Wrist holder for a smartphone or personal digital assistant

A wrist holder for a handheld computing device, comprising:

• a wrist strap, the wrist strap having a pair of ends and a means for adjustably fastening the ends together;
• a shell case, the shell case having an open front, a back having a border, a flexible rim attached to the border of the back, the flexible rim having a curved edge extending inwardly and defining the open front to contain the handheld computing device within the shell case;
• and
• a socket assembly, the socket assembly attached to the back of the shell case, the socket assembly having a inner disk with a inside edge defining a circular opening, the inside edge having a plurality of ridges;
• and
• a spring assembly, the spring assembly attached to the wrist strap, the spring assembly having a spring, a housing and a pair of tabs, each tab having an inside end and an outer end, the inside end having a plurality of grooves, the housing having a top, a side, the side having a pair of diametrally opposing windows and a diametral bottom channel, the inside ends of the tabs traveling through the channel into the housing, the spring inside the housing between the inside ends of the tabs extending the grooves on the inside ends through the windows and selectively engaging the ridges on the socket assembly attached to the shell case to interlockingly connect the wrist strap to the shell case when the socket assembly is snapped on the spring assembly, the spring assembly allowing the socket assembly on the shell case to selectively rotate with respect to the spring assembly on the strap.

A method of maintaining a handheld computing device on a wrist of a user with a wrist holder, the wrist holder having an adjustable wrist strap, a shell case, the shell case having a back, the shell case containing the handheld computing device, the wrist holder also having a socket assembly, the socket assembly attached to the back of the shell case, a spring assembly, the spring assembly attached to the wrist strap, the spring assembly having a pair of tabs for selectively engaging the socket and a spring for biasing the tabs towards a locked position, comprising:

• attaching the wrist strap to the wrist of the user;
• connecting the wrist strap to the shell case by snapping the socket assembly on the back of the shell case;
• rotating the handheld computing device with respect to the wrist strap on the wrist by grasping the rim of the shell case and twisting;
• and
• selectively detaching the handheld computing device from the wrist strap by squeezing the tabs together to compress the spring to release the socket, and lifting the shell case off of the wrist strap.