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Just about every case looks the same these days, but here at Mobile World Congress 2017, a company called Case Station is looking to change all that.
Using either their mobile app or iPad equipped kiosk station — coming soon to a store near you — Case Station allows you to design and print your own personalized smartphone case. If this sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because these were the guys behind Google’s “Live Cases” for Nexus and Pixel devices, the one that we took a look at not too long ago.
Where Live Cases were limited to a single type of case and finish, Case Station opens things up a bit with a variety of cases that offer varying levels of protection and features. The most affordable are the hardshell snap-on cases, it’s the standard model that we saw for the Nexus/Pixels but you can also find a dual-layered Tough case, Backpak 3 case which holds a few credit cards, or a wallet styled fuax-leather Notebook case. For the Snap and Tough models, you get the option of choosing between matte or glossy finishes — something that we didn’t see with Google’s Live Cases.
Customizing your own case is extremely easy. Case Station’s soon-to-be-released mobile app — which you’ll be using at their kiosk station, or at home on your own device — allows you to pick from a variety of layouts and even supplies you with designs from their own curated list of artists.
Of course, the main draw here is personalizing your device with an image of your very own, be it a loved one, pet, or a really snazzy image you found online. You can upload whatever you like, and there doesn’t seem to be the weird restrictions with “copyrighted” content we saw on the Pixel cases.
Once you’ve designed the perfect custom case, Case Station will ship it out in about 3-5 business days. Case Station tells us they’re currently in talks to set up shop inside carrier/specialty stores where they’ll even be able to supply retailers with their own printers, delivering a freshly customized case in about 15 minutes or less.
Pricing is definitely a bit on the steep side, with a fully customized case running about $35. Once you factor in $8 for shipping, you’re looking at $40+ for a fully custom case, although that shouldn’t come as much of a shock considering it falls in line with Google’s Live Cases (minus that awful NFC button that never even worked quite right).
We’ve already ordered a custom case for our Google Pixel and will be sure to let you guys know how it turns out. In the meantime, check out casestation.com for more.
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