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One day my phone got what looks like a water bubble under the screen, over the next few days the touch stopped working and would come back every so often. I tried keeping the phone in rice but could not get the bubble out. I am wondering is this is actually water condensation that got in, or something that the screen itself released in which case I think HTC should repair it (I'm still within the year). Has anyone seen this. My moisture indicator on the side of the phone has a tiny bit of bleeding although I have not had any contact with water, (could be from having the phone in the bathroom) and the indicator under the battery is clean. HTC will not repair it with any water damage and want 280 for a new screen. I have the insurance but dont want to spend another 100 bucks within 7 months of buying the phone for a refurbished model. Anybody have any suggestions.
Thanks
Steve
swaters3 said:
One day my phone got what looks like a water bubble under the screen, over the next few days the touch stopped working and would come back every so often. I tried keeping the phone in rice but could not get the bubble out. I am wondering is this is actually water condensation that got in, or something that the screen itself released in which case I think HTC should repair it (I'm still within the year). Has anyone seen this. My moisture indicator on the side of the phone has a tiny bit of bleeding although I have not had any contact with water, (could be from having the phone in the bathroom) and the indicator under the battery is clean. HTC will not repair it with any water damage and want 280 for a new screen. I have the insurance but dont want to spend another 100 bucks within 7 months of buying the phone for a refurbished model. Anybody have any suggestions.
Thanks
Steve
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It would help if you can post a picture. The newton ring could be your problem. Do a search on this term and check out the pictures.
Hello all,
I will preface this by saying that this issue is likely a result of water damage. However, my experience has been a bit odd. So someone bumped my chair, spilled water partially on my phone. I immediately removed the case and battery and let the phone sit for a good half hour before examining it. Looked completely dry so I inserted the battery and booted up. Went perfectly fine until the home screen appeared, at which point the screen did not register any touches and I could not interact with the phone. Removed the battery again and reexamined the phone: upon shaking it I found that some water shook free and was immediately worried. Let it dry for another half hour or so, rebooted it, and it worked perfectly for about half an hour, listened to music and such.
While texting, I noticed that there was some worrisome screen flickering going on so I removed the battery again and let it dry for another hour or two. Now I've reattempted to reboot it, but the screen absolutely refuses to respond to touch input. The phone appears to work perfectly fine and there is no damage to the screen I can see, nor does the flickering appear anymore. But touch input is fully unresponsive.
My current plan is to by a replacement digitizer, screen, and frame combo and replace that but I wanted to check in with the forum first to see if anyone has any ideas as to what the problem is and how I might go about verifying that the digitizer is indeed broken.
ericralph said:
Hello all,
I will preface this by saying that this issue is likely a result of water damage. However, my experience has been a bit odd. So someone bumped my chair, spilled water partially on my phone. I immediately removed the case and battery and let the phone sit for a good half hour before examining it. Looked completely dry so I inserted the battery and booted up. Went perfectly fine until the home screen appeared, at which point the screen did not register any touches and I could not interact with the phone. Removed the battery again and reexamined the phone: upon shaking it I found that some water shook free and was immediately worried. Let it dry for another half hour or so, rebooted it, and it worked perfectly for about half an hour, listened to music and such.
While texting, I noticed that there was some worrisome screen flickering going on so I removed the battery again and let it dry for another hour or two. Now I've reattempted to reboot it, but the screen absolutely refuses to respond to touch input. The phone appears to work perfectly fine and there is no damage to the screen I can see, nor does the flickering appear anymore. But touch input is fully unresponsive.
My current plan is to by a replacement digitizer, screen, and frame combo and replace that but I wanted to check in with the forum first to see if anyone has any ideas as to what the problem is and how I might go about verifying that the digitizer is indeed broken.
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I've personally not known digitizers to go bad from a little water. Usually it's an internal area where the water is getting too. If you're no longer under warranty I'd take the phone apart from the back by taking out the screws and examining it that way. It may be too late for it if it's caused flickering in the screen. It could have weakened it. Am I saying don't buy a digitizer? No that's up to you. Unfortunately since you used it within a few hours of it getting wet I'm not sure. The best thing to do is to at least let it have a chance to dry overnight since the water gets in places that not much air gets to it takes longer to dry. Some have had luck putting the phone in a baggy of dry rice to extract the moisture. I've never had much luck with that method. I've always taken the phone apart as much as I can and then putting rubbing alcohol on the board to seep in where the water may have gotten and then letting it air dry. Make sure not to get it on the screen though. And with any advice like this I take no responsibility if the phone messes up, becomes unusable or turns into a Ferrari
phonepie said:
I've personally not known digitizers to go bad from a little water. Usually it's an internal area where the water is getting too. If you're no longer under warranty I'd take the phone apart from the back by taking out the screws and examining it that way. It may be too late for it if it's caused flickering in the screen. It could have weakened it. Am I saying don't buy a digitizer? No that's up to you. Unfortunately since you used it within a few hours of it getting wet I'm not sure. The best thing to do is to at least let it have a chance to dry overnight since the water gets in places that not much air gets to it takes longer to dry. Some have had luck putting the phone in a baggy of dry rice to extract the moisture. I've never had much luck with that method. I've always taken the phone apart as much as I can and then putting rubbing alcohol on the board to seep in where the water may have gotten and then letting it air dry. Make sure not to get it on the screen though. And with any advice like this I take no responsibility if the phone messes up, becomes unusable or turns into a Ferrari
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Thanks a ton for the reply. I have essentially come to the same conclusion. It is quite an absurd issue that EVERYTHING appears to function, but the screen is no longer responsive to touch input. I'm going to try and replace the display body (only $50, can return it within 30 days if no luck). My Verizon contract ends in mid July so I just need a phone that can limp to that point or whenever the next Nexus is released.
Well, I managed to replace the screen/digitizer/body (essentially did a transplant of everything) and now my phone is back in reasonable working order. Had some odd issues with screen flickering again so that is worrisome, but the touch screen now works fine. Only issue is that the screen is absolute trash and is washed out, with major light leakage around the bezels (may have gotten some ****ty knockoff from China ).
My inner screen protector has started coming up right along the crease. It started just at the edge and has started going down along the fold for the last week or so. Has anyone else had this problem? I was thinking I would probably get one of the WD replacement ones and swap them out. I'd probably have someone do it for me so I don't mess it up. Anyone else experience this and is that the best screen protector to get?
pside15 said:
My inner screen protector has started coming up right along the crease. It started just at the edge and has started going down along the fold for the last week or so. Has anyone else had this problem? I was thinking I would probably get one of the WD replacement ones and swap them out. I'd probably have someone do it for me so I don't mess it up. Anyone else experience this and is that the best screen protector to get?
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Pretty common I think, lots of posts around Reddit about it etc. Whitestone don't do their glass one anymore but I think their PET one is good for it.
Mine started with a couple bubbles near the middle. Next day worse. Removed it, going without for now and may replace. Reviews on Amazon say they only last so long.
same here
Thanks for the replies. Just glad to know that it is fairly common. I was just going to remove it but I'm too chicken to go sans protector on the inner display.
Same here. It is unnoticed when the screen is on, but when it is of or dark scene, I can see the protector is starting to get loose at the bottom of the crease.
I took mine off and replaced it with the Whitestone Dome Film which is waaay better
Here is my Reddit post on installing the WSD Film:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ZFold3/comments/tji7a9
The reviews on Amazon aren't that great for WSD
catman51 said:
The reviews on Amazon aren't that great for WSD
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it's not good for the ultra thin glass protector. We used the film protector
Samsung UK ended up replacing my entire screen to fix this...
flakmunky said:
Samsung UK ended up replacing my entire screen to fix this...
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How did you do this? My screen protector is coming up, so went to their support chat.
After a long conversation, it was determined that the screen protector is a consumable so not covered by warranty or care+ which I have.
I could have an engineer visit, but as its a consumable they would charge £40 to replace.
In the end, the CS advised I remove the screen protector myself. This would not void any warranty.
Then, if I had any subsequent damage, to make a claim on care+
I used the Samsung Members App --> Support and then Text Chat.
I just read through the transcript and I actually started asking about another issue I had, which was that it wouldn't open completely flat and had lost the snap when you close it. I also mentioned in the chat the issue with the screen protector.
I had to send them pictures of the issues, and they arranged for the engineer visit. I got the same messages that it would cost me £40 if there wasn't a fault. When they guy came out he looked at the screen and said that it would need a new screen because "when you remove the screen protector they crack down the middle" which I thought was BS and I asked him if they was really the case. He ended up transplanting the motherboard from my phone into a new chassis with new screens and new batteries.
He said it needed a new screen, I didn't think it did...
As for the phone not opening fully, it wouldn't hold open like it did when it was new, not did it snap open the last 5 degrees when opening. Night and day difference when I got it back. Took about an hour to fix.
Maybe, if yours won't open fully, you could get the same repair done under warranty?
I started asking about the screen protector lifting as I didn't think they were going to do anything about the phone opening fully, as it was only a few degrees away from being flat, so I threw in the screen protector as well to cover my ass for the £40 as I read on Reddit that this was a warranty repair...
I actually thought the screen protector was the reason I got the warranty repair but after reading what you posted, it must have been the folding issue. I've just looked at I've deleted the photos I sent them, but the folding issue was very minor, which is why I thought the screen protector was my ace card.
flakmunky said:
I used the Samsung Members App --> Support and then Text Chat.
I just read through the transcript and I actually started asking about another issue I had, which was that it wouldn't open completely flat and had lost the snap when you close it. I also mentioned in the chat the issue with the screen protector.
I had to send them pictures of the issues, and they arranged for the engineer visit. I got the same messages that it would cost me £40 if there wasn't a fault. When they guy came out he looked at the screen and said that it would need a new screen because "when you remove the screen protector they crack down the middle" which I thought was BS and I asked him if they was really the case. He ended up transplanting the motherboard from my phone into a new chassis with new screens and new batteries.
He said it needed a new screen, I didn't think it did...
As for the phone not opening fully, it wouldn't hold open like it did when it was new, not did it snap open the last 5 degrees when opening. Night and day difference when I got it back. Took about an hour to fix.
Maybe, if yours won't open fully, you could get the same repair done under warranty?
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Apart from the screen protector coming up (it's only 3-4mm at the moment, but it's getting bigger) the phone has performed and behaved brilliantly. No issues with the hinge or folding/unfolding
I've just been on chat with them as mine has started lifting at the top and bottom of the fold. Was told it's not covered by the warranty, I could send it back to them and they would charge me for it, although couldn't tell me how much and they "might" be able to get it back to me in ten days. I told them I wasn't going to send it back without knowing how long or how much and that's where it ended.
frogdr1ver said:
I've just been on chat with them as mine has started lifting at the top and bottom of the fold. Was told it's not covered by the warranty, I could send it back to them and they would charge me for it, although couldn't tell me how much and they "might" be able to get it back to me in ten days. I told them I wasn't going to send it back without knowing how long or how much and that's where it ended.
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Yes. They offered me the same - with the same vagueness around timescales.
That's why I asked for an on-site engineer.
m_w_clarke said:
Yes. They offered me the same - with the same vagueness around timescales.
That's why I asked for an on-site engineer.
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Yep asked for that as well and they said no, I could either go to Stoke or send it in, checking online it looks like we don't have a door repair technician in Yorkshire.
Just an update; in the past 24 hours the bubble/peeling/rainbow effect has reached the whole length of the crease. So this morning, I decided to remove the screen protector.
Still a little nervous of having a naked screen - and at the moment my finger doesn't seem to glide as well on it.
I'll wait and see how things go
I peeled mine off yesterday and fitted the whitestone dome one, went on perfectly much to my surprise, feels great, my mate who has a fold as well commented that the screen looks sharper than his with the original one on.
Couple months ago air got between the inner screen protector and the screen along the crease like we've all seen before by other Fold 3 owners.
When I opened the Fold today I noticed a few dead pixels right in the middle of the inner screen. Closing and opening it again apparently killed the whole screen along the crease. The left side is still working, right side is completely dead.
I think the screen suffered a lot when opening the Fold. The screen protector probably moved a little bit every time I opened it and created some kind of pressure to the screen because of the air underneath. At least that's my explanation for it.
So if you've got air beneath your screen protector, replace it before your Fold ends like mine..
When mine started to peel out, I've just taken it out completely. I've assumed it's safer that way, so e.g. sand does not get between the protector and the screen.
It's ca month I'm using it without protector and all works great so far (also there are videos on YT saying that screen presents better without it, but nonetheless I would not remove it unless it peels out)
medikoo said:
When mine started to peel out, I've just taken it out completely. I've assumed it's safer that way, so e.g. sand does not get between the protector and the screen.
It's ca month I'm using it without protector and all works great so far (also there are videos on YT saying that screen presents better without it, but nonetheless I would not remove it unless it peels out)
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I read that you loose warranty if you remove it, that's why I didnt do it. Now that I have to send it in I don't want to risk Samsung rejecting it because I peeled it off, you know.
There's also no official store close to where I live where I could have replaced the screen protector.
Taking mine in on Monday as I started to get an air gap at the bottom of the hinge... Hope it holds out until then
I got mine in mint condition from Swappa and it had the inner screen protector with no issues but after about a month of heavy use it started coming up at the bottom in the crease so I just removed it because it was getting hair and pocket lint under it and making the screen look bad. So far months later I've had zero issues.
Considering I got this second hand, I never expected a warranty anyway so if anything were to happen I plan on either trading it in for something else or paying for a repair at a local shop or do it myself (I own my computer repair business and I could probably figure it out)
HeyHooBanana said:
Couple months ago air got between the inner screen protector and the screen along the crease like we've all seen before by other Fold 3 owners.
When I opened the Fold today I noticed a few dead pixels right in the middle of the inner screen. Closing and opening it again apparently killed the whole screen along the crease. The left side is still working, right side is completely dead.
I think the screen suffered a lot when opening the Fold. The screen protector probably moved a little bit every time I opened it and created some kind of pressure to the screen because of the air underneath. At least that's my explanation for it.
So if you've got air beneath your screen protector, replace it before your Fold ends like mine..
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wow! same exact thing happened to mine! looks identical! Had to tell samsung it happened out of nowhere im waiting on the RMA to return now> Thank you i was using a skinomi and yup air under the screen. you saved me future headache my friend thanks!
I have a Fold 4 that had some bad pixels on the inside screen. I called Samsung support and got told to go to a UbreakIfit store.
They took a day and when they handed me the device at 6 pm yesterday, the front screen was separating from the device. I showed them this and they took it back saying they forgot to heat up the glue that sticks the front screen.
They gave it back to me at almost 7 pm and it looked fine. When I got home the store was closed already and the phone was working really slow. Then I noticed that the front camera looked like it had condensation.
Now my phone is super slow, my front screen camera is not working and the front screen is again coming apart.
I called Samsung again 5 times. 3 times the people that answered didn't even listen to me. Didn't care what I had to say. One time I was directed to Care+ to spend 100$ to get my phone replaced. For a 1800$ phone this is really bad customer service.
Making me pay 100$ so I can still have a phone for the 7-12 business days that it takes to fix this is horrible customer service.
The last call I asked for a manager and got a lady which almost was laughing in my face and my wife's right next to me. I have been a Samsung buyer since the 1st galaxy, however I never had to deal with Samsung support before.
Samsung support is so bad it's like an ad for Apple.
Samsung support sucks elephant balls bad. The Fold displays are born to crack. Mostly the protective inner display cover but when it cracks it needs to be replaced or it will destroy the display. So expect that in 6-12 months. As you witnessed repairs aren't easy.
Last great flagship Sammy made in my opinion was the N10+. It's been downhill since then.
This N10+ will be 4yo in October, the only repair has been a replacement battery. It looks, feels and runs like new with well over 8k SOT hours on it... the display remains perfect. It's the only Samsung flagship I would reccomend even today.
I replace the inner protective layer with this, just install is carefully and it'll work better than the OEM.
DOME GLASS Whitestone GEN Film Screen Protector for Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 (2022) Anti-Bubble HD Clear Hard Coated PET Film Screen Guard https://a.co/d/i9r4Fij
I also used the chat feature to have mine initially replaced on my fold 3 a couple years ago. So yeah, they don't want to replacr it, but they will if you prrss and point out itls a known issue thats ALL OVER the internet.
Thr authorized repair is not fully Sammy's fault. Demand a different store, or they need to replace the device.