black is beautiful!

…a.k.a. “things you do when you are supposed to other things”:

Here: changing the (broken) original silver/”plum” cover on your Nokia N95 into a MadeInChina-plastic cover in black.

before:
Bild0001Bild0003

after:
Bild000Bild002

(Pics taken with a Nokia 6230, hence the lousy image quality. Pole.)

Took me one hour. Problem is that you have to remove some parts like the loudspeaker or the flexible pcb underneath the display from the original cover and have to stick it (it’s glued!) to the new cover. Dito bottom: had to remove the GPS antenna and glue it to the new cover. You have to be a bit careful while reassembling it – especially the slider (hinge) requires some attention.

It feels a bit cheap with the new cover, sort of plastic touch to it as only the front plate is made out of aluminium, but it fits, looks better (imho) and works. I am not a big fan of the overall N95 design (i thinks it’s horrible and looks like a prototype – e.g. no seamless integration of the display) and with this new cover I think it looks a bit less chaotic.

Can you see the clear adhesive tape on the old battery cover? Well, a new battery cover (alone!) sells for the 1/3 of the price for a new complete black cover, so I was tempted to go for this complete mod. Considering that you have to remove some glued components from the original cover and make sure that you don’t destroy any gaskets, I think it may even be easier to just paint it black next time.

Author: jke

Hi, I am an engineer who freelances in water & sanitation-related IT projects at Saniblog.org. You'll also find me on Twitter @jke and Instagram.

7 thoughts on “black is beautiful!”

  1. Am I glad, I stumbled across this.

    I’ve bought the same cover for the same phone. Agree it does feel a bit cheap, such as the key pad. Some of the screw holes are slightly bigger than the screws too, so the fit isn’t as tight. Not done the front yet, but have done the top, keypad and the bottom GPS. The GPS is no longer working. Not sure why. I’ve stuck the antenna across, housed the cube part, and the tiny fork part. Does the fork need to be touching the long strip? And which part makes contact with the internal circuit board of the phone?
    Drew

  2. Oh I bought two covers actually. A cheaper one and a more expensive one, full metal (front, back, slider) which I am currently selling on eBay. The plastic one is the one I’ve used as it came earlier.

    There’s this little golden metal fork touching the GPS antenna which needs to make contact to the printed circuit board.

  3. Right, so the fork needs to touch the stick-on antenna as well as the circuit board in the phone? Cheers, I’ll give it a go tonight.

    Drew

  4. Yes! I know it’s a bit tricky as the fork has to be squeezed under the pcb while reassembling the parts.

    How much did u pay for your cover btw? Holes on mine weren’t worse than those on the original cover + front cover didnt shine through.

  5. Thanks. It’s working now. Though I didn’t squeeze the fork under the pcb (as it wasn’t like that on the original), but rather it pressed against the front of it, the plastic side, not the circuit side.

    The one I bought is listed here:
    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130195182998

    The front is metal, but the rest is plastic. It looks good, but there are niggles. Some of the screw holes are too large for the original screws. The screw driver that came with the kit didn’t fit the screws, so now some screws are worn and I’m having to drill some out! The back cover doesn’t quite clip on to the body as firmly as the original…

    The keypad does shine through though.

    I’ve started, so I’ll finish it, but it has turned into a bit of a project!

  6. I am getting a new corporate phone today – the Blackberry 8830. It is supposed to be the grand daddy of them all. Will let you know what it is like in a bit …

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