Sena Treo 700w LeatherSkin Case Review
April 27, 2006
Introduction
Life is full of bumps, scratches, and drops – so there’s no better way to protect your beautiful new Palm Treo 700w than with a stylishly designed case. The Treo 700w LeatherSkin Case by Sena is a handsomely designed leather case that still allows you access to everything you need to use on the Treo while not seeming bulky.
Usability
The LeatherSkin Case was very thoughtfully designed to give Treo owners easy access to everything they use on their phone. They have paid special attention to the form factor and ensured all the openings are precisely the correct size and in the exact location they need to be – because we all know how annoying it can be to have a case that doesn’t fit properly and actually inhibits use of the phone!
Starting with the front of the phone, the LeatherSkin Case provides a precisely cut hole allowing users to clearly see the phone’s LED – which can be crucial to quickly finding out if your phone is in a service area or if you have messages waiting. This in particular is a feature that is often overlooked.
In our testing, we found that the speaker cut-out actually helped us from accidentally pressing the date bar on the today screen with our cheek and bringing up the alarm list. This will be a welcome improvement for everyone in the Everything Treo Forums who have often wondered how this screen seemingly is always present after a phone call.
The screen cut-out gives perfect visibility of the entire screen, and doesn’t encroach on the ever-precious screen real-estate. With just a small piece of leather dividing the screen cut-out and keyboard cut-out, the design minimizes the intrusion on the ever-important action keys, and gives clean access to all the keys on the keyboard.
Cut-outs on the bottom of the phone provide for easy access to the earpiece plug, charger/sync plug, and microphone. The only drawback is that if you’re a fan of using a cradle, you will have to remove the phone from the case – but this is the case with pretty much every case/holster on the market.
The side and back of the case are just as well though-out as the front. The side cutouts allow quick access to the phone/pda volume adjustment and programmable buttons. The back features a mesh protector over the speaker and an open top-corner for unblocked camera usage and easy stylus access.
The top of the case features a snap that helps prevent accidental pop-outs of the SD card, while still allowing access to the ringer mute switch. The only note here is that you will have to undo the snap in order to unblock the IR port.
The case also sports an optional swivel clip that is much more rugged than the clips that come with the cases from Verizon. The swivel provides a very smooth rotation of the phone and overall feels very sturdy. It adds extra accidental drop protection by only allowing the phone to be detached from the clip when it is horizontal.
Our only real concern about this case is that with the additional thickness of the case (which isn’t much), it can make pressing the corners of the touch-screen slightly more difficult – although we found that after getting used to it for a while, we were able to get the hang of it.
Conclusion
It seems a lot of time and thought have gone into the creation of the case. Many times it seems that usability of the phone functions is a secondary thought of case makers – in this case, the LeatherSkin Case by Sena excels in allowing unhindered use of almost all the great features the 700w has to offer. Sena has managed to do all this with a very stylish design.
The Sena LeatherSkin Case for the Treo 700w retails for $39.99 without belt clip and $44.99 with the belt clip.
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