I am not as crazy as others can be about protecting my device, however I tend to be sensitive to scratches on my mobile phone, especially when we are talking about an expensive and relatively new device. Moreover, I like to have an excuse to buy some accessories for my devices and this is the one I can justify more easily.

Thus, as soon as I bought my Touch Pro2 I also ordered a case for it, namely a PDAir Flip Type Leather Case for HTC Touch Pro2 I found on sale at Expansys.it.

The choice couldn’t be easier: the case was the only one to match my request of being reasonably cheap (I paid it 29,99 € on Expansys.it back in March, and PDAir has it for 28 $) and allowed to protect the Pro2 while giving access to the slide keyboard. The only complain I had during the purchase was the plastic cover over the keyboard itself, used to tightly stop the device to the case.

Here follows the review under three months of continuous usage, together with the conclusion: am I happy with my purchase?

Look

The package of the case is good and the case looks really nice and well made.

The flip type case is made with black leather, and secure your phone with the combination of:

• a rigid metal part covered with a black material
• transparent plastic covering the bottom half of the side keyboard
• a velcro.

The case

Close up to the metal-plastic-velcro combo

Several holes are made in order to access all the buttons surroundings the phone, included the mute button on the back for the straight talk. The flip opens down side and gives you the chance to open the lateral sliding keyboard of the Pro2.

The transparent plastic used to grab the phone remains in the space between the keyboard and the screen when not using the keyboard, and it slides under the screen when the keyboard is closed.

Finally, the case has a removable clip to attach it to a belt or to some other place of your choice.

The case and the clip

The case without the clip

The case with the clip

It’s not simple to engineer a case for a Touch Pro2, if you want to leave access to all of its buttons, to the camera, to the plug and if you also want to expose the keyboard. However this the sale reason for this case, and we have to evaluate this.

Regrettably sliding the keyboard out is not a problem, but sliding it back requires the screen to go back in place over the transparent plastic, and several times I had it blocked by the plastic itself.

Apart for this annoyance, the Touch Pro2 seems to fit well in the case, and only the volumes buttons are difficult to push as they always remain under the plastic covering the keyboard and are very near the leather.

The volume buttons, under the plastic, are not easily accessible

Holding of the device

With the case on, holding the device is comfortable and the clip holds it firmly.

Holding the device with the case is comfortable

However, when you want to take advantage of the sliding keyboard, you have to struggle with the flip, which goes behind the phone thus ruining its ergonomics. This is more evident when using the clip, which makes the usage of the keyboard even more difficult. On the other hand, the plastic covering the bottom part of the keyboard is acceptable and you lose only a little sensitivity while searching and pressing the keys.

The flip ruins the typing experience on the sliding keyboard (no clip case)

Falling

All the above could be a matter of subjective taste, if there wasn’t a real deal breaker.

As I said above the case is not well suited to use the keyboard, thus I occasionally took the phone out of the case to type with the keyboard and then placed it back in the case.

It turned out that the velcro used to maintain the phone in the case has lost is closing power and my device has started falling in the last two weeks, and in one of these falls it caused several scratches on the phone.

Now things are at the point when the case is not able anymore to hold my Pro2, and I don’t dare put it in the case as I know it will fall sooner or later.

Close up to the velcro

The velcro lost its holding power 

Conclusions

The PDAir Flip Type Leather Case for HTC Touch Pro2 is a case I wanted to like, and it was like this for the first two months, even with the problems experienced with the limited access to the volume buttons, and the transparent plastic and the flip interfering with the keyboard usage.

However, when the velcro stopped holding the smartphone the way it should, I couldn’t continue using it, as the smartphone was falling too many times, thus causing the first scratches on it.

If you ask me, I wouldn’t buy it again.

Link: PDAir

Link: Expansys (Italian)

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