Some people will tell you that 3D printing is going to be huge in the future and they might very well be right.
This technology could be used in the coming years to produce all sorts of things, from cars to false teeth and could revolutionise the industrial process forever. However, for the moment we are happy enough with the idea of printing off our own phone.
Ok, so it is the case for the phone and not the complete thing but it still sounds exciting enough to make our knees tremble a little.
The phone in question is the Nokia Lumia 820 and the firm is to release data files which will allow owners of these phones to print off their own cases. It is one of the first serious moves by a giant electronics firm to get 3D printing talked about by the man in the street as something useful and relevant to them.
Build Up an Object Out of Nothing
The plan was given out by John Kneeland, who is a community manager with the Finnish firm, in a blog post. The process would work through the data on the design file being sent to a printer which would slowly build up the finished phone case using layer after layer of plastic.
If you are registered with Nokia you can get hold of the “3D printing development kit” which you need to do this, while Nokia developers can already access the files.
Nokia already uses 3D print technology on their prototyping work and the firm has backed it publicly now because of the “incredible potential” it has.