Reviews

Boxwave Active Case for Palm LifeDrive

November 29, 2005

Boxwave’s Active Case is a complete departure from the typical leather or metal hard case for mobile electronics. Made entirely of high-impact clear plastic, it protects your device while still allowing you to see the screen at all times. When you first receive the case you take it apart (the seams are in the middle, along all four sides of the device), put your device into the bottom section, and then snap on the top. The case is sized and designed to perfectly fit your device, and cutouts provide access to all of the important features— stylus, power switch/card slot, voice recorder button, screen orientation button, headphone jack, charge/sync port, and reset button. The only part of my LifeDrive left uncovered is the four application buttons and the 5 way navigator on the front of the device.

Careful readers may glean from the last statement an idea that the screen is covered, and they are correct— the Active Case has integrated screen protection in the form of a flip cover that makes me fondly remember the days of my beloved Palm IIIx. The flip cover here is clear so that you can always seen the screen of your device, which is great when an alarm goes off and you don’t remember what your device is reminding you about. If you want to use the touch screen you of course have to open the flip cover, but if you have something with a 5 way navigator you may not have to do that for much more than data entry—the latest version of the Palm OS and many third party applications do an excellent job with one-handed navigation. The only downside is that sometimes the flip cover can be a little hard to open. You obviously don’t want it to flip open unnecessarily, so the compromise here is that you have to slip a fingernail under one of the two small tabs at the bottom of the flip cover. It isn’t all that difficult mind you; I mention it in the spirit of offering a complete review.

On the back you’ll see a metal disk that allows you to screw in the optional belt clip attachment that comes with the case. There’s also an SD card holder, but for some bizarre reason the card faces out, leaving the metal pins on the bottom of the card connector rather exposed. It’s a nice touch, but I wish that it worked with the card label facing out instead of in. One thing I can say though—that little sucker is not coming out until you pull it out; you’re more likely to lose your device entirely than to have the memory card fall out somewhere along the way. There’s a small Boxwave logo at the bottom on the back of the case, which is entirely appropriate.

Overall I’m quite pleased with the case; it has a few quirks but does a very good job of protecting my LifeDrive. Over the last few weeks I’ve treated this case pretty harshly (which is NOT normal for me) just to test it out—and it passed all my tests quite well. I’ve noticed that dust can tend to build up around the openings, which is understandable. I take it apart every couple of weeks just to clean it all out; I only notice because the case is completely clear. I’ve also noticed some scratches on the flip cover, most likely from it rubbing against my keys or perhaps the edge of my phone when I keep everything in the same pocket. They don’t impair visibility at this point, and I don’t think they’ll be too much of a problem in the future. By the time they get really bad, in a year or two, I will likely have moved on to another device. One last observation: the case is slightly creaky when flexed. Four attachment points keep the two halves of the case together, but that also means that it can creak a bit too.

If you like what you see, you can probably get an Active Case for your device; they are available for Palm OS and Windows Mobile handhelds, smartphones, RIM Blackberry, and the Apple iPod. Prices start as low as $12.95 for the Apple iPod Shuffle, with most PDA cases running about $23.95. You can get one for yourself at the Boxwave online store.

All content copyright 2001 - 2007 PocketGoddess.com
XHTML | CSS | RSS | 508