I really hope the New Year will bring much better tablet cases, and there won’t be too many accessories for me to pick on. But for now Angry Alex has to deal with another portion of dismal iPad cases, even though the holidays have made him a little less angry…

Griffin cases are usually minimalist in style and looks, but the Slim Keyboard Folio is way too simple for my taste. Sure, the case comes with a slim functional keyboard and there’s also the integrated stand feature and the tablet itself is quite well-protected, but what about some colors, or at least a contrasting line on the front cover?

Functional tablet keyboard case, but with a very dull exterior design

The Chameleon from Smythson comes with a pretty expensive price tag, but the truth is, it doesn’t deliver anything except the luxurious leather exterior. The case is too thin to provide any decent impact protection, and fully open top cannot secure the tablet inside. To be used with great care, this one.

Luxurious tablet sleeve, delivering dismal protective capabilities

And what about the Traveler Series from Woodchuck? Felt exterior complemented by genuine wood inserts, really? I’d rather prefer an envelope tablet case made entirely out of wool felt. The wood is bound to get dirty over time, not to mention the possibility of cracking up. Otherwise the case is fine: there are two separate pockets for the tablet and accessories and a secure magnetic button lock.

Protective and functional envelope case with unnecessary wooden inserts on the outside

The guys that never disappoint work for Dodocase. The case maker has just released a great edition of their popular book tablet case – the Bighorn Sheep. While offering the same protection and functionality their cases usually do, the new edition is serving a good purpose by offering a portion of sales to preserving wildlife. The Bighorn Sheep say thank you, Dodocase.

Functional and protective tablet book case, offering proceedings to wildlife preservation

While techy newsfeeds are somewhat silent during the holidays, there are still some topics to pay attention to. The never-ending saga whether there will be Nokia Android smartphones or not, continues with alleged leaked images of the devices. You decide if Connecting People will be done with the help of the little green man or not. There’s also talk that HP will be making a comeback into smartphone business, and sad news for BlackBerry, who cancelled two new devices and said there will not be a Live event in 2014.

Alleged images of Nokia smartphones running Android OS appear on the internet

While I’m a big fan of DIY things, I really think that tablet case manufacturing should be done by professionals. Take a look at what I’ve come across the other day, a guy took a cardboard box and made something that looks like a personal TV case for his iPad Air. While the concept certainly deserves recognition, I doubt he will collect any money if he ever went to Kickstarter with this kind of case.

Personal tablet TV case or how not to build a tablet case on your own