I have anxiously been waiting for Seidio to release a case/holster combination for the 8800. Well, that day has finally come. I decided that I would try out both the Seidio Jet Black Premium Skin and the Super Slim Rubberized Hard Case in combination with the Skinned Holster.

I decided to start with the Skin/Holster combo and see how that worked out. The skin was relatively easy to put on. Once it was on, I thought it covered the device well and would give good protection. There is a rubber strip that goes through the middle that covers the Send, End, Menu, and Back keys. There is also a cutout that goes around the trackball. The rubber strip that covers the keys is still imprinted with what each key is, so that does not really cause any problems. However, I did feel that the cutout around the trackball was odd, however I got used to it and it didn't bother me after a few days. All other buttons on the device are still accessible with cutouts in the skin, and there is even a cutout for the speaker. The texture for the skin has a good "grip" feeling, but that also does make it attract lint a little easier.

Now I put my skinned 8800 into the holster. It is a good fit, but the clip on top of the holster kept catching on the cutout for the speaker. This was easily remedied just by lifting the clip again and letting the skin settle back into place. The rest of the holster worked perfectly. It has a swivel clip, and a recessed place for the trackball when holstered. Another big improvement with this holster over the identical one for the Pearl is that the placement of the clip on the back has changed. It has been raised on the back, so that the holster does not ride as high on your waist anymore and does not poke you on your side.

Overall, I think this is a good skin/holster combination.

Next, I switched to the Rubberized Hard Case/Holster. I have previously used this combo when I had a Pearl, and I knew this was something I had to get for my 8800. The case snapped together very easily, and it fits on the 8800 perfectly. Just like the skin, it has cutouts for all buttons; however this case does not cover any keys on the keypad. There is a small rubberized plastic strip that goes across the middle of the device, and around the trackball. I did not find this to interfere in any way with the functions of the keys or the trackball. The texture of this case is smoother and it does not have the lint issue like the skin.

Using the Rubberized Hard Case with the skinned holster is nice. It fits perfectly, and there were no issues with the clip at the top catching on anything with this case. It just snaps into place like it should, nice and secure. I failed to mention this earlier, but the holster does have a sleeper magnet to support the in/out of holster settings on the 8800.

Overall, I think this is an excellent case/holster combination, and it is what I'll be using most of the time.

Hat's off to Seidio for creating some great accessories for Blackberry users!

See more Seidio Cases and Products for the BlackBerry 8800 Series.  

More photos available in the CrackBerry Forums.