Treo Pro accessories are finally rolling out now, and the number of cases and holsters has increased rapidly over the last few weeks. And not a moment too soon, as I was getting tired of carrying my shiny new smartphone around in my pants pocket. All of a sudden, there are a wide variety of skins, cases and holsters specifically designed for the Treo Pro, beginning with the Palm Leather Side Case, which is a staple for just about every phone Palm has produced. I've never been much of a side case man myself, but I was getting desperate and I needed something ASAP. Of course, about 3 days later there were a bunch of other solutions to pick from (I've always been more of a Seidio holster guy, actually, and they finally made one for the Treo Pro), but beggars can't be choosers. So, here we go!
Design
The Leather Side Case is created from a nice, soft-but-durable feeling leather, which coats the hard protective case. There is a removable belt clip, so the case can be used to protect the phone in a bag or a purse. The "lid," for lack of a better description, is held closed by a very strong, invisible magnet, which keeps the flap down while the phone is in there.
That insanely-strong magnet is nice for ensuring that the phone doesn't shake around or come out of the case, but also makes removing the phone a little bit cumbersome. My biggest problem with these side cases is that when you receive a call and want to access the phone, it can be a little clumsy and time consuming to have to reach into that case and pull it out. Some of these side cases have holes in the bottom for you to actually push the phone up and out of the case. No such luck here. I have to put my index finger on the ringer switch and lift up to slide the phone out of the case.
Another note on holes (or lack thereof, in this case) is the fact that there is no cutout for the sync/charge port on the bottom of the phone, which is understandable. What is NOT cool, though, is that there is no hole for the headphone jack on the phone. I'm a big fan and constant user of Bluetooth headphones, so this wasn't a huge issue for me, but I know it will be for a lot of people.
But back to that magnet for one final note: the thing is so strong, it actually pulled the cheap little metal bezel off of the camera lens on the back of my phone. This happened on the very first day I used the case. It may be a little thing, but man do I hate the look of my nice, shiny Treo Pro without that bezel. It really, really agitates my gadget OCD. Dealbreaker? Believe it.
Conclusion
As I said earlier, I am really not much of a fan of these side cases to begin with, and this one has more than enough small annoyances for me to tuck it waaaaay in the back of some drawer to forget about. I'll have to go order one of those holsters. And at $39.95, it's hard for me to recommend this case at all.
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| Pros |
Soft, yet durable leather
Removable belt clip
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| Cons |
Magnetic flap is actually too strong
No cutouts for headphones or sync/charge port
Somewhat pricey |
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