Windows Phone Thoughts: Now You See It: Proporta Crystal Case for the iPAQ 2200 and 1900

Durability
One of my greatest concerns was around the durability of the Crystal Case. There are a couple of parts of the case I’d like to focus on. Firstly, as I’ve already mentioned, the slider that pushes the stylus out seems to be a little fragile. The slider fell off my case and although I was able to fix it very easily the problem won’t be with fixing it but rather with finding it. It’s quite small and clear making it the proverbial needle in the haystack.

Secondly, the clips that attach into the securing holes on the back are quite solid. However, the cost of their strength is that area around them is subjected to some stress when the case is being removed from the case. If you look closely at Figure 1, you might be able to see a small crack near one of the lugs. If you regulalry take your iPAQ in and out of the case I'm not sure that the case would survive a really long time.

The hinge is subjected to a lot of movement and looked, to me, to be the part most likely to break in the case of an accidental drop. Again, if you look at Figure 1 you'll get an idea of how the hinge is constructed.

Finally, my biggest concern was whether the case would easily scratch, reducing its usefullness. After a week of using this case exclusively, pushing it across my desk and carrying it in my backpack, there are a few minor scrathes on the front but they are not enough to make the screen unreadable. All of the photographs in this article were taken after the case had been used for about a week.

Conclusions
The Proporta Crystal Case will appeal to many different iPAQ users, especially those that miss the flip cover of the Jornada. Although I have some reservations about this case’s longevity, my experience, thus far, is that the Crystal Case is a solid protector for your iPAQ.