I’ve been using the RhinoSkin Leather Case for the Palm Treo 700/650 for the last several weeks and have concluded that, while it isn’t the perfect case (if there is such a thing), it is a nice addition to my growing collection of Treo cases, and one I use frequently. It looks more professional than my old horizontal leather and fabric holster from Palm. It also has a few extra features.

Most leather cases come in black and the RhinoSkin is no exception. But I was pleased to see that RhinoSkin also offers a variety of colors including tan, red, pink, and buff in addition to the standard black. Pink and red were out of the question for me, but I had a hard time choosing between the black and tan cases. Taking the easy way out, I ended up getting both the black and tan cases with the thought that my wife (who has a Treo 650) and I (with my Treo 700p) could switch if we got bored with the color we had since the cases are supposed to work with either model.

Function

As can be seen in the following picture, the RhinoSkin cases are “flip” cases that have a large flap that protects the front of your Treo when closed and can be flipped open when you need to use the buttons or screen on your Treo. This flap has a sturdy piece of plastic inside that provides protection for your Trēo’s screen from scratches or sharp pointy objects. The cover has slots to hold 3 credit cards and 2 SD cards, and an opening in the bottom that allows you to plug in a synch & charge cable when the cover is open or closed. Finally, there is a small flap with a magnetic clasp that holds the cover closed.

Materials, Construction and Fit

The leather used for the tan case felt quite soft and luxurious but the texture of the black leather was a bit firmer. The main surfaces of the case are covered in leather, but the inside is covered with a soft fabric or rubberized backing where the Treo is inserted. There is some sort of harder material underneath the leather to help the case hold the correct shape even when the Trēo is not inside. The tan case had white stitching while the black case had black stitching, and the stitching of both seemed to be of high quality.

At first I had difficulty trying to get my Treo 700p into the tan case. The Treo didn’t seem want to go all the way inside and the corners of the Treo caught on the bottom corners of the case near the edge of the keyboard area. After some firm pushing of the Trēo and pulling of the case edges, I finally got it all the way in as shown by the correct positioning of the ear speaker through the hole in the leather.

Treo 700p

Next I tried putting my Trēo in the black case and ran into the same difficulty with getting the Trēo all the way into the case. Finally, I tried my wife’s Trēo 650 in both cases and it was just as tight, but I also noticed that the alignment of the front speaker (where your ear goes) didn’t line up quite as well as it did on the 700p.

Treo 650

This had no noticeable effect on sound quality, but it did detract from the esthetics of the case when used with the Treo 650.

Additionally, while the tan case was a nice tight fit on all sides of the Trēo, the black case bulged out on the sides near the screen as shown here:

As I mentioned, the cases were initially very snug, making it a bit difficult to insert the Treo into the case. However, over the following days and weeks the leather seemed to stretch a bit and I found that it became much easier to insert my Treo 700p with minimal fuss. Also, the case remained snug enough that I didn’t really worry about my Treo sliding out of the case if the flap was open and the top opening was pointed downward.

Overall the tan case is a pretty good fit for the Treo 700p, but the fit was only so-so for the Treo 650.

Belt Clip

If you want to use the case with the belt clip, you need to install a small screw in the back of the case that is then used to hold the case in the belt clip. This is a fairly common approach, and one that I think works pretty well. The screw doesn’t stick out too far and is easy to remove, but you also need to periodically check the screw to make sure it doesn’t come loose. As can be seen in the pictures above, the tan case has the screw installed while the black case does not.

The screw was just long enough that it allowed the case to slide into the belt clip, but was short enough that there was some pressure between the case and the belt clip, helping to keep the case from rocking back and forth as I walked around.

At first I was happy to see that the belt clip system (with the screw) was the same type that worked with my car cradle which has a slot the screw can slide into. Unfortunately, the screw provided with the case was just a bit too short for it to fit in the slot of my car cradle. Luckily I was able to work around this problem by using the slightly longer screw that came with my previous case and everything was fine.

One problem I ran into with the black case was the mounting point on the back (where the screw is inserted) began to rotate when I tried to tighten the screw. Apparently, they didn’t use enough glue to hold the mounting point inside the case so it wouldn’t rotate. This wasn’t a really a problem because my wife liked the black case and she had no need for the belt clip, but I began to think that there may have been some quality control issues with the black case. Fortunately the tan case had none of these problems.

Closing the Cover

The flap used to hold the cover closed is just barely long enough to close and requires two hands to complete the effort: one hand to pull the cover towards the flap and the other hand to pull the flap over the cover. You know it is closed when the magnetic snap makes a clicking sound.

On the tan case, once the flap as closed it was relatively flat and secure. On the black case, the flap was harder to close and the end of the flap stuck out from the case after it was closed. This resulted in the flap becoming unlatched a couple of times when it caught on something while moving the case around.

Over time I found that the flap on both cases became easier to close as the leather loosened up a bit, but it still required two hands to get the magnetic snap to lock properly.

Storage Slots

The credit cards fit very snugly and it was sometimes hard to remove the cards if you push them in too far. I didn’t really need the credit card slots because I keep everything in my wallet, but my wife would sometimes put her driver’s license and a credit card in the slots if she didn’t want to drag her purse around.

I found it was pretty easy to insert and remove my SD cards from the two slots and the soft leather made me feel that the SD cards were well protected and I didn’t worry that they might get damaged by putting them in the lid. I was a bit concerned that they might press against the screen when the cover is closed but I didn’t notice any problems the few times I stored SD cards in the cover.

When 3 credit cards and 2 SD cards are stored in the cover, the extra thickness makes it even harder to get the flap closed. I also found that pressure on the cover can press the Treo’s buttons, possibly turning it on. This is even more likely if you have one or more credit cards in the card slots, making the cover thicker so that it presses more firmly on the screen when it is closed.

Practical Considerations

After using the RhinoSkin Leather case for several weeks and giving myself time get used to it, I found a few things that I liked and disliked about the case.

On the positive side, I really like the tan leather. It not only looked a lot more elegant than my Seidio Clear Case, but the leather had a nice soft feel to it. The SD card slots came in handy on more than one occasion and my wife really liked the credit card slots on hers. Once I replaced the holster screw with a longer screw the case worked well with my car cradle, and the leather eventually loosened up enough that it became relatively easy to remove my Trēo from the case for use in the Seidio Custom Vehicle Mount I reviewed here.

On the negative side, I normally use a Bluetooth headset, so it was a couple of days before I tried using the phone without a headset. When I did this, one of the first things I found was that the flap used to keep the cover closed has a tendency to curl towards the screen and stick in your ear when you put the phone to your head. I found this fairly annoying coupled with the fact that the screen cover would flop around loosely when used in this manner.

I found that a good way to avoid both problems was to flip the cover around the back and bend the flap backwards and attach it to the cover as shown in this picture:

While this takes a couple of seconds, the effort is worth it. This eventually became the default storage position unless the case was on my belt.

I also found that the thickness of the case near the bottom edge (near the space bar) made it a difficult to press the bottom row of keys because they were below the edge of the case. You can still press the buttons, but I found myself making more typing errors when the Trēo was in the case.

Finally, while I was very satisfied with the fit and quality of the tan case, the black case wasn’t of the same high quality. The RhinoSkin case are advertised to work with a Trēo 650, but I think they are really designed for the Trēo 700 series as can been seen by the square speaker hole on the back of the case and the position of the hole for the front speaker.

Conclusion

While the RhinSkin case isn’t the perfect case, I consider it a nice addition to the other cases I use with my Treo. The high-quality leather feels elegant and the extra storage for credit cards and SD cards can be very useful.

Pros:

• A reasonably priced, nice looking case made of high quality leather

• Storage for 2 SD cards and 3 credit cards
• Belt clip post on back of case can be removed if not being used with belt clip
• Comes with a StuffBak Loss Protection Service label if ordered from RhinoSkin.

Cons:

• The flap to hold the cover can stick in your ear when talking on the phone. Not too much of a problem if you use a Bluetooth earpiece, but annoying if you don’t

• Initially a very tight fit and hard to get the Treo all the way into the case so the screen cover can be closed, but loosens up over time
• The magnetic snap on the flap requires both hands close
• As seen by the problems with black case, there may be some quality control issues

Related Links

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Filed under: Accessory reviews