The Case for Cases

Darn, Dan H stole/used my witty 'pimping' title for my post.

Anyway, although I have been actively involved in the mobile computing community for about 5 years, and have had a number of pocket pcs, a couple of HPCs and one Palm OS device, I have NEVER had a custom case.

I used to wonder about some people who would rhapsodize over their cases, and I thought that the hours spend searching for the ultimate case were wasted ones. I thought that a case is a case, right? Uh, WRONG.

I've been a judge in the Pocket PC Awards for all 5 years that Pocket PC Magazine has been running them, and this year, besides the usual "thanks for your dedicated service" email, we got some 'swag': custom cases from Sena. I thought that was cool, and wrote a note to thank both Hal Goldstein and Ramsey Oten of Sena Cases and then I went to the site to decide what I wanted. What a huge range of choices.

Now, I had just received a top-of-the-line Dell Axim x51v. It was actually a gift from a web development client of mine and I was allowed to select the best one on the Dell site, along with the matching Bluetooth keyboard. Luckily, there was a huge sale, and a ton of money was saved, about $250 dollars.

It came with a pathetic case, those ones that aren't leather and which feel weird. Even my iPod came with such a case. I guess it must be some sort of industry standard. I wasn't too worried because I have 4 of those nice leather generic Targus cases. Not that I had four devices when I bought them, but I got a good deal on them.

As much I love pocket pcs, I don't buy one from each generation that comes along. Mostly it's a budget thing. Even under the best circumstances, they're are not cheap, especially the high-end ones. Plus, I was very happy with my Jornada 568 which I have been using for about 3 years. It is one of the few devices with a flip lid, another reason why cases weren't a huge priority for me. It had been very trusty, but it was showing its age.

For most of 2005, I was commuting to work by subway at least an hour in each direction, so my Jornada was in constant use every day. I also liked to show people all the great things that it could. Some people would consider me a power user, I guess. I read ebooks and watch videos, as well as the usual things such as keeping my contacts and schedule. Before I got my iPod, I also used it as my music player. I played Tetris, Backgammon and Scrabble - a lot. And not just on the train. It can get boring at a call centre and these things are small enough to be discreet.

Anyway, back to my new case: It is a thing of wondrous beauty. I am so completely enamoured of it. Blue is my favourite colour, I picked out the blue and black one, along with the very cool UltraClip. It totally matches my beloved Starbucks travel mug which is also blue and black. I have shown my case to complete strangers and bragged about its stitching and demonstrated its glove-like fit. Some of them have looked at me strangely, while others have seemed quite interested. Could have been the movie playing though.

I can dock my Dell in its cradle without removing the case, a feature I quite like. Every button and opening is completely accessible. I also really like all the slots options. I can store an additional 2 SD cards and there's even a little thumb cutout to make getting them out easier. There is no specific storage area for CF cards which my device also takes, and which I do have a lot of, but I can slip them in the little hidden pocket where I can also stash some business cards or a couple of bucks for an emergency.

I was also able to get a Blue Tether. Why the tether? Well, I worry about losing my device, not that I ever have, but my brother has lost several, and my friend Andre just lost the iPaq 3800 series ppc that I sold him dirt cheap. Dropping it is something of a concern, but the few times I have dropped a device, nothing bad has happened, luckily, and I don't drop them often, unlike some people I know.

I've also never cracked a screen although I have seen horrifying pictures of such things. To ensure that I would hopefully never have this happen, even with the case, I made sure to get the mirror option where one is inserted for additional protection. The clip that came with it is pretty high-end too, much better than the standard type.

Although I did not pay for this particular case, I must say that I was amazed to find that they were one of the least expensive customized cases on the market. The materials, design and production quality are very high-end and easily stand up to similar products from any one of their more expensive competitors.

I have now left behind my heathen no-case-using ways. Can screen protectors be far behind for me?