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Does the Camera have a protective shield to remove ~ Solved. Yes it's Does.

Guys,
Quick question. Just received my S4 and took off the protective plastic on the back and front of the phone.
However, the camera lens looks like it may have one as well but it is hard to say for certain.
Has anyone had to remove anything from the lens?
Looking at the lens there is definitely something on there because I can clearly see an air gap and if you press on the lens you then see this protective layer sticking to the lens itself.
If you don't touch it you then can see half the lens with the transparent substance touching it whilst the other half is not.
I have not yet taken a photo as it's just gone on charge but it's my guess it's going to show this transparent cover over the shot.
Edited: Thank you to all who subscribed. Yes it does have a protective cover that requires removal.

There is a small protective plastic shield surrounding the lens, but not directly over it.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

Beards said:
Guys,
Quick question. Just received my S4 and took off the protective plastic on the back and front of the phone.
However, the camera lens looks like it may have one as well but it is hard to say for certain.
Has anyone had to remove anything from the lens?
Looking at the lens there is definitely something on there because I can clearly see an air gap and if you press on the lens you then see this protective layer sticking to the lens itself.
If you don't touch it you then can see half the lens with the transparent substance touching it whilst the other half is not.
I have not yet taken a photo as it's just gone on charge but it's my guess it's going to show this transparent cover over the shot.
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I know exactly what your talking about as I'm thinking the same lol , don't know if I should try and remove it or not

I removed it and a number of other people have also. Need to take the back off and get under the edge with your fingernail.

I suppose what we need to hear is if anyone has removed this cover and was it meant to be removed?
Edited: Thanks dacbeth. I'll get a scalpel to it when it's finished charging.
Why on earth it's not mentioned though is weird.....

It's not stuck down very well. Mine almost jumped off as soon as I lifted one edge with my fingernail.

proctologist said:
It's not stuck down very well. Mine almost jumped off as soon as I lifted one edge with my fingernail.
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That's what I would have assumed.... But as mine is definitely not wishing to move (so far tried with finger nail but no joy) I thought it best to come here and ask other owners.

I removed mine. There are also some near invisible covers around the edges of the phone too.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

Yup. Mine came with a protective plastic -- wasn't covering the lens itself though. Its a rounded square with a hole in the middle where the lens is.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk 2

Planktron said:
I removed mine. There are also some near invisible covers around the edges of the phone too.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
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Thanks... I didn't notice those side protectors.
seltaeb said:
Yup. Mine came with a protective plastic -- wasn't covering the lens itself though. Its a rounded square with a hole in the middle where the lens is.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk 2
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Thanks... Mine has no hole and covers all the lens.

I have removed it very easily with a pin

I didn't remove mine, Since the plastic is not covering the entire lens, I think this is to avoid lens to touch the table and be scratched.

SoRRoW_BR said:
I didn't remove mine, Since the plastic is not covering the entire lens, I think this is to avoid lens to touch the table and be scratched.
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Yeah, I don't think it's meant to be removed. I took some fantastic pictures with that plastic on, and then thought you were supposed to remove that and that pictures would look even better, but they look identical. Also it took a good 10 minutes to get off, scratching at the edges with my fingernail before I finally got underneath it. Wish I would've kept mine on!

You'll find that if you don't remove it, it will start to collect fuzz / gunk around the inner circle. So you'll end up having to remove it eventually anyway.
If Samsung intended it to be left on, then it is a bad design. Mine was linted beyond belief after putting it in an admittedly lint filled pocket.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2

that part was the trickiest to remove,
i forced it using my fingernails and i thought i scratched the device, good thing it didn't

Does your camera lens have a screen protector on it?

I've just bought an S4 for my wife (Tesco mobile in the UK) and we noticed that around the camera lens there are a series of fine scratches. However it looks like the scratches are on a protector that surrounds the lens but doesn't cover the centre. I wanted to try to take it off but my wife wouldn't let me as we couldn't be sure it WAS a protector.
So, I wanted to ask whether your s4 came with a protector round the lens and if it did, did you take it off?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

yes it's a protector - yes, you should remove it.

My S4 also had a protector on the camera lens.

You dont have to remove it. Leave it to protect from scratches
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

Take it off, your pictures will get blurrier and blurrier.

you can take of, see this ss
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93477710/s4/20130508_184513.jpg

I would be very surprised if Samsung didn't use Gorilla glass on the camera's lense also.
So short of using your phone around a lot of sand or diamonds, it should be ok.

plznote said:
Take it off, your pictures will get blurrier and blurrier.
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Is that really true, how would that happen?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

btemtd said:
You dont have to remove it. Leave it to protect from scratches
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app
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+1
Sent from my GT-S5830 using Tapatalk 2

Mine came off on its own after the phone became hot.

I don't think camera lenses are gorilla glasses. I remember developing lots of scratches on my S2. I just wonder why there hasn't been lots of talk about it already.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app

I took it off after brushing against it a couple of times and hearing the flimsy plastic crinkling sound was enough. I figured it must come off because although the overall build of the S4 is somewhat on the cheap plastic side, it's not possible that this could be a normal feature.
I keep a case on it now so the camera lens never touches the surface the phone rests on.

Seems like there is still plastic on my lens. Buggered if I can get it off though.

Guys you don't need to take it off the centre is not covered by the protector but it allows the camera to function normally the protector is doing its job properly by protecting the bulk of the lense when say for example you put your phone on the desk it hits the lense first.

pff good thing i found this topic, i was worried that my brand new S4 is already scratched near the camera The bad thing about is that it has air in it, at least with my S4 it has and it really don't protect the lens so good. When I'am geting my case i'am taking it off ! :victory:

not really ...
jutley said:
Guys you don't need to take it off the centre is not covered by the protector but it allows the camera to function normally the protector is doing its job properly by protecting the bulk of the lense when say for example you put your phone on the desk it hits the lense first.
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i would suggest you to tilt and look your s4's back... lens is about 1/2 mm lower than the back cover and never touches the desk surface unless you plan to keep it on a dust(sand) sprinkled surface.
i have also ripped that ****ty thing on my s4...
regards,
richie

I got my phone at tesco mobile too, and only because of this thread I noticed there was a camera lens protector. I also thought there were fine scratches around the lens, but I can see now they are on the protector. I'll remove it anyway, going to be getting a case soon which no doubt will sit out further than the camera lens.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

i don't think it will affect your shots since it's only covering the sides, mine's still intact

You don't need to take it off but I did. It's a doughnut shape and doesn't cover the actual center of the lens where the image is exposed. As such you have to wonder what the point of it is.

Pagnell said:
You don't need to take it off but I did. It's a doughnut shape and doesn't cover the actual center of the lens where the image is exposed. As such you have to wonder what the point of it is.
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Point is: if lens area get in contact with some surface, the raised protector will prevent the actual lens to be scratched. It is difficult to remove because it meant to be there!
If this protector is'n centered correctly when assembled, I guess it can effect quality of camera and have to be removed ...
I too removed it (even there was no need of doing it) but I always use a case that also raise lens from any surface.

Anti shatter film on back and front FYI

Hi, ive been getting a lot of questions from people whether or not the logo at the back is baked in the anti shatter film.
I just wanted to share that I removed mine(back) and the logos sony, xperia, g lens and nfc icon is inside the glass so no need to worry.. the film is really dust magnet so better remove it. downside is that the glass doesnt feel smooth and it is still the same fingerprint magnet as the film. only difference is it doesnt accumulate dust anymore except the ones that come from your hand.
you can buy glass cleaners with oleophobic property to solve this problem.
the only thing im wondering now is whether or not the color on the frame will come off in time. I hope its not paint and the metal is purple itself as i got the purple one. the same reason why Im hesitant to wash it.. especially the silver on the sides Im not sure if it will come off with frequent washing.
as for the front, do not remove it as the sony logo is baked on the film. unless you dont intend to keep the logo. anyway, thats it! I also have couple of questions I hope you guys can help me with.. these are general issues of phone usage. here is the link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2577174
thanks!

I can help you to answer that metal question: As mine has fallen to the ground several times and my metal frame got damaged a bit, I can see that the metal seems to be all purple. No use of paint.
:good:
nevertheless it is a pain, having to realize, that you actually can't get that flawless beaty back, once the metal is chipped...

the_brad said:
I can help you to answer that metal question: As mine has fallen to the ground several times and my metal frame got damaged a bit, I can see that the metal seems to be all purple. No use of paint.
:good:
nevertheless it is a pain, having to realize, that you actually can't get that flawless beaty back, once the metal is chipped...
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im relieved to hear that. thanks alot.. I hope that goes the same to the silver metal frame..

Protective film on rear camera

I may be the only one that did not know this, but I thought that I would mention it just in case. There is a protective film on the Note 4 rear camera. In my case, I did not see it while using the camera for over 2 weeks. The film is hard to peel off because the edges of the film are inside the frame and it is very hard to get your fingernail under it. I was not really sure if the film was there or not. I tilted the back so that the light glare was shown. I noticed that the surface of the camera was not shiny and there were tiny scratches on it. After picking at it with my fingernail, it finally peeled off and all is well.

It has a hole in it so it doesn't actually cover the lens. I'm not sure what purpose it serves, but I've left mine in place.

Yes, I see it now. Obviously does not affect picture quality. I had peeled all the other film off the camera so this is just the last.

Is there a place where we can order replacement film?

I just left mine there. No idea what its for.

That little guy...

It's there to protect the camera lens. You can keep it on since it doesn't interfere with the lens but it's intended to be removed like the rest of the protective film.

Lol. This has been on every Galaxy phone I've bought. It's just the shipping plastic like around the sides of the phone lmao ? ? ?

Phone screen repair glue recommendation

Hey guys,
I've noticed the black (plastic/glue?) part at the edge of my screen has fallen off right at the left upper corner. Now I can see light sipping between the screen and the edge of the phone. Do you guys have any recommendation for repair glue so I could seal that part to prevent any water damage? Thanks.

c19932 said:
Hey guys,
I've noticed the black (plastic/glue?) part at the edge of my screen has fallen off right at the left upper corner. Now I can see light sipping between the screen and the edge of the phone. Do you guys have any recommendation for repair glue so I could seal that part to prevent any water damage? Thanks.
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is that the speaker strip? Don't be filling that with glue!

IronRoo said:
is that the speaker strip? Don't be filling that with glue!
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No it's not the speaker strip even that part is also coming off :silly:

Do it fast, I got the same Problem and just after I noticed I got a whole lot of dust between my camera and glas.
Luckily Essential shipped me a new phone...

c19932 said:
No it's not the speaker strip even that part is also coming off :silly:
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Yeah, that little strip was a bad design.
The LOCA glue normally used for mobile phone screen probably a bit too thin & runny to fill an open hole, so I'd be looking at a ceramic chip repair kit (if you can get suitable colour) or maybe a clear epoxy (though not sure how well it'll stick to ceramic). I don't think anyone has a proven solution so far.

IronRoo said:
I'd be looking at a ceramic chip repair kit (if you can get suitable colour) or maybe a clear epoxy (though not sure how well it'll stick to ceramic).
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From my experience replacing the display on this phone, the thin frame/bezel where the glass fits is actually not ceramic. It feels like some sort of a hard plastic that you can actually scrape and shave a thin layer off with a sharp blade (i discovered that while cleaning out the old adhesive). I tried scraping a semi-exposed edge of the back ceramic plate with a blade - very different feeling. My phone also has a tiny damage to this front bezel in the corner which is a "nick", unlike a chip or a crack you would expect in a ceramic material.

so do you guys have any advice for the type of glue that could be used to fill up the gap?

I have replaced the screen on my phone and used E6000 glue, it is clear and does not run like super glue.
Edit: they also make it in black.