[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam Accessories] jmat:
How about that. It showed up today.

From my first few minutes with the clear Active Case from BoxWave, I'm impressed. The phone actually does lock down into the case quite nicely, and i haven't been able to knock it loose yet. If I use this case regularly, I'd probably get some double-sided clear tape and stick it on the back of my battery cover so it would grip better, just in case. I'm sure dropping the phone on a hard surface would make it come out of the case -- but at least the cover would take the initial impact.

None of the 'bumps' on the phone stick out past the case -- including the earpiece. All corners are fully covered.

It uses very thin little tabs to hold onto the case, while not interfering with opening the keyboard. I suspect that if you dropped it on a hard enough surface from high enough, those tabs will probably break off... but at least your phone wouldn't have absorbed the hit.

There's one glaring problem with the Boxwave case: they used the same template for both the HERM100 and the HERM200. And they obviously did the design on the Cingular 8525, because it doesn't have a cut-out for the video conferencing button -- but strangely enough, there is a cutout for the front video camera...

So if you have the Cingular 8525, JasJAM (HERM100) style phone, and you don't mind not having a video conferencing button, this case would be great.

But if you have a TyTN or HERM200 style.. well.. your buttons are going to be partially covered up.

I checked with Boxwave a few minutes ago, and this is the only style for the Hermes.

As soon as I can find my camera, I'll take some pictures. It really is a nice case, and it fits great on my (dead) JasJAM -- but I can already tell it won't fit the TyTN and it's "expanded" front button panel.

I suppose a dremel tool and some patience can fix that, though.

Edit #1: Boxwave just removed the Active Case from the HTC TyTN accessories page. I guess they noticed their screw up. :) I probably won't send this back just yet - I need to see how badly it covers the buttons up on my replacement TyTN and if a quick dremel job will fix it.

Edit #2: Don't try this at home.. since my JasJAM is already toast, I decided to see how well this case would do in a drop test :D. I dropped it (free fall, no force behind it) onto a smooth ceramic tile/concrete floor from 4 feet, 5 feet, and 6 feet. The case only popped off from 6 feet. I tried this multiple times from multiple heights. The case did not scratch or chip. I bet it would scratch up on concrete. When the phone fell out at 6 feet, it didn't receive any damage -- the phone bounced twice in the case, and popped out of the bottom half of the case on the third bounce (I tried this 3 times). The top half of the case never came off. I dropped the phone without the battery in it (because I don't want to destroy a good battery), but the added weight shouldn't make too big of a difference. I definitely recommend using some sort of double-sided adhesive on the back if you plan on keeping the phone in the case. And there's no reason not to -- it doesn't add bulk to the phone, it's smooth so it won't get stuck in your pocket like the rubber ones do.. and you can get to all of the ports and buttons (other than VC).

Edit #3: I tried to see how much force it would take to pull the top case off -- it wouldn't be easy. I stopped tugging after the keyboard had pulled away from the base of the phone by about 1/8" because I was afraid I'd rip the keyboard off. The bottom half is about the same -- you have to purposefully pull the tabs loose to make it come out of this case.