Develop Bugs

Is it just me or does build quality suck?

I've just recieved my replacement for my first HTC desire which had a dead pixel near the top of the screen (wish i kept it, such a minor issue :S) - I got it replaced for a new HTC desire which arrived today, which hs dust under the screen right in the middle of it - a bigger problem.
2 Phones unlucky, and managed to convince TMobile CS to replacve it as opposed to repair, so, I'm getting yet another one tomorrow.
Has anyone recieved a faulty replaement for a faulty phone or is it just me? :S
First HTC phone, very very bad experience, feel like cancelling it :/ (then again miainly for Tmobiles partially ****e coverage)

Funny, mines the most solid phone I've ever had, and I'm a long time Nokia user.

I'm not denying its solid, but one most annoying issue on a phone like this is the screen, and to have a faulty screen twice sucks.
I'm also worried HTC are rushing out desires now, so build quality/batch testing is effected - another reason i regret just sending my old one off now grrrrr :S

I'm guessing you're an unlucky chap. My Desire is of excelent build quality, no dust whatsoever. The backside locks firmly to the body, covering the battery verry well.

Every product has stories of unlucky customers. For me the three HTCs ive had have been the best built and most reliable phones ive had.

Nelsaidi said:
I'm not denying its solid
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Well, it seems you're using the wrong wording. A dead pixel has nothing to do with build quality...they don't make the screens they buy them from a third party. Dust under the screen, again a rare occurrence that happens to the best devices. You had some back luck, but the consensus seems to be that you're an isolated incident.

Still asleep - but yeah, you're right, typically I'd use build quality to assess how solid it feels and its qualty, it does feel solid, not plasticy. However Dust does describe something not working correctly in the bulding process, but yeah - isolated - doubt a whole batch would have such an issue.
Trying to remember what word to use to describe my scenario
They say third time lucky, hopefully that one will work, since HTC desire is the ultiamte phone atm, and if i'm going to invest in a phone now might aswell invest it into an android. Failing that, might sell it on ebay or equivelant

There are worse things than dust that could get under the screen.
Imagine if the person assembling it, sneezed! :O

oh shiiiiiiii lol!

FloatingFatMan said:
There are worse things than dust that could get under the screen.
Imagine if the person assembling it, sneezed! :O
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Did that when putting on an Invisible Shield on my Creative M3 player...was angry for several months after that.

Funny, mines the most solid phone I've ever had, and I'm a long time Nokia user.
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Eh, exact same here with the addition that I'm a long time Sony /HTC user too. Very solid phone tis.
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

Nelsaidi said:
I've just recieved my replacement for my first HTC desire which had a dead pixel near the top of the screen (wish i kept it, such a minor issue :S) - I got it replaced for a new HTC desire which arrived today, which hs dust under the screen right in the middle of it - a bigger problem.
2 Phones unlucky, and managed to convince TMobile CS to replacve it as opposed to repair, so, I'm getting yet another one tomorrow.
Has anyone recieved a faulty replaement for a faulty phone or is it just me? :S
First HTC phone, very very bad experience, feel like cancelling it :/ (then again miainly for Tmobiles partially ****e coverage)
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Click to collapse
It's not just you, I've had exactly the same problems but the other way around. The first phone I received had dust under the screen, replaced it and now have a dead pixel. I however prefered the first one because I couldn't notice it as much.
I'm getting my third as well but they are CONSTANTLY out of stock. Both times I've received the phone I've asked to have it replaced within a few hours of receiving it (after charging and noticing the problem) and both times they've been out of stock for about a week afterwards (vodafone uk). I mean its good if there is lots of demand for this device but I just want to get one for myself that is fine out the box!
Like you said 3rd time lucky i hope!

Unlucky about that
I waited 2 weeks to get my first replaced, failing that the third you can send of to HTC for repairs, or ebay it and end up with a cheap contact.

It's you. Build quality is very good.

I find the build quality is not the best.
On front screen above the back/search button. I can see key back light coming out of a tinny hole, where the bottom part, the so called chin connects to the screen body. Then on the top left and bottom right of the battery cover. It doesn't seem to fit as tight as on top right and bottom left. I'd say that poor build quality.

I guess the word yous are looking for are "poor QC"
and when someone mentioned sneezing, I remember some article about some poor dude finding squished bug inside a screen on a vaio laptop LOL.

Uneven Backlighting

I remember a thread I read last week about someone having this same issue but after searching and browsing through the first 5 pages I can't find it, so sorry for the quasi double post.
On my Evo, there is a significant variance in the brightness of the backlight (most notable on a black or white solid background). I previously had this issue on my Hero, but it never bothered me enough to do anything about it. Now with the greater screen real estate it appears to be more noticeable and is really starting to bug me. I am outside of my 30 days and don't have TEP, is this something that warrants a replace/repair, or is this normal and something I will just have to live with?

Sounds like a manufacturing defect to me. If you can, wait until stores have a full stock before going in for a replacement, so you're not stuck waiting. Or go in and ask to be put on a list to be called when you can swap for a new one. Not sure how they handle replacements with the shortages they've been having.

i have the same problem
however it's not consistent, sometimes it looks solid and sometimes there are some "smudged" areas
i'm waiting for an aftermarket samoled/slcd replacement kit to show up on ebay

catpunt said:
i have the same problem
however it's not consistent, sometimes it looks solid and sometimes there are some "smudged" areas
i'm waiting for an aftermarket samoled/slcd replacement kit to show up on ebay
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That would be amazing!
Start a thread or pm me if one pops up, I'd be really interested.
EDIT:
http://androidcommunity.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-i9200-features-2ghz-4-3-inch-super-amoled-display-and-more-20100705/
It's purely speculation, but if this dropped that would put some 4.3in S-AMOLED's out there

[Q] Hairline crack "under" the screen.

Hi.
I've got a small question for all. I had my galaxy phone for only 2 weeks now, and treaded it with the same care I've done with all my phones (have had earlier a Galaxy S for 1.5 years without a single scratch on it).
Just a few days ago I saw a very thin crack in the screen, stretching from almost the edge of the top left corner, and diagonally down a bit to the right side.
Curiously as I am, I checked if anyone else had the same problem.
I found a few places online, but not a lot.
[cant add links due to first post]
I want to know if this can be a build problem, since I'm pretty sure I didn't miss treat it.
It doesn't affect the usability of the screen, meaning all pixels and everything with the touch layer seems to be working perfectly, and its quite hard to spot even if you know its there. You need the right amount of light and angle to see it. Perhaps that's why I cant find a lot about it.
Has anyone a similar problem?

That sucks. You might not be able to exchange it since that is physical damage. Youre probably going to have to live with it, sell it or get it repaired which will be costly.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Is that on the digitizer or on the glass? If its on the surface you could throw a screen protector on it to fill it in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoMRO4OiXw4
if its on the digitizer, that shouldn't happen. I would try and get it replaced.

there is certainly no harm in taking it back to the place of purchase to see if they are willing to help...

I've tried to take it back, but they didn't want to take it without examination, and that will cost $150, and from experience, they will probably come to the conclusion that its not a manufacturer error (unless several people reports the same issue)
Its not in the top glass, but as far as I can see, its not in the digitizer either (I assume the digitizer would at least behave differently with a crack in it)
Still hoping that more people have this problem, since that would prove that its a bad batch or something..

Hi Mazy,
I just discovered a hairline crack on my nexus too.
Unfortunately I don't have a camera right now to take pictures of it, but suffice to say the crack matches the one you have!
I cannot think of how this crack came to be - its so new and hasn't been mistreated at all.
I'll try and upload some photos in the next few days if I can borrow a camera to do so.

With some effort I managed to get to take a photo with a webcam (see attachment).
I haven't yet contacted the place of purchase to see what can be done about this - I'll keep this thread posted.

Thanks for that image.. This seems to be more than a coincidence, the angle and size of the crack seems very similar. I suspect that your phone works as normal as well, and that the crack is more or less invisible in normal usage, but in specific angles it shines up?
Have you used any "heavy" program for a long time, meaning did you use a program that could make the phone become warm?
We have two similar phones here, but only one is cracked, and thats the one that we used as GPS, and using that, the phone gets hotter than normal. I dont know if that can affect it at all, but Im trying to figure out what caused it.

Hey op is your phone GSM or CDMA? Australian guy I assume yours is GSM.

I have the exact same crack that you have found in your screen. (Verizon LTE version) Thought maybe I had simply been careless with my phone but then started thinking that it might be a manufacturer issue.

Buff McBigstuff said:
Hey op is your phone GSM or CDMA? Australian guy I assume yours is GSM.
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Its a GSM, and from the charger I got, I assume it was meant to be shipped to UK (or any other country with that type of outlet)
Slowburn72: if its possible, please take a picture as well, Im planning to use this thread to prove that this is not a user mistreating the phone, but rather some problem in manufacturing or assembly of the phone.

Slowburn72 said:
I have the exact same crack that you have found in your screen. (Verizon LTE version) Thought maybe I had simply been careless with my phone but then started thinking that it might be a manufacturer issue.
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Wow guys, I smell something fishy here. Mark one up as my GN has the same thing.
I was out in the winter sun today for the first time with this phone after having it for about 4 weeks when I saw a line going across from the top left, diagonally down to the right side about 1/3 down.
Immediately I thought, WTF! I have NOT dropped this thing and have NOT sat on it. It's been in a case since day one which should also reinforce it. How the hell did I do this? I even tried rubbing it off when I first saw it thinking it was just another fingerprint smudge.
This is a Verizon LTE version so at this point I don't think this is specific to version.
I will also say that I am shocked that I didn't notice this before being a very picky nerd about this kind of stuff. At the same time, I can't actually see this until I get enough ambient light and hold it on an angle. It's a hairline crack beneath the topsheet of glass but not deep enough from what I can tell to affect the display. Most user damage appears to result in shattered outer glass and the fact that our cracks are the same that this is due to assembly or design.
I have a feeling we aren't the only ones with this issue. I have insurance on the phone but no way am I going to make an insurance claim considering we all have the same, and I mean SAME crack.
I will be printing this thread out when going back to where I got mine to kindly ask for a replacement. I will be taking this one up the chain, if I have to, after reading this thread. I am glad this thread was started.
I think we are on to something...

I would contact Samsung and point them to this thread. Maybe if they see its happening to multiple people they will replace it.

Same hairline crack on mine too!
I have had this galaxy nexus less than 24 hours. I literally watched a small scratch like mark turn into a diagonal and long hairline crack across 1 quarter of the screen. I didn't do anything to the phone I've had a nexus 1 for over year with no crack at all. Now I think I know why the guy was trying to sell me the warranty so hard. Will be returning the GN to best buy for a full refund.
Same symptoms everyone else is listing... shows up in only certain lighting and angles. But marked it is... ever presently defective.

Everyone with this defect, are you on gsm or verizon version? Only reason i ask is verizon version case is slightly modifies which can cause loose volume keys. Perhaps this bigger casing puts some awkward twisting force on the screen from the modified production assembly.
Thats why the crack would be in identical location on every one.

Its happened on both gsm and lte
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I have the exact same "Hairline crack". Tried to get it replaced without success.
Btw, it's a GSM version.

I have a version from telus in vancouver canada. My crack is from top right (to the left of the front facing camera) and runs to the middle left side. There are absolutely no scuff marks on the phone as it has not been dropped once. Phone is in mint condition all except for this hairline crack.
I will be returning to best buy to let them know my unhappiness with this phone.
I suspect a change from inside temp afer taking video and pics all day at the local science world.. then going outside is when I noticed a small crack starting to spread. i had the phone less than 24 hours.
Unimpressed!
I also only kept the phone in my x-Large leather jacket pocket by itself.
When the phone is turned on the hairline crack can only be seen from certain angles. When it is turned off it is easier to see from the photos attached.
Coincidentally, a friend bought the GN and just told me over gchat that the same thing happened to his GN phone, as described here.

I would call samsung. Ask to speak to a manager. That is crap. If this many people are having the same crack, it isnt isolated.

While I do not have this problem, I did want to chime in here. For those of you who tried to exchange your Nexus without success, I highly recommend going to another store or taking the matter up the chain until you get a replacement.
There is absolutely no reason they can't exchange the phone. This is clearly a manufacturing defect and there is absolutely no sign of physical abuse that the user could have done to cause this. If I were in your shoes I would not give up until it got replaced.
My last resort would be to go directly to Samsung with pictures and a detailed explanation of the issue. This is completely unacceptable in my opinion.

My new Nexus 7 has a dent on one of corners

At first I thought it was just a quirky design but now am sure it is not suppose to look like that plus it rebooted itself randomly one time.
Should I exchange it for another one.

The restarting is normal at least for me. But I would return it with there being a dent.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

The restarting may be normal for you, but it's not by design.
It's a known, as yet unaddressed issue (at least not with anything effective).
Return/exchange /get a refund if you can still do that.
Check here :
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/mobile/mG4JXaT-SHs[1-25-false]

I ended exchanging it at the store for another one.
The first exchange had a some linen stuck between the case and screen, you could even pull it out, good thing I opened the box at the store so they gave me another one and that didn't seem to have any cosmetic issues.
Hopefully the system is fine as well.

Can we see a picture? It depends on how serious it is for me to take the effort to return it. But at the end of the day, it arrived damaged and you should be able to return it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
Edit: didn't see your reply. Oops.

No I didn't take a photo, it looked as if the corner had been hammered flat. Weird defects.
Anyway the restarting issue had me more worried and that lead me to believe whatever cosmetic damage the device had received could be the cause for the internal issues as well. So exchanging it felt like the best bet.
Weird thing the new one I got had some linen/cotton/dust whatever you want to call it stuck between the case and the screen. I couldn't take it out and even the store workers couldn't as well. Good thing they gave me another one, which so far is good.
Quality control is a bit worrying.

Galaxy S4 Horror (?) Story

I've become pretty exasperated with these phones lately, so I thought I'd share my experience. My question is: are these phones supposed to be this fragile?
It started two years ago: due to Verizon's discontinuation of unlimited data, I'd convinced my family (me and my parents) to move to T-Mobile. It seemed like a great deal: we could finally upgrade from our Galaxy S Fascinates, and the plan was cheaper too. Me and my dad, both power users, chose S4s, while my mother, who was more of a casual user, picked the S3 since it was cheaper. At first, it seemed great: the S4s were powerful, and the screens were awesome. We purchased the insurance, but neither me nor my dad bought cases, and my mom got an aftermarket back for her S3 with a swing-closed screen cover.
Fast-forward two months later. My mom's S3 started rebooting randomly, especially during periods of high use. It got so bad that we were considering replacing the phone, when I noticed that I could trigger a reboot by running a CPU stress test application. This pointed to a battery that was going bad and couldn't always provide enough voltage to keep the phone running. We replaced the battery, and were off on our merry way.
Over the next year of heavy use, the silver coating on the band of plastic around the front edge of my S4 started to flake off. By summer, it was totally gone, exposing the white plastic underneath. Meanwhile, my dad's S4 had developed an odd issue with the screen , causing vertical bands of color to be visible. It wasn't a huge issue, and he didn't seem to notice it.
After the first year, it all changed. A new issue cropped up first in my dad's, then my S4. It seemed that dirt had gotten inside the case, underneath the proximity sensor. The screen became more and more reluctant to wake up during calls. Dad could seem to keep his in check by canned-airing through the speaker grill on a regular basis, but I had no such luck. Once I hit dial, my screen would turn off for good unless the other person hung up, or I put my phone in a spotlight or direct sunlight. Eventually, I had to start pulling out the battery to hang up a call. I could only check my voicemail by plugging in headphones.
Then came the cracks. That autumn, it happened, that thing all phone-owners dread: After surviving several multi-foot drops with only dents and scratches, my S4 fell off of my leg when I was sitting on the ground, landed upside-down, and developed a small crack off to the side of the screen. It wasn't bad, but I was kind of shaken, since up until then I'd considered my phone screen to be pretty much invulnerable. Then, a week later, it fell only a few inches out of my pocket onto a stucco floor. It landed directly on the screen, and I heard an unholy cracking sound. I picked it up to find two cracks stretching diagonally from the top left to the bottom right of the screen. We discussed getting a new phone, but I decided that it wasn't worth the insurance deductible, especially since I would get a phone with the new KNOX bootloader. Later on, I dropped it another couple times, and the display shattered in a few places.
A few months later, Dad's phone's SIM card holder started to fail. At first, whenever he went for a bumpy motorcycle ride or otherwise shook his phone around, the S4 would lose cellular signal until he rebooted. It got worse over time, to the point where he was rebooting multiple times a day just to stay connected. I decided to do some troubleshooting, and, with his agreement, ODINed it to 4.4 touchwiz with the KNOX bootloader. It had been over a year, so we figured that the warranty had run out. This got results, as soon after booting up the phone it would show an error, "SIM Card Removed!" I guess that the other rom hadn't had this error, and just lost signal when the card momentarily disconnected. Anyway, we contacted T-Mobile, who gave him a new SIM card. The problem persisted, and he had to wait a long time at the store while it was being provisioned. We proceeded to call the insurance, who told us, surprise surprise, that buying the insurance also comes with an extended warranty. Which I had just voided. Now, Dad was really angry, since he had to pay $150 for basically no reason. We got the refurbished phone, but he refused to let me root it because that would void the warranty, and he didn't want to have to pay the insurance again. Instead, even though we had Titanium and Clockworkmod backups of everything, he painstakingly rebuilt all his user data by hand. And so the story ended. Or so we thought.
You see, about a week after he got his replacement, the screen cracked. He didn't drop it; according to him it just spontaneously happened. It wasn't very noticeable, and it wasn't a big deal.
Two days ago, his Wi-Fi just stopped. Completely. It wouldn't turn on in settings. Neither would Bluetooth. He did some research, and it turns out that a common issue with refurb S4s was that the internal Wi-Fi antenna would not make good contact with the mainboard. He went to a T-Mobile store, and found out that that little crack actually voided his warranty, so all of that manual rebuilding he did was for nothing. So, he took apart the phone according to a YouTube video, cleaned the antenna contacts, and put it back together. He turned it on, and it was still broken. Oddly enough, it worked for a while after uninstalling some apps, but it soon broke again. Desperate, he gave it to me in hopes that it was a software problem. I tried two different ROMs, but the issue persisted.
So, his replacement phone is a bust. The thing is, he refuses to consider any other phone because he goes through two or three batteries a day, and needs a phone with replaceable batteries, and these are becoming endangered species nowadays. So, he's going to get another S4 from the insurance company, which might be just as unreliable.
Meanwhile, Mom's S3 is still running Android 4.1, and has given us no trouble since the battery thing.
We owned our fascinates for the same amount of time and never had any hardware problems at all. I gotta think that this isn't normal. Are we unlucky, abusive, or is this actually the normal failure rate for these phones?

To me, the physicality of your use case suggests you should have the phones in strong cases. This kind of phone just isn't as physically robust as say the Motorola phones (e.g. the RAZR max series or even the Moto X). If you are going to be dropping it and taking it for motorcycle rides put it in a case and get a screen protector.
Yes, this slim design centered around an almost border less screen is relatively fragile. And yes the S4 has some design flaws like the sim card problem. My next phone may be a return to Motorola if they have a suitable contender at that time. Or other brand. Most of my phones have been Motorola and they have felt MUCH more solid than any of the recent Samsungs.
A note about removable batteries: instead, consider an external powers pack to recharge the phone. I got a pair of them at Costco... Very convenient!
Good post. Sorry to hear your troubles and best wishes going forward!
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

A long, slightly boring story, but what's the bottom line?
So you got 3 phones a few of which you broke. Just buy a new one and put it in a case. Are you abusive? I don't know. Everyone has their own definition of normal I guess. I don't normally drop my electronics. But hey, it's yours, and you can do whatever you like to it.
I still have my almost 4 year old galaxy s4. It's basically like new, without a single scratch and I gave it to my 9 yo son and got myself an s5.

Yeah, I still dislike using cases because I feel like they make the phone hard to hold, but I'm planning on getting one for my next phone because I seem to be too clumsy not to need one.
I wrote this after I spent like 4 hours getting increasingly frustrated trying to fix my dad's phone, with no results. I guess I'm just wondering if it's worth switching to a different manufacturer because of this ordeal.

I've had my S4 for over two years now and it looks, feels, and runs as good as the day I bought it. No nicks, cracks, scratches, or errors whatsoever. I've had mine in an Otterbox since day one, and I've never dropped it from more than a few feet onto carpet or hardwood a few times.
These Galaxy devices are about like any other device, really. If you abuse them or fail to properly protect them, then they'll crap out on you like anything else. No amount of rooting or roming can fix that.

I kill my battery daily, or I would if I wasn't sitting at a computer most days with a readily available power source. I do enjoy the ability to pull my batter (especially when rooting, hanging, etc...) but power packs work well too.
I've had the dirt in the sensor issue. I just took the phone apart and cleaned it (as canned air did not work in my case). It literally took 10 minutes. My newest issue (which did require an RMA to SquareTrade) was a stuck power button. For a full day I could not turn the phone on. I finally bit the bullet and paid the deductible for a "new" phone. The next day I was able to turn the power on again but I already received my replacement so I just factory reset the old unit and sent it back. Now I have a previously refurbed unit, I can only hope has the power button fixed.
In the end, $500 pieces of small electronic equipment might benefit from having a $10 case on them. YMMV

I've never had the slightest problem with the proximity sensor on mine. About once or twice every month, I'll take the Otterbox off and give the phone and case a nice rub down with a microfiber clothe. It keeps everything nice and clean. I've never had to use compressed air or anything to clean it out.
Protip: a little routine cleaning goes a long way toward maximizing the lifespan of your devices.