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[Sean]

The battle of the premium leather cases There are a lot of companies out there making cases for mobile devices, some make real quality stuff and some make real junk. When I think of premium leather cases two names come to mind, Vaja and Krusell. Each makes premium leather cases and each offers a case for the MPx200. In this review we will put these two companies head to head and see who comes out the victor.
In the blue corner, Vaja Cases. Vaja offers cases for all kinds of PDAs, phones, and mobile gadgets and they are regarded as on of the very best case manufacturers in the world. The MPx200 can be held by the MO31 case available in 10 color combinations and having options like company logo embossing, ultra clips, and many other personalization options if you are willing to wait for the 30 day build time.	In the green corner, Krusell Cases. Krusell also does a lot of custom cases from phones and PDAs. The only options to worry about on the Krusell case is what Multidapt options you want, this system allows you to use multiple combinations of belt clip options with the same case. This is really an ingenious system and we will discuss it below.
Pricing:
Standard Case without belt clip 29.90 Standard case with a belt clip 33.90 Custom case with embossing 33.90 add $6 for the color add $4 for the belt clip add $10 for your name on the back add $30 for your company logo add $10 for a matching leather lining You can quickly hit $90 when you are all done with the options. (And then add shipping). The grand total on mine reached $50 by the time all was said and done.	$25 gets you a case with a swivel clip here. Add in about $6 for shipping and you have a case in hand for $31. Options cost from around $3 for a belt clip to $12 for bike mounts and steel swivel clips and other options. The Multidapt system gives you over 10 options for mounting and carrying.
Delivery:
I ordered this standard model case and it took over a month for it to arrive. Delivery time is an issue here and is something to consider heavily before placing an order.	Delivery time in not a big issue in the case of Krusell, once ordered, the case came via air mail in lass than 4 days. The cases are also available through distributes domestically so delivery can be quick and inexpensive.
Website Descriptions:
Case description from the Vaja Web Site: Plastic screen protector & keyboard protector Sync with travel cable SD/MMC cutout - Fits: Motorola MPX200 2" x 1-3/8" x 3-6/8" inches	Case Description from the Krusell Web Site: One of the complex areas for a case manufacturer is to design a case that fits 100% on a flip phone. Krusell has recognized the market to have that ability. We use elastics to retract the bottom and the top together, which results in perfect fitting when open as well as closed. The fashion-conscious appreciates the Elastic series because it does not obstruct with the design of the phone
What's in the box?
Vaja out did themselves with the packaging, a fancy box with inner packaging including 3 mini booklets with product and care instructions, a credit card type thing (not sure what that is for) and lots of stuff. All very pretty but I wonder how much of the overall price is added by this packaging that most will throw out?	Krusell has a different view on packaging, a bubble wrap pouch with the parts in plastic bags inside. Simple, inexpensive, none of the wow factor of the Vaja case though.
Since this is the first look many of you have had at the Vaja, we will go over some more detail in the blue corner. The case empty and the "Ultra-Clip" The inside leather was brown The outside and inside speaker are covered with a fine metal screen material. This is from the outside. The Vaja website actually includes a page that shows you how to "Introduce the cellular into the case."
The front:
It is a struggle to get the Vaja case on, the first time I did it I did well and it was on in 35-40 seconds, the second and third did not go so well once taking 4 minutes. It is difficult to get all aligned and get none of the leather bits tucked under where they do not belong. Both cases look nice. The textured leather on the Vaja looks very good, the stitching and finish is probably the best I have ever seen on a phone case.	The Krusell case in a mixed bag for the fit, the bottom requires a lot of pulling and tugging to get it on and to get the mic hole aligned to the hole in the key pad cover. The top half slips on with no effort. Sorry for the glare in this picture, it is hard to get the flash to not reflect. Krusell has a plastic front cover that allows for seeing the entire blue section and screen of the phone. There are 5 holes for the outside speaker to play through. The stitching and finish is very good.
The SD Card side:
Both cases allow for access to the SD card slot and the headset port.	The Krusell case lower half is so snug to the phone that it looks like it pulls around the SD slot making for an oval hole not the rectangle that Vaja has.
The Power Side
Vaja offers cutouts for the power button and IR ports, I had a little trouble aligning them to the phone features but this minor misalignment did not effect the function of either.	Krusell covers the power and IR ports with the same plastic that covers the key pad. I had no difficulty powering the phone of and on and the IR port seems to function fine through the plastic.
The Back
On the back of the Vaja you will see the permanently mounted ultra clip button and the Vaja logo embossed in the leather. To say that the ultra clip mount is robust is a major understatement, this thing is solid as a rock and the metal is very pleasing, I am confident that it will not break.	The back of the Krusell case is the home to the Multidapt mount, the phone as shown has the clip for the swivel mount but this can be removed and replaced by a fixed belt clip or other accessories.
Sync port and the bottom
In both cases you can not use the cradle while the case is mounted, you will only be able to sync via cable.	In both cases you can not use the cradle while the case is mounted, you will only be able to sync via cable.
The Inside:
The Vaja case coves the keypad with plastic and provides a small hoe for the mic. In both cases there seems to be no trouble pressing the buttons and I never experiences a double key hit as I almost expected. On the top half, the case wraps the area above and below the screen and has a small oval of screen material over the speaker.	The Krusell case covers the keypad with plastic and caps the top pf the top section with leather. There is a very small hole in the plastic o the keypad for the mic.
With the swivel clips:
Over the top: How to handle a flip-phone is a troublesome thing to phone case manufacturers, you have extra material to deal with one way or another, Vaja and Krusell took two very different approaches to this dilemma.
Vaja put in enough leather to fit nicely when the phone was closed and when open the extra creates a fold at the hinge. I have mixed feelings on this, I found it fit nicely in your hand while using the phone but when I held it to my ear the fold felt a bit unnatural, I think you would quickly get used to it but at first I was a bit put off.	Krusell mounted a 3/8" wide strip of leather that has elastic on one end (inside the bottom half of the case) that allows for this strip to retract inside the case when you flip it open. Below you can see this piece fully retracted and extended. This piece has been the subject of most of the concerns of the owners of this case. Many people have had issues with this piece getting hung up and not retracting as you open the phone resulting in the top half popping off. I too had this issue but found they if I squeezed the bottom half slightly on the sides when opening the piece retracted nicely.
Side by side:
Straight up, you have to give the nod to Vaja for the stitching and finish quality and feel. Vaja has leather inside and out and the case feels very strong.	The Krusell case does not add as much weight or size to the phone and the leather does feel softer.
The clips:
All I can say about the Vaja ultra clip is WOW! This thing has the strongest spring I have ever seen in a device like this and the design is quite nice in that you have to rotate the phone parallel to your belt to insert or remove the phone. This will help with accidental removal and dropping.	The Krusell takes the cake on the number of clip options. The main swivel clip option however does not have the hook on the end of the clip that the Vaja does. While this did not lead directly to any fall offs, I wonder if it would over time. The case snaps in solid.
The options for mounting:
You saw it, with an ultra-clip or not.	Like I said before there are over 10 options for mounting, the kit I got came with all of the following including my favorite, the leather swivel kit shown in the top left of the first picture below and in the bottom picture. This bad boy will not fall off (can you see this is a big issue with me?) In addition to there you can get car mounts, bike mounts, fixed clips, metal swivel clips, and more.
In Conclusion:
Both cases are better than any other on the market that I have seen. The quality of build and materials on each is well above the norm. Each has their market segment I would say. Unfortunately I can not come up with a clear cut winner in this battle. Each is very nice but I can not go apples to apples here because of the significant price difference (min $30 vs. $50 with the case and shipping). The Vaja takes the prize for the high-dollar ultra premium cases with an attention to detail that is unmatched. The draw backs are the ridiculously long lead times (you could order and by the time it arrives you may have bought the MPx220), the price and the strange flap of leather you have to work around to hold the phone. The Krusell case has the upper mid level range case cornered. Fine leather and nice case at the $30 price point. The Multidapt options are very attractive on this one while the elastic retracting top strap is the hang up in my mind. To see more visit the following web sites: http://www.vajacases.com http://www.krusell.se