.KEYWORD ceeholster
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Shoulder the burden of personal electronics with e-Holster
.OTHER
.SUMMARY As more and more personal electronics become a necessary part of our lives, we’re quickly running out of places to carry them all. Purses and briefcases get overstuffed, pockets overflow, and belts get congested to the point of absurdity. One company has come up with a solution in the form of a shoulder harness called the e-Holster. Here, Michael Compeau and his dog Baily review this new personal electronics accessory that will appeal to everyone’s inner Dirty Harry.
.AUTHOR Michael Compeau
A while back, Pocket PC Life editor Heather McDaniel asked me if I might be interested in reviewing the e-Holster, a "revolutionary personal electronics accessory" that had been sent to her by a company called Personal Electronics Concealment, LLC. I scratched my head and cocked it to one side like Bailey, my Border Collie, did when he was first explained the concept of a soft Frisbee. I heard the words, but it wasn’t sinking in.
"Strap on your electronic armaments, shoulder your e-weapons, and prepare to join the e-battalion." A quick visit over to http://www.eholster.com finally got the image of the modern techno warrior into my skull. Take a look for yourself in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A You’re ready for action when you suit up in an e-Holster.
Ok, I’ve got to admit, when I first saw a picture of the e-Holster, I laughed so hard I almost cried. However, you’ve got to have a sense of humor if your real job is New Product Development for ladders, so perhaps my reaction was just an artifact of the mental state in which I live.
The e-Holster is actually a great idea. (Remember how they laughed at Ford’s horseless carriage?) Finally, there’s a way to carry all my electronic stuff without having my belt drag my Dockers down all day! The e-Holster puts your electronic "weapons" where they belong: out of the way but close at hand. The contraption is designed to allow your devices–from cell phones to MP3 players to Pocket PCs–to rest horizontally under your arms. The amply protective access flaps face forward, so with a quick "crrrkk" of tearing Velcro, you’ve got access to your personal electronics repertoire. Figure B shows the smooth removal of a PDA.
.FIGPAIR B Your Pocket PC will slide easily from the horizontally facing e-Pouch.
.H1 You’ve got to get into it
When the e-Holster arrived at my house, I had my first challenge. Holy connected organizer, Batman! "Just how the blazes do we put this thing on?" I asked Bailey as I pulled out two of the e-Holsters from the shipping box. He gave me that same unhelpful, head-tilted look. I felt the intimidation a 12-year old girl must feel the first time she pulls a tangled mass of clips, straps, and dangly-bits from a Macy’s shopping bag.
I was unsure whether I should thrust my arms straight up into the air and allow the harness to drop onto my shoulders or if I should insert one arm at a time, vest-style, to drape it over my lean frame. I finally chose the latter method.
Standing there in the dining room, I suddenly became aware of how many windows my home has. I moved into the kitchen. Then the bathroom. I couldn’t avoid the desire to see what I looked like.
Yup. For a moment, there staring back at me from the bathroom mirror was Richard Belzer ("Munch" on NBC’s now defunct series Homicide. I think he’s now in Law and Order). My eyes focused, and it was me again. Whew! The shoulder holster felt a little limp without any of my gadgets, so I loaded up the phone-sized e-Pouch with my Nokia and the PDA e-Pouch with my handheld. Yeah. Now I was starting to feel a hint of machismo. Never mind that there wasn’t a trigger or firing pin within a country mile, I did feel different. Cocky, tough
