bellagio

[Paraba]

As promised here is the discount code: BRHND15
valid at www.bellagiodesigns.com
and
www.fortte.com
Discount 30% in all... stock & specials (colors, embossed, etc)
Valid for brighthand forum until Nov. 15 2005
Thank you. Peter

[philgrin]

okay, okay. in the spirit of this rather long-winded post (i didn't think it would get off the ground) i ordered a bellagio case (ess, that is) and apparently have received the discount mr weiss offered. i will keep you all apprised of what occurs. i'm already a little troubled by the fact that bellagio tells me the case, which i ordered on 10/29 will take 2-3 weeks before it even gets to their distribution center 'at which time it will immediately be shipped out to you'. notwithstanding the fact i did have personalization affixed to the front it seems that is quite a long time. after all i didn't order a custom car. maybe i'm too used to the quicker than quick delivery i get when i order from ecost.com.

ever onward.

[philgrin]

as a short addendum to my post yesterday - subtlety isn't my forte so maybe i should have said right out that since mr weiss apparently reads the forum he can explain why it takes close to a month to receive one of his products.

[ASewell]

Back when I had a Tungsten C, I did a fair amount of research to see which case to use with it, because the book-style cover that shipped with T|C neither looked nor worked very well. I ultimately settled on the Bellagio, largely because the flip-cover reminded me of the flip-top of the Palm III, which was the first handheld I ever fell in love with. The case served me well for several years, showing hardly any wear at all. The only complaint I had with it is that I had sprung an extra $10 to have my name embossed on the front, but found that black embossing on black leather is completely invisible.

When I recently bought the Palm T|X, I was unsurprised to find that the cover shipped with it was fairly dismal, not even closing flat to cover the screen properly, so I naturally turned again to Bellagio. Unfortunately, it appears that the company has recently split, amoeba-like, into Bellagio Design (New Jersey) and Bellagio Designs (Florida), with each offspring claiming to have inherited the mantle of authenticity from the original company and bitterly accusing the other of illegitimacy. Here I review the Palm T|X case from Bellagio Designs (Florida), for no other reason than they sent me a free one. Apparently, it is the very first T|X case the company has made, hand-stitched by Oompaloompas in the jungles of Bolivia. I requested it on October 13th; it took about three weeks to arrive, but an email from the company after a couple of weeks explained that Hurricane Wilma had delayed shipping from their warehouses in Florida.

The case is made of stiff, heavy, fresh-smelling leather with a padded fliptop; a snap closure tab and a leather case body with business card and two SD card slots. There is no external access to the SD slot or stylus, but the headphone jack, reset button and speaker are accessible, as is the Universal Connector when the fliptop is open. See the attached .jpg for various views of the case, both open and closed. Note the snappy little metal button on the front with ?Fortte? embossed below it, if you can with my cellphone camera shots?although Bellagio Designs has apparently relinquished the Bellagio name, the look and feel of the new case is almost the same as that of my old Bellagio T|C case.

Let?s take a look at some of the minimal requirements of a PDA case and see how this one measures up:

1. Prevent accidental power-on or other button presses: The case that comes with the Palm LifeDrive is the worst ever offender in this category; unless you put the LifeDrive in the case upside-down one of the buttons is permanently pressed, leading to an annoying clicking sound. The Bellagio (Fortte) case avoids this; the power button is protected with the fliptop down yet easily accessible with it up, and the rim of leather that surrounds the screen keeps the fliptop well away from any buttons in the ?down? position.

2. Protect the screen from damage: The leather is tough and hard with the exception of half an inch of compressible padding in front of the screen, where it is needed most. The fliptop buckle provides protection for the bottom when in closed position. The weak points appear to be the lower two corners, but even here hard leather extends a millimeter or so beyond the Palm itself, cushioning any potential blows. I dropped the Palm from waist height five times inside the case at various angles with no ill effects apparent.

3. Allow access to controls and functions: Photographs here should speak for themselves. With the fliptop open, buttons are nicely framed with some stylish stitching at the bottom, the top is accessible, and the reset button is actually easier to locate with the case on than without it. The case has a feature unique among Palm cases as far as I know, in that the lower half of the back stiff leather hinges to allow the Palm to be placed on a cradle without removing it from the case! The T|X comes without a cradle, and I for one don?t miss it, but I understand that there are diehards out there who can?t live without one, so this feature will be a blessing for them.

4. Look stylish: Black goes with anything, they say, but the truth is, carrying a PDA either in a shirt pocket or hanging from one?s belt is a fashion no-no according to the women in my life, and there seems to be no way to fix it. Despite this handicap, the leather is of very high quality, is smooth and smells nice, with carefully done stitching. I can?t speak for its longevity, but the T|C case I had was similar and lasted for years. Despite the slight increase in dimensions that comes from putting a PDA in a case, it still fits easily in my front shirt pocket. The belt clip permits a full 360-degree rotation, and is spring-loaded with a reassuring little ?tooth? that securely fits around any belt less than 1.5? wide, although this feature makes it ill-suited for attachment to pockets or pants without a belt. Despite this, the clip can still be pulled from the belt with some force. The case itself has a knob protruding from the back that is small enough that the case can still lie flat on a desk but attaches to the clip with a reassuring ?snap?, and is released by pressing a tab on the top of the clip. The clip and case together cause the Palm to ride about an inch from one?s belt. It?s hard for me to stop myself from compulsively patting the Palm every few minutes when it?s hanging from my belt, so paranoid am I that a part of my brain will disappear without my even noticing, but I?m relieved to say that several subway trips and a four-hour bus-ride didn?t dislodge either the clip or the Palm. The only failure occurred when I attempted to exit a car from the drivers seat scooting through the passenger side; I heard a thud, and saw the Palm fall to the ground outside the car. The clip had come off the belt rather than the Palm from the clip, but it was none the worse the wear for its fall.

Overall, I am rather satisfied with this case. If you like leather and a flip-top, then this is the case to get. I did not test the embossing feature, which was my one criticism with the T|C case. When I went to the website and tried to order another T|X case in order to see what colors were offered, I was rewarded with a ?The requested URL /scr/showcategory3.php/57 was not found on this server?, so the website needs a little work.

Pros:
Flip-style design allows docking without removal
Leather and stitching of high quality
Access to all ports and controls
Optional belt-clip
Padding in front of screen

Cons:
None that I can see

Bellagio Designs Palm T|X case, $44.99
http://bellagiodesigns.com/showcategory3.php/80

[lelisa13p]

What an excellent & comprehensive review! Well done.

Regards,
Lauren

[philgrin]

yes, thanks, asewell. i will certainly report on my case when it arrives, although i doubt so comprehensively. fyi, i still haven't been apprised as to why it takes so long to deliver. although i am from chicago i was able to be in florida during hurricane wilma and it appears a lot of the infrastructure is back.

[philgrin]

i'm sure everyone has been waiting with bated breath for this. my case finally arrived. as i have indicated previously i can't review as comprehensively as asewell but i can give my observations. it's a good-looking case and holds the z71 quite well. leather is good and it has two sd slots and one for a credit card (i guess) on the left side. i of course don't have, and won't have, the capability to compare with a no-ess case but it passes my muster--except for one thing. it is bulkier than i really care for. as i mentioned way back, i originally had a tumi and that was ideal, size-wise. so was the palm case i got after the tumi was stolen. bellagio appears to add the bulk in the front for protection and i appreciate that; however, i don't care for it. if i knew how, i'd take a picture and attach it to this post.

long story short. i've got it and i'll use it.

[philgrin]

i did get the book case bellagio and have used it for ~ three weeks. it is certainly well made attractive enough. the only things that bug me, and i think i alluded to one of them earlier:

way too bulky for me - i would prefer they take the padding out of the front. i believe there is plenty of protection with the leather and backing

the slots for the sd cards are more tight than i think they need to be. it is very difficult to remove the cards. my suggestion is that the 'pockets' be set individually as they are in (horrors) the 19.99 case that palm sells.

i would propose another addition and that is to put a holder of some sort on the leather piece that holds the front and back for another stylus. i find having an extra handy when using the z71 in the case.

over and out.

[pda user #1]

funny...reading some old stuff..... how looking back on this old thread....bellagiodesign.com still lives, while the other "ess" has been abandoned. guess paraba isn't quite as clean as he made it seem

[lelisa13p]

Welcome to Brighthand, pda user #1.

You've resurrected a dead two year old thread, BTW.