If I only had a brain...

[onemintjulep]

And speaking of shopping in response to stress...
(well, someone on my friends list was - oh wait, that was me.)

I've decided to buy a brain. And I need your

Comments

[beowabbit]

I didn't have time/energy to look through all the specs and pictures, I'm afraid, but I have some opinions:

• The Most Important characteristic in a PDA (as opposed to a pocket computer, perhaps) is how quick it is to use. Every tenth of a second counts. So you have to add up the amount of time to take it out of your pocket, open the case, turn it on and have it wake up, get the stylus out, position the PDA and the stylus for use, and switch to the application you want. A case has a huge impact on this. Personally, I'd want a case that opened up, with the hinge at the top, reporter's-notebook-style. That way, I pull it out of my pocket with my left hand, undo the clasp if any and flip the cover up with my right hand, and take out the stylus with my right hand. If I have a case that opens on the side like a book, then I have to take the PDA out of my pocket and use two hands to open the case and position the PDA (with the case folded behind it) in one of my hands. Might add as much as a second and a half or even two seconds, which could be the difference between the decision to jot something down and telling myself "I'll probably remember".
  
  
• Also, I feel like I have a less solid grip on my PDA if the case has to be folded behind it, between my palm and the PDA itself. Always makes me worry about dropping it.
  
  
• If you have a holster-style case that fits on your belt, then the case essentially becomes the pocket, and you want a case that will be very quick to get the PDA out of.
  
  
• Definitely get one with rigid screen protection.
  
  
• Maybe it's not as much of an issue with something as light as the Tungsten, but I Do Not Trust velcro for belt clips. I've got a camera case, an iPaq case, and a phone case which attach to the belt with velcro, and I don't use any of them because with all of them I've had the experience of the velcro coming loose as I walked and the case almost falling off my belt. I'd want either a rigid metal or plastic clip, or a belt-flap that was sewn on both ends, forming a permanent loop, that you thread your belt through when you put it on. In any case, if I were using a case that attached to my belt, I'd want to treat it like a pocket and take my PDA out of it to use it, leaving it on the belt, so how easy/quick it is to do that would become important. (I have no problem with velcro to hold the top of the holster itself closed, where gravity is usually still going to keep the PDA in the holster.)
  

PS - Just took a look at the Nutshell case, and that's definitely how I'd go. Personally, I'd get it with the belt loop. Nifty that you can put it on your belt vertically or horizontally!

[onemintjulep]

Damn dude, you're the bomb. Thanks for the input. I'm itching for shopping therapy (and an emergency backup brain - nervous much?).

PS: I got a big ol' piece a furniture in my living room with your name on it. Have you thought about it?