And with Seidio's RU I did something I didn't really want to do, but felt I had to do for the purposes of this review and for all mankind.. I dropped my Treo while in this case to see if it'd pop apart. Now before you scream "Holy crap, Harv, have you lost your mind?" No, not entirely. I didn't drop it on the concrete floor of my garage, or even on the carpeted floor of my home. I'm not THAT dedicated to all mankind.

I put a nice thick pillow on the floor and dropped it on that. First from a couple feet, then from six feet up, making sure the Treo nestled in the RU would land on its edge. I had read about this case "easily" popping apart and wanted to see if this fairly benign test would make it happen. It didn't. Now if you buy one of these cases and drop your Treo on the sidewalk and the case pops apart, don't come screaming to me. But it didn't pop apart in the six foot pillow test, for whatever that's worth, which could very well be nothing.

The optional pouch case

As mentioned, Seidio also has a nicely-crafted black "Napa" (sheepskin) leather pouch case into which you can tuck your Treo while it's in the Rubberized Ultraslim case.. I've provided some pictures of it, and here's a little back and forth I had with a Seidio rep that will link you to it, along with a few other details about the RU case..

Me: Is the Rubberized Ultraslim made for other models or ONLY for the Treo 700p / w / wx?

Seidio: The Rubberized case is also available for PPC6700, Treo 680, Treo 750, Blackberry 8100, and all new upcoming Smartphones.

(Note: since I received the RU a couple months ago, TreoCentral's store added another version of it which holds an expanded battery, although not Seidio's monster 3200mAh battery.. you'll find that version of the RU here

Me: what is the RETAIL price for the Leather case you included?

Seidio: $19.95. This leather case has an elastic band on the sides, it will make the case compatible with a naked Treo, rubberized/crystal cased Treo, skin cased Treo and also the Treo with our 3200mAh battery.

Me: Where can someone get this leather case if they want one?

Seidio: here

Me: is the Leather case SPECIFICALLY designed to hold the Treo 700 WHILE it's in the rubberized case?

Seidio: As mentioned above, this leather case has the flexibility on fitting a naked Treo, rubberized/crystal cased Treo, skin cased Treo and also the Treo with the 3200mAh battery.

Me: is the Leather case made of sheepskin or is it actual cowhide leather?

Seidio: This particular case is made of sheepskin in 2 tone colors and has a business card holder inside.

Me: are both cases available ONLY in black? If not, what other colors are available?

Seidio: For the rubberized Ultraslim case, currently we only have it in black. And the leather case is only available in black (2 tone).

Me: To my way of thinking, it would make sense for someone to buy both together.

Seidio: We do have a bundle package on our Web site for $47.95.

Me: I usually don't like side pouch cases since you have to take the Treo out of them to use the phone and then the phone is "naked" with no protection. With this combination, you can take the phone out of the pouch case and STILL have "grippy" protection around it in the form of the rubberized plastic case. Is that what Seidio was thinking when designing the leather case?

Seidio: We received a lot of inquiries about belt clip holsters and leather cases for the rubberized or crystal cases we make for the Treo 700. That's why we add the elastic band and designed it to have the flexibility to work on both.

Here are some photos of the almost imperceptible clips that hold this case together.