Jumpn Jack Flash,
I’m not sure if your suggestions are directed at iRex or current owners; however iRex might design the case of the next generation DR, it won’t help us. Adding a (suitable) plastic substrate adds advantage to users who use their DR’s w/o a case, but the modification would likely void the warranty, and iRex might even, as a reasonable policy, decline to service, at all, a modified device. (If anyone considering doing this, please, contact me for suggestions.)
The case actually appears to be designed pretty well; it’s major weakness, in terms of it’s flexibility, is the seam where the top and bottom halves are joined (I did flex my ‘already broken screen’ DR last night--don’t try this at home). If the case had been electronically welded together, it would be, perhaps, 3 or 4 times more resistant to flexing. Of course, the case would then have to be cut open to gain access, even to replace the battery. Access doors, alas, contribute to weakness--no problem on a smaller device, or anything w/o a large glass screen.
A 18 inch by 24 inch piece of glass, removed from a picture frame, held between the thumb and fingers of one hand, at one corner (as Grimulkan describes holding his DR), will not noticeably flex or break; I just tried it. I’m sure that it is the combined weight of the DR, case, and any accessories that have caused these non-screen-contact breaks. I suspect that holding an uncased DR in the same way would not cause a screen break, but I won’t test it
--the problem would have been found in the first production prototypes.
Manufacturing Ramble
Had I been the owner and HEWIC (Head Engineer What’s In Charge) of iRex, I would have done several things differently on the DR (I’m sure that opinions similar to mine were voiced in meetings there). I don’t believe that any decisions made there were intended to do anything other than to provide customers with anything less than they could reasonably provide. From initial concept to finished product, the manufacturing process is nothing, if it is not a series of compromises; the fewer compromises with ideals, the higher the price of the product. Bill Gates, if he is worried about his DR--or just on a whim decides to--might have a custom case machined out of titanium, but the average DR owner could ill afford the luxury, and far fewer would own a DR if iRex had made them that way.
The DR1000S is a fine product. It has shortcomings, and I believe that we users can improve ours. I am determined to improve mine, and to help, to the extent I’m able, others to improve theirs. It seems to me that modifying and improving my DR is no different than changing the stereo or tires on a new car--I’m just making it more satisfactory to me.
Hope I didn’t bore anybody too much,
Kent Walters