Treo 650 SkinTight w/ Holster

I bought my speck skin in May of 2005. It has worked like a champ since then. The screen cover does get a little scratched as time goes on, but it never bothered me so much. Probably the biggest issue is that once you've taken your Treo out of the skin and put it back in a few times (say, 5 or 6) the skin starts to get "stretched out" and doesn't fit as snugly as when it was new. I hardly ever take my phone out of the skin, but the few times you do (memory card, hard resets, etc) will cause issues down the road.

All that said, the plastic clip that holds the phone in the holster broke yesterday and I'm ordering a new one to replace it. As I see it, I got nearly a good, solid year of use out of it and I don't mind buying a new one. It's a great product with a few deficiencies.

Started off a big fan... now I don't use it any more.

Rating: 2

This skin was exactly what I was looking for. At first, I purchased another brand of skin-tight rubber case through Palm.com store. That one had a great big clip permanently attached to the back, and the release never worked without me using both hands on it! I returned it after 24 hours.

So at first, I really loved the design of the Speck Product SkinTight case. I liked that there was no knob and I could still lay the phone flat on it's back. In fact, when laying flat the rubber helped keep it in place. I liked that it helped me keep a steady grip. I could open up my hand at a slight angle & the phone would stay there. After reading the other reviews about the plastic screen cover getting scratched, the first thing I did was put one of my Treo screen protectors on it. That worked perfect and I really liked the extra protection. Unfortunately, after a few weeks the little rubber hook that keeps this cover closed became too soft and the cover ended up just flapping around. So I removed it.

When putting the skin on the phone, it took me a minute to figure out that the Treo inserts through the keyboard hole, and a few more minutes to figure our how to put the Treo in the belt hook cradle (the phone should be facing your body). A diagram for all this would have been nice, but there was no documentation at all.

I did not like that there was no access to the memory card slot through the skin. But since I just leave my expansion card in there all the time, I didn't think it would be an issue...

It only took a couple days before I found the problem: the phone is held in the holster by a small piece of plastic that curves over the top of the phone. This piece sits squarely on top of the memory card slot. Almost every time I slipped the phone into the cradle, the piece of plastic would press on my memory card and cause it to pop out. But the skin was so tight, I could not just press back down on the card to put it in. Instead I would have to remove the skin, reinsert the card, then put the skin back on. The same qualities that make the skin stick to a table also make it difficult to slide on and off the phone! So it was a major annoyance.

Eventually, I got in the habit of gently lifting up on the holster's piece of plastic every time I put the phone away. This worked great, no more problems with the card popping up. Then the piece of plastic snapped off and the holster would no longer hold the phone!

So I emailed Speck Products and asked how I could get a new holster. On 10/18/2005 I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email response saying they will send me a new one for free. So I went without a holster while I waited for the new one... and I kept waiting... on 11/28/05 I emailed again asking the status of my new holster... I have never received a response and I've never received a holster. Today it is 1/23/06, over 3 months later.

In a bit of irony, three weeks after the holster broke I dropped the phone and broke a key. It's ironic because the reason I dropped is that while I was waiting for the holster I kept the skin on and carried the phone in my hands and pockets. But the rubber did not like sliding into pockets very easily, and it was when I was trying to shove it into a pocket that I dropped it.

I removed the skin the next day and have never put it back on. I now think I never really needed the thing in the first place!

650 SkinTight Holster

Rating: 4

I am very happy with this holster, it protects the Treo well. The belt clip can only be used with the skin on, but it is a snug fit so the Treo is not going anywhere. The skin also has a hard plastic piece that folds over the screen for added protection there as the Treo faces outward when in the clip. Another nice feature is the keyboard is not covered by the skin, making it easier to type (note that the row above the keyboard is, which sometimes make it hard to push the 4-way button in the direction you want). The only draw back I've found so far is that you can not access the SD card with the skin on.

By Speck

The Mobile Phone Saving Network

Treo 650 SkinTight w/ Holster - Blue