ngage qd face plate review

Originally Posted by tat2dphreak

that's cool! anyone have a link? my qd's rubber is loose too...

Originally Posted by ippon

after some consideration, i finally decided to buy a new faceplate for the qd.
my initial problem was the rubber bumper came loose and kept getting worse.
i tried to krazyglue it back, but my clumsy hands got runny glue got on the body. i guess i couldn't really help it though. it took enormous amount of the stuff to glue it back together and excess fluid flowed out.
but everyweek, different places of the bumper began to loosen up, and the fact that the places i glued back were loosening up again, i decided to invest.

qd parts are extremely rare. i found no local vendor that carrys them in toronto. so i turned to the ol' faithful, ebay.

i found a couple of vendors and i paid about $28, shipped and registered, for the faceplate, which also comes bundled with battery cover and keypads, and the bumper.

they arrived in about 10 days, and i immediately tore through the packaging.
i can't quite remember the last time i got excited about buying parts, but i guess i am getting older and geekier. not the best combination....

anyhoo, here are the pics:

feel free to click~






the quality of the parts are lesser than that of original nokia, as most third party plates are. but still good. i ordered the white one, and i was somewhat worried that the paint would chip off. but it does seem durable. let's wait till i drop it, which will undoubtably be, very soon...
as you can see, the main chassis remains dark grey original. the seller also sells the chassis, but not white. there are 32 different colours availble for the face plates, but only 8 for the bumper and 4 for the chassis. i am going to take a spray can to it eventually. i hope it doesn't run...

the bumper is made of harder material than the original, which is important because it won't expand as easily, however not as tight fitting. little bit of gap in couple of places exist, but not too noticeable though.

the worst part was the keypads. i would not recommend the use of keypads to gamers. i myself am not really a gamer; i use the qd more for its symbian functions so it isn't the biggest issue for me. the directional pad loses a lot of feel. also there is a gap at the top of the 'c' button. but i can always replace it again with the original keypad.

but, overall i am quite happy with it. it looks like a new phone. and when was the last time anyone saw a white ngage? it was funny when i went to the fido store to get it flashed, the rep didn't know what phone it was.

i don't recall anyone really reviewing faceplate for cellphones, but i thought loose bumper seems to be a common problem with qd users, and the sheer rarity of qd faceplates might warrant a public mention.