Review: Amazon Fire 7 (2015 release) Case

• March 20, 2016
• James Skemp
• review

The following is a review of the Amazon Fire 7" (2015 release) Case - Slim Lightweight Standing Custom Fit Cover for Amazon Fire 7 Inch Tablet, received as part of the Amazon Vine Program.

Not as good a fit, but still nigh perfect

Right around Christmas I was out shopping around for a replacement to my second generation Nexus 7, due to speed and battery issues. Within a couple days I had picked up one of the 2015 models of the Amazon Fire 7.

About a month later I received a Verso Fire 7 2015 Case for it, and while I tried it out, the material of the case, as well as it’s hinge and ribbon to keep it closed, were things that I wasn’t too happy with.

However, around the same time I had the chance to try out one of Amazon’s cases for their Fire HD 8, and I loved it. Since it’s effectively the same thing in a smaller package, I’ll repeat some of what I said in my review of that here.

The first nice thing about the case is that it leaves all of the buttons free. While a case with button covers doesn’t necessarily mean the buttons require more pressure to be used, having them clear is so much easier.

The case also features a pretty powerful magnet, which combined with the case wraps around the device, means that the cover stays in place, but can still be removed with relative ease. It also sticks quite well to the back of the case, which means that it has the same profile open or closed, with no slippage.

Initially I thought the oddest thing about these cases was that the cover folds in half diagonally. Within the box itself is the two ways this fold can be used to stand it up either in portrait or landscape view, but after three plus weeks, I still hadn’t gotten used to this, and had to play around with the flap a bit before I got it right.

Now that I’ve tried the smaller model I’m quite used to it, and it basically feels natural. However, I do have a little trouble keeping my 8’s cover in place on some smooth surfaces. At this point I’m not sure if this is because of usage, or if it’s because of the texture of the surface I’m setting it on. Time will tell if this is an issue with these cases in general.

Finally, the case feels pretty ridge, but still has some flex to it. It fits fairly snug around the tablet itself, but leaves enough of the device free for it be relatively flat on the top of the tablet itself. With the larger case this initially lead me to believe that it might pop out of the case, but thus far still have had no issues with it. However, with the case for the Fire 7 I have noticed that the Fire will very occasionally pop out a bit. It’s relatively minor, but I’m keeping my eye on whether the case is ever so slightly smaller than it should be.

Other than that, much like the Fire HD 8 case, I have to give the Amazon Fire 7" (2015 release) Case - Slim Lightweight Standing Custom Fit Cover for Amazon Fire 7 Inch Tablet a full five of five stars. The case itself is pricey, especially compared with the AmazonBasics line, which I’m most familiar with, but the case quality is high, and works very well.

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