Reddit reviews Fintie Folio Case for Kindle Paperwhite - The Book Style PU Leather Cover with Auto Sleep/Wake for All-New Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (Fits All Versions with 6" Display and Built-in Light), Black/Black

Highly personal thoughts on the matter ahead, having bought and returned the official Amazon case.

I find the official Amazon case to be too smooth. I want something with a bit of grip so that I don't feel like I'll be dropping it when the cover is closed. That said, with the cover flipped back and the tweed-like material under your fingers, the front cover and back of the case come into contact with each other and slip around a bit because the material is smooth and slippery.

I also wonder how much protection the official case provides against shocks. It's got that hard plastic shell, but I have no idea how that would aid/hurt its ability to protect the Kindle. I'd prefer a case with moderately dense foam that can cushion a fall.

I've got a dual-color Fintie Folio case winging its way to me right now, so I'll let you know how it fares. It and its siblings have gotten high praise all around: 1135 reviews, 4.6 stars on Amazon. It's also the top recommended case by The Wirecutter. The regular model is just 1.6 ounces, and the dual-color model I ordered looks like it'll only be a bit heavier.

Keep in mind that the Kindle is 7.3 ounces, and the official case is 5.6 ounces. Individually, both feel light. Put them together, and the combo becomes somewhat unwieldly. I understand that the two together at 12.9 ounces is still lighter than most books, but I think what's more relevant is that the density of the Kindle+Official case combo is quite high. If you made the Kindle+Official case combo occupy the volume of a paper book, the Kindle combo would probably weigh 2-3 times as much, so about 26-39 ounces. That's a cumbersome weight to be wielding with your wrists for a long time.

So, you end up with a dense little package, that can be a bit slippery, and that offers no cushioning. Perhaps the stiff plastic molding acts as a shock cage or something that amplifies the Kindle's inherent structural integrity. I don't know.

If we're talking aesthetics, my personal take on the official case is that the interior tweed is pleasant and classy, and the plastic molding that hugs the Kindle keeps the borders simple and clean. However, the exterior of the case has been treated to be a bit hard and slippery, which I find to be a minus. It would have looked and felt better being a softer leather. Above all, however, I find the curved back of the official case to be a detraction from its aesthetics. The rest of the case keeps in line with a mostly stolid, square theme, and then you have this plastic molding that adds odd curves and is a bit smaller than the front cover so that the unit appears to slopes inwards when you view it in profile. It's got a bit of an inverted trapezoid thing going on. That's probably my biggest gripe. Why couldn't the back be the same size as the front?

Anyhow, I'm going on for quite a long time. Basically, I wanted to 1.) keep weight as low as possible, 2.) buy something with more grip, 3.) and buy something with cushioning.

That's a lengthy reasoning for a $16 product, but there you have it. The official case does make a very satisfying "fwup" when you close the cover. Its magnet will never fail you. Its sides are fully protected by the plastic molding. But it's also way expensive, heavy, slippery on its leather surfaces, and kind of unaesthetic ALTHOUGH IT HAS THE LOOK AND FEEL OF QUALITY. I just wanted some more functionality from the case, and a better aesthetic.

I use this guy right here. Don't know how it stacks up against the official Amazon case, but I do know it is 30 bucks cheaper, works well, looks good, and it has the sleep/wake thing and a magnet in the cover.

I bought the Finite Kindle case in lieu of the official case and I have effectively zero complaints other than a minor strictly visual one, unique to my unit. It offers the screen on/off functionality, has a magnetic latch and I like the protection it offers. It's a tad bulky, but it can easily be handled with one hand. I don't know how the added bulk compares to the official case, so that's something to consider.