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Big Error With Back Speaker

CSTblank

Member
Nov 29, 2009
98
0
The speaker on the back has a support beneath it (where the speaker(s) would be), except in one area. Off center to the right there is a hollow area where it can be dented, which I found out the hard way. I just happened to look at it and notice this defect. Having never dropped mine, I have no idea what could have caused this other than something pressing on it in my pocket. Upon further inspection I found out that this area is in fact pliable, due to the lack of support behind it.

Will be dropping by VZW on monday. Since I'm within my 30 days until jan. 3rd, I hope they replace it for me. It would really suck to have to pay my $89 deductible (or whatever it is) just for this, but I can't be showing off my Droid with a dented speaker :(

Here's some pics of it.... They're rather blurry because my camera isn't the greatest, but you can see quite well the damaged area

IMG_1265.jpg
IMG_1267.jpg

 
The reason it is unsupported there is that is the location of the speaker, just to the right of middle. If there were plastic supporting the grill there then there wouldn't be any outlet for the sound waves, except through the solid plastic. It is no different than a home speaker. There is no support behind the speaker cloth where the speaker elements are. Calling it a defect is like saying that a home speaker is defective if you punch your finger through the speaker cloth. The droid isn't a solid metal brick. It can be dented.
 
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The reason it is unsupported there is that is the location of the speaker, just to the right of middle. If there were plastic supporting the grill there then there wouldn't be any outlet for the sound waves, except through the solid plastic. It is no different than a home speaker. There is no support behind the speaker cloth where the speaker elements are. Calling it a defect is like saying that a home speaker is defective if you punch your finger through the speaker cloth. The droid isn't a solid metal brick. It can be dented.


Idk about your home speakers, but mine have a plastic grill behind the metal cover (the gold metal part of the droid is comperable to this.)

I didn't say that all droids were defective because of this, i just said look what happened to mine because of the cavity (where I now know the speaker is)
 
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I think because of the title of your post it seemed like you were saying it was a defect. That sucks though, must have been a key or something small enough to fit between the soft rubber middle and bottom back sections. I wouldn't be surprised if they said no because it is something you did (intentional or not) to the phone, not something defective from the factory, but maybe you will get lucky.
 
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Idk about your home speakers, but mine have a plastic grill behind the metal cover (the gold metal part of the droid is comperable to this.)

I didn't say that all droids were defective because of this, i just said look what happened to mine because of the cavity (where I now know the speaker is)

I have never had a home speaker with anything behind the grill cloth or metal mesh. The cloth grill is stretched over a wooden frame, with nothing interfering with the sound waves coming out of the speaker elements. Even the small inexpensive ones I once had didn't have anything behind the metal mesh grill. If I were to accidentally kick into the grill cloth on mine then I could hit the driver cone or the fragile tweeter dome. There is no protection behind most speaker grills, at least the ones that I have ever had.

My Droid is the same as yours. All Droids are made that way. If I were to punch something into that part of the grill then it would dent it. It is accidental damage, just as dropping it would be. In any case, it doesn't affect the functionality of the phone. It's too bad that it happened, but if you get a new one it could happen the same. Carrying the phone in a pocket with keys could easily cause this. I don't know if you do that, but if you do then that is a probable explanation.
 
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I have never had a home speaker with anything behind the grill cloth or metal mesh. The cloth grill is stretched over a wooden frame, with nothing interfering with the sound waves coming out of the speaker elements. Even the small inexpensive ones I once had didn't have anything behind the metal mesh grill. If I were to accidentally kick into the grill cloth on mine then I could hit the driver cone or the fragile tweeter dome. There is no protection behind most speaker grills, at least the ones that I have ever had.

My Droid is the same as yours. All Droids are made that way. If I were to punch something into that part of the grill then it would dent it. It is accidental damage, just as dropping it would be. In any case, it doesn't affect the functionality of the phone. It's too bad that it happened, but if you get a new one it could happen the same. Carrying the phone in a pocket with keys could easily cause this. I don't know if you do that, but if you do then that is a probable explanation.

I'm usually very careful not to have anything in my pocket with my droid. But alas I suppose I might have accidentally put a nickel or some loose change in my pocket without thinking.

It's all aesthetic and not functional damage, but if I do get it replaced I'll be sure to be much more conscious of the probability of this happening. As I'm sure more people will be too, having seen what happened to mine.
 
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I don't think it is made of paper.

Unfortunately it is and its pretty simple to tear.

At best it might be considered a thin piece of plastic and it has no support behind the part that is over the speaker. If you want to check just take you bettery cover off and look right below where you put your thump to take the battery out. It you lightly push on it you will see it is flimsy and bound to get punctered at some time.
 
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Unfortunately it is and its pretty simple to tear.

At best it might be considered a thin piece of plastic and it has no support behind the part that is over the speaker. If you want to check just take you bettery cover off and look right below where you put your thump to take the battery out. It you lightly push on it you will see it is flimsy and bound to get punctered at some time.

It's true. I've done some research and it's really not even metal grill. Just a sticker (which may be made of a ridiculously thin metal)

I'm trying to fix mine currently, and it moves and plies like paper
 
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I also have a dent there. This was my 3rd unit and it came that way out of the box. However with all the other issues I was having with the other phones, I kept it. After a few days you realize that you never really look at the back of he phone anyway. It sucks but at least everything works as it should.
 
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I performed a simple phone "operation" by trying to bend it back into place and it looks.... well... you can tell when looking at it something is off, but it's an improvement over the "dent". In the right lighting you can't really tell at all unless you're inspecting it, and let's be honest.... No one will. I doubt VZW will exchange it, but it's worth a try. If not, I might need just get a hardcover. I'll post pictures tomorrow once my camera has a charged battery.

I also emailed Motorola about possibly ordering a new sticker for the back cover, since essentially that's all it is.

will update
 
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It's definitely NOT paper, I have ran a few different objects across it and while it may be flimsy it is at least plastic. It doesn't have the metal feel when you hit it with another piece of metal but it could be because it is sooo thin. Either way I would be careful when leaving it in your pocket with other small/pointy objects. I myself use a padded sleeve lined with microfiber.
 
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