• Proporta

• ~$31
• Exact price depends on exchange rate

• Not much bigger than the handheld
• Provides decent protection
• Good price

• Cover in the way when open
• Not waterproof

Design:
Cost/benefit:
Coolness:
Overall:

Shape
This hardcase has a fairly standard shape: It opens like a book with the hinge on the left side. The advantage of this is it allows the case to be barely larger than the handheld itself. It is only a quarter of an inch wider and taller than an m515 and just an eighth of an inch thicker.

The disadvantage of this shape is, when it is opened and you are using the handheld, the front cover is hanging off to the left, which is frequently in your way. There is no way to fold it around to the back.

It has a rail that is connected to the hinge and fits into the slot on the left side of the handheld. This holds the Palm in the case even when the cover is open.

In case some of you aren't aware of this, the m500 is thinner than the m505 and m515. This means it will fit in this case but will rattle around a little bit. If you can find something to add some extra lining, it would help a lot.

This case has slots that allow you to easily insert and remove the stylus and SD/MMC cards. These work quite well. On some hardcases you have to turn the case over and open the back in order to get at the SD card, but not this one. And you can take out the stylus without opening the case at all, which will come in handy for those of you who use a stylus/pen combination.

These slots have other advantages, too. You might be able to tell from the pictures that I'm currently using the ttools SLIMpoint stylus, which doesn't fit inside most hardcases. Fortunately, the Proporta one has no problem.

The downside of the slots is the case isn't even a tiny bit waterproof. If you are looking for protection from the rain, look elsewhere.

HotSyncing
The cradle that comes with Palm's handhelds doesn't make it easy for any handheld in a hardcase to be HotSynched. There are two possibilities for this one from Proporta.

You can open the front and back as much as they'll go, which kind of makes a T shape with the handheld at a right angle to the case. If you put your cradle up on a thick book or on the edge of your desk, this creates enough clearance for the case to allow you to fit the Palm into the cradle.

The other possibility is to give up your cradle and buy a HotSync cable. However, there isn't a slot at the bottom of the case for the HotSync port so you'll have to open the case to connect the cable.

Protection
Just about the whole purpose of carrying a hardcase is to protect your handheld. Of course, the aluminium of the case itself gives a certain amount of protection for its contents in case of accidents. I don't think it is strong enough that you should consider carrying your hardcase in your back pocket and regularly sitting on it. If nothing else, this wouldn't be very comfortable and it's bad for your back.

Of course, it will definitely protect your handheld's screens from getting scratched up if you carry it around in your purse or backpack.

The interior of this case is lined with neoprene, which gives the handheld some cushioning if you drop it. Still, I wouldn't recommend you throw it out a window. The lining isn't very thick.

As I mentioned earlier, this case isn't waterproof because of the cut-outs for the stylus and SD slot.

Appearance
The Proporta hardcase looks good. I think it is very professional. It has the Proporta logo stamped into the front but I don't think this distracts from its appearance. Let's face it, everything is branded these days. Anyway, as they say "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Take a look at the pictures and make up you own mind.

Conclusion
This is a good looking case that comes at a good price. Proporta is a British company so its exact cost fluctuates depending on the exchange rate but it's currently just over $30, which is quite competitive. If you want to give your precious Palm some extra protection, you should consider the Proporta m500 Series Aluminium Case.