Related
My screen alignment issue is not the same as the reported "upper right corner pressed down" instead, my screen is always pressed down on the left side. So if I if press the screen anywhere the screen registers all the way to the left. occasionally the screen will align correctly, but only in one mode. if i align the screen in portrait, and then change to landscape, the alignment is off. The weirdest thing is while playing solitaire, i will drag a card off the deck, and leave my sytlus at the same point, and the card will jump around as if i am moving the stylus. I have done the "business card" trick, and while it works sometimes, the left side issue comes back. any ideas?
chasx003 said:
My screen alignment issue is not the same as the reported "upper right corner pressed down" instead, my screen is always pressed down on the left side. So if I if press the screen anywhere the screen registers all the way to the left. occasionally the screen will align correctly, but only in one mode. if i align the screen in portrait, and then change to landscape, the alignment is off. The weirdest thing is while playing solitaire, i will drag a card off the deck, and leave my sytlus at the same point, and the card will jump around as if i am moving the stylus. I have done the "business card" trick, and while it works sometimes, the left side issue comes back. any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well actually you have the original and best known screen alignment problem. (the pressed down top right corner issue is a well known but different matter though possibly related)
There is NO solution guaranteed to work. If you have done the business card trick and tried slackening the two screws that show on the back of the screen then your next step will involve dismantling or sending for repair.
Keep in mind however that neither dismantling nor even sending for repair is guaranteed to work. Some who sent for repair had the entire screen and cable replaced and it either made no diference or worked for a while only to fail after as little as a few days.
If you dismantle there is really a limited number of things to try:
Check the d/pad connector. Remove and re-seat it absolutly flat and even in its connector (neither under nor over tighten the two screws)
You can try replacing screen and digitizer - but it's a gamble - not guaranteed to work.
In some cases it is thought there maybe a component failure in the d/pad board, the digitizer circuit or on the m/board. If this is true in your case thento be honest unless you are an electronics guru then you'd be cheaper buying a second hand but working TyTn rather than start replacing boards one at a time until you solve the problem.
Numerous case were reported in the early days and every other day posts would appear with "I've solved my screen alignment issue" Sadly all to often these were followed up with a post saying " it lasted two days, but it's back again"
So by all means try the suggested solutions, but be prepared for failure and I personally would not start spending too much cash on new boards, lcd etc.
Mike
mikechannon said:
Well actually you have the original and best known screen alignment problem. (the pressed down top right corner issue is a well known but different matter though possibly related)
There is NO solution guaranteed to work. If you have done the business card trick and tried slackening the two screws that show on the back of the screen then your next step will involve dismantling or sending for repair.
Keep in mind however that neither dismantling nor even sending for repair is guaranteed to work. Some who sent for repair had the entire screen and cable replaced and it either made no diference or worked for a while only to fail after as little as a few days.
If you dismantle there is really a limited number of things to try:
Check the d/pad connector. Remove and re-seat it absolutly flat and even in its connector (neither under nor over tighten the two screws)
You can try replacing screen and digitizer - but it's a gamble - not guaranteed to work.
In some cases it is thought there maybe a component failure in the d/pad board, the digitizer circuit or on the m/board. If this is true in your case thento be honest unless you are an electronics guru then you'd be cheaper buying a second hand but working TyTn rather than start replacing boards one at a time until you solve the problem.
Numerous case were reported in the early days and every other day posts would appear with "I've solved my screen alignment issue" Sadly all to often these were followed up with a post saying " it lasted two days, but it's back again"
So by all means try the suggested solutions, but be prepared for failure and I personally would not start spending too much cash on new boards, lcd etc.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the fast reply. I figure I might as well try dissembling, since I'm pretty sure I have no warranty.
Are there any guides to (preferably with pictures) that would show me how to check the various connections you recommended? i'm also not very experienced with electronics and would be worried about re assembling the phone, how difficult would this be? Thanks again!
Also I'd like to note that the screen is only an issue when the keyboard is closed. If I slide the keyboard out just a little, the screen alignment issue goes away (well sorta, the alignment isn't accurate, but its also not all the way to the left of the screen)
Use the links on the bottom of Mike's post. He's the Tech Wiz here and has all the technical suff you need posted on his web site..
Mike rules...
Hi all,
Looks like my Sprint Vogue is flaking out on me. The touchscreen is suddenly and without warning not working at all. Everything else works (all other buttons, activesync, all functions). I'd like to do a hard reset before giving up on it, but I'd really like to sync my contacts/messages/photos/etc before doing that. So here's the problem- I use Dashwire to sync, and I'm unable to hit the "SYNC NOW" button!
Any ideas on how to switch to and activate the bottom left and bottom right menu buttons without being able to touch them? For example, the Inbox and Menu buttons on the Mail app screen, or Album/Slideshow on the Photos and Videos screen? If I can get to those I'll be able to activate the sync. Any help would be great!
Thanks,
Bogus
There is a application called "MyMobiler" which allows you to control your phone over ip/usb/bluetooth. If i remember correctly launching the installer on your pc while your phone is connected to activesynch will install it without having to press anything.
Awesome, thank you. That did exactly what I needed it to!
Once it finishes sync'ing I'll give the reset a shot and see if the screen is really borked or not.
No problem glad i could help. If the touchscreen refuses to work you might wanna try replacing it. The part is called a digitzer and they go for 15-20 dollars online. I bought one and it wasn't difficult at all to replace.
Yeah, that's the plan. Hard reset didn't fix the problem, so I'm guessing that part is busted. Between this site and PPCG I found the guide for taking apart the phone, so it's looking like I'll be doing some minor surgery in a few days.
bogus83 said:
Yeah, that's the plan. Hard reset didn't fix the problem, so I'm guessing that part is busted. Between this site and PPCG I found the guide for taking apart the phone, so it's looking like I'll be doing some minor surgery in a few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would the touch screen instantly not work?
maybe someone let it fall and put it back to normal like nothing happened
and i know what u mean.I dont wanna give up my vogue. EVER,
but im 15...by the time im 30, i wont remember what vogue is.LOL.
Actually, it seems to have developed a very small air bubble in the very upper left corner. I'm pretty sure that's causing the digitizer to think there's constant pressure in that area, evidenced by the "Start" menu occasionally activating when I turn on the phone. I ordered a new digitizer anyway- the set of torx screwdrivers I'd need to open the case cost the same as a new digitizer and the screwdriver I need. I don't really understand how the air bubble formed (or even what it is contained in), but one way or another I'll resolve the problem next week.
And I just turned 26- I'm sure by the time I'm 30 I'll be sporting a Touch Pro 4 running Windows Mobile 8.5
Well, the digitizer and tools came much faster than I'd anticipated (I won the auction on eBay on Friday, paid same day, and got it in the mail today, shipped from CA to NY!). So I dove right in. It was a straightforward affair- remove the four torx screws from the back under the cover, remove the speaker, pry open the front from the mainboard, disconnect the keypad circuit board from the mainboard and the digitizer from the keypad board, push out the old digitizer, swap in the new one and hook it all back up.
Not for the faint of heart to be sure, but for someone who likes to tinker it was a lot of fun. Took maybe 15 minutes because prying the case from the mainboard was difficult. More accurately, the top plastic case is extremely thin and fragile- if you do this you'll almost definitely crack it in at least one place. If not, you'll crack it pushing the digitizer out from behind. But I'm not that worried about cosmetics, I got my Vogue second-hand off-contract, refurbished, so it wasn't exactly mint to begin with.
On the plus side, the repair worked like a charm! I tested every touch feature I could think of and as many areas of the screen as I could, it actually seemed to respond better than when I initially got the phone. The odd part is I could still see the air bubble in the old screen, and couldn't flatten it out even by squeezing on both sides of it. I wish I knew how it formed so I could prevent it from happening again, but I'll just have to be careful.
So to anyone considering this project:
If you're worried about damaging the casing and have insurance or a warranty or something like that, take it to the phone company to get it repaired.
For anyone else, the $15 bucks for the screen and three tools is a lot cheaper than buying a new phone. Plus you get the geek cred for repairing your own phone.
Guys I did some search job today and have a possible final solution to the back button problem.
Luckily this is also in the forum posted by user ID:insaneturbo13
his thread is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=833663
He is a Samsung Captivate user, right. Since I think if nexus s have met with is annoying problem, other samsung phones may either. So I did some search job in bed with my insensitive-back-button Nexus S, and found the Epic 4G, Samsung Focus, Captivate, etc. Almost all samsung phones got users annoyed by the problem.
Then I searched the Youtube to see if there is any Samsung user had ever achieved some success in solving the issue, and I found.(You won't know how terrible it is when you have to use a U.S VPN just to watch Youtube since it is blocked in here China mainland... really slow speed...together with facebook and twitter...ToT)
My understanding to the cause is: The picture of the back button is a thin line with an arrow, so the inside paint here may over-cover this thin line, which will definitely make the touch action less sensitive. And that's why there are less people got such problem with the other three keys.
And since capacitive buttons actually respond with the obvious temperature difference, so many frustrated nexus s users like me found under warmer environment the problem is less annoying...
Maybe this is only workable for insensitive problem. But hopefully this is a way.
Since I am a Chinese, it's impossible for me to have an exchange with the Bestbuy. So this is my only solution. But for most of you, it's highly recommended to take several exchanges before you definitely want to try this way.
Of course, try this at your own risk
what i did was tighten up the screws on the back of the phone... especially in the lower part of the phone. I haven't seen the issue since and initially it was a pretty often issue for me.
bogdi1988 said:
what i did was tighten up the screws on the back of the phone... especially in the lower part of the phone. I haven't seen the issue since and initially it was a pretty often issue for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this is also a good way to solve the problem especially when you dont have to take to phone apart~
The theory may be the same, which is to make the distance between your touch and the module inside shorter cuz there is a piece of rubber under the button position so it can be possible~~
Thanks for sharing this way Dude~~~
bogdi1988 said:
what i did was tighten up the screws on the back of the phone... especially in the lower part of the phone. I haven't seen the issue since and initially it was a pretty often issue for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how did you access the screws at the bottom to tighten them?
Take off the battery cover. You have 6 bright screws around the edges of the phone. Tighten those up.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Although, I know this is not gonna help, but it comes from personal experience.
In the beginning, I used to be haunted by the silly back button "bizarre".
I factory reset the phone then voila. It's gone.
The reason I am confident to post this is, my brother's phone was fixed in
a same way as well. I know, I can be just lucky, but I just wanted to share.
bogdi1988 said:
Take off the battery cover. You have 6 bright screws around the edges of the phone. Tighten those up.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, I decided to watch the video on how to take apart the phone this morning, didn't do it, but it covered the screw access for the hidden 2 screws.
tightened the screws what little bit I could without fear of breaking something (they were already pretty tight), but it made no noticable difference.
I actually got my phone a few days before they were launched (friend is at&t store manager), so I 've been living with it as long as they have been available. it's annoying, and did get a little better with froyo, but not bad enough for me to tear apart the phone and risk damage to the screen...
droptopmas said:
thanks, I decided to watch the video on how to take apart the phone this morning, didn't do it, but it covered the screw access for the hidden 2 screws.
tightened the screws what little bit I could without fear of breaking something (they were already pretty tight), but it made no noticable difference.
I actually got my phone a few days before they were launched (friend is at&t store manager), so I 've been living with it as long as they have been available. it's annoying, and did get a little better with froyo, but not bad enough for me to tear apart the phone and risk damage to the screen...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are no hidden or covered screws and the phone doesn't need to be taken apart.
look here: http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/BJtxWYS4NMaMyMKL.medium
these are the 6 screws
Mine just started this thing where it presses the back button by itself. Pretty anoying and is making the phone useless. I can't do anything without it just hammering on the back button.
hi everyone,
i'm new to this forum, and joined to see if anyone has been successful in fixing the back button issue...
i've followed some of the advice from previous posts (tightening screws, reset factory settings, updating the OS) but still no luck.
hoping that someone might have discovered a fix (apart from returing the device!) they could share.
thanks!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hi everyone,
After posting the thread above, I updated OS to 2.3.3 and now back button is working fine.... I waited for a couple of weeks before confirming this, so hopefully anyone still waiting on a fix could try what I did. This seems to be a software problem more than anything else...
btw - 2.3.3 noticeably washes out colours, and there's a yellow/green tinge to white space. awful.
sadkorean34 said:
Although, I know this is not gonna help, but it comes from personal experience.
In the beginning, I used to be haunted by the silly back button "bizarre".
I factory reset the phone then voila. It's gone.
The reason I am confident to post this is, my brother's phone was fixed in
a same way as well. I know, I can be just lucky, but I just wanted to share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
I did the same and the problem has gone - just realised after reading your post that factory reset solved this problem.
My phone is constantly on 3G but whenever it dips into Edge or has a weak data signal I notice the back button issue as well. And I tried a factory reset but it did
not fix the problem on 2.3.3
Back button issue
There are a few longer threads in this forum about the back button issue on the Nexus S -- for some people the back button doesn't work at all, and for others it turns on all by itself. There were a few replies from a Google employee (ryguy) who said it would be fixed in an upcoming OTA update, etc. but some reported having problems AFTER getting 2.3.2 when the problem didn't exist before. There are also other reports of tightening the screws on the back of the phone, which haven't tried but seemed to improve things for people whose back button WASN'T working at all.
For my phone around 2-3 weeks after buying it I had the back button come on all by itself. I fixed it by doing hard resets, as suggested on an earlier thread that deals with this issue (it's like 10 pages long but has the complete story of everyone's experience and fixes with this issue). Anyway, the point is for me after the first hard reset the problem persisted, so I did it a few more times (like maybe 5 times) and now it's gone.
There are some people who tried a hard reset (factory settings restore) and the problem still persists but I think that you have to do as many hard resets as possible (like, over and over and over) until the problem disappears. I'm rooted so I did a Nandroid backup first, then did 5 hard resets through Clockwork Recovery (select the "Wipe User Data" option), and after five hard resets I just flashed by backup and I was back to where I was, minus the back button issue. You don't have to be rooted, of course, to do this, but if you are, doing that ROM Manager backup allows you to quickly reinstall everything to the exact way it was after you're done with the five or 10 hard resets or whatever.
If you're unrooted you can power off the phone, then turn it on while holding the Up Volume button. This boots you into Bootloader mode and you can navigate around to do a factory reset. Or, if you are rooted and have ROM manager, you can use ClockworkMod Recovery like I did (see other threads on how to use these programs).
Anyway, again for me I had to do a bunch of these hard resets to fix the problem, so if it persists after the first two resets, I think you have to keep doing it until it disappears. Hope this helps - TC
Samsung Nexus S with root access
Stock Android 2.3.1
tchan1 said:
There are a few longer threads in this forum about the back button issue on the Nexus S -- for some people the back button doesn't work at all, and for others it turns on all by itself. There were a few replies from a Google employee (ryguy) who said it would be fixed in an upcoming OTA update, etc. but some reported having problems AFTER getting 2.3.2 when the problem didn't exist before. There are also other reports of tightening the screws on the back of the phone, which haven't tried but seemed to improve things for people whose back button WASN'T working at all.
For my phone around 2-3 weeks after buying it I had the back button come on all by itself. I fixed it by doing hard resets, as suggested on an earlier thread that deals with this issue (it's like 10 pages long but has the complete story of everyone's experience and fixes with this issue). Anyway, the point is for me after the first hard reset the problem persisted, so I did it a few more times (like maybe 5 times) and now it's gone.
There are some people who tried a hard reset (factory settings restore) and the problem still persists but I think that you have to do as many hard resets as possible (like, over and over and over) until the problem disappears. I'm rooted so I did a Nandroid backup first, then did 5 hard resets through Clockwork Recovery (select the "Wipe User Data" option), and after five hard resets I just flashed by backup and I was back to where I was, minus the back button issue. You don't have to be rooted, of course, to do this, but if you are, doing that ROM Manager backup allows you to quickly reinstall everything to the exact way it was after you're done with the five or 10 hard resets or whatever.
If you're unrooted you can power off the phone, then turn it on while holding the Up Volume button. This boots you into Bootloader mode and you can navigate around to do a factory reset. Or, if you are rooted and have ROM manager, you can use ClockworkMod Recovery like I did (see other threads on how to use these programs).
Anyway, again for me I had to do a bunch of these hard resets to fix the problem, so if it persists after the first two resets, I think you have to keep doing it until it disappears. Hope this helps - TC
Samsung Nexus S with root access
Stock Android 2.3.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think mine is forever beat. 15 hard resets and its still there.
My apologies for bumping such an old thread... But i got a captivate to serve as a backup phone, and i slapped over ICS on to it..
Everything was super awesome.... BUT! not the Back button.
A few minutes of google'ing later, im here.
So after reading through this thread, and the one linked to in the OP, i opened up my Phone and ....well....went on with it.
50 Minutes later :
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8361/dsc03039j.jpg
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/4579/dsc03040d.jpg
Some Tips :
1: Once your down to the frame with the LCD assembly stuck to it, first remove the Antenna Module. Under that disconnect the black ribbon connector. (This ribbon connects the capacitive button module to the main board).
2: Before starting to Pry apart the LCD from the frame, take a hair dryer and heat up the edges of the LCD Assembly's frame. This helps a freaking lot in prying it apart. Plus it somewhat preserves the 3M adhesive tape present underneath, and can easily be reused.
3: Start prying open the LCD, from the Ear piece side. Take your time and DO NOT!! And i freaking mean, DO NOT!!!!! rush through while removing the LCD assembly.
4: When your almost half way through (or slightly more , but significantly above the capacitive buttons) take a peak between the frame and the LCD assembly, youll see the "Bridging/Connecting" ribbon i mentioned earlier and it might be stuck to the LCD's back.
-> the best way to proceed further is to simultaneously heat up the "glued" parts and slowly continue with removing the LCD. This way, the glue will not stick to the whatever parts it is meant to stick to , THAT strongly and will be much easier to remove.
5: Now as soon as you reach the part where you can see the Capacitive button module sticking to the LCD assembly, go into SUPER FREAKING SLOW mode... THE RIBBON UNDERNEATH IS VERY VERY FRAGILE! ONE YANK AND YOU'LL HAVE TO PURCHASE A NEW CAPACITIVE MODULE.
*Best way to do this is, to again simultaneously heat the concerned parts while slowing pulling the LCD assembly and the capacitive button module apart.*
You can try going LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT alternatively, to slowly make the adhesive give away.
6: After you have the LCD assembly out, its pretty much dependent on how stable yours hands are at slowly etching out the Light gray parts.
-> You can hold the LCD assembly against a TABLE LAMP / some light source, to better see which parts of paint you need to etch out. *i Almost etched the whole of my back button* So be very careful and gentle as well PATIENT!
Before assembling the LCD back into the frame, i took a small piece of paper (about the size of the capacitive button module) and stuck it between the frame and the module. Just so that it makes better contact with the LCD assembly.
7: Stick the LCD back onto the frame and again heat up the edges. Also while putting the LCD back together, make sure the adhesive tape has not lumped up on any of the edges (This might have happened while trying to pry the LCD out) , if it has, then just gently even/flatten it out. Stick the LCD back and heat the edges. Rest, just take a soft cloth and squeeze the LCD's edges and frame together,so as to make sure they stick together properly. The heat really helps in bonding things here.
Assemble back the phone, blah blah.
I used a CREDIT CARD to start prying the LCD away from the frame. It was pretty easy, because of the heat.
DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU SOMEHOW MANGE TO MESS UP YOUR PHONE! Specifically the LCD and the CAPACITVE TOUCH MODULE!
Big thanks to the OP for posting this.
I rooted my NST a long while back. It slowly started dying over time but I was lazy, didn't bother to unroot and swap it in a timely manner (got the extended warranty) and now it is stuck "Off", as in won't start. That wouldn't matter, only it froze with the rooted navigation icons that button savior brings up showing on the screen! Oops.
In additional to the existing problems (sticking buttons, dead region on screen etc.) the battery indicator started showing a question mark two days ago. A while later it died and wouldn't start. I tried charging, of course, and lots of long power button presses, but the only life I've seen is when I took the card out: at that moment it went through a normal startup... and promptly died showing the stock Home screen with the additional icons overlayed as if I'd triggered the "button savior" app.
Anyone have any ideas of a way to clear the screen? Any suggestions on getting it to boot? I saw I can't crack the case without removing the telltale on the torx screw under the power button.
I don't want to walk into the store and have them decline to swap because it is rooted, even though the problems it has are physical.
Thanks for any suggestions, and for providing the original instructions I used to root - made it worthwhile to get the device in the first place!
My first thought was to just borrow somebody's working Nook and plug your display in long enough to set some image.
But that would make you lose the little sticker on your Torx screw.
OTOH, would they really check that? Certainly not in the store.
I was wondering if an external high voltage would be enough to influence the little pearl spheres.
Thanks
Renate NST, thanks for the suggestions. As it turned out, I just went ahead and tried returning it in the store. This is one case where seriously horrible employee attitude actually helped!
The short version:
they swapped it with no problems and you're right, they wouldn't have noticed the torx telltale missing!
Long version:
I found the screen is surprisingly resistant to damage. Out of curiosity I tried a hair dryer, impacts, magnet. Then again, a 100 lbs dog's claw on the screen had left a small unresponsive region a while back. I didn't think any of those would work, but thought I'd try - why not? won't "hurt" to hurt it. Couldn't think of a good way to get a charge to the screen.
I arranged a swap at the store by calling the central number. I got the email saying the device was on hold and headed out. The store called while I was on the way there (left voicemail - was driving afterall) saying they had no refurbished ones in stock. I went ahead anyhow, hoping I'd get a new one instead. No luck, they had the refurbished ones. I don't know what that was about.
They didn't even look at it. For that matter, they hardly looked at me. I asked one person, who argued with another about who would help me (no other customers needing help - just didn't want to help). I won't bother you with details, but the attitudes of all there were rather amazingly bad. I am slow to blame employees for the problems encountered shopping - normally it is the company I fault - but all three employees there spent much more effort arguing about who would have to help me than actually swapping the nook. They never once looked at it, didn't even ask what was broken about it, and I certainly could have gotten away with opening it up and, I don't know, taking a spare battery or whatever out of it. Oh well. Live and learn.
Now to see what the status of rooting is. I got the original one within a couple days of the first instrucitons on rooting hitting the web, seems things have changed a bit... so glad this forum is here.
At Worst...
You can do the "hard reset". Charge you NST totally and press the energy button for 60 seconds.
What a story!!
I bought a galaxy note 4 right on launch day first thing in the morning. Ive had just about every phone but have been waiting for a while now to get my hands on the new note 4.
I ended up buying the phone at the St . Bruno shopping center in Quebec, Canada and once i singed all the papers for my contract and got home, I finally open the box and took the phone out of the box. I loved it, it did everything one would expect from the highest end phone on the market.
A week later however, I started noticing that my buttons, especially my home button were slightly loose and my phone was also developing a weird oil spot under the home button.
So I went back to videotron but this time at St. Catherine street corporate branch store and the manager there obviously didnt know much about phones because he looked at it and proceeded with putting windex on a paper towel and wiping my screen with it and than told me that theres nothing wrong with it.
After frustratingly explaining everything to him, he told me that if the phone makes calls and works, than these issues arent covered for any kind of exchange as its not affecting the functionality of the phone. My logic tell me however that if one buy's a ferrari and realizes that the paint is f-up, wouldn't the dealership do something about it??? Anyways, without any luck I eventually left disappointed.
The following week After exhaustive attempt to solve the matter with Videotron to no avail, I found out that there was a store here in montreal called Service Absolute which is a samsung repair center that I could bring my phone to. I called them first to not waist more of my time and was than informed that yes they could help me but that it could take nearly a month before they would have any parts for this phone.
So after patiently waiting, I finally got a call back from them and droped off my phone the following day. I only had to wait two days before i got my phone back and thought that the turn around time was great! Only after few minutes of playing with it however, I noticed that the phone's new screen which now didn't have the oil spot was actually lifting from the housing about 1mm at the top of the phone and that the buttons were all still loose.
Its easy to imagine at this point how infuriated i was with all the time spent dealing with a phone that should of been right in the first place.. All the waiting, calling and runaround I got only to get a phone that was now even worst!! I could actually see inside my phone and behind the screen. Dust was starting to get inside the phone and under the camera lens and so on and I was really starting to freak out and was completly desperate to fix this issue asap to prevent things from getting worse and worse.
So I decided at this pont to take matters in my own hands and use my old trusty screwdriver to take this thing apart and get
To the bottom of the loose buttons and screen seperation.. I know! Scray [email protected]$ but it had to be done because at this point I needed a working phone for work and nobody seemed to help me. So after watching a few youtube videos, I unscrewed the screws at the back and gently seperated the phone from the metal frame with my fingers.
The whole assembly came out of the metal frame the same komd of way the old HTC phones used to. After doing so, the first thing i found out was that if your going scatch your phones metal frame which makes up most of the phone outer surfice, it's no big deal as it can be swapped out for around 40 to 50 bucks.
Next I noticed that all the buttons (volume and power) aren't adheared to the frame but only clipped in with a few pins stratigically placed. So its normal that they have play and wiggle. They're not gonna break and we're likely engineered to be this way. The wiggling is not really important as it won't affect anything on the phone's motherboard.
The next thing I noticed was that the glue between the inner midframe (the part that holds the motherboard to the screen assembly) also wasn't glued properly and was able to gently seperate it from the lcd/digitizer assembly without a heat gun or anything.. after doing so, the home button fell out and was simply dangling from its flex cable. It wasn't actually glued in place or held in with clips or anything. It's only connected to a flex cable on the left side of the button but thats it. I was easily able to pull it out and inspect it. It was built to be completely free floating between the midframe and the screen.
Which means that again, no need to worry about anything breaking as the home button is not a solidified part to start with and only in place where it is because of the space tolerence engeneered in the screen's home button whole. So it being slightly loose is normal and something that will eventually happen to all note 4's sooner or later. The slight looseness actually makes sense to me as any dust material that will get in between the home button wont get stuck as as much as if the space toleren was less. In my opinion, I thik that iPhones have less issues like this as the home button is part of the screen assembly and is also round.
In the end, I wasn't able to adhear the screen back in place as I didnt have double sided tape but manages to send it back to samsung and get it serviced again. I clearly asked them to fix it properly this time and it looks like they finally did and glued it back properly now.
This was a crazy experience and all I can tell you is that I definatly got an up close look of this phone and decided to keep it afterall as it's still better than a refurbished one and also because it's super easy to repair if anything ever broke on it.
Anyways i know this is a long post but I thought I'd share my experience with everyone and put some of your worries to rest.
Cheers!