Database Users

A word of warning regarding phone construction

Afternoon peeps
I have discovered something a little concerning about the XZ.
I clean my phone on a regular basis of fingerprints and dust, today I noticed the little rubber covers were dirty around the sill so I decided to clean them. with a cloth I wiped down the phones glass slabs and then wiped the rubber gaskets as with these ports there are nooks and cranies where dirt can get so I got out the compressed air to blow out any small particles.
To my horror the phone inflated making the screen and the back glass flex out off the phone like a balloon, I was sure I was seeing this so i held the phone in a manner where i could watch the reflection on the glass and sure enough it's bending to accommodate the compressed air. This may explain the glass being very sturdy to drops due to this flex, but how thick is it if it bends so easily?
For reference I was using canned compressed air, not a high powered high compressor.
I thought I'd share with the community about this, I suppose it shows it's water tight as it didn't escape out a gap etc.
Either way i'm a little shocked at the glass thickness.

has this ever happened to you with a different cell phone?

Any photo evidence of bubble phone?

That sounds like the battery expanding. It could indicate a faulty battery.
Sent from my brain via my keyboard on my Xperia Z

As I said gentlemen, the phone expands with the air pressure from the compressed air canister. The phone returned to its original shape as soon as I stopped spraying the air.
This isn't a case of the phone staying like it, but seeing glass flex that much is worrying
Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 2

LBTaylor1984 said:
As I said gentlemen, the phone expands with the air pressure from the compressed air canister. The phone returned to its original shape as soon as I stopped spraying the air.
This isn't a case of the phone staying like it, but seeing glass flex that much is worrying
Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 2
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I would much rather see it flex alot then shatter personally. If it can take as much abuse as you say then it simply makes me more confident in its ability to survive damage
Sent from my Xperia Z

Not surprising, if it bellows out then that means its perfectly sealed. Other IP57 phones would do the same.
Try doing it with a non-IP57 phone and there are plenty of gaps for the air to escape..

cheetah2k said:
Not surprising, if it bellows out then that means its perfectly sealed. Other IP57 phones would do the same.
Try doing it with a non-IP57 phone and there are plenty of gaps for the air to escape..
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Yeah. Because the phone's shell is sealed. So nothing comes in means nothing will come out.

The phone itself uses thin glass and is flexible. I remember the YouTube videos of the Korean guy who bent his Z into an arc shape (it was fine). So yeah, I'd say what you are seeing is correct.
Sent from my gorgeous White Xperia Z

Perhaps it's just me, but i'm not used to the term flexible glass I still see glass as a rigid material so any flex seems out of character. It seems fine obviously after this but I just thought it would be solid inflexible etc.

I read the title of the post and got scared -_- lol. After reading it thought I fully understood what went on with the "balloon effect". The glass for these phones are amazing...very strong and flexible...like a pole dancer

LBTaylor1984 said:
Perhaps it's just me, but i'm not used to the term flexible glass I still see glass as a rigid material so any flex seems out of character. It seems fine obviously after this but I just thought it would be solid inflexible etc.
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Inflexible glass would shatter the instant you dropped it from waist height on to any non carpeted surface.
The glass on the Z is much more intelligently designed and expensive than that.
Sent from my C6603 using xda premium

Agree with the above post. People are really taking the Glass by the conventional sense of the word. Windows and such. I much prefer the flexible variety. Which you may or may not know traces it's roots back to Roman times. Bit of useless information for you.
Sent from my C6603 using xda premium

decadan1977 said:
Agree with the above post. People are really taking the Glass by the conventional sense of the word. Windows and such. I much prefer the flexible variety. Which you may or may not know traces it's roots back to Roman times. Bit if useless information for you.
Sent from my C6603 using xda premium
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If you've ever been in your house in a storm with strong wind, the glass in your windows flexes just as much :good:

decadan1977 said:
Agree with the above post. People are really taking the Glass by the conventional sense of the word. Windows and such. I much prefer the flexible variety. Which you may or may not know traces it's roots back to Roman times. Bit of useless information for you.
Sent from my C6603 using xda premium
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Totally.
And some people just don't know how tempered glass works.
I'm a builder and when we demo houses we throw hammers, bricks whatever we can find to smash tempered glass. 99% of the time everything just bounces off.
But tap the raw edge with a chisel and the whole pane literally explodes.
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app

i see you ride DH so lemme ask you this : is your visor flexible or not ? Yes it is... so it doesn't shatter on impact. the same applies to the glass ! Anything that is flexible is a-okay !
Ride safe !

LBTaylor1984 said:
Either way i'm a little shocked at the glass thickness.
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People expect lightweight & affordable phones. If you take away those two factors, it would be easily possible to use more advanced materials, but your phone might be a couple of times more expensive and certainty a bit heavier.
Transparent Aluminium

so it really is that much water/air proof !! great

I'd only be concerned if it DIDN'T expand at least slightly. It just proves that it's properly sealed and air/water tight.
Blasting such a small device (or any device) with so many sensitive parts all located close to each other with any form of compressed air (be it canned or motorized compressor) is never a good idea. Unless you truly understand what you are doing and know what will happen as a result.
e.g. no consideration was taken into account that the device is water tight and therefore air tight; the effects of using compressed air on it could have been much more severe given there is no where for the air to depressurize. A bending case/glass is nothing compared to potentially cracking the LCD screen underneath the exterior glass.
An old (clean) toothbrush would probably be the better choice for your next spring cleaning session

This is the so called dragon trail glass I believe its a very strong and flexible glass. Do some research
Sent from my C6603 using xda premium

[Q] Anyone use thier Nexus around metal dust

I am in dire need of something to replace my Incredible s.
I work around steel fabrication, meaning lots of steel dust and shavings. After a year, I already had to replace my Incredible s speakers because they became loaded with metal dust, and they are already going out again after a few months.
Anyone use their Nexus in smiler conditions?
I was about to hit the buy button when I read Sony announced the Xperia ZR (water and dust proof/resistant), and now am holding off to see the pricing. It also does away with the two only things that made me hesitate on the Nexus in the first place, memory (I can slide my 32gb card into it) and no glass back.

cjunk said:
I am in dire need of something to replace my Incredible s.
I work around steel fabrication, meaning lots of steel dust and shavings. After a year, I already had to replace my Incredible s speakers because they became loaded with metal dust, and they are already going out again after a few months.
Anyone use their Nexus in smiler conditions?
I was about to hit the buy button when I read Sony announced the Xperia ZR (water and dust proof/resistant), and now am holding off to see the pricing. It also does away with the two only things that made me hesitate on the Nexus in the first place, memory (I can slide my 32gb card into it) and no glass back.
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Hm, metal shavings aren't gonna be good for any phone, even less so for the n4..

The grill holes for the ear piece are small and metal shavings shouldn't get in it to bad I've had to blow mine out a couple of times with canned air but it was from dust of mudding and then sanding dry wall.
Now as for the speaker I think this would go out very easily as the grill holes are bigger
Personally I would look at the HTC one, it's made from a solid price of aluminum and Injected molding for the plastic parts however I do not know what the speaker grills look like for the one. Just seems like it may do better around metal
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

If you can get a hold of something to block the openings on the phone, the N4 should be fine. I have no experience with anything near metal dust, but I imagine it could be pretty bad for any device's internals having direct exposure to it (short circuiting and whatnot).
That Xperia ZR sounds like it would be a better choice though.

The only real problem I have is that the speakers have magnets, and hold onto any steel dust that get through the screen covering them. The rest of the phone stays clean with a screen protector and tpu case. I never find any more then a few specks under the case or under the back cover.
when I pulled the speakers out they had a good teaspoon of steel dust stuck all around them.

I'm a steel fabricator as well. What I do is keep my nexus 4 in a zip lock bag. A thicker and smaller one that I got from a shipment of bolts.
Sent from my Nexus 4

Well.... I weld and work on heavy equipment everyday and have never had a problem. That said I take caution with my phone but there has been a few "incidents" and the only issue I have ever had was caused by media from a blasting machine scratching the screen. I am sure it has been exposed to metal shavings but have never seen any on the speaker grills. I love my nexus, but it isn't the most rugged phone. If I had genuine concern for contaminates from the work environment I would look into a dust and water proof model. Speaking of which Cat has its own android phone coming out....
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

I work around paper dust. It gets everywhere. I have a seidio active case. The dust pools at the speaker and camera openings.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

There's also a waterproof ruggedized version of the s4 coming out
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

why not put some extension at your tpu case to prevent metal dust to infiltrate?
back speaker is easy to protect...
Inviato dal mio Nexus 4 con Tapatalk 2

cjunk said:
....... and no glass back.
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Your wrong my friend....... It does have a glass back! And I've seen it broken all ready.
a pigeon delivered this message.... ** your welcome **

gohan040 said:
Your wrong my friend....... It does have a glass back! And I've seen it broken all ready.
a pigeon delivered this message.... ** your welcome **
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Not that it matters much here, but the "Z" has a glass back, the newly announces "ZR" is reported to have a plastic back.

what if you stick a piecee of tape over the speaker and ear piece before going to work everyday? sounds kinda cheap but it might work

Take a look at the Cat B15 http://catphones.com/ or JCB Toughphone http://www.jcbtoughphone.com/ or Fortis phones.
They are all listed on Amazon and would likely hold up better than the Nexus even in a hard case.

old thread update
For those that googled this lile i did
Been welding for 11 years and been through about 16 phones
A lifeproof case or a redpepper case keeps everything out.
If you dont like typing through a loose peice of plastic like myself
Clean out speaker ports daily with a magnet
Do not use compressed air. I have damaged several speakers with this method.

Replacing JUST the N4 back glass on the battery door?

Is it possible to JUST replace the back glass on the battery door? Has anyone attempted this? Ive looked and seen that the whole part (glass and door) is around 60 dollars which is kinda pricey and just the glass is around 20 which is alot better in my book so I was wondering if it is at all possible? Thanks for any info!

Nocturnal86 said:
Is it possible to JUST replace the back glass on the battery door? Has anyone attempted this? Ive looked and seen that the whole part (glass and door) is around 60 dollars which is kinda pricey and just the glass is around 20 which is alot better in my book so I was wondering if it is at all possible? Thanks for any info!
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Yes its possible, you just have to be careful with the NFC and inductive charging coils

lopezk38 said:
Yes its possible, you just have to be careful with the NFC and inductive charging coils
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Thanks thats good to know. Is there a guide or anything that shows how and where to be careful and whats the best way to remove the glass from the back?

Nocturnal86 said:
Thanks thats good to know. Is there a guide or anything that shows how and where to be careful and whats the best way to remove the glass from the back?
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Not to be jerk but it's not rocket science. There is no best way to open it. There's only one way to do it. Just take off the back case and replace it with the new one and that's it. don't worry about the stuff inside the back cover. It's glued tight.
Here's a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZDAIgwbXk4
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

scream4cheese said:
Not to be jerk but it's not rocket science. There is no best way to open it. There's only one way to do it. Just take off the back case and replace it with the new one and that's it. don't worry about the stuff inside the back cover. It's glued tight.
Here's a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZDAIgwbXk4
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
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Thanks but I emphasized JUST the glass cause thats what I want to do JUST the glass not the entire back cause its potentially cheaper to go that way not the entire back which I know is easier to do but it costs more. I havent seen anyone actually replace JUST the glass which is what I was asking about. Idk if its glued to just plastic and i can break it apart and pry it off then clean and re-glue or stick, or if the nfc and wcharging contacts are glued to the glass in some way or what, thats where I want to be careful

it is possible. the best bet is to go ahead and remove all the glass pieces and that will determine which part to order. be carefule because the nfc and wireless charger are glued directly to the glass so if you rip the nfc or wireless charger you need to buy the whole thing. there is a foil attached to the inside of the back that is extremely easy to rip. mine was shattered into a lot of tiny pieces so it took a long time to remove all of the glass. so now i can just buy the glass instead of the whole back cover. it is a pain but it can be done.

justin g. said:
it is possible. the best bet is to go ahead and remove all the glass pieces and that will determine which part to order. be carefule because the nfc and wireless charger are glued directly to the glass so if you rip the nfc or wireless charger you need to buy the whole thing. there is a foil attached to the inside of the back that is extremely easy to rip. mine was shattered into a lot of tiny pieces so it took a long time to remove all of the glass. so now i can just buy the glass instead of the whole back cover. it is a pain but it can be done.
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ok interesting i thought it may be like you described. My back isnt completly shattered just by the speaker grill and then its spread out in large cracks so its not a terrible shatter. Do you think it would be easier to remove the glass since it isnt completely shattered? And should I use heat to soften the glue and lessen the chance it rips off the nfc sticker? And would you happen to have pics or know of pics of what it looks like under the glass or with the glass removed? Thanks for your help and info!

I can pull the back off mine later and get a pic. But I'll have to wait until I get off work.

Nocturnal86 said:
ok interesting i thought it may be like you described. My back isnt completly shattered just by the speaker grill and then its spread out in large cracks so its not a terrible shatter. Do you think it would be easier to remove the glass since it isnt completely shattered? And should I use heat to soften the glue and lessen the chance it rips off the nfc sticker? And would you happen to have pics or know of pics of what it looks like under the glass or with the glass removed? Thanks for your help and info!
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heres some pics. i outlined the foil so you can see where its at. i have a wide peice of clear tape where the glass was at to hold the wireless charger in until i get a new glass. heat definitely helps to soften the glue.

justin g. said:
heres some pics. i outlined the foil so you can see where its at. i have a wide peice of clear tape where the glass was at to hold the wireless charger in until i get a new glass. heat definitely helps to soften the glue.
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Oh wow thanks man! Looks like there's a few gaps for the glass and the nfc charging coil is loose without the glass. Interesting. I wonder how it will look on the inside after the new piece of glass is placed like messy or as clean as the original look. Do you know what should be used to stick the new glass? I'm still debating if I should do this lol
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Im not real sure what to use either but I'd say to use some epoxy of some sort. I don't know if it would eat away at the paint on the back side of the glass or not. So I'd test it on something besides your phone first. I don't think two side tape would stay very well.

[HARDWARE MOD] Microphone Cover

Hello everybody!
I´m new to this Forum and want to share my little Hardware Mod tutorial for our RAZR i.
Q: What it does?
A: It strengthen the bottom plastic cover.
Q: Why i does it?
A: Because my bottom cover makes creaky noises when pushing with my fingers.
Q: What do i need for this mod?
A: Only your fingernail and a piece of paper.
Q: Is it easy to do?
A: Yes, realy easy.
My Problem with the bottom plastic cover was that it makes creaky noises when i push
it with my fingers. This was realy annoying for me as the rest of the phone is
made of metal and only the bottom plastic cover has a weak feeling...
So i open the plastic cover with my fingernail, starting on the edge.
It is only hold in position with a few plastic clips and a little doublesided-tape.
So no problem to open. Dont worry! Just put your fingernail under the plastic and open.
The plastic cover has two little plastic pins that fit in two little holes in the phone-housing.
But these pins are (in my case) a little to short or the holes are a little to deep.
So if you push the plastic cover will bend until the plastic pins reach the end of the holes.
This makes the creaky noise.
So i looked at the holes in the phone-housing to fill them a little up with something.
I decided to put a little bit of paper in the holes. That helped a lot!
Just try how much paper you have to put in until it is to much and the cover won´t fit again.
After that you can easy put the cover back. No need for doublesided-tape because of the plastic clips.
Now if i push the plastic cover together with my fingers it never bend and never makes
creaky noises! It feels a lot better than before!
On the Picture you can see the red arrows show the two plastic pins i mean.
I hope everybody can understand what i mean. Sorry for my poor english...
Also i hope you like my little tutorial and happy modding!
greetings, 5m00v3
P.S. DONT BLAME ME IF YOU BRAKE SOMETHING. THIS IS AT YOUR OWN RISK!
IT ALSO CAN VOID YOUR WARRANTY. A SPAREPART IS AVAILABLE FOR 2$.

Huh, neat! I'll have to try this, I've been having the same problem.
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app

I have the same problem but I really dont notice it unless I press tha plastic on porpuose. I tried aligning the papes so as not to have the sound but I only decreased it. So I took them out in fear that I would bread the plastic, It seemed blown up

Just tried it, works like a charm! Makes my phone feel really sturdy.
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app

clickstop said:
Just tried it, works like a charm! Makes my phone feel really sturdy.
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app
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Nice to hear! :good:
@rodrigoauditore
Did you fill up the holes or where did you put the paper?
If it is blown up then maybe you put to much in it?
Or try some different positions under the cover to fill up...?

5m00v3 said:
Nice to hear! :good:
@rodrigoauditore
Did you fill up the holes or where did you put the paper?
If it is blown up then maybe you put to much in it?
Or try some different positions under the cover to fill up...?
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Click to collapse
I stuck little balls of paper were you originally posted, but that didn't do the trick so I leyed down another paper on top of everyting, almost covering the glue or whatever the sticky thing is. I think I need better instructions as of where to put the paper

U need only to fill up the holes for the two plastic-pins...
I will try to add more Pictures to show where to put the Paper.

I tried once again and this time I got it right. It only makes sound when I press it too hard on the center. Thank you!

Moto G 2015 Disassembly Teardown Video

Motorola Moto G 2015 3rd Gen Disassembly/Teardown Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvTeI4pdkak

Amazing! Liked the usb port easy replace part! Thanks for sharing!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

nelsonw said:
Amazing! Liked the usb port easy replace part! Thanks for sharing!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
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Also replacing the audio jack is fairly easy, since you do not have to desolder it.

What brand and model # is your heat gun? Video was very good thanks

nelsonw said:
Amazing! Liked the usb port easy replace part! Thanks for sharing!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
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Absolutely!!! That's a HUGE plus!!

Super sweet! I don't have sound on this computer, (at work), but did they mention about water resistance integrity after reassembly it?

It might be that it's still waterproof but I wouldn't count on it. Especially the display is sealed against water with some sort of taker and its hard to impossible to disassemble the moto g without damaging this tape.
But I have another question. The original Motorola screen has a foil glued on the display to seal the speaker holes against water. Does anybody know with what those foils could be replaced for a non OEM screen?

fritz314 said:
It might be that it's still waterproof but I wouldn't count on it. Especially the display is sealed against water with some sort of taker and its hard to impossible to disassemble the moto g without damaging this tape.
But I have another question. The original Motorola screen has a foil glued on the display to seal the speaker holes against water. Does anybody know with what those foils could be replaced for a non OEM screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would guess that it's extremely thin since it tears so easily. You can buy that stuff but what I've seen is in amounts that would probably do every G3 made. That would make it half the cost of the phone. I've never searched for small amounts but it may be available.
Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

fritz314 said:
It might be that it's still waterproof but I wouldn't count on it. Especially the display is sealed against water with some sort of taker and its hard to impossible to disassemble the moto g without damaging this tape.
But I have another question. The original Motorola screen has a foil glued on the display to seal the speaker holes against water. Does anybody know with what those foils could be replaced for a non OEM screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same thought about a week ago while watching a tear down for another device. I wonder if there's some sort of 3rd party material we could use that would be stronger. I really don't like tearing down a device working perfectly, but if it improves the integrity of the device I'm all for it. I see that the same way as I do an xbox 360 motherboard fix. Sometimes the OEM doesn't make the best choices in material.

I've seen foil where the thickness is measured in microns, but it's so expensive. The best bet would be trying to get a sample.
Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

Thanks for the replies!
It kind of would have to be thin enough to not alter the sound in any way.
Probably a stupid idea, but what about using this adhesive tape (aliexpress: 10mm*25M Strong Acrylic Adhesive PET Red Film Clear Double Sided Tape No Trace for Phone LCD Screen) (I can't post links yet... :/) instead?
Then cut out the adhesive at the whole for the speaker so there is only the thin foil which covers the adhesive left. What do you think about that?
Furthermore, do you think this adhesive tape (aliexpress: New Brand 1mm Double Side Adhesive 3M Sticker Tape Repair Fr Cellphone Touch Screen NEW) would be suitable to glue the screen back in place?
Thanks!

Does nobody have an opinion on that?
Otherwise I'll just try and then report if it worked. Even if the sounds get a little bit more dull the water resistance is worth it to me.