Well, if you're me, you go all out looking for a replacement cover. I was able to find new housings for the phone, thanks mostly due to this thread on the n95users Forum.

Remove the Nokia N95 Back Cover

Refer to this YouTube video. No, that's not me, but you can pretend for the purposes of this article that it is.

First remove the battery cover and battery. Grab the phone in one hand (with the camera facing you, and the side facing upwards), and use the fingernails on your other hand to lift up the colored housing starting in the middle and working your way outwards. Then flip the N95 over and do the same for the other side. At this point, the cover should be almost completely off except for possibly the sides near the top (top as in power button top) - be careful here, since the stickers that fasten the back cover to the actual phone can be ripped off or damaged pretty easily.

Buy a New Cover

Several sites where you can buy new housings, covers, or other random pieces for the N95. I can't vouch for any of these companies so do your homework first! Note that the first three sites sell OEMs (ebay sells third-party housings), which means

BlueUnplugged - $29. Warm Graphite complete back cover. Comes with the back casing, microSD card door, and battery cover. Site also sells a bunch of other N95 pieces, such as the front cover, the flash module, camera shutter, keypad sets, and LCD displays. Shop located in UK.

CNN.CN - $47.99. Can choose between either a Deep Plum or Warm Graphite housing. Both include front, back, and battery covers, and also a keypad. You can also purchase N95 camera shutters, LCD, middle plate, and keypads. Shop located in Hong Kong.

Brando Mobile - $60. Warm Graphite housing. Comes with front, back, and battery covers. Shop located in Hong Kong. More expensive than the other sites.

Ebay - $??. If you don't want first-party/OEM Nokia covers then you can buy really, really cheap housings for the N95 on ebay. I won't link to any individual auctions, but you can find them for a little more than $10 shipped. However, don't expect the same quality materials as the real thing.

There's a couple sellers that have more expensive housing, but I don't know whether these are legit Nokia covers.

Replacing the New Cover

Pretty simple. Just start on one side and make sure you're lifting the cover over as opposed to sliding it closed which will almost definitely get sticky residue elsewhere. The housing should click into place, and will be held securely. Honestly, I don't know why Nokia even bothered with those stupid stickers in the first place.

Tags: cover, housing, n95, nokia

The latest Nokia cell phone blog entries can be found on the main page.