No matter what kind of electronics you have, you need to have a case.  If it’s a phone, mp3 player, headphones or a laptop, your investment needs to be protected.  Choosing among the thousands of choices out there is what makes it such a tough decision.  You need to make sure you have one that can take a beating and protect.  I ran Sena’s Elega case for the HTC Droid Incredible through the wringer to see if it could make the grade.

Packaging

Magnetic Flipper for Blackberry Curve

I have to say that I am a bit torn on my thoughts on the packaging.  The last case I received, which was a Magnetic Flipper for the Blackberry Curve, came in a nice box with a small cloth red bag inside.  You can read the review here.  I loved the little red bag, it was just great for holding all kinds of little adapters or cables.

Sena Elega Case for HTC Incredible

The new packaging is more of a display packaging that you would see at Best Buy or the Verizon Wireless store.  It allows access to see the case up close to get a good look at the leather as well as the color.  The plastic is fairly rigid, so the case is still well protected.  For me, I am excited about the prospect of seeing Sena Cases in stores, because their products are always high quality.  On the downside, I miss my little red accessory bag.

Performance

When you take a look at any case, the first thing you need to examine is the material.  The Elega is made from high quality leather with the interior of the case lined with velvet.  The leather has that great leather smell like when you walk into a leather coat store or smell the leather interior of a brand new car.  I just love that smell, and it always means excellent material.   Just twisting and playing with the empty case, you can feel the strength of the leather. 

The velvet lining is extremely soft with added padding to keep your phone snug and safe.  From a construction standpoint, the stitching is small and tight, which makes it barely noticeable.  Sena also gives you 12 great choices when it comes to color and design:  black, tan, red, baby blue, green, orange, brown, white, pink, croco black, croco red, croco tan, and croco brown.  With most companies you are lucky if you get the choice of 2 or 3 colors, so this is quite an amazing selection. 

The Elega also has a a ratcheting belt clip with gives you the ability to move the phone around to suit where it must be clipped.  I know I can’t buy a case without one of these.  For us ladies, the pockets of our pants are never big enough to slide a smartphone into.  Plus, I can never hear my phone if it is in my purse, so it has to be clipped to me.

When it came down to everyday use, this case took a beating.  I have had it for about a month, and used it constantly.  As you can see from the pictures, this case looks brand new.  My HTC Incredible fit in the case snugly, and I never worried about it falling out.  Actually, about a week ago, my other half had a case for her iPhone 4G that broke, and stole my Elega for her case.  She loves it, and I had quite a time trying to get it back from her.

Conclusions

I just simply love this case.  It is stylish and keeps my my phone safe and secure.

Pros:  high quality leather, great choice of colors, snug fit, soft velvet lining, belt clip

Cons:  packaging is missing my favorite little red bag

If you need a case for your HTC Incredible, definitely pick this up.  You can order it from Sena Case for $39.99.

Thanks to the folks at Sena Case for sending me this case to review.

The average consumer, be they business or private individual, seems to gravitate to what’s popular. In browsing, IE and Firefox have become the standard (some would say Safari should be mentioned, but I think you’ll find more Mac users loading Firefox than PC users loading Safari, just to make my point).

When it comes to media players, the field of choices widens considerably. And a lot of them are good. But it would seem that iTunes has become the default choice of the average person, whether they own an iPod or iPhone or whatever.

I have noticed the business community thinks it ends up influencing what people choose and use. I tend to think our children might be driving the bus. They try everything and they make their opinions clear. They actually spurred the growth of DivX, for a while. They seem to have embraced Chrome among themselves and kind of chuckle at any conversation about Firefox and the like. And iTunes seems to have been given their nod as the only media player to even bother talking about.

I could be making all that up. The question for today is, has iTunes reached the tipping point with the masses and become king of the hill, from which they will not be dethroned?

There is an ever growing list of photo editing software “out there”, and some really good ones that are free. There are viewers and organizers as well. The default choice of most photographers for years now has been Photoshop, but it has many features most people don’t know how to use and it is really expensive.

PAINT.NET is an open-source and free application closely resembling Photoshop. Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Essentials, priced from $69 to$99, offer the not so professional a way to edit and organize their work. Google’s Picasa is free editing and organizing software also allowing web storage and sharing. GIMP, ImageForge, and Irfanview are also popular freeware, with different levels of use difficulty. And we haven’t even touched on the web-based applications.

What is your application of choice and which one would/have you paid for and would willingly pay for again?

(If you have found satisfactory freeware that would keep you from ever paying for others, what is it?)

Welcome to another JAMM Giveaway! This time three lucky JAMM readers will win a copy of SplashID by SplashData.

Rules are easy: leave your comment below before 11:59 PM Friday, August 20 (EST), and tell us how you are going to use SplashID. On Saturday we will randomly pick three lucky winners who will choose and get the platform version of SplashID.

Just to remind you what we are talking about, SplashID is a password management software, with many features and benefits:

• Flexible: Unlimited number of customizable record types and categories for storing all kinds of passwords and personal information
• Customizable: Definable list views, support for custom icons and field labels
• Secure: Unbreakable AES and 256-bit Blowfish encryption provides proven protection for safe password management; secure field masking offers additional protection for sensitive data like passwords; automatic password generator feature creates un-guessable passwords and prevents the security risk of using the same passwords repeatedly
• Expandable and Portable: Synchronize data between the desktop software and a handheld client for multiple platforms – iPhone, iPad, Android, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Series 60.

Android, iPhone and Windows Mobile version of SplashID

So, visit SplashData site for more information, and leave a comment below to enter the giveaway!

By entering this contest, you authorize Just Another Mobile Monday, and its representatives, to provide your personal information (such as, but not limited to your name and email address) to the sponsors of this contest should you be selected as a winner. Your personal information will not be sold by Just Another Mobile Monday, or otherwise retained for any purpose except that described herein.

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Link: SplashData

It might just be me, but I have so many gadgets, purchased over time, that as I move on to other devices and scenarios in my life, I sometimes forget I have some really useful tools still available.

Case in point. With the improvement in battery life of the current crop of phones, not getting thru a day on one charge has been minimized. My HTC Tilt 2 so rarely threatens needing to be plugged in before bed time, I have stopped thinking about when it might. I keep a great external battery in my car for emergencies, the really sweet Tekkeon Power-All, but it is just big enough that I don’t relish carrying it unnecessarily. Yesterday, after a rare day of much Wi-fi, Bluetooth and extended call usage, and my car was elsewhere, I was on an important call and got the dreaded “low battery” warning. I really needed to be able to finish this call. It dawned on me, like one of those “well duh!”, I also have the Proporta USB Turbo Charger 3400 in my bag. I plugged it in an had enough juice to save my bacon and get me home. This little gem is so convenient to carry, I forgot why I do AND how valuable it is.

So if you are looking for convenience and inter-device support in the charging arena, I’d recommend checking out the Proporta 3400. Here’s some specs and features:

This ridiculously handy product allows you to recharge your mobile devices on the move again and again. Simply plug any USB/micro USB powered gadget (including your Apple iPhone 3G/3G S, Apple iPod, BlackBerry, most digital cameras, GPS units and mobile phones) into the USB TurboCharger’s standard USB port and it’ll keep even the most power hungry device juiced up and ready to go. An LED display shows the level of charge, and this lightweight and stylish battery is so small that you’ll hardly even notice you’ve got it with you.

• Charge anywhere, recharge anything – over and over

• Comes with retractable cable and range of interchangeable connector heads including 1 x DS Lite, 1 x iPod, 1 x Nokia, 1 x Sony Ericsson, 1 x Micro USB and 1 x Mini USB.

• LED display shows level of charge.

• Capacity : 3400 mAh, Input: 5V DC500 mA, Output: 5.5V 700mA

• Impressive 3400 mAh storage – enough to recharge your devices several times.

• Dimensions (in cm) : 9.8 x 6 x 1.6

Available for $46.95, for another $10 a “world pack” is available that comes with connections for more devices and travel convertors.

Visit the Porporta Site for this and other mobile friendly accessories.