[GSM] 6 Weeks on - Build Quality

[c_man]

Originally Posted by c_man

Seems like I'm not the only one then.
Must be a case of bad batches, with my local store having taken delivery of the majority



Go in. That way you can demonstrate your frustrations to them first hand. Let them see it for themselves. Then ask if they'd expect that from a phone that is worth over £450.
This may help you too: http://forums.precentral.net/gsm-pre...pping-pre.html

Good luck, keep us posted. If its your first return, they should swap it out for a brand new box there and then.

I'm not sure I'm looking forward to receiving my Pre after it's been with 3rd party repair engineers (Google search shows they're not too good) who probably scratch their **** all day and then proceed to handle our precious phones ...

To give an update on this.

O2 Store took phone off me on 30th Nov.
Anovo received phone on 2nd Dec.
Anovo texted me this morning to tell me they've dispatched it.
O2 Store called me this afternoon to say its ready for collection - meaning it was dispatched by Anovo yesterday really.
11 days isn't so bad. But Anovo have had it for just 3 days of the 11.

Whether it was 11 days worth waiting for , we shall see.
I'm expecting the Pre to come back in the same state with a comment "this (oreo effect) is not a fault but an aspect of design". Will be truely gutted if it comes back worse....

[c_man]

WELL... just got back from the O2 Store having picked up my Pre.

Packaged well from the repair monkeys...

...and its great!!!

NO MORE OREO!

I received a letter with the package which stated the engineers established/uncovered A FAULT with the slider mechanism and thus fixed it. As a matter of courtesy they upgraded the phone la la la. One disappointing thing is that they also decided the keypad was due a replacement, and replaced it with a bloody 'refurbed' one!! grrr...

But the main thing is, no more Oreo effect The phone feels as tight as ....well, we'd all expect it to be.

[mastahaze]

no more wobble? watch out mate. what is interesting in my view is the wobble only!!!
My pre never ever started to "oreo" itself...but like to wobble from left to right a little bit!
It would be very useful (from our point of view at least) to know how they repaired yours!
great news anyway! happy for you mate!

[c_man]

Originally Posted by mastahaze

no more wobble? watch out mate. what is interesting in my view is the wobble only!!!
My pre never ever started to "oreo" itself...but like to wobble from left to right a little bit!
It would be very useful (from our point of view at least) to know how they repaired yours!
great news anyway! happy for you mate!

^ Grazie tanto!

Yeah, the important thing to note is whether their 'fix' was long term or not.
At the moment, with it being subjected to around 10hours use, I don't think it was. There is probably about 0.2mm Oreo right now. I'm of course over the moon with that as I deem that more than acceptable for a slider phone (still, my Nokia 8800 had zero Oreo even after 2 years daily use - ball bearing slider mechanism ).

With more use I expect the Pre to loosen up a bit - and I would put this down to general poor build quality, which is what this thread is all about.
Still its nothing to around the 2-3mm Oreo it had out of the box.

Sorry, but the letter the repair centre provide is very generic, they inform you they fixed something but not how or why or the reason behind certain replacements (i.e. they replaced my keypad - not sure why!!).

I tried examining the back of the phone with battery out but could not see any physical indications of modification. None at all. The screws didnt even look like they'd been touched (but I guess they would've been removed...??).

[amjz]

i wonder if the Vibration motor makes the Pre to loosen up a bit after period of time! i mean dose the Vibration motor affects the slider mechanism?!!

Dose anybody knows where the Vibration motor located in Pre? near Slider clips or where?

[mastahaze]

hi mate
you can check it out here, courtesy of Phonewreck.com
phoneWreck » Palm Pre Teardown and Analysis – Review coming Soon!

BTW C_man, I'm still studying a method to reduce the wobble and oreo (i think they are strictly related in my opinion) effects with a homemade method... Let you all know if I'm going to be success (actually I'm still tryng a lot of method) I really love the webOS, don't want to change brand, but also cannot send back to germany risking another defective unit. there should be a way to fix it definitely...there is ALWAYS a way. I'm not waiting for palm to fix it.

[kyll05]

Originally Posted by mastahaze

hi mate
you can check it out here, courtesy of Phonewreck.com
phoneWreck » Palm Pre Teardown and Analysis – Review coming Soon!

BTW C_man, I'm still studying a method to reduce the wobble and oreo (i think they are strictly related in my opinion) effects with a homemade method... Let you all know if I'm going to be success (actually I'm still tryng a lot of method) I really love the webOS, don't want to change brand, but also cannot send back to germany risking another defective unit. there should be a way to fix it definitely...there is ALWAYS a way. I'm not waiting for palm to fix it.

Can I share with you my take on the oreo problem? I think it's to do with the fact that there are actually 3 rails on the pre ( two visible from the back, 1 on the other side). Looking at the last picture in the phonewreck link,



you can see there is a rail right in the middle of the device located closer to the left side of the phone when you look at it from the front. Because of the fact that it is off centred, there is a certain amount of torque ( sorry about the use of the word it's been a few years since I studied newtonian physics) and hence on many pres there's a overhang on the right side i.e. you can see the edge of the bottom part because the pre oreo-ed due to this force, exposing it. I have this overhang as well , so I m waiting for my sprint case to arrive for my UK pre.

I know I'm not 100% correct, so anyone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[manutdonline]

i've got a new palm pre bought just less than a week ago and its got roughly a 2mm oreo when closed.. personally I wouldn't really call this a fault as it's not really a big deal to me but i was just wondering if that's acceptable or should i be up in arms and marching to my local store for a replacement?

It's hard to believe that slider phones don't have some sort of "loose-ness" to allow for the sliding to take place.

[c_man]

Not so good news, guys.
Before I had the Oreo and the over hang mostly visible on the top left of the phone (as you look at the screen) - so the phone would pivot form its 'straight' position toward the left from the top of the phone/screen.

Well now its been 2 days I can confirm the issue is back. This time its the opposite side - so from its nornal 'straight' position it now Oreo's towards the right at the top and left from the bottom of the phone.

So its almost like they, the engineers, tightened the phone from the area I complained about but then released more slack from the area that was okay when I sent the phone off.

When the phone is extended, its perfectly tight. Just when its closed it is loose.

Pretty annoying. I will live with it for now - as it seems the the O2 Store and Engineers have owned the damn phone for longer than I have!!! .... and maybe submit for repair in 2010...

Originally Posted by mastahaze

BTW C_man, I'm still studying a method to reduce the wobble and oreo (i think they are strictly related in my opinion) effects with a homemade method... Let you all know if I'm going to be success (actually I'm still tryng a lot of method) I really love the webOS, don't want to change brand, but also cannot send back to germany risking another defective unit. there should be a way to fix it definitely...there is ALWAYS a way. I'm not waiting for palm to fix it.

Yes, please keep us updated!

Originally Posted by manutdonline

i've got a new palm pre bought just less than a week ago and its got roughly a 2mm oreo when closed.. personally I wouldn't really call this a fault as it's not really a big deal to me but i was just wondering if that's acceptable or should i be up in arms and marching to my local store for a replacement?

2mm sounds familiar. If it is acceptable for you thats the main thing. Personally I find it annoying that a 'premium' phone has this much slack. See my point below...

Originally Posted by manutdonline

It's hard to believe that slider phones don't have some sort of "loose-ness" to allow for the sliding to take place.

I suggest you look at the Nokida 8800 for comparison. Extremely tight slider mechanism after years of use. No flex. No slack. Perfect build quality. Granted it wasn't 'curved' like the Pre but knowing that some Pre's have Oreo out of the box and some are perfectly tight out of the box only points to the manufacturing process, quality control and bulid quality.

[mastahaze]

agree with you mate about manufacturing process, quality control and bulid quality.
I spent 480 euros for this phone and I'm still asking myself how an high end device like this can be sold without any recall...mhh sound strange. there are some EU countries where a product like this will be recalled in first instance because it cannot match the basic quality controls. sound strange that this thing isn't yet popped up in places like UK and Germany.BTW, I'll explain my attempts to limitate the oreo and wobble as soon as i'll be home this afternoon (italian time...of course)
I had few ideas. very quickly: add thickness to rubberized guides with a very thin material, but cannot find any that thin (no superglue please!!!) - A plastic or composite material to keep the two feets "on stage" making impossible to turn - add rubberized feet where the two slider feet of the phone rest when the phone is closed... - add a rubber profile externally the two feets pushing to the center of the phone (in both sides)....and so on...
mhh...hard work. but I'm sure we'll win in the end. we are too much people loving the phone and trying to patch it.
Later for more news and eventually some graphical ideas.

[peabrain]

darn, was going to give my phone in to repairs, but if its just going to happen again whats the point

maybe we should tell the BBC watchdog, if they provide some pressure maybe o2 will replace all wobbly phones for non wobbles ..............maybe!

yeah its ashame the device is built so badly, the last phone that i had that was this bad was the motorola startac, but that was over 10 YEARS ago!

at the end of the day we're paying alot of money for this phone and service, and its just not right that it should sooo

[mastahaze]

Ok, yesterday afternoon i did some tryouts for this defect affecting our pre.
Sadly I did a lot of them but had no success at all.
The main problem in my opinion is this: when twisting the opposite guide foot remain still. this made me think that when twisting the screen, the foot rotate ON the rivet.
BTW I'm still searching some particular material.
The only other solution (the night bring advices) i came up to is to elaborate the battery making a sort of counter rails in the bottom side, that will act as filler and board, making it impossible movement for the slider foot (except the vertical one for sliding out the keys)
Watch out for my AUTOCAD layout! (just joking, actually is just a sketch )

I think you all are smart enough to understand what the image is.
The blue pieces will be the new metal or plastic rails watching down and filling the right and left spacing from where the battery is placed to the initial edge of the feets.
It must be probably attached to the battery if they (palm) won't modify the battery layout, and must be a very very tiny and precise piece, but in my humble opinion it could work out the problem.
Attention. I've tryed various thickness with test materials, and if you have an idea of how to make this mod permanently, you must be precise to the millimeter, or the added thickness will push down the screen accentuating the oreo (btw this a fix for the wobble, for me the oreo is a consequence.
What are your opinions about this mod?
let me know mates! I hope we're closer to the solution!
But we betta start talk about those methods and studies under oreo effect thread. we are going urely off topic. me first.

[krakajak]

I can't believe this has happened. If you check the oreo effect thread in here guys, you will see I'm on my 3rd Palm Pre since October 16th.

I've just been transferring some pics to my PC using USB, and now guess what, the touchscreen no longer responds, except with a USB wire inserted (even if the wire isn't connected to the computer!).

I've tried resetting etc, but this is obviously a hardware issue, I'm so ****ed off. I've tried to persevere with the Pre and hope that maybe I was just unlucky with 1 or 2 bad ones, but I really can't be arsed with a 4th. I've never been an iPhone guy but I'm bloody left with no choice anymore. Palm need to sort themselves out because the amount of problems I've had with the Pre is just ridiculous.

[mastahaze]

I'm so sorry for you mate.
Onestly i bought one from ebay as soon as it was available from o2 germany, and except for a little software problem (updating from 1.1.3 to 1.3.1) that forced me to reset the device, and a little bit of wobble, I had no problem at all.
But agree with you, palm need to sort out where the problems are, and release a new hardware revision.
Mine is HW revision A, so I can tell that our units in europe are the same of our brothers in the US.
with minor correction, sure, but still a lot problematic for the majority of people.
I knock on wood for luck after i wrote i had no major problems....

[krakajak]

This will doubtless be my last post on here.. exchanged at the o2 store for an iPhone 3GS, gutted really, much preferred the Palm way of things, will sorely miss webos!

Ah well, best of luck to you all with your Pre's!

[Adam Carr]

Originally Posted by krakajak

This will doubtless be my last post on here.. exchanged at the o2 store for an iPhone 3GS, gutted really, much preferred the Palm way of things, will sorely miss webos!

Ah well, best of luck to you all with your Pre's!

Just curious really, was this a straight swap or did you have to pay extra ...? And under what conditions did they allow you to swap, the fact you're on your 3rd pre and it still is defective?

Sorry to hear what has hapenned to you, I'm quite the oppositte, hav had my gsm pre since launch day and have had zero problems. No wobble in the slightest, though I don't want to tempt fate but the phone is really solid!

[c_man]

Originally Posted by Shadow-360

Just curious really, was this a straight swap or did you have to pay extra ...? And under what conditions did they allow you to swap, the fact you're on your 3rd pre and it still is defective?

If you've had your Pre for 14 days or less they will swap/replace it with another Pre or something equivalent, iPhone, no questions asked.
Up to 28 days and its still possible but requires a few questions to be asked.
Over 28 days and your chances are slim.

^ Thats what I was told by O2 store manager.

Coincidentally, the O2 Store that swapped my Pre 3 times told me they had loads of opened Pre boxes in the back that they are sending back. When I asked why, they replied that many people are returning their Pre's and getting an iPhone instead due to 'not getting on with it' or being disappointed with its build quality.

So it seems like 'krakajak' isn't the only guy/girl to swap his/her Pre for an iPhone. Which really sucks, because it shows that the Pre was first choice!!!

[peabrain]

cant we just put some foam or sponge on the rails?
i really should have got insurance with the phone
i'll have to see if my home insurance covers it......

[krakajak]

Originally Posted by Shadow-360

Just curious really, was this a straight swap or did you have to pay extra ...? And under what conditions did they allow you to swap, the fact you're on your 3rd pre and it still is defective?

Sorry to hear what has hapenned to you, I'm quite the oppositte, hav had my gsm pre since launch day and have had zero problems. No wobble in the slightest, though I don't want to tempt fate but the phone is really solid!

I had to pay the difference between the two phones, but this was offset by me returning the touchstone so it was only £45ish for the 16GB. Like I say, the 3GS was my only alternative, the only other touchscreen smartphone with a bit of style.

My first 2 Pre's I returned due to wobbliness, and the 3rd was because the touchscreen would only respond when a USB cable was inserted. The customer service person told me all they could do was send it off for repair, and that his manager would say the same. So I asked for the manager, eventually he came and I ranted on for a bit about how I'm not happy with the constant returns, said it wasn't fit for purpose. He was pretty good about it and said he'd ring the area manager, which he did, and luckily they picked up and were fine about it! Took a while to transfer the tarriffs because iPhone ones are different, but got there in the end.

I feel like I've betrayed all my Palm buds over here. If there was a jailbreak to stick webos on the iPhone, I'd do it in an instant!

[peabrain]

Originally Posted by krakajak

I had to pay the difference between the two phones, but this was offset by me returning the touchstone so it was only £45ish for the 16GB. Like I say, the 3GS was my only alternative, the only other touchscreen smartphone with a bit of style.

My first 2 Pre's I returned due to wobbliness, and the 3rd was because the touchscreen would only respond when a USB cable was inserted. The customer service person told me all they could do was send it off for repair, and that his manager would say the same. So I asked for the manager, eventually he came and I ranted on for a bit about how I'm not happy with the constant returns, said it wasn't fit for purpose. He was pretty good about it and said he'd ring the area manager, which he did, and luckily they picked up and were fine about it! Took a while to transfer the tarriffs because iPhone ones are different, but got there in the end.

I feel like I've betrayed all my Palm buds over here. If there was a jailbreak to stick webos on the iPhone, I'd do it in an instant!

lol

congrats! i'd probably do the same if i could but ah well, we'll see how things fan out!