N800 Official Nokia Case

After a mighty delay and many false starts Nokia’s official case for the N800 became available about six weeks ago (in the UK at least) and being completely unimpressed with the OEM sleeve case I had to order one. I’ve had it for the best part of a month now so time to jot down some thoughts.

First of all the contents of the package: the case itself, a metal strip complete with 3M adhesive backing, two Nokia Nseries branded magnets and a screen cloth.

The first thing you need is patience. The metal plate – approximately a millimetre thick – needs to be stuck to the battery cover to allow the case to attach. After sticking the plate on you’re faced with a 12 hour wait before you can actually attach the case itself: pergatory! After waiting and waiting you can finally attach the case to the plate, courtesy of the powerful magnet sewn into the back. A second magnet at the front ensures that the case stays firmly shut when in your bag, pocket, etc. That magnet in the front means that the case snaps shut with a satisfying thunk as you close it, whilst also meaning that you’ll have to develop a system for opening the case and overcoming the magnet.

The case itself covers the front and back of the N800 but only the top edge, so its unlikey to offer a great deal of protection if you’re likely to be throwing your tablet around. It does, however, add nothing to the size of the tablet so that it fits comfortably into a trouser pocket or inside suit jacket pocket without creating an unsightly bulge. The materials are very high quality, the leather front and soft, felt inner add a very classy look to the N800, one that has prompted many questions in business meetings.

The two additional magnets are also backed with 3M’s VHB adhesive, which should allow you to mount them to non-magnetic surfaces as well as things like fridge-doors (Nokia’s suggestion, don’t ask me why, my time in Finland never led me to expect to find an internet tablet stuck to my fridge-door!) The idea behind them is that you attach to a suitable surface in an area where you’d like to use the N800, remove the case and use the newly installed metal plate/magnet combo to do the mounting task. I’m thinking that one would make a halfway useful car mount for my N800 – although to be 100% usable I’d have to spend some time getting Kagu Media Player and A2DP audio working over bluetooth.

Its hard to find anything negative to say about the case – despite being relatively expensive (around £26) it actually works out to be good value for money. It would probably be nice if the couple of millimetres of play in the battery door didn’t exist, as that would remove the occasional ‘wobble’ from the case – but that’s really clutching at straws for something to moan about. My recommendation is: if you have an N800, you need one of these.