Digital Express Sony CLIÉ NX Series Case

Gadgeteer Hands On Review by Frankie Rossi

January 29, 2003

Product Requirements:
Device:
Sony CLIÉ NX Series PDA

Though I have never heard of Digital Express, I have gotten my hands on a case of theirs for the NX70v CLIÉ from Sony. The case is a good thing to look at, with a nice black tone and a soft yet strong feel in the hands. When you first get this case, it comes in a plain box (mine was black) and that’s about it. When you first put it in your hands, it feels rather flimsy and honestly at first I thought “this is going to protect my CLIÉ?” Come to find out, that it does a fine job at doing so, and I’m rather pleased with it.

It has a magnetic clip for a secure closure, which seems to hold pretty well under normal conditions. I have not tested on how much pressure you can apply to it without it snapping apart, but trust me, it will hold just fine. The flip cover part of the case seems nice, and has a protective padding which makes it stiff and a good cover for the front of the CLIÉ. The “hinge” area which contains the camera slit is pretty flimsy, but probably so it can be opened and closed with ease. The top case doesn’t connect to the CLIÉ in any way; so personally, I think the camera opening is pretty pointless considering you have to have it open to use the camera. There is no open WiFi slot area though, which is probably a good thing considering you would have to take the card out, remove the case, and reinsert the WiFi card. This can be kind of disappointing, but it makes perfect design sense. On the back you will find nothing but the speaker cut out holes, and the other half of the magnetic clip

When you open up the case, it’s straight black like the front, but has pockets and the company logo on the top part. You will have room for your cash and credit cards, however, I would not recommend sticking your extra memory sticks in there because I did that mistake, and it took me 5 minutes just to figure out how to pull it out without ripping the case. They are rather deep pockets, so you will have trouble if your memory stick happens to slip all the way down. On the opposite side, you have the pocket for the CLIÉ itself, which slips right in there nice and tightly. It of course has that nice little opening for “CLIE” to stick out of, but nonetheless it does its job well. You cannot sit the CLIÉ in its cradle with this case on, however you can use the included travel charger adapter and strictly charge your device.

When the CLIÉ is in the case, it looks good and doesn’t seem to gain any more size with the case on it. Sometimes I feel like its smaller, which we all know is the advantage of black cases (and clothing ;-)). All the buttons on the left side of the CLIÉ are accessible with ease, and the lanyard eyelet on the right site holds out nicely so there is no interference between the lanyard and the top of the case.

Overall this case holds your CLIÉ just right, along with your credit cards and money. It can stand up to a good beating before it passes it down to the CLIÉ, and you certainly get your moneys worth with this great, easy and simple case from Digital Express.

Price: $29.00 (available at Brando)

Pros:
Good Style
Full Access to controls
Money and Credit Card holder
Nice and secure
Can charge while in case

Cons:
Not complete coverage of CLIÉ
Camera cut-out is not needed
No WiFi Card cut-out
Cannot sync while in case