Nokia will release specs that will allow people to print their own Lumia 820 cases.
Granted, you’ll need your own 3D printer, which at about £1500 a pop, most of us don’t have, but it’s a neat idea and Nokia have envisaged a business ecosystem where entrepreneurs could buy a template and handle the printing of the customised covers.
As part of the Nokia 3D printing community project, the company has released 3D templates, case specs, recommended materials and best practices, which was all someone who knew about 3D printing would need to print their own, custom, Lumia 820 case, community and development marketing manager John Kneeland said in an interview on Nokia’s blog.
These files, dubbed by Nokia as the 3D-Development Kit (3DK), can be found here, here and here.
Nokia saw 3D printing in the future as enabling more customizable phones, Mr Kneeland said. Currently, it helped Nokia with rapid prototyping but he said in future, it was possible Nokia could sell a phone template, with businesses springing up from building customised phones – which would be one answer to the problem of the expense of 3D printers.
“You want a waterproof, glow-in-the-dark phone with a bottle-opener and a solar charger? Someone can build it for you’or you can print it yourself!¨¨”