Kindle sleeves from Balbirnie Leather in Scotland

So, there I was looking for a nice sleeve for my new Kindle Voyage.
It turned out to be raining goodies, so in short order I had ordered four of them. I admit one could have been omitted, but that's as far as I'll go, hrmh.

I do it all for YOU, it's not like I WANT to buy these lovely things for myself!

Anyway, there are advantages to the simple sleeve for protection of your reader or tablet. Not the least that when reading, it does not add any weight, bulk, or hindrances.

I've long been looking for a leather shop with good and fast service. Small, but professional. I think I have found it in Balbirnie Leather. 

They made me this simple, beautiful pouch in real leather (you can smell the difference).
I get the feeling they can make you a sleeve for any tablet/reader in the world, they only need the dimensions after all.

[All pics are clickable for pleasant detail]

It is soft, simple, and lovely. Really nice quality leather. 

Even though they fit it exactly to the Kindle Voyage (There are only a couple milimeters difference from the Paperwhite), my non-patented strap still fits too. There is just enough friction to keep it in place while keeping it easy to take out the device. (This one is soft leather, fastened simply with Velcro, so I can remove it again. It works fine.) It is Pounds Sterling 19.50 (say $28), very reasonable for hand-craft like this. 

This one is an Inatech Compact Envelope in felt. It's also nice, and has the gimmick that when you pull on the leather strap, it helps slide out the device! This was 11 Pounds. 

This case is from Dockem Eu. It is slightly more polished than the Balbirnie sleeves, with rounded corners and filt lining (no worries, the B sleeves are plenty soft inside). But it's not real leather, and there's something to be said for minimalist aesthetic of the Balbirnies. Keep It Simple, Silly, as I say. This was less than ten Pounds, very cheap, despite the good quality. 

For my old Paperwhite I chose a different color, brown. They have several lovely colors to choose from. I always had a strong weakness (if that makes sense) for the deep, dark, burgundy red of the one I got for the Voyage. (Though they are interchangeable, the size difference is so small.)

My Kindle Voyage arrived on a Sunday, or what reader do you need?

One thing about Amazon: they sure work friggin hard. I got my K Voyage on Sunday, at seven in the evening!
Another delivery (to my mail box), also one they'd promised for next-day, I got after 22 at night. They deliver seven days a week, day and evening, one-day promised, if you have a Prime membership.

The Kindle Voyage: Well, I feel there is not so darn much to say. David Pogue basically says it all. https://www.yahoo.com/tech/either-amazon-knows-exactly-what-its-doing-or-102593981399.html

It's the best e-ink Kindle that they can make at the moment. (Apparently they can't make them much speedier, it's still feels much slower than any tablet.) And it's priced for it.

Do you need it?

I say: if you're happy with what you have, keep it.
If you have the money and want the best B/W reader you can get, get the Voyage.
If you want something more flexible and faster, with a great color screen, get the Kindle Fire HDX.
If you want the best mid-sized tablet, get a iPad Mini. That is a the best all-round ereader there is, it's easy to hold, and it has the perfect screen size to show both novels and web and magazines to their best advantage. And the second model is much cheaper now. Even the first one, without Retina display, is great, the display is plenty good, and it's cheaper yet.

If you want cheap, get the $69 Kindle.
If you want a cheap, compact tablet, get the Fire HD6. (Though it is really a $120 tablet, not 100, because you do need 16GB of RAM, really.)
If you want a B/W reader with front light, get the Kindle Paperwhite. Almost as good as the Voyage in most respects, and rather cheaper.

If you want a LOT of apps, get a non-Amazon tablet, like Nexus 7 or Galaxy Tab. They are good too.

If you want to read full page comics or magazines, get a 10-inch or a 12-inch tablet, that is currently the iPad Air 2 or the Samsung (some number, 9400 or such. Sigh, the Japanese and names...)