Accessories

When it comes to phone accessories, I usually turn to one company first and that is Boxwave.  As an IT Manager, I have purchased and recommended a few of their accessories to a majority of Smartphone and Pocket PC users.  Unlike other companies that only focus on whatever product is the most popular, Boxwave offers a huge product line that supports a large number of phones and other portable devices.  As I was writing this review, I decided to take a peak at their site to see if by chance they had any accessories for the HTC Touch worth featuring.  To my surprise, they did and I was particularly pleased to find a cradle option for this excellent phone.  I decided to contact them and they generously opted to provide two of their Touch accessories for a feature in this article.  One of them is a nice cradle that HTC fails to include and the other was a custom leather case for the Touch.  Let's have a detailed look at each...

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If there is one accessory I always look for that many products fail to include, it is a cradle or docking station.  Fortunately, the HTC Touch has its USB connector right on the bottom center making it suitable for use with a cradle.  Boxwave sent one of actually two cradle models that they offer for the Touch.  The one provided was their standard cradle but they also have one that features a charging dock for a second battery.  Other than the convenience of using a cradle/dock, what is nice about this product is that they ship it with both a USB cable and a US power adapter.  Considering the HTC Touch is not currently a US product (sort of speak), a US power plug is always nice to have.  In fact, depending on the source where you buy the Touch, you may or may not receive a US power adapter.  While ours did, many who purchase HTC branded phones here in the US will have no use for the European style plug bundled with their products.

This cradle is quite nice and was reminiscent of the Rio Karma cradle we showed you a few years back when we reviewed that product.  It blends in well with the black model of the HTC Touch, sporting an all black design with silver accents. On the front you'll find the clear, angled support bracket/guide and mini USB port.  To the left, you'll also find a small status LED I will comment on below.  Moving to the rear of the cradle, you'll find both power and USB ports for faster charging. 

The clear support bracket/guide is just the right size and angled to allow you to slide the Touch into place fairly easily.  As a finishing touch, the cradle sports a blue status LED that will blend in well with your modern system.  Now, you have the option of connecting it with power, USB or both.  To briefly test its charging performance, I did connect the cradle directly to a power source and also connected the device to the PC for syncing.  Test was started with the device having 62% power remaining.  This cradle was able to fully charge the phone in exactly 26 minutes.  This was much faster than charging this phone via USB. 

Just two very minor issues I had with this product.  First was the red LED that is featured on the power adapter itself.  I found it to be a bit too bright.  Not a big deal though as you can simply cover it with electrical tape.  The second thing to note is that the included USB cable is very short and chances are, it won't be long enough to reach your PC.  Again, this is also minor because the USB cable included with the HTC Touch is quite long and you can simply swap them out for use.  Not necessarily built of the highest quality, but its low cost and all it includes makes it a product to consider.

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The second product sent over was a nice leather case specifically designed for the HTC Touch.  It comes is a nice black box and ships with a swivel-style belt clip.  It features a couple of extra pockets and two card slots as well for carrying additional storage with you. 

The cutouts were quite precise, especially the rear cutouts for the camera and speaker.  They line up perfectly and so do the side cutouts for the volume and app button.  The belt clip is quite nice and has a locking mechanism to ensure it won't detach from the clip itself.  If you don't mind the much added bulk, this is a nice custom case for the Touch that will not put a hole in your wallet.

In addition to the two excellent accessories provided, Boxwave does have a large number of other accessories for the HTC Touch.  These include rugged cases, screen protectors and even an extended battery option.  Heck, they even have a replacement stylus that is compatible which combines a pen and laser pointer in one.  The extended battery is rated at 2000mAH and appears to include a custom back panel to support it as well.  You can view all HTC Touch accessories on this page.  Their products have always been modestly priced, especially in comparison to those options that may be available directly from the manufacturer.   

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