Have you cracked your Nexus 4 yet?

[phstrat]

I have a little cheapo china phone that I've dropped many a time, without incident..you can't tell me they can't make a phone that you don't have to constantly worry about breaking every time you touch it or set it down from a warm surface like your hand to a cold one like a ceramic counter top and the temperature gradient cracks it..

 

[anon(94115)]

The thing that kills me is all this talk about glass being a mistake. There IS NO mistake. The mistake is dropping or mishandling the device. You drop something, it breaks. That's called gravity. It seems to me more people are worried about shattered glass than the phone itself. If I were ever to drop my Nexus, the first thing going through my head would be "please don't be broken," and that would be directly related to my phone, not the glass. Do you think dropping a SIII onto a hard floor will have no ill effects? Do iPhones come with some new age anti-break coating? You paid hundreds of dollars for the thing. Pay attention to how you handle it and where you place it. It can't take care of itself.

Why yes I have dropped my SGS3 onto a hard surface without any ill effects.

I have no like at all for this phone, but accidents do happen or the word wouldn't exist.

 

[KitN]

LG cannot win. First people were whining when the S3 came out with its fugly yet durable polycarbonate shell, and now finally an amazingly awesome glass Android smartphone comes out that demands babying and its being bashed too?

I'll take glass over that cheap ass feeling Samsung plastic any day!

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

[anon(94115)]

didn't know you were on such intimate terms with cheap ass.

Mine doesnt break from a 3 foot fall. The N4 feels great, but if it cannot offer protection it is worthless

 

[Hubertsng]

Cracked? Try shattered. It was in my cargo pocket during a motorcycle accident on marble-sized gravel and I landed on it, smashing the back in three places and leaving cracks running up and down the whole back. The front was unscathed, but sadly the camera no longer works. Luckily it's covered by my credit card's accidental damage protection, but now all my efforts to get an order in for launch day are for nothing cos I can't order a replacement. My cheapo TPU case came in the mail today, a little late but likely wouldn't have helped.

Note: I am not in any way suggesting that the phone should've survived being landed on by a big guy crashing a motorcycle, just fulfilling the request for pics.

http://i.imgur.com/0WuN9.jpg

were you selling this on ebay? I really feel like I've seen that picture on ebay and the description of the front being fine but the camera in the front doesn't work anymore either.

 

[jbmeicher]

god i feel like this is a gore thread

 

[laser155]

Does anyone know where to get replacement back glass? I found lcds but no back glass. Also are there any guides to replacing either yet other than the ifixit teardown? My nexus 4 should be here in a couple days and I was trying to find out where I could get back glass from in case I break it in the future.

 

[anon(94115)]

They will have them out sooner or later. Not sure how hard it is to replace on the N4 but on an iPhone it is pretty easy.

 

[laser155]

Yeah the iphone is actually very nice to take apart. I know the nexus 4's screen glass is glued to the lcd and frame but I'm not so sure about the back glass. Hopefully the back glass comes off with little heat from a heat gun like some other apple products that are glued do.

 

[anon(94115)]

if you look at step 7, it is as easy as the iPhone: Nexus 4 Teardown - iFixit

 

[willdogs]

Does anyone know where to get replacement back glass? I found lcds but no back glass. Also are there any guides to replacing either yet other than the ifixit teardown? My nexus 4 should be here in a couple days and I was trying to find out where I could get back glass from in case I break it in the future.

Nexus 4 taken apart
Nexus 4 Teardown - iFixit

 

[phstrat]

maybe you could chip all the broken glass off the back and inlay some nice solid wood veneer...then you could have a Nexus 4 woody..

 

[anon(94115)]

most iNexus users already have that -- on Viagra

 

[laser155]

if you look at step 7, it is as easy as the iPhone: Nexus 4 Teardown - iFixit

Nexus 4 taken apart
Nexus 4 Teardown - iFixit

I saw that but the ifixit teardown doesn't tell if the glass imbedded on the back cover can removed. They simply remove the whole back cover. I know that part comes off very easily but I wanted to know if the glass could come out of the back cover so that the entire back cover did not have to be replaced. It doesn't look like anyone has tried that yet though. I'll just wait for more teardown/repair guides to see if it can be done without replacing the whole back cover.

I wanted to replace only the glass because I'm thinking that any replacement entire back covers you buy will fairly expensive since the back cover is not just a piece of glass or plastic like they usually are. It has battery contacts, nfc, and wireless inductor parts ect. in it. I figured replacing just the glass, if possible would cut costs significantly.

 

[anon(94115)]

I really doubt it. I would assume they would sell it as a unit. I dont think they will ship just a piece of glass. In theory you could, once cracked, maybe replace the glass part itself...but that is beyond what we are really talking about.

 

[mikeyyy]

Woke up with hairline scratches on back of the phone. Had it on my nightstand. Weird.

 

[bobjohnson201]

You know I just had a thought while I was leaving a post on the front page.

THIS IS THE MOST BRILLIANT MARKETING SCHEME EVER!

Hear me out. One of the strengths of Android has always been the ability to customize the phone the way you want. We all do not have to have the same look and feel like iOS. Google has taken it one step further on their flagship Nexus phone. Now you can customize the OUTSIDE as well. By adding a easily broken glass back, you can crack it to your will and truly make your phone, your phone. BRILLIANT!

THIS IS PURE ANDROID at it's heart. We should all have one instead of Samsung flavored Android Phones, or HTC or Moto (Look for them to come out with something close since they get as close as they can to pure Google so I am told...repeatedly)

Not trying to troll here...maybe succeeding though.

/sarcasm

this was HILARIOUS

/sarcasm

 

[bobjohnson201]

I'll take glass over that cheap ass feeling Samsung plastic any day!

Sent from my Nexus 4

agree 100%. my samsung galaxy s1 feels as good as my dad's $40 prepaid phone. im being serious.

 

[mmace]

It didn't slide. It's a flat phone. Be serious. I've sat this phone on many surface types and it's never just slid by itself. Unless you have ghosts. In that case I apologize.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

mine slides off my desk at work, between mine & a colleagues we can race them to see which wants to jump off first

 

[bobjohnson201]

The thing that kills me is all this talk about glass being a mistake. There IS NO mistake. The mistake is dropping or mishandling the device. You drop something, it breaks. That's called gravity. It seems to me more people are worried about shattered glass than the phone itself. If I were ever to drop my Nexus, the first thing going through my head would be "please don't be broken," and that would be directly related to my phone, not the glass. Do you think dropping a SIII onto a hard floor will have no ill effects? Do iPhones come with some new age anti-break coating? You paid hundreds of dollars for the thing. Pay attention to how you handle it and where you place it. It can't take care of itself.

i dont think the glass is a mistake. i love it. however, both iphone 5 and gs3 will be more durable than the nexus 4. im not saying the ip5 and gs3 wont have any ill effects if you drop them on a hard floor, it just has a better chance of 'surviving' because of the material composition (i've dropped my GS1 on tar from about 2.5 feet, and i just see some minor scuffing of the plastic on the bottom bezel, while the back remains unscathed) . while i highly dislike the feel of samsung plastic, at least its durable. accidents happen, even if your intentions are good. i will get a nice feeling (not overly bulky) case, but will probably only use when im out of the house. i wouldn't be afraid of using the phone without the case at the serenity of my home