Horrible build quality

[dbett]

Originally Posted by johncc

They really are worried, aren't they? Can't imagine Pre/Treocentral admins bothering to highlight a thread on an iPhone board criticising the iPhone.

That's only because the iPhone is PERFECT. No one has had any hardware issues with any of the Billions of iPhones sold - because Apple's engineer's are infallible.

[JR_Rider]

Originally Posted by clipcarl

Umm, you need to go back and reread my post. I didn't say the iPhone doesn't need insurance. I said you can get insurance for it.

What I am saying is that the insurance you can get for only covers you if the device remains in your possession after the incident. Obviously if you device is lost or stolen that is not the case, rendering the insurance useless. If you have a car and it is insured if it is stolen you get back the value of the car. With the iPhone if it is lost or stolen even with insurance you get back nothing. And AT&T says you can put is on your homeowner's insurance......like that makes sense to file a homeowner insurance claim on a $700 phone??

[Beanis]

I bought 3 pre's, none of which have any build quality issues so I have to raise my eyebrow on this thread and am disgusted with how it's spread around the net tainting the Pre.

[clipcarl]

Originally Posted by JR_Rider

What I am saying is that the insurance you can get for only covers you if the device remains in your possession after the incident. Obviously if you device is lost or stolen that is not the case, rendering the insurance useless. If you have a car and it is insured if it is stolen you get back the value of the car. With the iPhone if it is lost or stolen even with insurance you get back nothing. And AT&T says you can put is on your homeowner's insurance......like that makes sense to file a homeowner insurance claim on a $700 phone??

That's incorrect. It's quite easy to get insurance that covers loss, theft aand accidental damage too. See this thread for more information on getting insurance for phones.

[clipcarl]

Originally Posted by Beanis

I bought 3 pre's, none of which have any build quality issues so I have to raise my eyebrow on this thread and am disgusted with how it's spread around the net tainting the Pre.

I'm on my 5th Pre and every single one has had build quality issues. Perhaps I'm just unlucky but the first 4 had big enough problems to exchange. The 5th has only a few minor problems so I'll probably keep it but even that one is below what I would normally accept for such an expensive item. But I simply have gotten tired of dealing with it so Palm wins this round.

[drjonesok]

I've owned a pre for 4 days and I'm fairly satisfied with my purchase. The webOS is great. My first pre had a few dead pixels and discoloration at the bottom of the screen. The discoloration would only appear if the phone got hot. The dead pixels were dead no matter what I did. The lady at the sprint store was reluctant to replace but she finally agreed.

My new pre's screen looks fine but the slider is fairly loose when it's closed. You can rotate the screen portion from the base in a clockwise or counter clockwise motion. The slider is pretty solid when the keyboard is out. It's annoying, but I'm not returning this one just because it's slider is loose.

It looks like the first batch of pres have some QC issues but I doubt this is hardly an issue 6 months from now.

BTW the sprint store lady told me you can only return your pre if the defect interferes with the use of the phone. So if you want to swap your pre out for a new one come up with a reason.

[clipcarl]

Originally Posted by drjonesok

...
BTW the sprint store lady told me you can only return your pre if the defect interferes with the use of the phone. So if you want to swap your pre out for a new one come up with a reason.

I believe this is, shall we say, purposeful misinformation. If you are within the 30 days you can return the phone for any reason at all. If they give you are a hard time just demand your money back and buy elsewhere. I did just that: Sprint hassled me about returning the phone so I demanded my money back and bought at Walmart. They (at least the Walmart to which I went) have plenty in stock if I need to exchange again and I don't even have to worry about hassling with a mail in rebate because they give it to you immediately.

[vara411]

Okay I know I've posted this a couple times but I want to make sure it gets coverage everywhere this stuff is mentioned. It seems that the fix for this is actually rather simple:
- With the phone CLOSED, press the two halves of the phone together.
- Keeping pressure, slowly slide the phone open and closed 1-2x.

This extremely primitive maneuver had my phone working like new again! There's still a bit of wobble if you twist the phone while closed (it did that even when new), but the gap should be significantly reduced. Try it!

[migs]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, I have been to several Sprint stores and all the demo units are falling apart! one model even had super glue holding it together. This makes me so sad I really want a Pre, hopefully Palm will improve the hardware soon otherwise I may wait for the Touch pro 2

[hrminer92]

Originally Posted by j1huynh

That's good. Someone should make a big deal out of it so Palm can quickly fix it.

how do you know that Palm hasn't already gotten Foxconn to address the issue?

[scott500]

Just my 2cents....I bought two about a week after release (they were yellow box units)..Anyway, not a single issue. They are working perfectly with only a small amount of movement in the screens after very very heavy use.

[brettbum]

Originally Posted by speedyops

There's your mistake. Don't let yourself get roped into that waiting list BS. If they have units in the store, they are able to exchange one right away. I know because they have done this for me twice already. If they insist, ask to speak to a manager.

Yeah, I agree with this. Was initially given some of that BS, but they had a replacement when I offered that I could simply cancel my account with sprint.

[Wirelessness]

Still going strong with NO hardware problems since launch day.

[BeauRegard]

So, if my Pre screen is starting to become loose (after being cared for like a $500 piece of equipment) and slightly spinning like an "oreo", should I return to the Sprint store for an exchange? I'm sure it would only increase if it's starting to loosen up after only three days. And since people are saying their Pre's are perfect, then I'm guessing it is a good idea to exchange my Pre.

I only ask because I'm afraid I'll end up with a Pre with less quality, but I'm also afraid of keeping a faulty phone. So please let me know what you think.

Thanks!

[jbrowland]

I am on my third pre and all three suffer from hardware issues like buttons breaking, screens cracking, horrid reception, wobble like CRAZY, random shut downs, the list goes on and on. I have been a Palm fan and palm smart phone user for about ten years and these issues never existed with older palm phones.

So why do I stay in this abusive relationship? When the Pre works I LOVE IT and the OS Rocks!!! The best OS ever.

I can live with some software issues and catching up to do but the hardware and reception issues make me cry!!!

[IMethos]

Shhhh you guys are making the stock drop!!

[preruk]

My pre's screen just doesn't work, randomly. And when the screen is disabled, the phone is still on. This is 10 days since I got it. The other pre I have is perfect.

I'm pretty sure, the build quality can be far better, up until this, the phone was awesome. Makes me think of what to do once 30 days gets closer, as clearly this is a manufacturing issue.

Let's hope Sprint always does the right thing by this.

[JRostek]

Hello everyone, im new to owning a Palm, ive always had a blackberry, most recently the 8330 from sprint...

So I bought a Pre earlier today around 5pm Eastern Time.
I went home and played around with it and installed the software update and checked out everything as a new phone owner would do... I installed a few applications made a few calls and sent some texts/emails.

I did a lot of research on the Pre before I bought it and read all of the problems that they have been having, regardless I couldn't resist WebOS. I noticed when I was installing the update my brand new Pre had about 6 or 7 dead/burnt out pixels already. I couldn't notice them any other time other then when it had that mostly black screen while installing the update so I decided ill just deal with it for now. At about 10 pm, five hours after purchasing the phone, the left slider on my Pre started getting loose. I got to work about an hour ago at 11pm and it is completely loose now. The slider is fine when it is open, but when it is closed it moved about 3 or 4 cm to the right. Now I have some mild OCD and I don't think I can deal with this. I contacted Palm and they said that all exchanges are free of charge and there is no limit to how many you do if the phone is actually defective.


Has anyone else had this many problems with the phone out of the box?

If so did sprint give you a $hit fit when you took it back?

Any input here would be greatly appreciated...

Any for any iPhone users.... please keep your comments to yourself!

[DougB541]

No hardware issues here. (first and only Pre)

[alan7467]

Originally Posted by vara411

Okay I know I've posted this a couple times but I want to make sure it gets coverage everywhere this stuff is mentioned. It seems that the fix for this is actually rather simple:
- With the phone CLOSED, press the two halves of the phone together.
- Keeping pressure, slowly slide the phone open and closed 1-2x.

This extremely primitive maneuver had my phone working like new again! There's still a bit of wobble if you twist the phone while closed (it did that even when new), but the gap should be significantly reduced. Try it!

Well, at least for my phone this advise actually worked great. I was getting a rather annoying amount of play with the phone closed, and while it's still there doing this got rid of a lot it! Thanks much for the suggestion.