E&B Cases Treo 650 eNovo Case

I recently purchased a Treo 650 and like most people, I needed a
case to protect my new toy. Having purchased cases from EBcases before, I quickly went to their site
to see what was available for my Treo and I was presently surprised
by the eNovo case.

The eNovo case is a hard leather flip case that uses magnets to
hold the case closed. The case comes with or without a belt clip. I
opted for the belt clip.

The case is constructed of quality leather. The flip cover is
made of a soft leather with a hard card insert to protect the
screen and keys. The leather than surrounds the body of the Treo is
made of hard contoured leather. The fit is very snug. The fit is so
snug that you need to press down the side keys in order to get the
Treo into the case. You will also need to press the side keys to
take the Treo out of the case.

When the cover is closed, the Treo is completely protected
except for the antenna. While I’m not sure the case will help my
Treo survive a three feet drop onto concrete, I am confident that
the case will protect my Treo from day-to-day bumps and scrapes.
The back of the case has three small holes for the speaker.

When the cover is open, the Treo camera is revealed. One issue
with the flip is the fact that the cover’s hinge is located a
quarter down from the back of the case. This is necessary to reveal
the camera but when you open the case completely, the cover hangs
three to four inches below the bottom of the Treo. I would have
preferred the cover the hinge from the top of the Treo but I
understand the design issue lies with the placement of the
camera.

The hard case holds its shape thus allowing for the absence of
the middle divider found in most soft leather cases. The middle
divider is usually between the screen and the keys which I find
distracting. Others have reported that the middle divider either
covers part of the screen or gets in the way of the keyboards. The
absence of the middle divider provides me with an unobstructed view
of the entire face of the Treo 650. This is one of the key drivers
for picking the eNovo case versus EBcase’s previous Slipper Treo
650 case design.

The photo above shows the cover partially open. Hopefully you
can distinguish the little metal/magnet strip at the bottom of the
cover. This is small piece that holds the case closed. The magnet
provides good contact and keeps the cover closed in most instances.
The few times I have had the Treo in my pants pocket I have found
the cover to be pushed to one side. While some might think this is
a weakness of the case, what the magnet closure offers is
one-handed use of the case and access to the Treo. I am able to
open the cover with my thumb and a flick of the wrist.

The side of the case has a cut out for the extra side and volume
buttons. This cut out is one of the biggest problems I have with
the case. It is a subtle difference in the photo but the hole for
the side buttons has more room around the extra side button and the
too little room near to the top of the volume button. The hard
contour leather is about two millimeters thick. This thickness
coupled with the closeness of the case to the top volume button
makes it hard to press the volume up button. While this is not a
problem when looking at the phone, it is hard to tell when you are
taking a call with the phone itself. I asked EBcases about this
issue and they said they would try and correct it in the next
release of the eNovo.

The bottom of the case provides good access to all the
connectors. The sync cable that comes with the Treo fits easily
into the cut out. The headphone adapter I purchased also fits into
the cut out with no problem.

However, the cut out does present some issues. I bought Seidio’s
retractable USB hot sync cable. The face of the Seidio is one
millimeters too thick to fit into the cut out thus I am unable to
use the sync cable unless I remove my Treo from the case. The other
problem with the cut out (and this has more to do with the overall
case) is that the contoured hard leather is too thick for the case
to fit into any cradles. I tried two cradles at the Palm store and
none of the connectors could get into the cut out. Unless someone
develops a connector adapter that increases the reach of the
cradles, the eNovo case will not work with any Treo 650 cradles
currently offered on the market.

All in all, I am really happy with my eNovo case. I travel
frequently and I am pleased to say the eNovo case has kept my Treo
safe and unscratched. I would highly recommend the eNovo case to
anyone looking for a leather flip cover Treo case.