A cover/case/holder has to be one of the hardest things in the world to get right. Its so hard, in fact, that I’ve long ago given up on carrying my devices in cases. Aside from the obvious issue of having to obtain cases for devices that just hit the market (case manufacturers typically have a 6 month or so lag time), I also change devices with such rapidity that it’d be a waste of time and money to keep ordering cases.
So what makes a case so hard to do after all? Well, for one thing, the case maker needs to appeal to a reasonably broad market, but simultaneously, the cover needs to work for each users specific use case (pardon the pun), which of course, so vastly differs from user to user. Case in point (pardon the pun)…
Personally, as mentioned above, I switch devices so frequently that custom device cases are out of the question. That left me with only the so called “Universal Cases”, which I looked into. Unfortunately, the vast majority of UCs I saw in the local phone shops were either crafted of shoddy materials, downright ugly, or bore some randomly odd symbol- like a peace sign crossed with a ying yang and New York Knicks logo. Just weird. Anyway, that effectively ruled out the case option for me entirely, until some time ago.
I don’t recall exactly how I stumbled upon Vaja’s site; I believe it may have been through a magazine reference/ad a while ago. However I found them, their site makes it quickly obvious that class and quality go hand in hand here. Highly suggestive of many designer’s websites, a designer is, in fact, what Vaja is. After requesting a review sample, I was pleasantly surprised by the overseas delivery just a little bit later (custom color combinations take longer).
The Vaja box is above average, even for a high end case. A quality, textured white box with the logo embossed job. One then slips the inner box out, and voila- the actual case is revealed.
When it comes to color combinations, everyone will have a different preference. Being a plain old fella, I went with the basic black/black look. Can’t go wrong with that, right?
I must say, that in the time that I first ordered that Vaja case, I’ve seen quite a few high end pieces from various case manufacturers around the world.
No one, and I mean, nobody does it like Vaja. The quality is beyond description. The fit for the my device was snug, at first, but after a bit, the leather got “worked in”. The built in belt clip is a little annoying- it means that I need to belt in on every time I put on a new pair of pants, and it can’t be removed without taking off my belt. The good news, here, however, is that I realized that I know longer perform those hourly, unconscious checks to see if my device is still attached to me. Hallelujah!
I would post a picture set, but the Vaja designer site I mentioned before has close ups, of every part, of every case, in better quality than I could ever manage with my point-and-shoot. Just head over to Vaja’s Homepage for a look at their saliva worthy pieces. The particular unit I reviews is the Classic Horizontal Pouch.
After so long without a case, I must thank Vaja and the team there for changing my mind- a job VERY well done!
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