Database Users

Easy Wobbly Screen Fix

As many of you guys have noticed with your G1s, there are some issues with the screen! From it wobbling to creaking and god knows what else will come up. I got my G1 exactly 1 week ago, and I have noticed that the screen is wobbly when the phone is closed. It might just be me, but I keep noticing it and think its annoying. So I decided to make a quick easy fix for it. All you need is some clear plastic sheet maybe half a millimeter thick, Elmer's glue and scissors.
Cut the sheet maybe 1 to 2 millimeters wide and a centimeter or so long and place it in the bottom corner of the phone's chin, next to the small bump from the memory card slot. I dont have pictures right now, but the idea is pretty basic and you should be able to figure it out on your own.
After, the phone feels a lot more solid and the wobbling is gone!

I was actually just thinking of doing something similar the other day. Although, laziness got the best of me :-T

Haha nicee, well when you do get to it you should get quite a noticeable difference, and it really doesn't take that long to do, maybe 5 minutes or so at the most. Currently I am looking into actually custom designed cases for the phone with designs on it. I really like the design on the back of the battery cover of the Developer edition phone and am looking into making something like that.

I have resolved this problem with a silicon case from ebay. It comes with 2 parts, one on the main body and one on the screen body. Now when the phone slides, the silicone parts are touching each other so there is no wobbling.

SolemnWishing said:
Haha nicee, well when you do get to it you should get quite a noticeable difference, and it really doesn't take that long to do, maybe 5 minutes or so at the most. Currently I am looking into actually custom designed cases for the phone with designs on it. I really like the design on the back of the battery cover of the Developer edition phone and am looking into making something like that.
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i had extra strips of universal screen protectors and used those. not only did it help with the squeaks. but it lined the screen up again. it always bothered me how it felt uneven while it was closed.
as for custom cases, count me in. i go through cases a little too quickly.

13bjunkie said:
i had extra strips of universal screen protectors and used those. not only did it help with the squeaks. but it lined the screen up again. it always bothered me how it felt uneven while it was closed.
as for custom cases, count me in. i go through cases a little too quickly.
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Haha sounds good! Do you have any idea on a good tool to use to actually make the design? I would say sharpie, but it really isn't as permanent as I would want it, it will fade away too quickly.

haha sharpie. that's the reason i go through cases like there's no tomorrow. slow days at work drive creativity lol. i even went to a friend's shop that prints and cuts vinyl graphics for cars and had them cut the same dimentions of the shield skins

I tried this, and didnt like the way my phone felt when I opened/closed it. It was too stiff, and hung.
I did this http://androidcommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?p=151499#post151499
This worked beautifully! and took me like 20 seconds.
I also didn't like putting glue on my $400 ADP1

Dredge said:
I tried this, and didnt like the way my phone felt when I opened/closed it. It was too stiff, and hung.
I did this http://androidcommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?p=151499#post151499
This worked beautifully! and took me like 20 seconds.
I also didn't like putting glue on my $400 ADP1
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That is pretty , much the same concept as my idea, except i used completely removable Elmer's glue, but which ever one works for you
And does anyone know where I can buy Developer edition battery covers?

2 Tips i thought of today at lunch!

Now i am sure that people have thought about this in the past but i searched the interwebs and have not seen anyone actually post this. I decided to spend my lunch time putting my G1 under the knife.
First of all. I am not responsible in any way for whatever YOU (the end user) does to your phone. Im not just a ass hat wanting people to break they're phones, but do this at your own risk.
now.
anyone that has ever been unable to hear the conversation normally (with your phone at your ear no speakerphone) might be able to benefit from this.
If you remember the 2g iphone trick of making the speakers louder this is essentially the same thing. get yourself a paper clip and bend one of the sides out so you have a poker. clean all the ear gungle out. then from the far left of the ear piece poke GENTLY through then sorta dig it out so you dont leave pieces behind. in the center of the hole you will run into a more solid piece leave it alone when you hit it. then you can repeat from just a touch left of the LED.
I did this and went outside my building (i work right next to a major freeway) for the first time i was able to hear my call VERY clearly. I was very excited.
okay now for the second tip.
This one is pretty useful for people who put the phone to their left ear. reason being is (at least for me) my finger always finds a way to leave prints on the camera cover.
simple fix.
take the battery cover off and use the rounded part of the paper clip you may have used earlier. get a square of Toilet paper and put a little force onto the camera cover from the INSIDE OF THE BATTERY COVER.
You will notice on the front that you can use your fingernail to peel the piece off.
The pictures i will add are at 1mp so most people can see them in full size on their monitors without having to zoom out/in or whatever.
once again. use at your own risk. let me know what you think!
The first two are with the cover on, and the second two are without.

Uhm I think you posted the wrong pictures or something because that is def. not a G1 haha.

crpercodani said:
Uhm I think you posted the wrong pictures or something because that is def. not a G1 haha.
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Actually, those are pictures demonstrating the difference with the camera cover on and off

not really worth it unless you got extra time and my lunch time is not... juss plain but yea nicce lil mods might try them out and post my results
umm nice system btw

Ohhh I see. I didn't read in your post that you were adding pictures to compare the difference, but geez it sure does make one. What about protection though? won't the lens be exposed?

crpercodani said:
Ohhh I see. I didn't read in your post that you were adding pictures to compare the difference, but geez it sure does make one. What about protection though? won't the lens be exposed?
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the camera eye has another cover over it. ive been using it this way now for a few days. doesnt seem all that more exposed.

That extra cover on the camera broke on my G1 a couple months ago. There's only one problem with this idea. If the back cover gets scratched it's pretty cheap to replace, if the camera lens gets scratched it's not so cheap.

Nice Fireberds btw. Looks like you keep your equipment clean. I have a similar playground here at the office

Loose screen

So my screen is really loose and this is my 2nd epic that has done this... Is there a way to get it repaired without getting a completely new phone?
I don't have insurance and don't feel like getting it just for this. I'm just very irritated by how loose it feels... Makes it feel very cheap
Sent from my Nexus S with a keyboard

Is your screen loose or is it the slider mechanism?

I should have specified better. It's the slider mechanism. Particularly the left side can have a gap 3-4x larger than if it was pressed flat against the keyboard + body.
It's bad enough to the point where if its slide out and we hit a bump on the bus, it makes a rattling sound from being so loose. It's particularly exaggerated when extended

You're pretty much going to have to take it back to sprint.
What are you doing to put so much wear on your slider mechanism?

I'm not exactly sure... I don't even use the physical keyboard much when swype is available. My first phone had the same issue but i took it back within my first 30 days.
This 2nd one I've had for 4 months now and its been an issue from the first 2 weeks. I keep the phone in my pocket and am starting to think that the back and forth stress of my pants / leg pushing on it is loosening it when i'm walking on campus (~1 mile a day of walking). I haven't dropped the phone once (either of the 2 for that matter) and pretty much treat it like a fragile piece of china (it feels that way... ) when i'm putting it down on a table.
It just comes across as being built very very poorly.

Mine is the sane way. When I push down on the left side to touch something thwpe whole top piece goes down with it. It's very loose and has a big gap if looking at it from the side. Mine has been like that since like he first wk. I just don't feel like taking it back in cause I have my phone setup perfectly.

loose bezel

Ive had my nexus s since launch an ive noticed that the bezel around my screen is loose. When i apply pressure on the sides of my phone like squeezin it alittle it creaks an moves some. I first thought it was the battery cover but when i remove it i can see the bezel moving. Anyone else notice this on theres?

I returned a couple different NS for various reason and some had a squeaky bezel and some didn't. None of them were loose enough where there was any significant movement. Sorry to say but it sounds like you have a defect. Call Samsung, I'm sure you're still under warranty. It takes a couple weeks between sending it out and getting it back but at least it will be fixed and hopefully working properly. Good luck.

i can't say it's normal, but i guess it's pretty commom, mine is like yours and other two pieces i have tested are a little more or less equal... the weird thing is some users notice and some don't. my friend's nexus is just like mine and he never noticed until i told him!

I've noticed that the plastic piece at the bottom of the phone (where the USB port and hole for the mic are) creaks a little when I push on it. Nothing I'm fretting over but enough to be noticeable.

I just looked at my friends an his is really bad on the sides. He thinks it might be from taking the battery cover off an on alot. I wish there was some way to tighten it cause its now starting to bug me but not enough to send to samsung. I cant go without a phone for a few weeks

just like i said! =o)... and no way i will send it to samsung!
i guess i will wait whole piece comes out so i'll fix it with superglue! =o)

Nexus7 power button fix

Introduction:
When a button mechanically clicks, that is the signal to you that you've done your part and you should expect the button to do its part. While I've seen this on several other devices, the Nexus7 2013 apparently has a widespread problem which manifests itself in "having to press the power button a certain way". This is caused by the glue used to assemble the buttons having seeped under the contacts.
Here's the fix.
You will need:
A gituar pick
Rubbing alcohol
A Q-Tip
Superglue
Instructions:
1. Remove the back cover from the device with a gitaur pick.
2. Peel up the tape/laminate covering the power button.
click for larger picture
3. Clean off both contact surfaces using rubbing alcohol.
click for larger picture
4. Reassemble the switch by replacing the tape
5. Using just a dab of glue on the edge of the button assembly, secure the button tape/lamination back into place.
6. Reassemble the device.
Conclusion:
And that's all there is to it. You may decide to skip the superglue during reassembly, but its a good idea to use it generally as removing the tape weakens the hold of the manufacturer's adhesive.
Make no mistakes, this is a manufacturing defect and you should have the ability to return the device to get a new one if you experience this problem. But, after this procedure, the power button should work easily, every time.

I was wondering if I was the only one!
So what else can we do while we are in there?

silentheero said:
I was wondering if I was the only one!
So what else can we do while we are in there?
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Xdatv is coming up on Wednesday and I will add that into here..

Glad to see the fix is easy. Not surprised to see the issue since Asus has just been making crap in terms of quality for a while now. Nexus 7 was better then I thought not having the crap asus quality but the new one has Asus all over it. Used Asus stuff for years and after the crap G75 laptop I had I will never get anything made by Asus. Sucks I wanted a new nexus 7 guess I'll wait till Samsung or lg or Motorola makes the third version.
Asus has just dropped off a cliff the past few years. They dident even go downhill they went from great to utter budget crap even the ROG line. Waiting to see the last great Asus products go down the same way. The Rog mobos. I was really hoping Google would push some weight saying they have to do some QC on the nexus 7.
Anyways great guide. But I'll add that on electronics you want 90%+ alch. Get the colorless with no scents added. Those leave traces behind. Should not matter on buttons like this but if anyone was wondering if they could use the red or green alch. I advise you to get the highest % with no colors or sents added. At my work for cleaning pcb's we use 98% but anything over 85% is great.

This is great to find out and I really want to do this as mine suffers from this problem quite badly but I'm hoping for just a bit more detail (and that it might be helpful for others as well).
Guitar picks come in all kinds of gauges. What did you use? (Or can you at least tell us if it was a heavy, med, or light by what manufacturer?)
Are the plastic pegs (or whatever is) holding the back on very fragile? And chance of a pic of the inside of the back so we can see where they are placed?
Thanks.

mjoa68 said:
This is great to find out and I really want to do this as mine suffers from this problem quite badly but I'm hoping for just a bit more detail (and that it might be helpful for others as well).
Guitar picks come in all kinds of gauges. What did you use? (Or can you at least tell us if it was a heavy, med, or light by what manufacturer?)
Are the plastic pegs (or whatever is) holding the back on very fragile? And chance of a pic of the inside of the back so we can see where they are placed?
Thanks.
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Medium is probly best. I've got a teardown video coming up on Monday.

AdamOutler said:
Medium is probly best. I've got a teardown video coming up on Monday.
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Thanks. Good to know there is a video coming. I got impatient and just went ahead anyway.
One thing I learned is to not start by the buttons if you can (even though the case is a bit weaker and more flexible there) because you can't really work your way around the bottom due to the usb port, and if you attempt to work your way around the top corner that has the camera in it you may very well crack the case there like I did. Didn't notice until I had it back on but there is a hair line crack running from the corner to the hole that the camera looks through. It's only noticeable if you really look for it and everything is held together just fine but thought I'd mention it in case it helps anyone else avoid the same mistake. I'd say that corner will be prone to that due to the camera hole being so close to corner edge that you are trying to pry off.
Once I finished I tried again with my brother's N7 but this time started opening from the long edge opposite the buttons and worked my way around the corner to the top edge. This allowed me to essentially just pull the case off the other top corner by the camera (with the help of a bit of careful prodding with the guitar pic) and then, once I'd freed the case from the top and sides, pull it downwards away from the USB port. (Probably obvious to most but I didn't really realize until I'd done the first one that the USB port anchors the case in place so the bottom edge must come off last, and be put back on first.)
Another thing to be aware of is that there is a very small black rubber grommet sitting over the microphone port (rectangular with a round hole in the middle). It fell off when I opened the first case but I just made sure to seat it properly before putting the case back on. It didn't move when I did the second case since I was a little less rough that time around but something to be aware of and look out for. It's pretty teeny and would be easy to lose without even noticing.
Happy to report that this really did the trick in both cases. Even though I couldn't see any glue on the contacts before cleaning, both units now wake/sleep with every click, whereas before it only worked 70-80% of the time.
I'm sure it will be worth waiting for the video Adam is planning but just thought I'd share in case anyone is as impatient as me.

mjoa68 said:
Thanks. Good to know there is a video coming. I got impatient and just went ahead anyway.
One thing I learned is to not start by the buttons if you can (even though the case is a bit weaker and more flexible there) because you can't really work your way around the bottom due to the usb port, and if you attempt to work your way around the top corner that has the camera in it you may very well crack the case there like I did. Didn't notice until I had it back on but there is a hair line crack running from the corner to the hole that the camera looks through. It's only noticeable if you really look for it and everything is held together just fine but thought I'd mention it in case it helps anyone else avoid the same mistake. I'd say that corner will be prone to that due to the camera hole being so close to corner edge that you are trying to pry off.
Once I finished I tried again with my brother's N7 but this time started opening from the long edge opposite the buttons and worked my way around the corner to the top edge. This allowed me to essentially just pull the case off the other top corner by the camera (with the help of a bit of careful prodding with the guitar pic) and then, once I'd freed the case from the top and sides, pull it downwards away from the USB port. (Probably obvious to most but I didn't really realize until I'd done the first one that the USB port anchors the case in place so the bottom edge must come off last, and be put back on first.)
Another thing to be aware of is that there is a very small black rubber grommet sitting over the microphone port (rectangular with a round hole in the middle). It fell off when I opened the first case but I just made sure to seat it properly before putting the case back on. It didn't move when I did the second case since I was a little less rough that time around but something to be aware of and look out for. It's pretty teeny and would be easy to lose without even noticing.
Happy to report that this really did the trick in both cases. Even though I couldn't see any glue on the contacts before cleaning, both units now wake/sleep with every click, whereas before it only worked 70-80% of the time.
I'm sure it will be worth waiting for the video Adam is planning but just thought I'd share in case anyone is as impatient as me.
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Awesome instructions! I couldn't have stated it better. It really is a tight case though. I think starting near the buttons is fine but I worked around the top corner.

AdamOutler said:
Awesome instructions! I couldn't have stated it better. It really is a tight case though. I think starting near the buttons is fine but I worked around the top corner.
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Yes, it is definitely much easier to get into the case starting near the buttons as there's more flex to it there. I suppose a better way to say it might be that if you can get started on the opposite side you will avoid possibly cracking it near the camera like I did. But you'd probably be fine starting near the buttons as long as you're very careful (and not as clumsy or impatient as I was ) working around that first corner.

I aint never had to open up anything like this and will have to to replace my screen. So glad I found this thread first and will be sure to check out the unboxing video before I do. and Yes isopropyl is a much better cleaner than other alcohol based solutions. Gonna do them buttons while Im in there.
I would not be nearly as daring to attempt any of this without the guidance from seasoned members. Thank you so much!!

Thank you so much! the power and volume buttons worked again flawlessly!
But I damaged my N7 13's thin black metal like bezels around the screen when I'm trying to open it, that stuff is really fragile :/

i did this, but i also placed on the power button contact a small piece of 'thickener'... in my case it came from a double sided tape. the sticky part contact on the power button contact, and the other side which has the cover (of the double sided tape), i didn't remove that cover. effectively, a small 'thickener'. then close back the device. fixed!

Adam, a quick question on this power/volume button thread. I got my Nexus 7 2013 version very briefly wet - I mean for a micro second. It does charge, but it won't power up. I can get it into bootloader and the volume buttons work, however, the power button does not. Is there a good way to test the power button using a multimeter or, should I just go ahead and replace the power button/volume button strip completely and hope that does the trick?
Thanks!
Chris

Chris: wet Nexus 7 bootloader only with volume buttons
Hi Chris,
My nan also got her tablet wet and can only access the bottloader with the volume buttons. Did you find a solution to make the power button work in the end? I've got a very useless paper weight sat around :/
Mike

I lost the rubber mic grommet replacing a cracked screen even knowing it was there. After 20 plus years coding with shot eyes, I paid my 2 nephews to come over and crawl around to find it (wife's phone - nuff said). Still took over an hour to find. So I put a small amount of rubber adhesive around the edges to make it fit snug. I've had it apart 4 times since and it stays put.
Sent from Ponius using XDA-Developers Legacy app