Thursday, August 22, 2002
In case you're looking for a case
Posted by marlof in "ARTICLE" @ 08:00 AM
http://www.styluscentral.com/pdacases.html
I was pleased to be contacted by one of my favorite online shops, Stylus Central.com, to review some of their cases. I decided not to go for yet-another-leather case. Don't get me wrong, I love those as well, but I felt it was time some other solutions to have their time in the limelight as well. Therefore I took a look at the incase PDA pouch, the incase Moya Deluxe carry all and an Aquapac wallet. Three different solutions for three different situations. <!>
incase PDA pouch
I've been a bit of an incase fan. They combine functionality with great stylish looks.
The incase PDA pouch is made of neoprene, and has non slip side grips.
On the backside it has a D-ring, an adjustable strap, two buckles and a snap. I found it pretty easy to attach the pouch to my belt with the buckles, and to hold the pouch in my hand by putting my fingers behind the strap. Of course, the design of a pouch is not made for using the device inside the pouch. The idea is to carry the device in the pouch, and get it out when needed. That worked great, but I found an additional advantage.
I carried my new hp Jornada 928 wda in this case, and much to my delight the phone screen and the phone buttons are viewable when you just open the top flap. This means you can use those buttons to answer or end calls, without taking the Jornada out of the pouch. Even the curved line of the pouch follows the curves of the Jornada top.
The PDA pouch is a simple case that simply looks great. The neoprene does a fine job at protecting your PDA from scratches while being carried in your briefcase. Next to that, you could carry your PDA on your belt with you, if you're that type of guy or girl.
incase Moya Pak Deluxe
If you're not, you might prefer a carry all. Incase offers two of those, and I had the pleasure of reviewing the larger Deluxe kind.
The body strap of this bag is made asymmetrical, so it fits close to your back when you wear this across your upper body. You can easily shorten or lenghten the strap to adjust the fit in a way that suits you best.
With this bag, there's a place for everything. In the flap, there is room for three pens and some (credit) cards. With the flap open, you get to the main large pocket, and next to that there's a keyholder, a ziplocked small pocket, two smaller inside pockets, and one large velcro closeable outside pocket. On the backside there is an open pocket for magazines, and a ziplocked pocket that runs all away along the back of the bag for your valuables. And if that's not enough, you can carry your cell phone in a pocket that is attached to the body strap.
As you can see here, inside the bag you'll find my wda in the incase PDA pouch, and my girlfriend's Palm m505 inside a Palm hard case, with lots of room to spare. Although I still had not decided if I was man enough to use such a carry all, in the end I did not have to worry about it. My girlfriend simply fell in love with this bag, and there was no way I could get it back after she had tried it on. Let's just take that as a high recommendation by her.
Aquapac PDA Wallet
A totally different kind of case is the Aquapac PDA Wallet. I've been taking my Pocket PC everywhere I go for quite some time now. There were locations where I was worrying about the Pocket PC getting wet, or scratched up by sand. For those situations the Aquapac solutions are simply great. These are locked bags that keep your Pocket PC safe from water or sand.
The one I tried was the PDA Wallet which has a flap that closes over the screen of your Pocket PC. This means you can put the Wallet in your bag, and not worry as much about anything damaging your screen. There is no hard plate inside the flap though, so don't expect miracles from it. I found the button that is used to open and close the flap quite tight, and when my Pocket PC was inside I had to use more force than I would have liked to close the flap.
As you can see, the PDA Wallet is big enough for one of the larger current Pocket PCs, the hp Jornada 928 wda. It's a tight fit, and I had to take off the wda's flip cover, but it worked. Using the phone inside this plastic bag is not very useful, but I could still use GPRS connections when the Pocket PC was inside the bag. That I found very useful!
And to show that I had confidence in the water resistance of this wallet, I held it under the tap. I can testify that not one drop touched my wda. Don't try this at home with your regular bag folks, the Aquapac PDA Wallet is a highly trained professional!
Conclusion
The three solutions I reviewed in this article all pleased me - and my girlfriend - really well. If you're in need of a new way to carry your Pocket PC with you, go check out Stylus Central.com. They have a lot of options, even if you don't want to go for the traditional leather case, of which they offer a wide variety as well.
I was pleased to be contacted by one of my favorite online shops, Stylus Central.com, to review some of their cases. I decided not to go for yet-another-leather case. Don't get me wrong, I love those as well, but I felt it was time some other solutions to have their time in the limelight as well. Therefore I took a look at the incase PDA pouch, the incase Moya Deluxe carry all and an Aquapac wallet. Three different solutions for three different situations. <!>
incase PDA pouch
I've been a bit of an incase fan. They combine functionality with great stylish looks.
The incase PDA pouch is made of neoprene, and has non slip side grips.
On the backside it has a D-ring, an adjustable strap, two buckles and a snap. I found it pretty easy to attach the pouch to my belt with the buckles, and to hold the pouch in my hand by putting my fingers behind the strap. Of course, the design of a pouch is not made for using the device inside the pouch. The idea is to carry the device in the pouch, and get it out when needed. That worked great, but I found an additional advantage.
I carried my new hp Jornada 928 wda in this case, and much to my delight the phone screen and the phone buttons are viewable when you just open the top flap. This means you can use those buttons to answer or end calls, without taking the Jornada out of the pouch. Even the curved line of the pouch follows the curves of the Jornada top.
The PDA pouch is a simple case that simply looks great. The neoprene does a fine job at protecting your PDA from scratches while being carried in your briefcase. Next to that, you could carry your PDA on your belt with you, if you're that type of guy or girl.
incase Moya Pak Deluxe
If you're not, you might prefer a carry all. Incase offers two of those, and I had the pleasure of reviewing the larger Deluxe kind.
The body strap of this bag is made asymmetrical, so it fits close to your back when you wear this across your upper body. You can easily shorten or lenghten the strap to adjust the fit in a way that suits you best.
With this bag, there's a place for everything. In the flap, there is room for three pens and some (credit) cards. With the flap open, you get to the main large pocket, and next to that there's a keyholder, a ziplocked small pocket, two smaller inside pockets, and one large velcro closeable outside pocket. On the backside there is an open pocket for magazines, and a ziplocked pocket that runs all away along the back of the bag for your valuables. And if that's not enough, you can carry your cell phone in a pocket that is attached to the body strap.
As you can see here, inside the bag you'll find my wda in the incase PDA pouch, and my girlfriend's Palm m505 inside a Palm hard case, with lots of room to spare. Although I still had not decided if I was man enough to use such a carry all, in the end I did not have to worry about it. My girlfriend simply fell in love with this bag, and there was no way I could get it back after she had tried it on. Let's just take that as a high recommendation by her.
Aquapac PDA Wallet
A totally different kind of case is the Aquapac PDA Wallet. I've been taking my Pocket PC everywhere I go for quite some time now. There were locations where I was worrying about the Pocket PC getting wet, or scratched up by sand. For those situations the Aquapac solutions are simply great. These are locked bags that keep your Pocket PC safe from water or sand.
The one I tried was the PDA Wallet which has a flap that closes over the screen of your Pocket PC. This means you can put the Wallet in your bag, and not worry as much about anything damaging your screen. There is no hard plate inside the flap though, so don't expect miracles from it. I found the button that is used to open and close the flap quite tight, and when my Pocket PC was inside I had to use more force than I would have liked to close the flap.
As you can see, the PDA Wallet is big enough for one of the larger current Pocket PCs, the hp Jornada 928 wda. It's a tight fit, and I had to take off the wda's flip cover, but it worked. Using the phone inside this plastic bag is not very useful, but I could still use GPRS connections when the Pocket PC was inside the bag. That I found very useful!
And to show that I had confidence in the water resistance of this wallet, I held it under the tap. I can testify that not one drop touched my wda. Don't try this at home with your regular bag folks, the Aquapac PDA Wallet is a highly trained professional!
Conclusion
The three solutions I reviewed in this article all pleased me - and my girlfriend - really well. If you're in need of a new way to carry your Pocket PC with you, go check out Stylus Central.com. They have a lot of options, even if you don't want to go for the traditional leather case, of which they offer a wide variety as well.
