I bought this when I got my Xoom in March.
http://www.amazon.com/rooCASE-Execu...PCFK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313413965&sr=8-1
I've enjoyed this case for quite some time, but now it has turned into a pain. The inside case that actually holds the Xoom has worn out already. The leather is all in good shape, but the flap that actually keeps the Xoom from sliding out is no longer of use. The flap has a piece of Velcro on it. This piece (I'm assuming from being in such a tight spot) has gotten so beat down that it no longer holds onto the soft fabric. Replacing the piece will consist of removing the stitching that holds it in place, then sewing on a new piece.
I thought I'd share this in case you're still looking for a case. If you don't mind replacing this piece after a few month then it's an amazing case. All positioning is perfect for me, as you can set it at almost any angle.
Running into some of the same issues you are. I love the case from the outside. We need flaps on the camera side, so it doesnt cover the camera. I am going to check with the creator, to see if they will swap.
zehkaiser said:
I bought this when I got my Xoom in March.
http://www.amazon.com/rooCASE-Execu...PCFK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313413965&sr=8-1
I've enjoyed this case for quite some time, but now it has turned into a pain. The inside case that actually holds the Xoom has worn out already. The leather is all in good shape, but the flap that actually keeps the Xoom from sliding out is no longer of use. The flap has a piece of Velcro on it. This piece (I'm assuming from being in such a tight spot) has gotten so beat down that it no longer holds onto the soft fabric. Replacing the piece will consist of removing the stitching that holds it in place, then sewing on a new piece.
I thought I'd share this in case you're still looking for a case. If you don't mind replacing this piece after a few month then it's an amazing case. All positioning is perfect for me, as you can set it at almost any angle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
seriously bud... dont sweat.. CUT the old piece out if need be.. and then go to your local hardware store and by velcro with a sticky piece on the back for either side, the loop or the hook.. i can do that and have used it to hold many things with both pieces and it only cost me about $3-5... not alot of money and will take about 5 minutes... try it out if you like the case.. or set it on fire, dance around it, laugh then suck it up and buy something else lol
I know I'm not the first, so credit where credit is due to all those that came before me with the Nexus and those that came before those with other phones. Major props to Palm for being innovative, having owned a Palm Pre before, it's really ashame that phone never really caught on.
Having said that, I present to you the Inductive Charging Otterbox Commuter Case. Really very much like all the other mods out there. Do some measuring, drill some holes, solder some wire, bam, you're done. This is obviously just another variant on a lot of other mods out there, so this really isn't anything new. I won't go into the nitty gritty details, just tips and tricks I found worked along the way.
To start, obviously you'll need an Otterbox Commuter series case. I thought this one would work best because it has the hard outer shell with a silicone inner lining.
Next you'll need at least 2 of these spring-loaded contacts made by Mill-max. They are 0.137" in height uncompressed and 0.098" in height fully compressed. That's 3.48mm and 2.49mm for you metric folks. These things are tiny, so a nice pair of tweezers will aide you in this process.
http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/811-22-001-30-000101/ED8110-01-ND/682269
The next thing I bought was 24 awg pre-tinned copper wire. Doesn't have to be this exactly, but I found it worked nicely.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102500
I also used some PermaPoxy 5-minute plastic weld to epoxy the pogos into the side of the case. Found it at my local hardware.
http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-8411...ZC6U/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1330051726&sr=8-3
The most crucial part of this is accurately measuring (and maybe a little lucky guessing) on where to drill the holes in the side of the case. The method I used was not precise and involved more guess-work than I care to admit. In the end, I had to do a little fine-tuning by scraping some material away in the direction I needed one of the pogos to be. I started off with a 1/32 drill bit and stepped my way up until I could fit the pogo in with a minute amount of play.
For each of the two pogo contacts, I made a small curve in the wire that would wrap around the radius on the back of each pogo. You'll notice there is a solid copper surface contact area on the back of these. I placed the wire around its circumference and soldered it in place nice and smooth. A small set of locking pliers or some sort of small vice will help you free up a hand and hold the pogo while you position the wire and solder it.
Once all of this was done, I took a thick paperclip (toothpick works fine), and mixed up the epoxy and used the toothpick to apply a layer to the inner part of the holes in the commuter case and on the outer part of the plastic-like portion of the pogos. Then slide them in place and use the wire that they are soldered to to position them and hold them in place for a few minutes until the epoxy starts to set. Do this one pogo at a time to make sure you get them in correctly and make sure they are flush on the back with the outer part of the case.
After that, you position the inductive charging circuit from the Palm Pre battery door and then trim and solder the wires to it. The top contact (contact nearest the coil) is ground and the bottom is +5V. Same goes for the pogo contacts on the phone. You will then need to trim some silicone material away from the side where the pogos will need to make contact with the phone.
What you have to do after this is all in how well you positioned things at the start. I had to take my extended battery and back off and go back to the normal battery and back. I also had to trim some silicone material away that was over the regulator circuit of the inductive charging cell, that's the thickest part of the entire piece and it was pushing my phone up too high in the case.
A side benefit of this method is the outer contacts are still maintained and you could potentially design a desk dock, car dock, whatever that would make use of the pogo charging in case the touchstone isn't the most ideal for that situation. Things you could do to improve on this would be:
-Add stronger magnets so the phone would hold to the touchstone better
-Texture the back of the Commuter case somehow to make it not so slick. This also would help the phone stay on the touchstone better
-Sand a little of the material away where the charging circuit will be on the case, would make for a better fit in the case (still bulges at the bottom a bit like it does with the extended battery in)
Feel free to point out other things I could have done better and post up your own versions if you attempt this mod
This looks awesome -- might have to give it a try during a lazy weekend or something!
Thanks for the description and pictures MSU!
Please see here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1502812
Different case, but same concept.
I'm looking for a Tripod to record video's with my S2 without holding the phone.
The video's will be for reviews to upload to YouTube, obviously using your hands to to hold the phone and record will look unprofessional.
So has anyone used a tripod or know of a cheap enough tripod that works and is suitable for a galaxy s2.
I've already looked on eBay and Amazon, there are some there, but not convinced on them.
Thanks in advance.
Aaron.
nobody?
Tripod with Bracket
Hi,
I owned already a mini-tripod for a camara (Amazon has several on sale, mine is a Cullman). So I tinkered a bracket to hold my phone (actually a Lenovo China phone:
- you need some tools to work metal (bench vise; saw or angle grinder; hammer; file; sandpaper; drill)
- a strip of alumin(i)um, about 1 mm thick;
- a piece of thin leather (suede is the best, never throw away worn leather clothes) or soft fabric like velvet;
- all purpose glue, like Pattex
Cut the strip of metal to the needed length and width.
Form with bench vise, hammer and a round piece of metal which is about as thick as your phone (a drill bit f.e.) hooks at the end of this strip. The phone must fit loose into this bracket.
Smoothen the surface with file and sandpaper.
Drill a hole a little smaller than the screw an your tripod into the lower hook. If you have a fitting threader, use it. If not, force the screw into the hole and let the screw cut a thread.
Glue leather or fabric on the bracket, on the inside of course, but also on the outside if you like.
Adjust the hooks with the help of strong pliers, if necessary.
Enjoy.
Here you see mine:
Well, I know it's been a while, but it's DONE!
First, some back story. I carried an iPhone 4 for two years. For those 24 months I had it in a case from a company called Pad and Quill called "Little Black Book". This was indeed a case for the iPhone 4 that looked and felt like a "little black book" notebook. I loved this case… in fact I loved this case more than I did the iPhone 4, which I felt was powerful yet frustratingly limited. When I liberated myself to the pure Google experience of Android and Nexus, I was saddened at the bleak landscape of the third party case market.
So I set myself on a mission to re-create the handmade notebook love of my beloved Pad and Quill case. After months of putting this project off, I decided to bite the bullet and complete it this weekend. What you see here is "Galaxy Nexus Bookcase ver 0.9 Beta". This is of course not the "first" version, there were 2 pervious alpha releases, but they didn't quite meet my expectations.
The problem was, and still is, fashioning the wooden surround for the phone. My very first attempt used wooden popsicle sticks, cut and glued to shape. While this held the phone well, it looked too much like 1st-grade-art-class. My second attempt used a 1/2 inch wooden (Birch) backing, with thin wooden rails glued to it. This looked better and held very well, but was very, VERY, thick.
With version 0.9 Beta I took a different approach. I wanted to have the solid wood look while still getting the thiner overall design. The solution is of course a wood planer, but the overall length and width of the wooden holder would be too small to go through the Dewalt planer I had access too. My plan then was to glue two layers of 1/2 Oak together. The bottom layer would be a single piece amply wide and long enough to be effectively planed. The top layer would be comprised of 4 smaller pieces arranged to leave a rectangle just big enough to set the phone into. Once the glue setup overnight, I ran the two conjoined layers through the planer, planing down the top layer until it was just tall enough to cover the phone, and planing down the bottom layer until it was nothing but a thin backing. I then trimmed away the excess length and width with a table saw until only the thinest side walls remained. I then used a rotary tool to cut away the button, usb, headphone, and camera holes in the side rails. I purposely did NOT make a hole for the pogo pins. While I do have a pogo charging cradle, the ideal of somehow modifying it or the case to make the connection is just silly.
If anything, I "might" look into modifying the wooden rails to install an inductive charging disk between the wooden rail backing and the back cloth/leather cover. I could then run the wires from this inductive charging disk into leads that make contact with the pogo pins, thus creating an inductive charging case. But this most likly is just a pipe dream.
For the speaker, I decided to barrel sand down a small channel from the Galaxy Nexus's speaker to the lower portion of the case. This has actually increased the perceived volume from the device as it keeps the speaker from being impeded when laid on a flat and soft surfaces.
Overall I am happier with this rail design than it's two predecessors, but there is much room for improvement. I still want it to be thiner, and I'm not happy with how I botched the button holes. While the "wood" look is classy, I can always use another material and apply a wood veneer. I'm thinking my next version might be 3D printed with a polymer. This technique would also allow for a more "form fitting" back, and more exact holes.
The "book" was to me the easiest part, because I had it made by someone else
My wife is a professional librarian / bookbinder / book-restorer. She used book leather, backing, and cloth to create the 3 parts of the cover. I then attached the elastic closing loop, which is both held together by glue, and by thread stitching between the wooden rail backing and the back cloth/leather cover.
While I made a hole for the camera and flash in the wooden rail backing, I've not decided if I'm going to cut a corresponding hole the the cloth/leather back cover.
The last issue may be one that cannot be "fixed". The overall case is just a little too big to fit into the breast pocket of my shirt. The cases easily adds an inch to the older all length of the phone, a little over a half inch to the width, and only a 1/4 inch it's thickness. The Galaxy Nexus is already a large device, so I might just be stuck having a phone case that sticks out of the top of my pocket. At least it looks like a book.
In any event, I wanted to share this with the community and get some feed-back. Thanks!
mckinleytabor said:
Well, I know it's been a while, but it's DONE!
First, some back story. I carried an iPhone 4 for two years. For those 24 months I had it in a case from a company called Pad and Quill called "Little Black Book". This was indeed a case for the iPhone 4 that looked and felt like a "little black book" notebook. I loved this case… in fact I loved this case more than I did the iPhone 4, which I felt was powerful yet frustratingly limited. When I liberated myself to the pure Google experience of Android and Nexus, I was saddened at the bleak landscape of the third party case market.
So I set myself on a mission to re-create the handmade notebook love of my beloved Pad and Quill case. After months of putting this project off, I decided to bite the bullet and complete it this weekend. What you see here is "Galaxy Nexus Bookcase ver 0.9 Beta". This is of course not the "first" version, there were 2 pervious alpha releases, but they didn't quite meet my expectations.
The problem was, and still is, fashioning the wooden surround for the phone. My very first attempt used wooden popsicle sticks, cut and glued to shape. While this held the phone well, it looked too much like 1st-grade-art-class. My second attempt used a 1/2 inch wooden (Birch) backing, with thin wooden rails glued to it. This looked better and held very well, but was very, VERY, thick.
With version 0.9 Beta I took a different approach. I wanted to have the solid wood look while still getting the thiner overall design. The solution is of course a wood planer, but the overall length and width of the wooden holder would be too small to go through the Dewalt planer I had access too. My plan then was to glue two layers of 1/2 Oak together. The bottom layer would be a single piece amply wide and long enough to be effectively planed. The top layer would be comprised of 4 smaller pieces arranged to leave a rectangle just big enough to set the phone into. Once the glue setup overnight, I ran the two conjoined layers through the planer, planing down the top layer until it was just tall enough to cover the phone, and planing down the bottom layer until it was nothing but a thin backing. I then trimmed away the excess length and width with a table saw until only the thinest side walls remained. I then used a rotary tool to cut away the button, usb, headphone, and camera holes in the side rails. I purposely did NOT make a hole for the pogo pins. While I do have a pogo charging cradle, the ideal of somehow modifying it or the case to make the connection is just silly.
If anything, I "might" look into modifying the wooden rails to install an inductive charging disk between the wooden rail backing and the back cloth/leather cover. I could then run the wires from this inductive charging disk into leads that make contact with the pogo pins, thus creating an inductive charging case. But this most likly is just a pipe dream.
For the speaker, I decided to barrel sand down a small channel from the Galaxy Nexus's speaker to the lower portion of the case. This has actually increased the perceived volume from the device as it keeps the speaker from being impeded when laid on a flat and soft surfaces.
Overall I am happier with this rail design than it's two predecessors, but there is much room for improvement. I still want it to be thiner, and I'm not happy with how I botched the button holes. While the "wood" look is classy, I can always use another material and apply a wood veneer. I'm thinking my next version might be 3D printed with a polymer. This technique would also allow for a more "form fitting" back, and more exact holes.
The "book" was to me the easiest part, because I had it made by someone else
My wife is a professional librarian / bookbinder / book-restorer. She used book leather, backing, and cloth to create the 3 parts of the cover. I then attached the elastic closing loop, which is both held together by glue, and by thread stitching between the wooden rail backing and the back cloth/leather cover.
While I made a hole for the camera and flash in the wooden rail backing, I've not decided if I'm going to cut a corresponding hole the the cloth/leather back cover.
The last issue may be one that cannot be "fixed". The overall case is just a little too big to fit into the breast pocket of my shirt. The cases easily adds an inch to the older all length of the phone, a little over a half inch to the width, and only a 1/4 inch it's thickness. The Galaxy Nexus is already a large device, so I might just be stuck having a phone case that sticks out of the top of my pocket. At least it looks like a book.
In any event, I wanted to share this with the community and get some feed-back. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not my cup of tea but looks like a fun item
i'd be tempted to paint/varnish/stain the wood .... or cover the visible bit in printed paper
Its always good to see what people do. keep up the good work
Wow Nice! A bit hard to fit into my pocket I think though...
It is that...
kayaker said:
Wow Nice! A bit hard to fit into my pocket I think though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is rather large in the pocket. Even if the next iteration cuts down on the length, it will still be pretty big. I think the "size" issue is something a lot of current generation Android users have to deal with. My aforementioned wife tried to carrying a Galaxy Nexus for a few weeks, but it would never fit into the pockets of her "skinny jeans". I'm on the hunt for a Galaxy s3 Mini for her, but haven't pulled the trigger yet because Cyanogenmod hasn't realsed a 10.1 (Android 4.2) nightly version for that platform... and I think it's a form of spousal abuse to make one's wife use the TouchWiz UI.
Thats pretty slick. Its cool to have that sort of skill set to create something quality like that
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Cool project. I definitely agree with the 3d printer idea, that is what I was going to suggest.
Has anyone tried to modify or take apart the official samsung keyboard cases? for example cut out the area over the camera so it can stay on to take photos, or even removing the keyboard part from the rest of the case and attaching it to a different case that protects the tablet better? i have no idea if there are any circuits in the bck part or anything that can break the keyboard?
Safe to punch / cut a hole in the back / cut along the spine
You should be good puching a hole. There is no electronics in the back (I have cut mine along the spine to fit only the keyboard part into another cover - and it works beautifully).