Nexus 4 back shattered within 24 hours - not dropped!

So, I just rested my brand new Nexus 4 on a clean, flat kitchen surface, back down, and heard this sort of crackling sound.
It continued for a few seconds, and as I picked up the phone and turned it around, I could literally see it cracking in front of my eyes!
It is a totally uniform shatter without any trauma associated with dropping (which is as expected since I didn't drop it!)

I'm totally awestruck! Never seen anything like this before! I think Google have got a product recall on their hands.

Anyhow, called Google and they'll issue me with a refund once they get the phone back - but it's a massive inconvenience for me!

Photo of back attached

[Edit] I've posted more photos of the phone as people seem to think I'm being dishonest. This is for real - I know it's hard to believe (and I love this phone!), but it's just happened to me.
Note also that the surface in the photo is the surface I put the phone onto - it's some sort of fake wood veneer, I think!

It broke by itself in front of your eyes? You know no one is going to believe that. I say BS.

As ESPN says... "C'mon man!"... I agree... Makes absolutely ZERO sense

First I have heard of this and first time Google has heard of this.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

You know jd914, you probably really know what BS is don't you? It appears that the old saying that goes it takes one to know one is in effect hear. Are you really full of it yourself, and thus know exactly what it is when you see it? Your post and the two following yours are not what I would like to find on a reasonable forum. Those posts make the forum seem petty.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

glass spontaneously cracking.

Google it.

interesting how that one crack at the bottom right goes beyond the glass and continues into the bezel... really gotta pay attention to detail... the rest looked so good.

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Originally Posted by donm527 [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

interesting how that one crack at the bottom right goes beyond the glass and continues into the bezel... really gotta pay attention to detail... the rest looked so good.

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Haha yep, I see that too. Take another photoshop tutorial before trying this again.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

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Originally Posted by donm527 [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

interesting how that one crack at the bottom right goes beyond the glass and continues into the bezel... really gotta pay attention to detail... the rest looked so good.

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Ummm...I think that's a cat hair or something.

BS

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

Quote:

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Originally Posted by donm527 [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

interesting how that one crack at the bottom right goes beyond the glass and continues into the bezel... really gotta pay attention to detail... the rest looked so good.

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That does look like a hair.

It's too bad this happened, but it's nothing prevalent in the N4 line that's going to generate a recall. You just got a bad one. Maybe there was a tiny piece of sand between the glass and the frame that finally shattered the back...who knows. Are you getting a replacement, or are you getting a refund and giving up on the N4? It's an awesome phone.

Fake or not, I would advise everyone not to set the glass front or back onto a stone kitchen table, especially marble or granite, and doubly so if the phone has been warmed by being in a pocket or been in use on a call or such. Basically you don't want to cause the glass to have a rapid downward change in temperature. This is like back in chemistry lab where they tell you to never take a flask that has been heated by a bunsen burner and run it under cold water. The heat transference from glass to water or glass to stone is quite rapid and the material contracts too quickly, causing possible fracturing.

You had an issue with the nexus 4??? BS I have a nexus 4 and I haven't had any issues you are a bold faced liar!!!!

Hey... I know it's going to be hard to believe, but I'm being totally honest.
The wooden veneer surface you see there behind the phone is the surface I put it down on.
And, yes, it really did take some time to crack... as if the glass was under tension and started cracking from one point and the crack spread across the whole glass, not happening instantly.
I'm finding it hard to believe myself. I really like this phone... and yes I could be just unlucky, but this is for real.

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Originally Posted by Mark The Mark [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

Hey... I know it's going to be hard to believe, but I'm being totally honest.
The wooden veneer surface you see there behind the phone is the surface I put it down on.
And, yes, it really did take some time to crack... as if the glass was under tension and started cracking from one point and the crack spread across the whole glass, not happening instantly.
I'm finding it hard to believe myself. I really like this phone... and yes I could be just unlucky, but this is for real.

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I believe you, but I also believe your situation is nothing normal with the N4. Sometimes, crazy stuff happens. You could probably take a few hundred N4's and do the exact same thing and it wouldn't happen to a single one of them.

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Originally Posted by CoolBeit [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

Haha yep, I see that too. Take another photoshop tutorial before trying this again.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

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Take a look at my other photos and tell me that again :) sorry, but you got this one wrong.

To me, this look like an impact or temperature related failure of the glass. A normal crack wouldn't have spread like that, it would have maybe caused a corner to be cracked, but not the entire back panel.

It's certainly not something which is going to create a recall, and I think you either ended up with a bad device (possibly the glass was installed poorly, putting it under some sort of unusual tension, which caused the failure to develop) or something which caused the glass to break in an unusual way.

I thought I'd post this, just in case more people are getting the problem - if this is a one-in-a-million (or even one-in-a-thousand) I'll accept I've just been unlucky and a recall is too pessimistic.

Google were helpful when I called them up though - I'm sure I'll get a refund... and then stick with my trusty plastic Xperia Mini!

No disrespect, but anyone using a phone mostly made of glass naked, without a case or a bumper deserves to have his phone shattered.

It probally broke because of temperature change, going from hot to cold, the battery must of heated up and that heated the glass on the back and then putting it on a cold counter must of shattered it.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

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Originally Posted by jd914 [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

It broke by itself in front of your eyes? You know no one is going to believe that. I say BS.

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Check out other photos - if only my photoshop skills were that good :)

Maybe my wording wasn't the best... what I mean is that when I place it on the surface, something to do with the contact (and it wasn't a drop, I repeat) caused it to start cracking from one point and the crack spread across the whole piece of glass, but that took some time, like a second or two... so when I picked it up to look, I could literally see it happen and hear it too.

I reckon the glass must be under some tension by the outer case and possibly the temperature change of it going from my warm hand to the cold surface cause the case to contract and put the glass under too much pressure causing this type of "slow" crack. I'm not a physicist... but that's my guess.

This is one of the first phones of the new batch here in the UK - maybe it's a one off (and I really hope so as there will be a lot of unhappy people otherwise)

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Originally Posted by Mark The Mark [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

and then stick with my trusty plastic Xperia Mini!

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Great little phone.

Sent from my Sony Xperia P

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Originally Posted by Qbancelli [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

No disrespect, but anyone using a phone mostly made of glass naked, without a case or a bumper deserves to have his phone shattered.

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Well, then google shouldn't be selling them without bumpers should they?

(and they should make sure they have them in stock too - I was waiting to order one, and treating my phone with one hell of a lot of care - didn't think putting in on a surface would be a problem... )

donm,
I wish I could see as well as you do, but fortunately I am not a no-it-all broadcasting my expertise (and no I do not see what you see or a cat hair as someone else blunders forth with). It appears that there are quite a few no-it-alls in this post. They don't bring any credibility to themselves.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

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Originally Posted by idaute [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

You know jd914, you probably really know what BS is don't you? It appears that the old saying that goes it takes one to know one is in effect hear. Are you really full of it yourself, and thus know exactly what it is when you see it? Your post and the two following yours are not what I would like to find on a reasonable forum. Those posts make the forum seem petty.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

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Jokes on you because you been trolled by the OP.