*FTC Disclosure: This review is based on a free review copy I received from The Snugg*

When I bought my iPad Air, I bought the official Apple smart case to go with it. I regretted that decision later. Not only was the smart case rather expensive, and I didn't really like the available colors, but it also turned out that the damn thing didn't even fit well. If you close the smart case normally you either get a spot in the middle where the cover doesn't touch the screen, or if you straighten that out you see that the side of the hinge doesn't touch the screen. The bad fit causes the magnetic lid to not stay on and to not always work in shutting down the iPad.

So when The Snugg wrote me and asked whether I wanted to test one of their iPad cases, I just happened to be interested in that kind of product, and agreed. They sent me the electric blue Snugg Executive Case for the iPad Air (iPad 5). Already the color is a huge improvement over Apple's washed out blue (and The Snugg has a wider range of color available). But the main thing is that it is in many ways a different product than the smart case. The iPad Air in the Snugg leather case is nearly a centimeter thicker than in the smart case, and about 100 grams heavier. The upside of that is that it looks a lot less blatantly obvious like an iPad, and more like a filofax, which potentially might reduce its attraction to thieves. Choose a more serious color and it doesn't look out of place in a business meeting, which is probably why they called it executive case.

The thicker leather comes with some extra features: A stylus holder, and places to put things like business cards or pieces of paper, although as this is between the cover and the iPad the thickness is obviously limited. The Snugg case has a hand strap in case you are one of the people who like to walk around with the iPad held in one hand. And the case has a latch at the back into which you can fold the cover; that results in two very stable stand positions for your iPad, one flatter angle useful for typing, one steeper angle for watching videos or talking on FaceTime. For balancing an expensive iPad I much prefer that sort of latch to the magnetic-only fixation of other cases.

The Snugg case does have magnetic fixation of the cover, and it works: You can hold the thing upside down and the cover doesn't fall off. You can also put the case in a bag without the cover slipping off and the iPad turning itself on. But in all fairness I have to remark that with the Snugg executive case just like with the smart case on closing the cover I did not have a 100% success rate in the magnet shutting down the iPad. I'd say it works "better", but if you close it somewhat limply the magnetic lock doesn't engage. Other than that the Snugg cover works very well. Recommended!