Review of the HTC Messenger Vertical Pouch for the HTC Evo 4G

Having gotten one of the Google I/O HTC Evo's before the official launch, I'm a lucky man. The drawback, however, is that none of the official accessories for the Evo have been released yet, so I've been carrying this thing in my pocket without protection. With the huge 4.3" screen on this bad boy, I'm constantly afraid of scratches, drops, nicks, and other unthinkable occurrences.

One of the first things I did (after playing with the Evo for a day) is go searching for a case. I scoured forums, searched Google, eBay, Amazon, etc. It wasn't until I came across HTCPedia.com that I found what I was looking for. It's the HTC Messenger Vertical Pouch, presumably made for the HTC HD2, which has similar dimensions to the Evo, and now being marketed as for the HD2 as well as for the Evo.

The case is elegantly simple...a soft leather pouch, open on one end, with a cloth material inside that supposedly helps wipe the smudges off your screen as you pull out the phone. The fit is nice and snug, but not too tight. It won't fall out by itself, but it is still easy to remove by hand.

The leather looks nice, and smells like real leather, but not overwhelmingly so. The inside cloth material is soft, almost like suede. As for cleaning your screen of smudges, well it does help, but it certainly does not completely wipe them off. I suppose with repeated removals and insertions it will eventually clean the screen, but when I remove the phone, I use it and add more smudges. So in practice, the "clean your screen" is really more about removing minor bits of dust than it is about removing finger smudges.

Using this case, I have no fear of throwing the phone in my pocket along with my keys. Sure, it adds some extra bulk, but it's safe.

Pros:

• High quality manufacturing - well stitched, nice leather
• Form fitting - helps keep the Evo protected, won't fall out accidentally
• Soft cloth interior - helps keep the dust off the screen
• Removable - use the phone in its naked glory, then put it back in the pouch when done

Cons:

• Makes the Evo bigger in your pocket
• Contains a small label on the inside that I'm afraid will somehow scratch the screen if I insert the phone facing backwards. I'm probably being paranoid, though.
• To charge the phone while in the case, you have to insert the phone upside down, which could turn the phone on accidentally if the power button is pushed.

Overall, I am very pleased with this pouch since it lets me still use the phone naked (the phone, not me) and provides a nice protective "house" when I'm not using the phone.


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