After Palm Pre ownership for a little while, I started wanting to invest in a good case. I was initially very satisfied with the little cloth pouch that came with the Pre but annoyances grew over time. I missed phone calls because getting the pouch out of my pocket and then the phone out of the pouch took too long. A case would also be nice because it would protect against any accidental drops and scratches. Thus research for a quality case began!
I started looking into cases and saw a wide variety of prices and quality. Most of the official Palm cases are more pouches instead of the skins I was looking for. I also saw some silly ones that covered up the gesture area, essentially making the skin useless (and explaining why it only cost 79 cents). Finally, I landed on the Seidio Innocase and it seemed worth checking out. I got one blue case for my fiancee and a black case with a holster for myself.
There isn’t a whole lot to a skin on its own, so it seems silly for them to cost more than $5. The Palm Pre’s design, with the sliding keyboard, certainly presents more of a design challenge than an iPhone or simple candybar phone. The Seidio case comes with three pieces. A rim of plastic for the front side covers all of the plastic edging while leaving the gesture area and touch screen open. The backside of the case is a solid but flexible piece of rubbery plastic that’s only a millimeter thick, so it doesn’t add a whole lot of bulk. Along with the two pieces of the skin, there is an additional piece that goes between the Pre and the back case as a spacerextra insulation.
The image below shows a normal Palm Pre on the left and the Pre on the right with the Seidio case on it from the front. The front is minimally affected by the skin but does add a little bit of a lip to the edge. This doesn’t affect performance at all and raises the screen from a surface if it were dropped or set face down. I have noticed a slight effect on the top row of letters on the keyboard, but that’s only that the skin reduces the space above the keys and the screen. It doesn’t overlap the letters, but can cause your thumbs to rub the case while typing.
The picture below shows, from the back, a normal Pre on the left again and the Pre with the case on the right. The back is completely covered by the skin with a hole for the speaker, the camera, and the flash. A few reviews have mentioned that other cases have changed the focus of the camera (for the worse) when a skin is installed, but I can report that this isn’t the case with the Seidio Innocase.
The USB port’s cap is only slightly more difficult to get to, but the USB cap has been my only complaint originally with the Pre. The case doesn’t add any noteable difference to revealing the port and the front and back skins slide together perfectly.
According to the instructions, the Touchstone will work perfectly with this case as well. The spacer needs to be removed in order for Palm’s wireless charger to work. I can only report what I’ve read and can’t verify this as I don’t have a Touchstone. If you’d like to purchase one for me and donate to the upkeep of this site, you can purchase from my Amazon wish list. I’ll certainly review anything purchased through the wishlist.
Along with the speaker and the camera/flash being free, the power button, silence switch, and headphone jack are also freely accessible with this case on. The Pre, with this case on, can still fit in the original pouch that came with the phones though it is a bit more snug of a fit. The case does not protect the screen, so you may be interested in some of the invisible screen protectors out there and then put the front case over top of that to keep it from prying up.
I also opted to get the holster option for myself and you can see te Pre in its holster here. The holster at the bottom has a bit of a cup to securely rest the Pre in it. As you can see, the Pre’s screen faces into the holster. The inside of the holster has a felt fabric finish so it’s soft and protects the screen from scratches. It also keeps prying eyes from seeing what’s going on with your phone by facing the phone inward. You can face the phone outward, but it requires a bit more effort and doesn’t feel natural. You would also lose the previously listed benefits when facing it outward. The holster still provides access to the headphone jack so you can listen to music on the go.
Here you can see the volume rocker button is available along with the back of the holster. The holster rotates 180 degrees, stopping snuggly at 30 degree intervals, so it has a lot of adjustment to be comfortable to you.
Here is the holster from the side. It all remains very compact and is able to be removed from the holster with a single-hand operation. The latch at the top is spring loaded. You simply lift that part and you can remove the phone. At the same time, I’ve had to run and I’ve gone through a few normal days at this point with no worry whatsoever about the holster or the phone falling. The belt latch is very secure and has an extra lip at the bottom to ensure it is around the belt.
The packaging is simple but sufficient.
Here is a copy of the installation instructions if you’re interested. Being your typical male, I skipped the instructions and just proceeded to snap the skin on by aligning the holes. It snapped on with a breeze and doesn’t feel like it will be going anywhere soon.
After a few days of use, my fiancee and I were discussing the Seidio Innocase and both had positive things to say about it. She really liked the texture of the skin versus the normal Pre feel, saying it was more “grippy” while I was commenting on how it really gave the Pre a more solid feel to it. I’m also definitely digging the holster option as it frees up a pocket, allows quick access to the phone, and prevents pocket lint from attacking the Pre.
Final word says Seidio got the formula right for a Pre case and two satisfied customers can vouch for that. It was worth the investment.
Check out other Palm Pre cases by Seidio for other colors and holster combinations at Amazon.