Warning: Speaker Cover is Fragile

[QwarkDreams]

I just wanted to let you know that the speaker cover seems to be very fragile. As I tried to clean some dust out of the top speaker with a soft(!!!) piece of paper the thin foil that covers the speaker just ripped. Honestly no force applied. No more water-resistance and terrible sound (it seems that the foil was also functioning as an additional membrane for the speaker to alter the sound). So be wary when cleaning your phone! (luckily Amazon is replacing mine)

 

[cupofcloud]

Re: Fragile speaker cover! (warning)

sorry to hear that happened to your phone. I read somewhere that the safest way to clean this area is with a can of pressurized air for electronics.. I need to clean mine soon so I have to pick up a can.
Hopefully the following models will have some type of grill that can keep dirt out but also protect the tiny water resistant lining from tearing.

 

[QwarkDreams]

Re: Fragile speaker cover! (warning)

Even with a can of pressurized air I'd be cautious. Like I said, I didn't apply any force at all with the piece of paper. A direct blast of from a can of air aimed frontally at the speaker might be enough to damage the foil too, especially from a new/full can. I use them every now and then to clean my PC, unfortunately I didn't have one with me when this happened since I was at work -_-

A few tips for using pressurized air cans:

• it's not just air and will smell. open a window when you use it.
• hold the phone at an angle (not the can!) and a few inches away from the nozzle (don't underestimate the pressure!). no direct bursts!
• test it on a surface and on your skin. a) to get a feeling for how strong the pressure is and b) sometimes the gases wil condensate on the surface. they usually immediately evaporate again but the can leave a white-ish stain. they can be removed but the speakers are hard to get to and very fragile.
• again: be very gentle with the pressurized air! microphones and speakers are very delicate things and can be damaged easily (not just the water-resistant lining). the USB port and audio jack should be much more durable and they collect lint/dust too.

If the pressurized air isn't enough you could (do this at your own risk!) try a very, very soft brush (like the ones used for camera lenses). Don't apply any force. Those fine "hairs" might be able to puncture the lining too if you press the brush directly on the speaker. It might be better to use a wiping motion with the hairs being "dragged" over the speaker at a very obtuse angle.

Great, now that it happened all those things come to my mind xD

Yeah, I get that Motorola was cutting costs whereever possible to keep the price low, but how much can those speaker grills really cost?