Devian DVP7 PalmPilot / Palm III Case Review

Devian Enterprises offers another great black leather case for the PalmPilot or PalmIII, the DVP7. This case is one of the best ones that I have used to date. It is as compact as possible, yet protects almost all of the PalmPilot/Palm III. It has an easy to use snap that keeps the cover secured. And when open, the cover flips completely behind the case. There is one slot for a credit or business card on the inside of the cover. The leather, snap, stitching, and the general construction are of good quality. The size approximately 5 1/8″x3 1/2″x7/8 when closed. Since using it, I’ve noticed that it fits in most of my shirt pockets.

The leather is padded a bit on the outside. So you might ask how important is that?
Well a few days ago, I dropped my PalmPilot, and it was in this case. It bounced off the
floor, and there was no damage at all! (See what kind of research and testing we at The
Gadgeteer do for you?) OK, so I dropped it by accident, and I don’t suggest
you drop your PalmPilot just to test this, but trust me when I say that I can think of at
least a half dozen screen cover/cases that would have offered much less protection.

Although you can use this case for either PalmPilot or PalmIII, it works better with
the PalmPilot because the stylus is on the side. The Palm III stylus is in the back and
harder to get to. That said, I use a 3^rd party stylus, and rarely need to use
the one that came with the PDA.

The DVP7 yolk holds the PalmPilot in place using Velcro. Now before I get nasty
email from the “I hate Velcro” gang, look at the picture below. The Velcro only
holds the yolk strap in place against the back of the case. There isn’t any Velcro that
gets stuck to the PalmPilot. I find that this is a very secure yolk. (This strap also has
a cutout for the IR window on the Palm III.)

The DVP7 yolk has cutouts in the front to accommodate the front buttons of
either PalmPilot/Palm III (Note from Julie: the button cutouts don’t match up as well for
a Palm III as for a PalmPilot as you can see from the pictures below) . The side has a
cutout for the screen brightness dial. The top is designed for access to the stylus. (But
like I stated above, the Palm III stylus is harder to get at.) And there is a cutout in
the bottom so you can HotSync using either The Bridge, or the HotSync
cable.

Overall, I really like this case. It has that great leather smell to it. It’s
easy to open and close, and fits into most of my pockets. And it is padded quite well on
the outside. It offers good protection for the PalmPilot or PalmIII, as I have already
found out by accident.

Price: $27.50 (with The Bridge $37.50)

Pros:
Good quality.
Protects PalmPilot/PalmIII.
Small overall size.

Cons:
Palm III stylus may hard to get at.
Button cutouts don’t match up perfectly for a Palm III.