Noreve Kindle cover review 1 comment
Noreve Saint-Tropez is a French company that creates
luxury handcrafted leather cases for ereaders, mobile phones and other devices. Noreve has been kind enough to send me a sample of one of their Kindle covers to review.
Noreve uses four different types of leather for their various device cases:
- Perpetual Selection – matte finish full grain calf leather with a smooth and soft texture; comes in 12 colors.
- Ambition Selection – pebble grained leather, treated to resist weathering; three colors.
- Exceptional Selection – vintage leather look with a smooth and weathered finish; four colors.
- Illumination selection – varnished leather with a smooth and very glossy finish; three colors.
There is quite a lot there to choose from, what with the
different types of leather and their various color options. The cover I received is an Ambition Selection black cover for the Kindle 2. Noreve also makes covers for the Kindle 1, Kindle 3 and Kindle DX ereaders.
Additionally, Noreve makes covers for a number of other ereaders besides the Kindle family. The Sony PRS 300, 600 and 650; iRiver Story; iRex iLiad 2nd Edition; Hanvon WISEreader N526; Dell Streak; Cool-er; Bookeen Cybook Opus and Gen3; Barnes & Noble Nook (original); Bebook Neo, Mini, Hanlin V3 based Bebook and the Apple iPad are all supported. Noreve also makes cases for notebooks and a wide selection of mobile phones.
Rather than elastic straps or hinges, Noreve uses a metal rail system to hold the ereader securely in place in the cover. In the case of the Kindle 2 cover I received, this system works quite well. The Kindle was held very tightly while all ports and buttons are accessible. Combined with the rigid inserts in both the front and back covers I felt that the Kindle was well protected.
Inside the front cover are flaps to hold papers and slots to hold cards. At the bottom is a pocket with a clear window that would work for ID. The back cover is lined with soft leather decorated with the Noreve logo that has two little screens to cover the Kindle 2’s speakers. The closure uses a magnetic snap.
The fit of the cover was quite good on the Kindle 3 ereader. The front cover folds flatly and neatly back against the back cover when you want to hold it in one hand. The leather used by Noreve is very high quality and workmanship is very exact and precise.
The cover I received is rather quiet and low key. 
I don’t think that this is a cover that looks obviously expensive when seen in passing. It is only after handling it and examining the workmanship that one comes to appreciate the quality. Other people I showed the cover to seem to have had a similar impression. This is an ereader cover that will probably grow on you as you use it rather than wowing you with a big first impression.
This particular cover would probably therefore not be a good choice if you want a cover for your ereader that makes a bold fashion statement – perhaps one of Noreve’s varnished covers or one of the brighter color selections would be better for that. For myself, I find Noreve’s subtle and unpretentious design aesthetic to be refreshing. I like it. I need a case for my Sony PRS-650, for which I was thinking to buy Sony’s lighted cover. I’m now seriously thinking of getting one of Noreve’s Exceptional Selection covers in black.
Pricing for most of the ereader covers seems to be in
the $70 – $80 range. Noreve no longer has a distributer in the US, so you will probably need to purchase directly from the Noreve website. You can also find some of the Noreve covers and cases at Amazon UK.
Win this Noreve Kindle 2 cover!
Noreve is generously letting me have a drawing to give away the Kindle 2 cover used for this review. The rules are pretty simple: Leave a comment on this post by midnight PST Feb. 5, 2011, which will be the cutoff time for the contest. On Feb. 6 one winner will be randomly selected from the comments. One entry per person. I’m not going to set any geographical restrictions – but the winner will be responsible for any taxes and import fees. Please keep in mind that this is a Kindle 2 cover – it will not fit the latest generation Kindle 3 ereader.
You will be asked for an email address when you leave a comment; I will need this to contact the winner for a shipping address so please use a valid one. Your email will not be used for any other purpose. Please note that all comments have to go into moderation and therefore do not appear instantly, otherwise I’d be swamped by comment spam.
UPDATE: Well, Chris from California wins by default. If this was a Kindle 3 cover I’m sure there would have been much more interest. If it had been a Kindle 3 cover I would have promoted the drawing more with a sticky post on the homepage. Since the cover was for a Kindle 2, I thought it would be better if someone found it by searching for it and that is apparently what happened. So I hope you enjoy the cover Chris!
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Good review, I was actually looking for reviews on the Noreve and found this link. Odd that no one has replied for the “contest” I guess I’ll claim it ;D