Database Users

lint on camera lens

Has anyone else noticed that the recessed lens for the Aria camera attracts lint from your pocket, and you really can't easily clean that lint off without something like a Q-tip?
Seems like it'd be simple enough to have some kind of stick on film cover that you could clean externally without any tool such as a Q-tip. With lint in there, the camera is pretty much useless. With a clean lens, the camera works great.
Can anyone suggest a good solution to this problem?

I have noticed the exact same thing you are mentioning. I wish they would have done something better with the design but oh well! Don't have any good solutions but will monitor this thread to see what others do.

Rip the tip off a qtip and use it like that dry worked perfect for my camera
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

I think the idea was probably to keep fingerprints off.. that part works perfectly. I just twist the corner of a kleenex/papertowel/napkin and stick it in there & turn it

Don't use a twisted napkin/etc... good way to get scratches. Now, I know our Aria isn't like a Nikon DSLR... but still, a scratched lense will kill any photos you take.
Get something like a lens pen or an air cleaning blower. They're fairly cheap, and can be used with multiple devices... not just your Aria!
Edit: Another item you can use - for all the guys out there with electric shavers - the little brushes that come with your shaver to clean the heads/etc can also be used to clean out the camera for the Aria. (I noticed one on my desk and wanted to add to this.)

Duplicate post........

Put black tape over the cam grill and pull off when using the camera. Like a manual shutter haha.
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

OK obviously you can just clean it by jamming something in there or carry around a lens cleaning pen or whatever, that's not the point. The point is to come up with a solution that is not such a pain to clean it. My wife & daughter both have iPhones and they just take them out of their pocket and shoot a picture. If I'm going to have to clean the danged lens with a q-tip or a lens cleaning cloth or whatever EVERY TIME I USE IT then the camera is pretty much totally useless on this phone.
A clear plastic cover would work brilliantly. The reason this collects lint is because the lens is down in a hole. It wouldn't collect lint if there was a lens surface flush with the exterior of the phone. Also a lens surface level with the exterior of the phone would be very easy to wipe off with your shirt tail or whatever if it had a fingerprint on it. But the lint is guaranteed to be there if you put your phone in your pocket as it is and it's a royal pain to get it clean.

mr72 said:
OK obviously you can just clean it by jamming something in there or carry around a lens cleaning pen or whatever, that's not the point. The point is to come up with a solution that is not such a pain to clean it. My wife & daughter both have iPhones and they just take them out of their pocket and shoot a picture. If I'm going to have to clean the danged lens with a q-tip or a lens cleaning cloth or whatever EVERY TIME I USE IT then the camera is pretty much totally useless on this phone.
A clear plastic cover would work brilliantly. The reason this collects lint is because the lens is down in a hole. It wouldn't collect lint if there was a lens surface flush with the exterior of the phone. Also a lens surface level with the exterior of the phone would be very easy to wipe off with your shirt tail or whatever if it had a fingerprint on it. But the lint is guaranteed to be there if you put your phone in your pocket as it is and it's a royal pain to get it clean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
eh not quite that easy of a solution. HTC Tilt 2 had a plastic cover flush with the backcover of the phone to cover and protect the recessed camera lens. it still managed to take horrible shots with it...because the plastic cover was prone to getting tiny scratches almost impossible to see, but picked up by the camera lens. removing the cover made pictures FAR clearer and better.
unless they start making gorrilla glass to cover and protect the camera lens..we're stuck with wipe and shoot.

[Q] Is the top of the focus metal or plastic?

I was wonderin if the sides and top part of the focus made of metal or plastic with a metalic finish

They are plastic. But metallic finishing is high quality and does not tear off.

xtian63 said:
I was wonderin if the sides and top part of the focus made of metal or plastic with a metalic finish
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its all plastic so don't try to "Buff" it like it is made of chrome or you will end up burning the plastic.

Casemate pop here i come hehe, id rather hide them than get them all scratvhed up
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

I do not use a case at all and there are no scratches so far. This phone is way more durable than I expected...have dropped it like 6 times (hard too) and it's still working like the first day i got it.

You dirty, dirty camera

So here's one of the few pet peeves I have about the Aria. The camera lens is recessed in the case, and it collects dust. My mother has the same phone (got hers a year before me), and she always complained that the pictures were not sharp. I looked at the phone, and the lens had picked up a significant amount of lint and dust from being in her pocket. Is there any way to prevent this? Perhaps a case that covers that area with a clear panel? I might just slap a bit of screen protector over the area. Of course, it's easy to clean it off with a qtip, but i'd rather avoid the problem alltogether.

Get a microfiber cloth and place it over the camera hole, then get a pencil and use the tip to push on the hole and clear the lense
Signatures are fancy.

Qtips work for me.they fit perfect.
As far as prevention goes ,I have no clue.seems like you would have distortion from a piece of screen protector or similar. Give it a try who knows.
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

GregTheDiver said:
So here's one of the few pet peeves I have about the Aria. The camera lens is recessed in the case, and it collects dust. My mother has the same phone (got hers a year before me), and she always complained that the pictures were not sharp. I looked at the phone, and the lens had picked up a significant amount of lint and dust from being in her pocket. Is there any way to prevent this? Perhaps a case that covers that area with a clear panel? I might just slap a bit of screen protector over the area. Of course, it's easy to clean it off with a qtip, but i'd rather avoid the problem alltogether.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of my very few peeves with this phone. The only practical remedy I've found for it is to get a holster for the phone. Its still convenient for spur of the moment pics and its safer than your pocket anyways. Also, I work in construction and it gets really bad with dust and dirt at work so what I do is I have a piece of duct tape stuck to the inside back of a silicone case I only use for work. I don't use the camera or speaker at work so it works.
Sent from my cm7 Aria.

This is also my only issue with the phone. I usually use a Q-Tip, but that's if I'm at home really. On the road all of my pictures have a "haze" to them.

The same problem here. I need to keep cleaning the lens out with a bud or microfiber cloth. Pictures get all hazy otherwise.
That and the speaker crackles at max volume.. my only two complaints about this lovely device.

Same boat here. The speaker crackling is most annoying. I use a Q-tip for the lens.

Q-tip. Works great. You can also flip the silicone case to cover the lens and switch it when you need to.
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

yea the speakers arent the best. I work at a sheet metal fab shop, so alway's getting lazer dust around the speaker, and it does crackle at high volume,
you can pick up replacement speakers for about $14.99
Code:
http://www.repairsuniverse.com/htc-aria-screen-replacement-and-parts.html
got my screen from there. quality parts.
yea there really isnt anything that can PREVENT dust from the camera screen. just keep some q tips in your car ( thats what i do there cheap enough ) and some cleaning solution. ive found that my wifes eye contact solution works good with a qtip.
find maybe a snap on case, or something, that helps keep it out of your pockets.

Try this
I have made some little foam stoppers to push into the hole to keep the dust out. I took a thin (about 1/4") sheet of foam that was used as packing for electronic components, and then used a one hole paper punch to punch out the stoppers. They stay in pretty well, but they're kind of hard to get back out. I can remove it with my fingernail, but not very quickly. Those with long nails might fair better.

Samsung Vibrant Bezel Painting

Is there any way to paint the smooth ugly silver bezel

Paint it a different color or repaint it because it got scratched?
Sent through the XDA App on my Samsung Vibrant running ICS Passion v10.6

I've painted mine. It's pretty easy. Make sure you get Krylon Fusion paint, its a paint formulated to stick to plastic better than regular sprays. Don't accept any of the store brand plastic paints either, I've tried the Lowe's one and it turned out to be pretty much regular paint.
Follow typical painting steps:
1. Take everything off (battery cover, sim, etc)
2. Mask the screen and backsides with tape + paper. The back is pretty easy to do with one long piece of tape, just wrap it around the whole backside. The screen you can lay 4 strips, 1 for each side, and then use a knife to score the edges and the tape will peel off.
3. Sand. Depending on how rough your edges are you may want to sand some nicks smooth. You don't need to remove the paint when you sand, you just need to get rid of the shine.
4. Paint. Follow the instructions on the can. The 2 most important things to remember are to do light coats and be freaking patient in between coats and touching it. Plan on watching a movie or doing something else. I used 3 coats on the front side, 2ish on the back. I can not stress this enough, if your coats are too heavy or you don't let each coat dry you will have a gummy, tacky result that will come off after a few days. Do it right, do it once.
5. Let it dry overnight or until you can't smell the paint anymore before regular usage.
Here are some pics, it's still drying but it turned out alright. The goop on the screen protector is from the tape. I'll get it off after the paint dries so I don't rub any paint off. IMO it looks worlds better than stock. I also had a few nicks around the edges and some of the chrome was falling off. As you might be able to tell from the pictures you can't notice any of the nicks or where the chrome was coming off.

buying a g6 with broken camera glass...

Getting it for 200aud..
Can replace the glass piece for about 10 off eBay.
My question is how tight that area is in general in terms of the ip68 rating, consisting that the "glass" is just an adhesive. I.e. is the rating still intact

jewnersey said:
Getting it for 200aud..
Can replace the glass piece for about 10 off eBay.
My question is how tight that area is in general in terms of the ip68 rating, consisting that the "glass" is just an adhesive. I.e. is the rating still intact
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you only replace the glass from the camera and if you replace it with the ORIGINAL part, then you will have the IP rating the same way, BUT...if you buy cheap glass with cheap adhesive...i didnt know how it takes the IP at same level, and how long it will take to lose the glue and maybe crack again.
Better safe than sorrow...
see this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qfQ1TH_KBs

It's very tight. I bought one for a 3rd the price of new the glue was discolored, but the glass was otherwise ok.
Love Jerry's Videos. But he'd already removed that lens, and had an appropriate crack to help leverage up a piece of the glass. I couldn't even get a scalpel blade under the edge let alone a box cutter, I'm quite dexterous. Before I replaced mine I watched someone jam a spudger down there to get it out. Maybe my spudger wasn't thin enough but I could see the main back glass flexing while I did it so I tried something different..
I realize yours is pre-cracked, but just detailing everything I did.
What worked for me:
1) apply just enough force between the lens and the edge, you want a crack to extend outward to the edge, but avoid having dust near the actual camera lens. Saw a video of someone puncturing a hole right where the camera lens is - not smart if you like clear pictures.
2) clean all dust now!
3) take out a shard from the edge with tweezers being careful to not puncture the tape on the under side
4) heat lens then apply a cut and shaped piece of tape on top of the lens to hold in any dust when you peel.
5) place tweezers into the edge in the hole you made where the shard was, try not to put pressure on the back glass - mine was surprisingly tough, ymmv.
6) peel the edge of the under tape slowly upward try not to bend much or the glass will make a ton of dust.
7) vacuum and use compressed air around the opening.
Hope that helps.

Thanks for the comments. New glass arrives tomorrow so I'll be going through the process then. Seems pretty straightforward, but yes, probably will avoid submerging it etc just to be safe.
As far as cleaning the lens, I will use acetone (cotton balls) and compressed air. Good?

No acetone, just alcool

Just an FYI: Thin solvent liquids like alcohol will seep in the gap between the lens cover and the glass back and onto the sticky reflective tape discoloring it. I've seen it a bunch of times with the G6, the effect is worse with replacement lens covers as there isn't any adhesive on the edge.
If I was to redo this job, I'd consider using some B-7000 applied with a tiny brush around the thin edge of the lens cover to seal it. Once dry I wouldn't be concerned about cleaning with alcohol. Maybe depends how obsessive you are lol.
As always YMMV, hope the replacement goes well.
Pic shows discoloration around the edge.
https://i.imgur.com/6JB3uuc.jpg