nights ago.

I am convinced that there is nothing wrong with my Kindle, its the cover which is causing this chaos. For about a week now, I unhooked my kindle from the cover and haven't had ANY issues. There are many reviews which state the reasons for the problems and I won't pretend to have an answer other than, choose a different cover until they figure out the issue. Choose one of the covers that you slide the Kindle into sleeve, or has secure loops. But read the reviews, and if there is no review and you feel brave buy it and then write the review so that others know the good, the bad or the ugly!