Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Active Armor for iPAQ 2200 Review
Posted by Don Tolson in "HARDWARE" @ 09:00 AM
Access to Controls, etc.
The case includes cut-outs for all the indicators and controls on the iPAQ 2200. The battery charge and Bluetooth indicators are clearly visible through slots in the case and there is a cut-out provided for the 5-way navigation button in the centre. For the power and application-selection buttons, Active Armor provides covered detents in the case, positioned over the buttons. These actually provide a very positive response when pushed. They are a little taller above the surface of the case than the regular iPAQ case, and there is good tactile feedback – you know when you’ve activated the button.
On the back, the sides of the case have been designed to leave room for access to the stylus port and headphone jack. I found it only slightly more difficult to remove the stylus with the case installed – mostly due to the slight increase in depth of the case edge.
Figure 5: Back view of the iPAQ in the case.
Active Armor has also thoughtfully provided a cut-out for access to the soft-reset button on the back panel and kept the entire speaker grill clear. About the only thing you can’t get to with this case installed is the battery compartment. I haven’t opened this since I installed the battery when I got the unit, so this hasn’t been a problem.
The top is designed so that the combined SD/CF card slot is fully accessible and the IR port is clear. There is enough clearance around the headphone jack that most inline plugs will have no difficulty being inserted. They’ve also left the microphone area mostly clear (there's a very slight overlap), so your iPAQ will still be able to take those voice commands and/or notes.
Figure 6: Top view of the Active Armor case.
The cutout at the bottom of the case extends beyond the sync/serial port to allow cables to fit into the case so I found no problem plugging in the charger and other interface cables I use with my unit.
Figure 7: Bottom view, showing the access to the sync/serial port.
Unfortunately though, because of the design of HP’s cradle, you can’t sit the iPAQ2200 into it with the Active Armor case on. For me, this isn't a big concern, since I use a Bluetooth connection for synchronization with my laptop. The only way I could use the cradle do some software installs was to remove the case, and it wasn't all that easy! But this is a good thing, since a snug fit means better protection. Maybe there’s an opportunity here for some enterprising soul – come up with a new iPAQ 2200 cradle with no sides, so that you can use the unit when it has a case installed.
