By coincidence, I thought of this thread last night while struggling to remove the "battery cover" from a Sony E1 - I needed to do a factory data reset, as it had become so slow on start-up as to be virtually unusable, but wanted to retrieve the micro-SD card first, to avoid any accidental erasure of music from the card. Mission successful, as I didn't break the cover, and the factory data reset means it's now quite a good MP3 player, although realistically not high-powered enough for a modern smartphone.
But - TO GET TO MY POINT! - it struck me that a snugly fitting case of the right design might keep the battery cover in place if the original is cracked, or only slightly damaged. I'd hope that @scottbiddle has resolved his problem in the intervening month plus, but otherwise a phone accessories shop might be able to help with a suitable wallet-type case.
