Last month I reviewed an iPad Air 2 case from KAVAJ and said:
As with iPad Mini cases, there are a lot on the market–so many that one could easily get lost in the three-hour rabbit hole of trying to find just the right one.
I’m not sure I have found just the right one for the iPad Air 2. There are a couple that are close–I’ll share about those in due course.
One of the cases that is close to being just right is the Century Icon Folio for iPad Air 2, from HEX Products.
What I Like About the Icon Folio
It’s not all leather, but the external material is primarily waxed canvas of high quality. The casing around the iPad itself is hard rubber. The HEX case strikes a neat balance of professional, classy, and casual.
The cut-outs for volume buttons, headphone jack, and camera are 100% A++.
It’s a slim case, which makes it a good one for pulling in and out of a satchel a lot. It doesn’t add any bulk to the iPad.
You’ll have seen in the images above the elastic strap–you can use this to secure the bi-fold case, so that it doesn’t inadvertently open in your bag. The strap is thick and has the perfect amount of tension.
A key feature of the folio is the inside compartment where you can put three cards, cash, and a few notes, as you like:
You can squeeze enough in here that you could take literally just this case and its contents to your favorite working spot (if you didn’t need an external keyboard).
What I Don’t Like About the Icon Folio
Just two minor critiques to offer:
1. There’s no mechanism whereby you can make the case stand or prop up. In other words, the front of the case doesn’t fold as other cases do, for when you want to sit your device on a table and watch something or use an external keyboard with it.
2. After only a little use, part of the (faux?) leather strip on the side was starting to separate from the hard rubber. Nothing major, but one does hope this doesn’t worsen with time, especially given that this is not an off-brand, $20 option.
Bonus Feature, and Where to Get It
Bonus feature: though I haven’t seen HEX advertise it anywhere for this case, it does have a sleep/wake feature, so that when you close the case with the iPad on, it puts the screen to sleep automatically to save battery. This functions as it should consistently.
You can learn more about the HEX case at their Website here. And it’s available on Amazon here.
The kind folks at HEX provided me the case for the review, without expectation as to my review’s content.
Words on the Word 