Protective Case Suggestions and Ideas

[_DW_ 628]

20 hours ago, EskeRahn said:

I tested the above mentioned, and fitted the flip case. See this for details, Here one of the images

This does look viable.  But I am guessing the case is upside down for a Note 7 perspective due to the hole on the right? (presume would be notification lights or something)

Finger print sensor is a problem they really need to move that on a future phone but not sure where would work best 🤔 I am thinking generally here its in the place you naturally want as a hinge for flip cases.

[EskeRahn 5,460]

41 minutes ago, _DW_ said:

This does look viable.  But I am guessing the case is upside down for a Note 7 perspective due to the hole on the right? (presume would be notification lights or something)

Finger print sensor is a problem they really need to move that on a future phone but not sure where would work best 🤔 I am thinking generally here its in the place you naturally want as a hinge for flip cases.

The holes are for the speaker, so similar  holes could be made in the other end for the Pro1, if you want to talk with the case closed - could make good sense.

Well on next gen a few years ahead i assume all devices will have under the screen fingerprint sensor, so that goes away by it self for a Pro2. It is not the placement that is the issue though, it is how big a hole you can cut without the base part loosing the grip on the phone. I just took a chance and opened it up - problem gone 😁, and no reduction in the grip. I doubt I could do the same on a soft shell, but on a stiff shell it would do just fine. ADD: Just tried the same on the soft shell, no problems 🙂

[_DW_ 628]

@EskeRahnI keep forgetting they can do under screen fingerprint readers now like under screen cameras as well.  That would actually make sense for the Pro2 for closed and open.  Guess only certain screens work with that technique.

If you can actually get that flip case in a working-ish fashion you could email pictures to the manufacturer see if they bite 😄

[EskeRahn 5,460]

20 minutes ago, _DW_ said:

If you can actually get that flip case in a working-ish fashion you could email pictures to the manufacturer see if they bite 😄

The changes that needs to be done are so small so any case maker could make a Pro1 case/shell, I see no special requirements, it is a matter of the volume they could sell if they would bother to do so, more than anything else.

(Anyone could do the modifications similar to what I did to this £4(+2) flip case in less than an hour, unless they are REALLY clumbsy)

I do not know what put a break on the dedicated Pro1 shell. Maybe they simply decided that they could not find a way where a shell would not make this slick and exclusive device look like cheap crap... They could fear that if too many used the horrible looking shell, it will rub of negatively so people thought this was an ugly device...

They want the opposite effect, people asking us "OMG what it this cool device you are using?"

[_DW_ 628]

13 minutes ago, EskeRahn said:

The changes that needs to be done are so small so any case maker could make a Pro1 case/shell, I see no special requirements, it is a matter of the volume they could sell if they would bother to do so, more than anything else.

Yeah I wonder what the cut off volume is for a run of cases.  Tbh I don't mind paying £20 for a case if its decent.

[Parhelion 114]

16 minutes ago, _DW_ said:

Yeah I wonder what the cut off volume is for a run of cases.  Tbh I don't mind paying £20 for a case if its decent.

I don't know about cases, but as mentioned some time ago I asked @Panzerglass.com about the possibility of a tempered glass screen protector, and they told me that they'd need an order of 500-1000 units for a tailor-made production.

[EskeRahn 5,460]

31 minutes ago, _DW_ said:

Yeah I wonder what the cut off volume is for a run of cases.  Tbh I don't mind paying £20 for a case if its decent.

The cost is not what is worrying me either (£20 would be 3% of the device price). But the added clumsiness is not welcome. I have considered cutting away the credit-card pockets. Just extra thickness, and I can not imagine I would ever use them for anything.... So they could (please) skip those for a dedicated case.

The whole idea of a flip case is not appealing to me. The extra steps to get to the device are hardly worth it for me in the long run. BUT the flip case looks less repulsive mounted, than the shell on the lower part only.

ADD Also the function is dubious to me. The risk of me dropping it is definitely higher when I use it than in my pocket, so the protection the flip offers is mostly of a theoretical nature. (Though it make sense for those having their phone in say their handbag)

I might use a flip case If I know that I'm going to do something with a higher risk for my phone than usual. (Say help a friend hauling or building a carport) - but here I could just as well double check that I had turned the screen towards the body...

[david 929]

1 hour ago, EskeRahn said:

They want the opposite effect, people asking us "OMG what it this cool device you are using?"

And might end up with "Wow, I bet that was a really slick looking device before all the plastic pieces were missing and screen was cracked from dropping it." 😉

[david 929]

3 hours ago, _DW_ said:

 

It's just the phone screen displaying the clock through the case I thought?

I don't think that is how this one works.  I could be wrong, but I think it is part of the case.

[EskeRahn 5,460]

26 minutes ago, david said:

And might end up with "Wow, I bet that was a really slick looking device before all the plastic pieces were missing and screen was cracked from dropping it." 😉

You will have a hard time finding "plastic pieces"... 😜 Though of course there are plastic. I think the buttons and keys are plastic,

[_DW_ 628]

24 minutes ago, david said:

I don't think that is how this one works.  I could be wrong, but I think it is part of the case.

Had a closer look and yeah your correct.

[Waxberry 638]

[Behind the scene story]

We did designed a hard case for the bottom part of the phone (keyboard part) and we paid for the moulding and we adjusted the moulding for quite a few times. 

There were 2 major issues which leaded to cancellation / production-held of the case:

1. The case enlarges the gap of the two parts. We worked hard on engineering of the product to minimise the gap in the middle and we achieved some great result. However with a case holding on the back and have certain bits goes to the middle, if it's firmly installed, it will increase the middle part and "separate" the two parts more. If we reduce the middle  bits, it became loose and could not strongly hold the phone

2. with the bottom case installed, the bottom part became thicker and it is harder to open the slider. Because it's harder to get access to the side of the top part. Which we believe might decrease the user experience (a lot practice needed) 

We wanted to create something decent, but we still need time to solve the above 2 issues. Therefore as for now, we changed to the official pouch to all the pre-order users, which does not affect user experience and gives protection. In the meantime we will continue working with the case to see if it is possible to have a cover but not with above issues.

[EskeRahn 5,460]

....Just cut away the credit-cards pocket of the flip case. Reduced the thickness to 2.5cm, and reduced the weight from about 65g to 60g

[glumreaper 144]

9 minutes ago, Waxberry said:

[Behind the scene story]

We did designed a hard case for the bottom part of the phone ... 

Thank you for another update written with openness.

 

I personally am disappointed by the lack of case, since where am I to get one otherwise? And the lack of clarity about it. A sleeve is of no use, because it won't be on the phone during use which is the most likely time for dropping it. But it is not a massive issue and it makes complete sense about the difficulties based on the unique design of the Pro1, and I can understand why no case is better than a bad case! It's a tough job you're doing, bringing this product to market, and I do appreciate the challenges you must be facing.

Edited November 14, 2019 by glumreaper

[glumreaper 144]

On 11/13/2019 at 3:16 PM, EskeRahn said:

I tested the above mentioned, and fitted the flip case. See this for details, Here one of the images

 

Thanks for your work on this, very helpful!

[david 929]

1 hour ago, EskeRahn said:

You will have a hard time finding "plastic pieces"... 😜 Though of course there are plastic. I think the buttons and keys are plastic,

I was referring to the corners of a certain phone that found some rocks recently. 😉

[electristan 34]

35 minutes ago, Waxberry said:

[Behind the scene story]

We did designed a hard case for the ...

This was very informative and reasonable, thank you.

[david 929]

34 minutes ago, Waxberry said:

There were 2 major issues which leaded to cancellation / production-held of the case:

1. The case enlarges the gap of the two parts. We worked hard on engineering of the product to minimise the gap in the middle and we achieved some great result. However with a case holding on the back and have certain bits goes to the middle, if it's firmly installed, it will increase the middle part and "separate" the two parts more. If we reduce the middle  bits, it became loose and could not strongly hold the phone

Thanks for the information.  It is appreciated.

Just an idea, but for the Pro2, maybe you could put indents/slots in the 4 sides of the keyboard part of the phone.  This way, a case could be made that has fingers that clip into those slots instead of needing to have fingers that wrap around the top of the keyboard and interfere with the opening mechanism (creating a gap and getting in the way of the user opening the phone).

Secondly, it would be great if you could release the 3D models of the Pro1.  This would allow 3rd party case makers to design cases and, probably more likey, would also allow consumers to try designing cases for 3D printing.

[Waxberry 638]

Once shipping has been fulfilled I will spend more time with the team to improve the design of the case. The current issue 2 is more difficult, because of the screen curve it's getting much harder to open the slider with the case on it. Anyone who tried the case feels the same. Hopefully we can find a way to overcome this one.

[schwix_ 0]

26 minutes ago, Waxberry said:

Once shipping has been fulfilled I will spend more time with the team to improve the design of the case. The current issue 2 is more difficult, because of the screen curve it's getting much harder to open the slider with the case on it. Anyone who tried the case feels the same. Hopefully we can find a way to overcome this one.

Hello,

i was silently reading up now.

Right now I am using the BlackBerry PRIV with the official hard case which I am very satisfied with. It contains of two parts and slides open with the device. It might be more tricky since the f(x) pro 1 slides open in an angle but maybe the BlackBerry design could be an inspiration. 

[enPfzr4v 239]

31 minutes ago, Waxberry said:

Once shipping has been fulfilled I will spend more time with the team to improve the design of the case. The current issue 2 is more difficult, because of the screen curve it's getting much harder to open the slider with the case on it. Anyone who tried the case feels the same. Hopefully we can find a way to overcome this one.

Are there any magnetic points on the device? Perhaps you could embed magnets into the hard case to "clip" onto those magnetic points.

[vlycop 38]

4 hours ago, _DW_ said:

@EskeRahnI keep forgetting they can do under screen fingerprint readers now like under screen cameras as well.  That would actually make sense for the Pro2 for closed and open.  Guess only certain screens work with that technique.

If you can actually get that flip case in a working-ish fashion you could email pictures to the manufacturer see if they bite 😄

those underscreen fingerprint reader are unreliable with screen protector right now, so i'm way happier with on the side ... https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50080586

 

[VaZso 1,998]

37 minutes ago, Waxberry said:

Once shipping has been fulfilled I will spend more time with the team to improve the design of the case.

Thank you.

I hope you will find a solution and finally it will be available in your shop later.

I'm also thank you for sharing this information in details.
Everything are much better if we see some reasons and anyway some open communication.

I hope the best for you.

[EskeRahn 5,460]

49 minutes ago, vlycop said:

those underscreen fingerprint reader are unreliable with screen protector right now, so i'm way happier with on the side ... https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50080586

 

Oh yes, but I take it for granted that it is handled in a couple of years when we want to upgrade the Pro1

[Craig 1,435]

3 hours ago, glumreaper said:

A sleeve is of no use, because it won't be on the phone during use which is the most likely time for dropping it.

I've never dropped my phone while holding it.  But I can remember dropping smartphone twice.  Once, I'd put it in my shirt pocket and then leaned over for some reason and it slipped out.  The other time I was wearing loose fitting gym shorts and it slipped out of my pocket while sitting and crashed to concrete ground.    So, there are cases where a sleeve would have some use.   Of course I've learned from those mistakes and will not put pro1 in shirt pocket or gym shorts pocket ever, with or without any kind of case or sleeve.