Nexus 4 back shattered within 24 hours - not dropped!

[Mark The Mark]

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!

 

[jd914]

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

 

[nickacs]

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

 

[pontiac005]

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

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[idaute]

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

 

[thisfnguy]

glass spontaneously cracking.

Google it.

 

[donm527#IM]

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.

 

[CoolBeit]

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.

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

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[thisfnguy]

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.

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

 

[maryjane2300]

BS

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[greydarrah]

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.

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.

 

[wx27]

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.

 

[thisfnguy]

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!!!!

 

[Mark The Mark]

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.

 

[greydarrah]

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.

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.

 

[Mark The Mark]

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

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

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

 

[xDAKx]

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.

 

[Mark The Mark]

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!

 

[Qbancelli]

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

 

[Jasonr403]

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.

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