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Aluminum locking case

Ran across this today searching for cases for the Epic. Anyone using one? Its interesting in that it locks the slider during normal use and hinges open if you want to use the keyboard.
http://www.pdair.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=10100000_10000000_11001061&products_id=31414

Now this looks like quite a nice case for functionality.
Now if they just took off the whole part in the back for the clip and form fit the corners a bit more and offered it in more colors that'd be nice.

This may be the best thing I can do for now, I have been scouring for a jelly case to slip over the epic, since I never use the keyboard

Now, if somebody has the ability to cleanly cut aluminum and wants to sell a matched set consisting of this case with a hole cut in the back for the hump on the extended battery the other guy is selling to poke through... (strokes credit card and sighs)
It's hard to tell from the pics... does the case snap onto the lower half, or does the phone just rest inside?
How firmly does it secure the phone when the case is closed? Does the power button still cause the two halves to separate a little, or are both held firmly in place from both sides?

bitbang3r said:
Now, if somebody has the ability to cleanly cut aluminum and wants to sell a matched set consisting of this case with a hole cut in the back for the hump on the extended battery the other guy is selling to poke through... (strokes credit card and sighs)
It's hard to tell from the pics... does the case snap onto the lower half, or does the phone just rest inside?
How firmly does it secure the phone when the case is closed? Does the power button still cause the two halves to separate a little, or are both held firmly in place from both sides?
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There are videos on you tube. The bottom looks like a very snug press fit. Top must be looser to allow for the hinge to work.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

...
I had a similar case for my old HTC Titan. I LOVED it. Being a pretty serious phone abuser, that case kept my phone together!
-Rob

I used to have a similar case for my Treo and they are extremely well made. I irregularly dropped my phone from about 5 feet in the air onto hard linoleum and it never suffered any indignities. These come in both black and silver so if you want a different color you would want the silver so you could send it out to be powder coated.
I just ordered one.

Mine came last night.
The good: locks the slider firmly closed. No wobble or "play" at all when pressing the power button. Phone easy to remove (for GameGripper purposes).
The bad: Feels terrifyingly slippery compared to the Seidio ActiveX. Obstructs "slide down" gesture for notifications.
The seemingly fatal (a big one): my "back" fake hardkey keeps randomly going berserk... but ONLY that specific one. The foam in the top half seems to be confusing the capacitive sensor.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Update: I've had the 'search' fake hardkey freak out a few times on me, too.
Another problem: it's definitely affecting reception. 4G and GPS barely work with the case in place.
Sigh. So close. So agonizingly close. It's awesome to not have the phone shear and jiggle apart every time I hit the power button, and the fact that it allows the phone to be easily removed for the Game Gripper without really compromising the slide-out keyboard's usability is very cool.
I'm really convinced that this case went straight from plastic prototype to mass production before anyone actually tried to use it in an area with 4G service, high humidity (presumably what's screwing up the foam and touchscreen), and who didn't just assume that the GPS was dysfunctional because Samsung sucks.
Sigh. Too expensive to throw away, and really nice in ways that ultimately don't matter because the touchscreen-button problem makes it totally unusable

The plot thickens: more touchscreen observations:
* Oddly, there's NO FOAM around the lower part of the screen where the phantom-pressed fake hardkeys are.
* Last night, it went completely berserk with phantom button presses on cue when I rubbed the latch a certain way.
This suggests that the problem's root cause might extend to the electrical conductivity of the case itself. It's strange, because I wasn't able to find reports of the same problem for users of Monaco cases for other phones (like the Droid). Lots of complaints about signal attenuation, but no reports of touchscreen problems.
I'm seriously tempted to buy some liquid electrical tape and coat the inside of the lid to see whether it helps. The problem DOES seem to go away when the lid is no longer in contact with the screen. However, if it's happening because the sensor is acting kind of like a Hall Effect sensor and the case is acting like a Faraday cage, nothing short of making the case (or at least the top lid) out of plastic is likely to fix the problem. Still, it's worth a try since I really like the case itself, and my alternative is to basically chuck it.

Update: as an experiment, I wrapped black electrical tape around the bottom lip of the top part. It helped a lot. I think I might have also found a contributing cause: cat fur. I think wisps of cat fur might be bridging the metal case & screen and carrying static electricity to the sensor. Oddly, though, some of its *worst* back-arrow spasams have occurred with the phone laying on the desk, untouched, 3 feet away.
I'm still trying to think of a good way to plastic-coat the case without making it look bad & get a nice, even black rubbery coating on it.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

How thin is it compared to the other plastic cases?

Very interested in getting the Monaco Aluminum Case, which is very similar to this one. My last concern, how thin is it compared to Seidio Innocase Surface?

Help! Bezel Rotation Broken?

I purchased my Gear S2 on release day last month, and so far all has been good up until yesterday.
I was turning the bezel to check my notifications, and noticed it started to get really stiff. To the point where it was nearly impossible to turn it. I turned it a bit harder and it started turning again, still controlling the device, but there was no longer any "clicks" that the bezel usually makes when scrolling through things and it was still really stiff and hard to turn. No matter which way I turned it. It also started producing bits and pieces of some sort of rubber from underneath the bezel that I could somewhat pull off. You can feel the stainless steel grinding when you rotate it now, which is really concerning me. I'm thinking whatever mechanism helps the bezel rotate underneath somehow broke and I'm not sure what to do at this point. The device is still fully functional, but the bezel is nearly unusable, and that's kind of the reason I bought the Gear S2.
Any suggestions? I bought it from Best Buy off-contract on October 2nd.

Any ideas?

rogvid700 said:
Any ideas?
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Send it back and claim warranty?

Call samsung support

Just to anyone who might come across this thread with the same problem, I took the device to the Best Buy that I purchased it from and they were able to exchange it because it was still under warranty

ocjelf said:
Call samsung support
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I called Samsung with a similar issue. My bezel hasn't gotten stiff yet but the indicator "white dot" that goes around the watch face while turning the bezel sometimes goes the wrong way while scrolling through apps or reading email . This is only my 5th day with the watch. I love it BUT...I'm afraid this will get worse the longer I have it. I bought the watch from AT&T full retail. AT&T does not want to swap it and Samsung wants me to send it in for repair. I'm still within the 14 day return window at AT&T so I may just do that. Even though it will cost me $35 to do that :/

You will need to exchange it. I think what may have happened is that sand or grit has gotten under the bezel. This can happen even with a Swiss watch. The fact that it is hard to turn is usually an indication of this happening.

This has happened to mine after only 1 week. And I'm very gentle with it. The bezel is impossible to turn. I got the 3G version.

Fixed
When my Gear S2 started to feel resistive I used less than a drop of Super Lube around the rotating ring and worked it in a little. Better than new now. Rotates smooth with that sweet notch feel. I'm never without a pen super lube precision oiler in my pocket while at work. Part Number 51010. Amazon.

Disparky said:
When my Gear S2 started to feel resistive I used less than a drop of Super Lube around the rotating ring and worked it in a little. Better than new now. Rotates smooth with that sweet notch feel. I'm never without a pen super lube precision oiler in my pocket while at work. Part Number 51010. Amazon.
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I wouldn't use an oil based lubricant on the bezel of the Gear S2. As was discussed in another thread, the Gear S2 is IP68 water resistant, which means it probably has a rubber seal underneath the bezel. Oil based lubricants may damage rubber seals and gaskets, so it is probably better to just rinse the watch with warm water. Since the Gear S2 is IP68 water resistant, holding it under the faucet and turning the bezel won't harm it. When my bezel gets sticky, I usually just take the band off and hold it under the kitchen faucet while turning the bezel.

The bezel has completely come off my s2 at some point and is lost. I've written to Samsung support and they wrote back with 3 suppliers ..... Useless information as they don't do any spares for the s2 ...... So I'm in limbo . In my opinion Samsung after care is rubbish

andycapp1606 said:
The bezel has completely come off my s2 at some point and is lost. I've written to Samsung support and they wrote back with 3 suppliers ..... Useless information as they don't do any spares for the s2 ...... So I'm in limbo . In my opinion Samsung after care is rubbish
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What suppliers did they provide you with? I have the same issue

Put gun oil in the cracks and turn it not alot should be fine
rogvid700 said:
I purchased my Gear S2 on release day last month, and so far all has been good up until yesterday.
I was turning the bezel to check my notifications, and noticed it started to get really stiff. To the point where it was nearly impossible to turn it. I turned it a bit harder and it started turning again, still controlling the device, but there was no longer any "clicks" that the bezel usually makes when scrolling through things and it was still really stiff and hard to turn. No matter which way I turned it. It also started producing bits and pieces of some sort of rubber from underneath the bezel that I could somewhat pull off. You can feel the stainless steel grinding when you rotate it now, which is really concerning me. I'm thinking whatever mechanism helps the bezel rotate underneath somehow broke and I'm not sure what to do at this point. The device is still fully functional, but the bezel is nearly unusable, and that's kind of the reason I bought the Gear S2.
Any suggestions? I bought it from Best Buy off-contract on October 2nd.
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gun oil fixed the issue every time it gets hard put a lil in the cracks n turn it

just rinse the watch in water it will clear the dust and dirt under the bezel and it will go back to working fine

The same exact issue has happened to my galaxy watch. That is how I found this thread and im sure others will be searching too so im replying even though its old. The bezel would stick and I would force it to turn and it would be fine and then small black chunks of some type of plastic began appearing from underneath it so I spent some time turning it over and over again and then removing these chunks and it has worked just fine since it stopped producing the black chunks of whatever. It seems like some type of plastic. I was thinking the backing from an adhesive tape but at the same time hoping it was not part of a gasket to keep water out. I wear the galaxy watch in the shower and so far it has been fine. This is my first switch from apple to Samsung and have gone through 3 first gen apple watches because the screen randomly falls off. I was not expecting to have issues with a near $400 Samsung watch. as long as its still waterproof then there really is not an issue but I would like to know what is coming out of my watch and why...It doesn't seem like a major issue so far though.

dnmeboy said:
The same exact issue has happened to my galaxy watch. That is how I found this thread and im sure others will be searching too so im replying even though its old. The bezel would stick and I would force it to turn and it would be fine and then small black chunks of some type of plastic began appearing from underneath it so I spent some time turning it over and over again and then removing these chunks and it has worked just fine since it stopped producing the black chunks of whatever. It seems like some type of plastic. I was thinking the backing from an adhesive tape but at the same time hoping it was not part of a gasket to keep water out. I wear the galaxy watch in the shower and so far it has been fine. This is my first switch from apple to Samsung and have gone through 3 first gen apple watches because the screen randomly falls off. I was not expecting to have issues with a near $400 Samsung watch. as long as its still waterproof then there really is not an issue but I would like to know what is coming out of my watch and why...It doesn't seem like a major issue so far though.
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From my understanding the bezels operate by ceramic ball bearings what ever color. Which also means there has to be some kind of springs inside as well to Hold appropriate pressure on the ball bearing to give the rolling clicks. I am a mechanic so dirt grease and grime are everyday things for my watch and up til recently I rinse mine randomly to get the gunk out

*removed*

Metal Bezel on Neo possible?

So, today while I was walking home I felt my watch loose in my jacket sleeve, and when I looked, the part of the bezel that holds the watch strap was broken. As I hadn't hit it on anything or put any strain on it, I'm honestly super confused as to how that happened, and I'm very disappointed. I talked to Samsung, and currently their "out of warranty" repair service is not active, and apparently my watch is out of warranty. As I received this as a gift nine months ago, I can't really say where it came from initially so I can't say as to whether it should be in warranty or not. So, I feel like my best bet is to buy parts and fix it myself.
My question them is, if I purchased a metal bezel for a Gear 2, does anyone know if it would fit well on the Neo? I'd rather replace it with metal so this doesn't happen again. I realize the regular Gear 2 has a camera, whereas the Neo just has an IR sensor there, but I feel like I could make it fit. If it can't be done and someone knows that though, I obviously would not like to waste my time and money on it.
If anyone has any insight into this, I'd be very appreciative!

Okay, well shockingly I found a metal frame for really cheap from the next major city over from me so... I guess I'll give it a try. I'll post my results.

So, the new front chassis came in and unfortunately, as feared, the Neo and the regular Gear 2 are not quite as compatible as I thought.
The biggest issue is that the back isn't quite the same shape, which is weird because visually it's near impossible to see a difference, but it's there, and it prevents the back from fully closing. However, I plan to resolve this with a back for the full Gear 2 I ordered for cheap.
The second biggest issue is that the metal is designed to isolate the camera from the motherboard. This means there is a physical metal barrier which gets in the way of the IR LED. On top of this, it appears there are slits molded into the screw-posts for the board to slide into on the Neo, but these are absent from the full Gear 2. I plan to resolve both of these issue, very very carefully, with a dremel. I do not want to compromise the structural integrity of the screw posts.
The last issue I didn't confirm, but appears to exist is that the screen area on the full Gear 2 is slightly taller than on the Neo it seems. I had suspected this actually, and I think that would explain why my screen protectors were slightly too big. I plan to resolve this with a new screen for the full size Gear 2, which was also relatively cheap, but more than I wanted to spend on this project. I feel like you could get away with not doing this if you don't mind a tiny gap. But I want to make sure it's as perfect as it can be.
I'll update again once everything comes in.

Update: You can in fact put a Gear 2 Neo inside of a Gear 2 body, if you are so determined. Things that are different about the two include not just the metal main chassis, but also the back, the screen and the charging cradle. (As well as the main board.) So, if you want to do this, you'll need to get a new back as well, which I got cheap from ebay, and I'd recommend getting a new screen too. Theoretically the Neo one will fit, but there will probably be a noticeable gap. I have a Gear 2 cradle on order, for the time being I'm using the Neo charger, which is slightly wider, and holding it on with a rubber band.
The determination part: The main board will not fit into the metal case without modification to the case. (I wouldn't modify the board.) There's a metal divider to keep the IR LED from interfering with the camera, but since the Neo doesn't have a camera, and has the IR LED centered, this means you can't put the board in. This metal divider needs to be removed. Also, the Neo board goes around the screw posts a little bit in a way that is blocked by the metal. So, the trick is to remove the metal around the screw posts to allow the board to fit without compromising the structural integrity of it and without damaging the screw posts themselves. I did not need to make any slits in the screw posts though as I thought might be necessary. Which is good, because I feel a lot safer without doing that. I accomplished the necessary modifications with a Dremel, various tips, and a lot of care with a stead hand.
The end result looks really nice, and I do not anticipate having the same issue the plastic case had. I'm very satisfied, but it isn't the easiest thing to do. But if you are so determined, yes, it can and has now been done.

Will magnetic strap damage the watch?

I am planning to get a milanese strap for my S3 classic but worry the magnetic part will damage the watch if its too close to the back of the watch. I have seen it instantaneously stopped an analogue watch working when the magnet is attached to the back I am afraid it might affect the S3 too even if its digital (might affect its battery). Have you guys come across or aware of such issue?

I've been using milanese strap for more than 3 months now. No issues so far.

Sorry for replying to an old thread, but I just got a milanese strap for my Gear S3, and it appears the magnet will stop the bezel from functioning it is placed too close to it - my wrist is probably a bit on the small side, so the magnetic clasp can reach the mounting lug. If I adjust the clasp half a centimeter down from the lug the bezel works perfectly.
So......the milanese might affect functionality (if you have small wrists!). I will keep it on and observe over the next few days as I quite like it.

icedlemontea said:
Sorry for replying to an old thread, but I just got a milanese strap for my Gear S3, and it appears the magnet will stop the bezel from functioning it is placed too close to it - my wrist is probably a bit on the small side, so the magnetic clasp can reach the mounting lug. If I adjust the clasp half a centimeter down from the lug the bezel works perfectly.
So......the milanese might affect functionality (if you have small wrists!). I will keep it on and observe over the next few days as I quite like it.
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It blocks bezel only at bottom side of watch, you can flip the strap if it is convenient for you.

Streect said:
It blocks bezel only at bottom side of watch, you can flip the strap if it is convenient for you.
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Thanks for the tip! I've switched it over and the bezel is now working and the watch is super snug on my wrist..

Streect said:
It blocks bezel only at bottom side of watch, you can flip the strap if it is convenient for you.
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The bezel stopped working in the past for me and I thought there was something wrong with the watch. I tested the strap yday which proved it was the culprit for non working bezel - thanks alot would've never guessed this

A raw quick fix for loose bezels

Hi there
I've switched between smartwatches over the last 2 years and have had 3 gear s3 watches. The first two of them had pretty solid bezels, nice clicks, no wobbles or noises when tapped, I have just bought a new gear s3 and unfortunately the bezel is what I would call a little loose compared to the first two
I was going to take it back but the bezel is simply a metal bezel that sits on 4 ball bearings and a spring and it just pops off, you can actually replace the whole bezel for about 20 pounds these days
Knowing how the bezel works, reading information about other watches with bezels etc, I decided to try a bit of a hack fix before taking it back or replacing it myself
You might laugh but I looped a bit of dental floss under the bezel two times, you can't see the floss at all, you can get it in there very tight and it won't show at all. What it will do is stop your bezel from being loose, making a tapping noise and tightening up the bezel when you turn it
They use this fix on high end diving watches on some forums I read, it's also worked a treat on my gear s3, if your bezel is loose it's worth a shot
I used thin dental floss, I slid it under the bezel, then pulled it tight and looped it round the bezel, making sure it was pulled tight right into the bezel so it couldn't be seen, I kept testing the bezel to make sure it hadn't got to tight to turn as you can still remove it until you have cut the floss and tucked in the cut end with another piece of floss. Once you have fitted the floss simply cut the end and use another piece of floss to tuck in the loose end.
Mines been good for a couple of weeks but obviously the bezel is used a lot on the gear s3 so how long it lasts is something that I can't guarantee
I know that the quick fix won't be for everyone but if the bezel drives you crazy, you don't want to take the watch apart etc then this could be a handy little solution
Have a great day