My wife stole an amazing iPod Touch case from me

Yep, the other day I got this cool iPod Touch case — cool because it’s one of the Proporta Alu-Leather line of cases that I first looked at when I needed a new case for my Palm T|X. That case, a little worn, is still rockin’ though.

It’s about the case
This nifty little holder is quite sleek, boasting a nice design, with one challenge we’ll get to in a minute. For starters, it’s hand made and, it’s leather. It seems a rather nice grade of leather at that. Immediately obvious is the heavy-duty stitching that holds this unit together.

This case flips open, similar to an original-series Star Trek communicator. The iPod Touch slips into a holder with windows for all the ports and buttons.

The case, when closed, is kept closed by magnets in the cover and in the holder.

Aluminum! Say it loud and proud!
Once upon a time, one of the big-brained boffins at Proporta came up with their trademark ‘Screensaver’ concept. No, this is not something to keep your display from wearing out or burning in, rather, it’s a concept that saves your screen from punctures, cracks and other breakage that could occur in daily use.

The Screensaver, in this case, is a thin, sturdy sheet of aircraft grade aluminum, stitched into the cover flap of the case. When the case closes, the aluminum flap completely covers the touch screen — a rather neat feature if I do say — one Proporta has been incorporating in the Alu-Leather line since 2003.

One niggly little detail
Earlier I mentioned that there was one issue with the case, and it has to do with the way the case edges encroach on the touch screen surface of the iPod Touch.

Designers of some iPhone and iPod Touch apps, try to maximize the screen real estate by extending menus into corners and along the edges of the display area. Unfortunately the edge of the iPod Touch holder portion of the case comes right up to the edge of the active touch screen surface.

This can make pressing small icons or on-screen buttons a bit of a challenge as your finger rubs up against the edge of the case as you try and tap the screen. It can be especially frustrating when using the on-screen keyboard and trying to tap the left or right edge keys — they’re just so tiny that I often found I was mistyping. People with smaller fingertips may have better luck than I on this.

Case closed
As I mentioned before, I’ve used a Proporta Alu-Leather case on my Palm T|X for many years, and have been very very pleased with it…which is I was pleased to receive this case, and why I was rather upset when my wife nabbed it for her iPod Touch. I’m sure she’ll get good use out of it, but now I have to go looking for one. And Teal wasn’t exactly my colour either, yeah, that’s it.