Mobilefun were kind enough to send this case to help me protect my Nokia N97. As the name suggests, this is one of the official cases for the N97 and it features rounded corners and is very anonymous in it’s looks while remaining be simple and stylish.
On the front you can find the almost invisible Nokia Nseries logo imprinted on the bottom. In the middle there are some stitches that run from the top to 2/3 of the cases length. Here you can also find a small metal piece which just sits there with no other function than adding style to the case.
On the back you can find the same stitches that you see on the front, without the small metal piece and on the top left side you can find a small hole where you can attach your stylus or a lanyard.
To put the N97 inside you simply feed the case from the top as if the N97 was the burger. As you can see there are many solid stitches all around the sides and bottom so the case won’t easily tear apart in the first place. Even though putting the N97 in is easy, it requires some amount of force because of the tight fit of this case.
Once the phone is inside you don’t need to be afraid for it to fall out. When attempting to shake the phone out, my hands went tired long before the N97 even moved. (In fact it never did). With this case you can even use the TV-out and headphone jack, provided you don’t put the handset with the top first like I did. To take out the handset however is a bit worse. Here you can’t simply grab the phone by the sides, but have to hold the device on the front and back to be able to pull it out (hence the hamburger analogy).
From the side you can see that the camera slider makes a bulge on this case, the problem will naturally be gone if you put the handset the other way around.
The material used is some kind of textured leather whereas the outside can be a bit slippery, though provides a good enough grip. The insides are smoother and can act like a cleaning cloth. The case is more like a pouch really and the only thing that worries me is that on the inside you can clearly see a rectangular mark. Pressing on this you can feel the backside of the metal piece that was featured on the front.
Tightness as mentioned earlier will be lesser with some use and it’s only the sides that are truly tight. With a light press with a finger you can see the front and back of the case can be pressed down, but that is also due to the way you have to force the handset out. The small hole can be used with a lanyard but the leather is not stiff enough that you can go with this solution for a long time.
This means that you can’t use this case to carry your phone, but if you like some extra protection when having your phone in you pockets it really provides that and it looks way more nice than the N97 silicone case. For a solution with a belt mounting you can see the Carry Pouch from Mobilefun which is also available for the N97. You can get Nokia N97 carry case CP-382 from Mobilefun for around $12. If you own a Nokia N97 and have tried other cases, please share your opinion with us in the comments below.
