3D Printing will “transform our lives”: Nokia releases templates for people to print their own Lumia 820 case
Nokia has unveiled 3D templates and specifications for people to print their own case for a Lumia 820 smartphone.
The 3D templates, case specs, recommended materials and best practicess, combined as the 3D-printing Development Kit, or 3DK for short, can be downloaded in three parts from here, here and here.
John Kneeland, a Silicon Valley-based Nokia community and developer marketing manager, said: "In doing this, Nokia has become the first major phone company to begin embracing the 3D printing community and its incredible potential, and continue to be the leading phone company in this exciting field."
"I view this as the spiritual successor to the great granddaddy of customisable phones, the Nokia 5110 and its rainbow collection of removable faceplates. To think, it's been 15 years since the 5110 launched!"
Kneeland added that Nokia is also using 3D printing internally for "rapid prototyping" of new phones as part of chief executive Stephen Elop's goal of ''increasing the clock speed at Nokia”.
Kneeland went on to say that: "Perhaps in addition to our own beautifully-designed phones, we could sell some kind of phone template, and entrepreneurs the world over could build a local business on building phones precisely tailored to the needs of his or her local community."
"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!"