i-Cover Review

Product Requirements:
Device:
iPAQ

One of the best attributes of the iPAQ is its
small size. And because of that, sometimes adding a case makes the iPAQ way more
bulky that some people would like it to be. Enter the i-Cover.
This easy to install screen cover comes in three versions. Leather, Carbon Fibre
Look and Textured Black. I was presented with the Carbon Fibre version which
looks like a very tight black and gray checkerboard. 

The i-Cover is pretty simple in appearance. The screen cover portion is made
of .065in (1.7mm) thick plastic that is shiny on the outside and lightly
textured on the inside. The left side has a black foam rubber hinge and the
right side has a thin magnetic strip. 

To install, you first remove the top magnetic strip, and peel off the
adhesive backing. You then stick that to the right edge of the sleeve that you
want to use this cover with. It will work with the Basic Style Pack, Compact
Flash Sleeve, PC Card Sleeve etc. I did my review with the Basic Style
Pack. 

You then remove the adhesive backing from the i-Cover hinge, place the cover
on top of the iPAQ matching up the magnets, and stick the hinge to the other
side of the sleeve. 

The adhesive on the hinge appears to be quite strong. I don’t believe that it
will come unstuck anytime soon. I tried pulling on it with some pretty good
force and it didn’t budge at all.

The magnetic strip blends right in with the sleeve color. It’s very hard to
see and you won’t notice it is there. The actual holding strength of this
closure method is pretty weak, but it seems adequate enough for normal use. Just
don’t expect it to stay closed if something snags the top or bottom of the
cover. I wouldn’t trust this cover to stay closed in a backpack or other bag
where the iPAQ was floating around freely.

Opening and closing the cover, I feel that it will wear well. The only bad
thing is that you can’t fold the cover complete back around the PDA.

The biggest complaint that I have read about this product is the fact that it
can’t be used with more than one sleeve. I guess you could attach some Velcro
(shudder) to the hinge so that you could shuffle it back and forth between
different sleeves. But for the price of the i-Cover, I think I would just buy
one for each sleeve. I personally would rather be able to use the i-Cover on a
naked iPAQ since I use the Whitney
CF mod.

Even though the i-Cover is homebrew… Norman Lai cuts and shapes them all by
hand, it still has a surprising professional look to it. The edges are all
smooth and well shaped. I’ve seen some pretty ‘rough’ accessories in my day, and
I really wouldn’t guess that the i-Cover was made by hand without being specific
told so. 

That said, there is a little nit that I can pick…

The foam hinge is thicker than the magnets which causes the gap between the
cover and the face of the iPAQ to be a little bit kaddywhumpus. This isn’t a big
deal, it’s just something I wanted to point out. Because of this gap, you’ll
realize that you’re not going to protect the display from dust and dirt. The i-Cover
is mainly to protect the display from direct contact with another object. And in
that respect, the i-Cover does its job well.

Price: $19.95 Leather, $15.95 Graphite, $13.95 Textured Black 
Special Options:
Leather hinge $2.95
Foam padding $1.95

Pros:
Easy to install

Cons:

Can’t use with multiple sleeves
Can’t fold all the way around the PDA