INTRODUCTION

    I’m on a quest to find the best case for my Qtek 8500 (HTC Star Trek, Cingular 3135, etc). Although it’s tempting to carry the sleek and slim device without protection, a good mobile device user knows that after several weeks of a use, what once was a newborn device becomes a target for scratches and debris. In September, we reviewed Noreve’s rendition of an HTC Star Trek case. It was decent, but left a bit to be desired. The fit wasn’t perfect, and the top part of the case would detach. How annoying. A noble reader tipped me off to the fact that Krusell has recently developed a competing case. Let’s take a look at this new case and see if it’s worth your money.

PRODUCT FEATURES

(all images link to higher resolution)

A very interesting cardboard box, held closed by a magnet, houses the device.

Inside there’s a picture of a construction man with a hard hat, perhaps implying that Krusell cases are made to withstand abuse.

    This is what the case looks like out of the box. It uses a lot of clear vinyl in place of the leather. To test the quality of the leather, I did a smell test, since it seems that the best leather gives off the strongest aromas. The results were not good. The leather almost had a plasticy smell to it.

Here’s a comparison shot with the Star Trek case with the Noreve. Very different designs, indeed. The Noreve case uses much more leather (though it costs more).

    Here’s a shot of the front of the case, with the device inside. Note how the camera hole fit isn’t accurate. After a bit of pulling and stretching, I was able to center the cutout better, but it still wasn’t perfect.

    Here is a side shot. Notice how the charging adapter (bottom left) isn’t lined up with the cutout! Plugging in the charger becomes difficult with this misalignment. I actually had to remove the device from the case several times to get the charger to seat properly.

Here’s a skewed shot. I really didn’t like the use of the clear vinyl. The vinyl picked up fingerprints and debris.

For the purpose of comparison, here’s a similar shot of the Noreve case.

    Something that I very much DO like about this case, is its removable belt clip. The clip is one of the thinnest I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately it doesn’t swivel. I found it very useful to clip the device inside of my pocket, backwards (if you can picture that). That way, the device stays at the top of my pocket within easy reach.

    With any case for a flip phone, there’s usually some of the case that "flops" over once you open it. Krusell has come up with an innovative solution to this problem – they attach the top piece to the bottom with a piece of elastic.

So that when you open the phone, the case stays taught.

But…it’s not perfect. There were times where the elastic piece got "stuck".

When open, the clear vinyl covers the keypad, which I didn’t like – it made the buttons feel a bit "numb."

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HELP SUPPORT

   Can a case be hard to use? I found this case to be frustrating to use because of the issue mentioned below in Bugs and Wishes.

BUGS AND WISHES

   
First and foremost, the camera and power port cutouts were inaccurate. Cutout inaccuracies heavily effect the functionality of the case. It’s possible that after another few weeks of use, the case will have stretched out a bit, and the cutouts will move into place, but any case should fit correctly out of the box.

    Second, the quality of the leather is poor, though at such a low price point, I can understand why. Along those same lines, the case uses a lot of clear vinyl, which can easily pick up finger prints. One of the reason that I want a case to protect my device is to avoid fingerprints.

    And finally, though I applaud Krusell for taking a stab at the case hangover issue present in most flip-phone cases, it didn’t quite work as intended. As shown on page 1 of the review, the elastic piece would sometimes get stuck.

PURCHASING

   
This product is very inexpensive. A quick search on Froogle reveals that it can be had for less than $20 USD.

PROS

• One of the few cases available for the Star Trek
• Slim-line belt clip
• Very inexpensive

CONS

• 
  

  Case cutouts are inaccurate

• Poor quality leather
• Plastic picks up finger prints
• Belt clip does not rotate

Value
Ease of Use
Features
Overall

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OVERALL IMPRESSION

    This is a cheap case (in quality and price), with some interesting features. Despite its significant flaws, I’m going to be using the Krusell case as my daily driver over the Noreve, simply because I love the thin belt clip. If only I could find a way to install the Krusell clip on the Noreve case…then we’d be in business. My recommendation to you, though, is skip over this case and either go with the Noreve, or wait for something better.