We first saw Speck’s A-Line Bag ($60) back at CES in January, when it won one of our Best of Show Awards — thankfully, the quality of the finished shipping product lives up to our recollections. A-Line was designed to be a purse replacement with plenty of room for either generation of iPad, plus lots of accessories. Decidedly feminine and quite stylish, the tear drop-shaped bag is available in combinations of black and grey, brown and red, and grey and purple. It’s the kind of accessory the Urban Outfitters crowd will really like, and one of the best Apple accessories yet made for women.
A-Line is composed of a felt-like fabric and nylon, with a microfleece lining inside the pockets.
Quick access to the iPad is provided through a zipper at the top, exposing a large pocket with a smaller, tablet-sized cavity inside. The larger of the two offers a lot of room, big enough for textbooks, Apple’s Wireless Keyboard, or pretty much any couple of handheld objects you might want to carry around. In the other pocket, there’s plenty of room for either generation of the iPad, whether unadorned or protected by a slim case or Smart Cover.
Undoing the bag’s front button exposes a neat side-opening flap with a large pocket, roughly eight square inches in size. The flap offers a nice way to add additional and accessible storage to a conventional purse without turning A-Line into a messenger bag.
On the body of the bag, there’s a second opening, this one split in two on the inside with a headphone cord pass-through on the right. The strap doesn’t have any give, so it can’t be slung across the chest, but it does feel comfortable on either shoulder. On a person of average height, the bottom of the bag will come to right around the hip. And that’s it; simple, practical, and protective.
Speck really nailed the design of A-Line Bag: the look is modern and the functionality is impressive, all for a very reasonable $60 price tag.
