Waterfield's Smart Case For The Nexus 10 Quick Review: It's Like Giving Your Tablet A Sixty-Dollar Hug

Since the Nexus 10 was released last October, I've been hunting for great accessories to go with it. There's no word on the official-looking dock we saw in Google's "Happy Holidays" video, nor has there been even a mumble about the flip cover we spotted when the Verge got an exclusive hands-on.

Personally, I'm fine without the flip cover, and I can do without the dock, but having owned Samsung's sleeve for the original Galaxy Tab 10.1, I wanted to find some sort of stylish carrier for my slick new 10" tablet. I soon arrived at SFBags.com, home of a great variety of cases, sleeves, and carriers for all sorts of devices, including the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. The folks at Waterfield were nice enough to let me try out two cases, each worthy of looking at separately. We'll start with the Smart Case, a slim yet practical entry to the Nexus 10 case lineup.

The Look

The case is available in green, flame, copper, pine, pearl, and black color variants. For this review, we'll take a look at the pine option.

The first thing you'll notice about the Smart Case is that it looks substantial yet extremely soft. On both broad sides, the case is covered in pleasingly textural fabric. On each narrow side is a slim leather panel, and on the back is a handy nylon pocket/sleeve for toting around tiny notebooks and other sundries.

There's also a leather loop at the bottom of the case to hold a stylus. Personally, I don't use a stylus with the Nexus 10. If I did, I'd likely have some reservations about keeping it stored out in the open, and would be more likely to tuck it into the case's nylon pocket.