Hey Folks,
Recently I have been very fortunate to develop a great working relationship with the President of one of the major leather case manufacturers. As we all know, the NOKIA 770 has not exactly lit the 3rd party manufacturers on fire as shown by what is available to us 770 lovers. Anyway, he has agreed to let me put together a case proposal and unless I try and install a Keg Dispenser or Massage unit in it, is going to take it to manufacture. I told him that I was going to take this to the NOKIA 770 community and get all of the ideas that I could assimilate and bring them to him. So, if you have ever wanted to really have some input on a product that you may be buying, this is it.

First off, If someone considers themselves really handy with measuring items, I need a set of very accurate dimensions of the 770. Using the Inches scale that is stamped into the back of my leatherman tool I just don't feel is what he is looking for. LOL As this goes along, I may seriously just FEDEX my 770 to him, but like the rest of you probably think, it is a hard item to part with. So if someone is an arhitect or draftsmen, I can assure you a nice sit of detailed, accurate drawings will be rewarded at production time.

Ideas, lay them on me. What have you seen that you like? Do you like a Spring Steel clip that is permenantly mounted? Do you like the famous removeable spring loaded plastic belt clip that almost eveyone uses now? Would you like No Clip at all? I am already hot on the magnet, but, how would you want the magnet to work? Should the device be able to be stored in the case backwards as well as forwards like the hard shell that comes with it? MMC Slots, how many are enough? Storage for business cards? An ID Window for your own personal info?

OK, this is a very serious proposal, and I guarantee it is going to happen, unless I get 3 answers from people (and one of those answers is "Can you keep it under $10.00?) and little or no interest.

So this could be an interesting opportunity, and I look forward to seeing some innovative ideas. If you frequent other NOKIA 770 Forums, please spread the idea around.

If you want to EMAIL me direct on this, my EMAIL is supportstaff@comcast.net, Im using this email just for this project.

Thanks alot,
Ron aka Wireless

NOTE: In my excitement and after reading some of the posts (some great ideas, I find that I neglected to add a key piece of information, this case will be made from leather, as this is all that this manufacturer currently uses as a medium. I am going to ask if they have any connection with a Silicon manufacturer as I too would also like to see a silicone boot/case for the 770. That would be a great idea when just kicking ariound the house, desk etc. I still prefer a nice Leather case when on the move. Sorry guys/gals. My fault, that was a heck of a piece of information to have not been clear on.

what about having the case be able to double as a stand, i.e. be able to sit free standing on a flat surface, with the Nokia diagonally facing the user?

Not that I don't LOOOVEEE the stock base "lego pieces" stand (sarcasm)...


DCarter

Excellent idea. A simple length of material that would connect from the back of the body of the case and attach to the front flap folded backwards and you have an easel type arrangement. ( I hope everyone followed me on that) That is one way you could do it.

Thats a strong idea drcarter.

BTW, this company also embosses in some materials. Im thinking that we will have a limited release for people who contributed, and have it embossed with something like NOKIA 770 Case Design Project , Limited Edition, something unique. All of us geeks, young and old like something noone else can get.

I would love to have a silicone case, similar to the ones for the iPods and Treos. Basically have all buttons covered, but with embossed outlines to match the buttons. A hard, clear, plastic flip cover would be OK, but not necessary since I always use a PDA screen protector. The ports along the bottom could be left exposed for easy access, as well as the MMC slot and stylus port. Belt clip nub could be optional.

These cases are great - they make the device so easy to hold on to without worrying about it slipping out of my hand like a wet bar of soap. Plus, some of the newer ones have some type of coating on them so dust and lint don't stick like a magnet.

I would rather see a docking station, adding 2 more batterys and a usb hub.

The case it comes with works for me,

that's just my two cents

I think a case that allows the option of having the device "on" but with the screen protected would be nice, but I'm not sure how you would implement it.

Also, make sure that we don't need to take the device out of the case to connect USB/Headphones/Charger, possibly using a flap of some sort.
Oh, and the microphone should be exposed, so that sound is not muffled. A small hole in the case could acomplish that.

As for MMC, I never swap MMC cards, so I am not fussed about that. An ID window would be good, but I don't want a case that doubles as a wallet.

Mounting for the stylus is a must, as with the 770's stylus holder on the rear, I would prefer not to have a "hole" in the rear of the case. Nokia provided 2 styluses (stylii?) anyway.

the case should not block the antenna.
i would love to see 'Don't Panic' embossed on the case.

some dreaming on basis of the above ...

- A (partly) clear cover that allow to use the 770 without taking it out of its case. To quickly see time, agenda, news, location etc. (see orbitalcomp and mallard)
- A cover stand doubles as stand (see dcarter above)
- A cover that has a small keyboard/thumbboard (USB?) (did you mean that Wireless?)
- A cover that has a small espresso-machine inside

OK, OK, I'll quit

The case should replace the aluminium cover, and in the same way - ie there should be a cutout for the piece with the connectors and the case should be made padded so it was level with the case on the sides of the connector "block". Possibly there should be a flap of some kind over the connector block - possibly that flap could be part of the screen cover if that was extended to wrap around the device and snap closed on the back of the device. That would protect the connectors and the screen when the flap was closed and expose both of them when the flap was open.

There definitely should be a flip-open cover with some form of protector for the screen, ie if the case is leather it should have a built-in shield over the screen to protect it from impact. Opening the case and getting at the machine inside should be quick and easy as that is needed many times a day for most of us.

There should not be a magnetic closure on the case - especially so if there is room in the case for credit-sized cards. Plain old snap closure would work great.

If anything is embossed on the case it should be something cool and professional. "Nokia 770" - fine. "Don't panic!" - not so fine. :P I don't mind people personalizing their cases but not many would be comfortable with "Don't panic!" on the case, even if they do like Douglas Adams.

It might be helpful if the case had some sort of way to hook it to a belt. Krusell Multidapt is a great system for instance - you can hang the case from a belt in a way that allows it to swivel freely without being in danger of falling off the belt, there are other similar systems out there.

I suppose you have seen the Brando aluminum hard case that was posted right here just a while ago ?
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ead.php?t=2447

I would suggest a variant of this concept, ie a similar hard case but :

- with a lid that will swivel backwards nearly all the way, with a "click-in-place" hinge, so the case also doubles as a desk stand as had been already suggested (I believe this could be the most expected feature overall),

- said lid could be entirely transparent (acrylic etc.) or at least with a screen-sized window. Being able to see the screen with the protection of the closed case would be extremely useful in some cases, like driving with MaemoMapper navigation... No big loss IMHO if that means no MMC card holder(s).

- mallard's idea of an easily accessible holder for a second stylus on the case itself is a really good one too.

As noted by others, making sure that Wifi, BT, speaker and microphone still work in-case is essential (and maybe difficult). I wouldn't mind if the MMC trap door was blocked by the case. As for the bottom ports (USB, jack & power) I would rather have a protecting trap door that slides sideways in the case bottom, than a permanent cutout (no protection) or an extension of the lid (contradicts point #2).

Good luck :-)