Portenzo Cases Confirmed!!!

Okay ladies and gents, the moment we have all been waiting for. Time for me to ramble about the composition case I ordered.
There are a lot of things I have extremely happy about with this case. Portenzo is a fantastic company with AMAZING customer service (at least from my experience. Thank you Lea!) and the craftsmanship is second to none. You can actually appreciate the handmade work that went into this case. Overall I am pleased with it but also have some concerns.

The case is hard covered, but I think we already knew that. One of the main reasons I purchased the composition case was to disguise it to make it look like a regular note book. I ride the train in NYC daily and I actually think this is a fantastic idea. You truly can't tell the difference when looking at it from the back.
The wood on the side is extremely smooth and feels amazing. Not one knot in the wood, no rough points, I mean nothing! Feels great all around.
I opted to go with the magnetic closure figuring it would close the case completely shut. Let's just say it was a good thing I purchased it with the strap. Yes the magnets close the case fine but when you turn it over, it easily opens up. I don't feel like the magnets are strong enough to keep the case close. Either that or the case needs to break in a bit. Definitely go with the strap if you can in my opinion for that extra closure and protection.

As for the rubber grips in the corners, my nexus 7 doesn't feel like it is going anywhere once that bad boy was forced into the case.
I flipped it over, shook it, and it wasn't moving. Feels great. My only concern is (again this may be just be) but I have a screen protector on my case along with the full body protection on the back. I have provided a pic to show everyone the back skin. It felt very snug trying to force the case in to the rubber grips. At one point I felt like I was pushing so hard that I was going to crack the screen. Now I am starting to think that maybe that happened due to the extra layered skin that I have on the back of the nexus 7? I don't know for sure but it is possible. Either way the nexus 7 isn't falling out of the case any time soon. I do at times feel like the device isn't in all the way and it might be causing the front flap to not close down completely. (please see provided pics)

I purchased the case with the intellistand feature for the extra money and I feel it is worth it. Definitely comes in handy. ( see pics below)
When putting it in the correct position, the magnets lock the case in place and it stands up perfectly. You can move the wood frame a bit for a slightly different viewing angle, but you can't move it much. Definitely the way the go with the intellistand.

Now on to the points I am not crazy about. One, the case is stiff and I mean STIFF!. I understand it is brand new and I figured that it would need time breaking in but its so stiff to the point that I thought I would rip the material if I bent the front cover back too much. (again see pics)
After I finally grew enough balls to force the front flap to the back, it still wouldn't go ALL the way back and because of this, the wood frame pops up as you can see and it won't sit right. I am assuming over time it will break in but as of right now it is a bit annoying. I like holding my case this specific way and it can be annoying and uncomfortable. I'm also forced to hold the case this way at certain times because of certain games that won't rotate the way one would like. Also, when holding the case this way, you will see the inside portion of the wood frame is pointy at the corners. I understand why they did this but when holding the case it can slightly dig in to you hand and make it a bit uncomfortable. I think i would have preferred rounded edges like the outside corners but I also understand from a design point of view that it might not have looked right.

The sound is pretty damn good considering it is in the case. I know they have a special frame to help the sound kick back to the user in front of the case and it seems to do the job. Pretty pleased with it.
The only part of the wood frame I would have made a little deeper was the power/volume rocker control. You can access it for sure, but you kind of have to dig your finder in there a bit.

Pros:
The case is amazing. It's very cool looking and definitely great for daily use. I have no doubt in my mind that this case will protect my nexus 7

Cons:
The stiffness of the case (I'm sure it will break in over time)
Magnets feel a slight bit weak to me. (Again, might be because the case needs to break in)
Putting the front flap to the back and the pointy edges while holding the case

Overall I am very pleased and would purchase again. As you've read my comments earlier, I love the Alano series and the soft flexible leather might be the way to go. That case just appears so soft and smooth but again, I couldn't pull myself to spend as much on a case as I did for the device itself.
Highly recommended. If you have any questions or want to see any specific pics from a certain angle, I would be happy to provide them for you.

Just got this info off the Portenzo Facebook Page! Pricing has not been announced yet but I'll be looking forward to it!

Portenzo cases for the Nexus 7 will be live for ordering tomorrow and the first orders will begin to ship on Friday!

https://www.facebook.com/Portenzo

EDIT: Pricing has now been confirmed at $39.99 (introductory price)

https://shop.portenzo.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=bookcase-for-nexus

EDIT:
I ended up going with the composition case.
To see my review, head over to post #200!!!! (page 20)

Got my case today which has magnetic closure with no elastic, custom embossing, and the intelli-stand.

The magnetic closure will hold the cover closed if you turn it upside down, but it can open under the cover's own weight with a little shake. If you are going to be storing and toting this where it could be moving around a lot, you should probably consider the elastic strap, otherwise for most situations it seems the magnetic closure should suffice despite being what I consider a 'very light' fastener. Ironically, when you flip the cover back around on itself it holds extremely well.

As for the rest, see for yourself:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fe431vsb1a5wci3/MAeu2iW-uP

Just for those not aware, there are "no lockscreen" apps that can make the smart-cover feature even better.

A few more notes:

There will be no accidentally pushing the power or volume buttons, in fact they are nearly difficult to access, but I much prefer them to be hard to press since I do not need to press them very often due to the smart-cover feature, and there are alternatives for the volume controls as well.

The material and build seems very solid and sturdy.

Overall my initial impressions are very positive, it is evident that the folks at Portenzo put a lot of thought into how everything works together on the case.

Okay here are some shots of my Nexus 7 in my Alano case. I would say that, in the case, it's about 2.5 times as thick as it is when naked. The case holds it really snugly without covering the bezel at all, which is a huge plus. I can hold it upside-down and shake it pretty good without fear of it popping out. You can see the small magnet attached to the inside of the cover to activate the smart sensor in one photo.

bustinstugots24 said:

Do me a favor if you can, I'd love to see pics/review of the old journal case. That was the original alano case I was going to get but just couldn't go through with it.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

It was waiting for me upon my return from the office this evening. It looks and feels excellent. I've got a couple of really high-end, older collectible books ... the leather feels as nice, maybe even better. The wood looks very nice (to my eyes). Audio, excellent; I was a little worried about the sound due to speaker placement, but the frame design is obviously well thought out in that regard.

Definitely nicer than any case I ever found for my old Samsung Galaxy Tab (original P1010). Here are several 800x600 pictures. If there's something specific you want to see or ask, let me know and I'll try to get the shot or answer the question.

pat----

Portenzo Alano case for Nexus 7, Indiana Journal style w/Brown elastic and Intellistand.