Last night I noticed this infamous crack in mine. What makes it worse is that there's a second crack growing from the USB port to the port for the power supply. And I've had mine for just under 6 weeks.

I carry the unit around with me, maybe dropped it once, but I consider what I've done with it well within expected norms, about how I handle my cell phone. I treated my PP III that I bought back in 1998 more roughly & it showed no damage for 5-6 years before I finally replaced it with a IIIxe because the backlight was failing; the new Palm Pilot IIIxe receives about the same level of treatment (it lives in the inner pocket of my jacket), & it shows no sign of damage.

Someone at Nokia QA dropped the ball here. I would think that these units would be as solid as a cell phone; this defect betrays the out-of-box impression of solid, reliable construction I had when I first saw mine.

Geoff

OK... After using this GREAT device for 10 days now and checking it every day I just found exactly the same crack

Penguinbait did you send you're n770 to Nokia already?

My unit was made in Estonia and I did not notice a crack until after the first time I plugged the USB cable into the 770. I now have one running from the middle of the USB port to the middle of the headphone jack.

Mine is from Estonia, and showed no signs of any cracks for the first week. Now, at the end of two weeks, there is a crack from headphone to usb and a smaller one from usb to power supply. And for the record, I have NEVER plugged in either a headphone or a usb cable, so it really is an issue with the design of the case, the plastic used, the assembly, and the resulting stresses. You didn't do it -- they did.... Kind of sad for a company whose name is on phones I have dropped for years with no damage whatsoever.

I hope they get honest about it -- soon.

get honest... like Psion did, maybe ? :-)

The first Series5 - costing about thrice as much as a 770, ten years ago - had a paint coating that started to peel after a few weeks - but you could finish the job with your nails during meetings and afterwards it looked better than new ; a crack that appeared on most units on the hinge between body and screen - but that never caused real problems if you were careful, like probably the one on the 770 ; and a design problem in the ribbon cable between motherboard and LCD screen that caused 99% of units to end up unusable for lack of display, although all components were functioning perfectly except for a broken milimeter-wide stretch of copper.

Two years later, Psion came out with the twice-the-power, twice-the-memory-for-the-same-price Series 5mx. And guess what ? The paint problem was gone. But the hinge crack was still there, and although the screen ribbon cable was a new design, it still broke in the exact same way after 2-3 years of opening and closing the clamshell. And it still cost anywhere between 90 and 170 euro to fix.

They just sold the hotcakes, took the money and ran. And decided they weren't in the PDA business anymore after all.

We'll see if the finns are any better than the brits :-)

At the mention of Psion, can I just sit here and dream of a 770 in a 5mx case?

<sigh />

..and know you're not alone <G>.

In the Gallery somewhere I have a "3-generations" picture with a 5mx, a Zaurus and the 770. The Psion is so much more bulky that the insides of the Nokia would fit in easily, with the screen actually looking a bit narrow...

When I was using the Psions I did dream, like everyone, of something with the 770's capabilities (color screen, connectivity etc.). But now, honestly, I would find it difficult to return to such a large form factor, even if it means sacrificing the fantastic keyboard. The Zaurus experience showed me that a less capable keyboard with a smaller machine made for an acceptable compromise too.

I hope the latest rumors on Nokia, the 770 sucessors and keyboards come true ! :-)

Today the crack has grown from the USB port to the DC port I did nothing special today with my 770 only pluged in a stereo plug twice... I'm going to call/mail Nokia tomorrow!

PS. The quality of the sound output is very good, almost no noise at all!

I forgot to add : only under the condition that Psion doesn't make the cables !
Today I tried my last working 5mx (that was fine last week) and the digitizer (touch screen) seems to have given up the ghost...
<sigh />

I have an Estonian unit with the same crack.