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REVIEW: Pocket Solution's "The Cover Up" Screen Protector Contents
- 1. REVIEW: Pocket Solution's "The Cover Up" Screen Protector
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REVIEW: Pocket Solution's "The Cover Up" Screen Protector

By Astros Fan, Brighthand.com Contributor | 10/28/2002

PDA Screens are easy to break, and very expensive to repair. In fact, if you break your PDA Screen you'll pay almost as much as the device to fix the screen. Pocket Solutions offers a unique way to protect your PDA Screen in an unobtrusive but rugged manner. Brad reviews the flip top "The Cover Up" for various Palm and PPC devices in this review.

The folks over at Pocket Solutions were gracious to send us a cover for our Toshiba e310 to do a review on.

I received the cover on Friday, so I've been playing with it all weekend.

Before I even took the product out of the packaging, I was impressed. Why? Do you ask, well because it came engraved with 'bargainPDA' staring at me from behind its plastic barrier.

Pretty cool looking, isn't it?

The Cover Up is made of anodized aluminum (basically scratch resistant metal), so it is light weight, and looks sharp. It is very thin, but strong. I gave it some force trying to bend it, but didn't try too hard, and it held up great. As you can see from the above picture there is a little hole at the bottom. This unit has been tailored to fit the Toshiba e310, and the hole is where the d-pad is at.

	My that's thin!
	Everything’s covered except the dpad, because it sticks up from the PDA. Bonus! It matches the color of the Toshiba, perfectly!

Application was easy enough. The Pocket Armor uses a hinge system to flip the cover up and out of the way, ala Star Trek style. Those that have used the flip cover of a Sony Clie, will be familiar with this. On the back side of the unit is where the connection is made between the Pocket Armor and your PDA. It comes with some industrial strength velcro, making the cover removable should you choose.

That’s me trying to press and take a picture at the same time!

Now, you are trying to figure out what that black stuff is on the cover up that you can see in that picture. Well, it is some type of foam/rubber that contacts your screen. This allows you screen to be protected, while the cover fits flush with your handheld.

A couple of pictures of the hinge assembly

I have used the cover all weekend while attending the Houston Tech Expo, and some shopping, and the armor is still steadfastly adhered to the PDA. The top hinge doesn't intrude with the power button, stylus, or headphone jack while the cover is closed. It does cover the SD slot, though. That is a good thing in my opinion. Keeps more junk away from it!

	Can you even tell the armor is on? Look closely!
	Flipped open and looking at my favorite website!
	Side view with the armor open

So far, I have been very pleased with the product. I have been looking for something that can protect the screen, still be able to put in my shirt pocket, and look stylish. Some might find it annoying to flip open the cover to get to their screens, but I find it even more annoying to have to open a book to use my PDA.

Right now the pricing is on special from their website www.thepocketsolution.com for $19.95. You can get the custom engraving for $5.95. Go to their site for more details on that. Below I have posted post a picture of the engraving close up. It was a really good job.

Currently The Cover Up is available for the following models:
Toshiba e310, Toshiba e470, Toshiba 550g, Compaq IPAQ 3800/3900, RIM 597/857, Sony T-615C, Audiovox Maestro, Palm M505/M515, and some others that are coming soon from them. As far as I know, the cover up is your only cover solution for the RIM Blackberry. I haven't seen any other companies offering that. (But, I also don't own a blackberry, so I haven't really looked too hard, LOL)

So, if you are looking for a little extra insurance for your expensive PDA without sacrificing looks, size, or ease of use, I'm recommending those to turn to the cover up for a hard look.