Bottom Button Light Leak?

[Vitsberry]

The second one is the one that bugs me and not the little ones at the bottom of the buttons. Otherwise love the phone, way nicer than my d2.

 

[asianrage]

Add me to the list of folks with light leakage.

1. Short lines of light peaking out between Home and Menu button, and between the Back and Search button. I thought I was seeing things, but it's most noticeable at night or in a dim surrounding.

2. Small gap/leak at the bottom right of the corner of the screen where it meet up with the plastic insert.

I don't know what to do. I'm on a family plan, headed by my brother in law who works for Verizon CS. The phone was ordered online, so it seems like I can't go into the B&M store to get the phone exchanged, or could I?

 

[levels3]

same thing for me...

So I also have what everybody else is describing- small leaks under the bottom "touch" buttons. On the one hand you try to tell yourself not to obsess on such little things and enjoy the phone. On the other hand most people that buy top of the line devices such as the thunderbolt are the exact people that care about all those little things. The concern with the light leaks, on top of it being annoying in the dark, is dust eventually getting in the bottom. If that happens it would really annoy me and I'm sure many others, as I have had it happen to phones before.

I remember the iphone 3g/3gs had this problem and eventually it also had dust under the screen. The iPhone 4 on the other hand is probably the most high quality(physically) piece of cell phone equipment on the market today. I know it has the antenna problem, but if you are using a case which 90% of people do it's a non-issue, and it has 0 flaws physically. I expected the same out of the Thunderbolt.

Now I am trying to figure out what to do, is it really worth trying to exchange in the hopes of getting a perfect one? How many people really have ZERO light leaks at all here? It seems like this is the majority of units having this small light leak(s) under the bottom buttons, and the problem is trying to see it in the store while examining the new unit. You would basically have to ask to go into a dark room to REALLY tell if it was leaking as it is quite hard to tell in the light.

This is my first post here, although I have been following this forum and a couple others for about 4 months regarding the Tbolt. I have gone through tons of phones in my time since I am a huge tech person and most phones do have flaws, but for some reason light leaks are one of the flaws that bothers me most. Also I am not willing to stick silicone into my top of the line device to fix a problem that really shouldn't be there. So now I am left trying to decide if I try to go to the store and TRY find a perfect unit, or return this thing and activate my iphone 4 again for Verizon. I have to say with the short battery life, and sub-par physical aspects...I'm really not sure it's worth it just to have 4G especially when it's destroying battery like this... although I do think they will make a few software updates and fix up 4g a bit to help out on the battery.

The other annoying aspect is I'm sure a lot of us have put screen protectors on the phone already which you also lose if you return the phone since it's pretty hard to re-install them without having tons of dust/bubbles.

 

[flashpiti]

So I also have what everybody else is describing- small leaks under the bottom "touch" buttons. On the one hand you try to tell yourself not to obsess on such little things and enjoy the phone. On the other hand most people that buy top of the line devices such as the thunderbolt are the exact people that care about all those little things. The concern with the light leaks, on top of it being annoying in the dark, is dust eventually getting in the bottom. If that happens it would really annoy me and I'm sure many others, as I have had it happen to phones before.

I remember the iphone 3g/3gs had this problem and eventually it also had dust under the screen. The iPhone 4 on the other hand is probably the most high quality(physically) piece of cell phone equipment on the market today. I know it has the antenna problem, but if you are using a case which 90% of people do it's a non-issue, and it has 0 flaws physically. I expected the same out of the Thunderbolt.

Now I am trying to figure out what to do, is it really worth trying to exchange in the hopes of getting a perfect one? How many people really have ZERO light leaks at all here? It seems like this is the majority of units having this small light leak(s) under the bottom buttons, and the problem is trying to see it in the store while examining the new unit. You would basically have to ask to go into a dark room to REALLY tell if it was leaking as it is quite hard to tell in the light.

This is my first post here, although I have been following this forum and a couple others for about 4 months regarding the Tbolt. I have gone through tons of phones in my time since I am a huge tech person and most phones do have flaws, but for some reason light leaks are one of the flaws that bothers me most. Also I am not willing to stick silicone into my top of the line device to fix a problem that really shouldn't be there. So now I am left trying to decide if I try to go to the store and TRY find a perfect unit, or return this thing and activate my iphone 4 again for Verizon. I have to say with the short battery life, and sub-par physical aspects...I'm really not sure it's worth it just to have 4G especially when it's destroying battery like this... although I do think they will make a few software updates and fix up 4g a bit to help out on the battery.

The other annoying aspect is I'm sure a lot of us have put screen protectors on the phone already which you also lose if you return the phone since it's pretty hard to re-install them without having tons of dust/bubbles.

The thing is when you pay good money, it's not unreasonable to think that quality control should be high. Apple does well with this and so should HTC.

 

[Air Force One]

The thing is when you pay good money, it's not unreasonable to think that quality control should be high. Apple does well with this and so should HTC.

Bull.

here is a 35 page thread all about Apple quality:

Backlight bleeding - MacRumors Forums

Need I remind you of the iPhone 4 fiasco as well? That antenna was nice quality and has still never been fixed.

Some people act like that for $200-$250 that you're supposed to get a device that's up to NASA quality. Fact is, today, $250 is not THAT much money.

 

[levels3]

I'm not sure about the ipad since I have never used one. But I can tell you the iPhone 4 is physically about as good as you can get. While the antenna issue seems to be there, it's only if you hold it in a certain spot AND don't use a case. Think about it this way, most people who are not using cases on a phone that costs $600+ retail, are also not worrying about the details. Not saying that apple is right for having the antenna issue, but physically this has no effect on the phones aesthetics, and zero effect on anything for the huge amount of users who are using a case to protect their phone.

 

[Air Force One]

I'm not sure about the ipad since I have never used one. But I can tell you the iPhone 4 is physically about as good as you can get. While the antenna issue seems to be there, it's only if you hold it in a certain spot AND don't use a case. Think about it this way, most people who are not using cases on a phone that costs $600+ retail, are also not worrying about the details. Not saying that apple is right for having the antenna issue, but physically this has no effect on the phones aesthetics, and zero effect on anything for the huge amount of users who are using a case to protect their phone.

Just a bunch of excuses for poor quality control at Apple. Not saying Apple is any worse than HTC, but they are not any better, either.

 

[levels3]

You are right there is no excuses for flaws in high-end products. With that said, I think almost anybody would rather have a phone that is physically perfect with a case on then a phone that has light leaking out of parts and could have dust enter in and really annoy you.

 

[flashpiti]

Bull.

here is a 35 page thread all about Apple quality:

Backlight bleeding - MacRumors Forums

Need I remind you of the iPhone 4 fiasco as well? That antenna was nice quality and has still never been fixed.

Some people act like that for $200-$250 that you're supposed to get a device that's up to NASA quality. Fact is, today, $250 is not THAT much money.

So what's the magic pricetag where you aren't supposed to get quality issues?

 

[Air Force One]

So what's the magic pricetag where you aren't supposed to get quality issues?

well realistically, you're going to have issues no-matter the price, unless you're talking about NASA grade or surgical grade products. Man there are people that pay $100,000, $3000,000 for a car and it's in the shop once a month. Don't forget tho: how many probes have gone hurtling off into space never to be heard from again, that cost 50 million dollars, or how many lawsuits over defective equipment?

But if you want to put me on the spot: if I paid $1500 for the Thunderbolt I would expect a pretty damn solid device. For these manufacturers to be able to afford to bring these products to market(including Apple) AND make a profit, sacrifices have to be made and corners cut. Otherwise they would be too expensive for 90% of us to buy in the first place.

I mean think about it: you could easily spend $250 on one trip to the grocery store! It's amazing these hardware manufacturers are able to deliver what they do at the price they do, IMO. They keep ADDING more processors, more resolution, etc,..etc.. and the price basically stays the same. Something has to give and it gives in assembly and quality control. Cheap labor too.

It's just my opinion but I think that folks are too demanding for what we pay and for what we get. I'm not immune either. I do it too sometimes.

 

[Air Force One]

And one more add on thought to my last post: I was just thinking about the iPad 2 and the backlight bleeding. Is it really any surprise? They make it thinner and add more processing power(dual core) and improve graphics performance AND keep the price the same...all during a RECESSION?

is it any surprise??? Really???

cannot believe I'm defending Apple but you want no backlight bleed?.... be willing to pay $100, maybe $200 more for each iPad 2 and Steve Jobs would say problem solved. and a hundred bucks isn't even asking that much to eliminate a defect like that but boy would people howl at the price increase!!!

I guess all I'm trying to say is this: try and keep things in PERSPECTIVE. It's a $250 phone. Perfection is not on the menu here.

 

[Mikuro]

I got my Thunderbolt today via FedEx and turned it on to see this issue. There was a large dot of light coming out just under the back button and a small line leading all the way from that to the right side of the phone itself so about 3/4 inch of the bottom of my phone had light coming out in some way or form.

I noticed that the small plastic piece between the phone and glass was extremely movable on the phone i got, a little random finger push could move it further away from the glass making the gap even larger, or closer to the glass. Either way there was a gap big enough for -plenty- of dust to get in there. Called Verizon and got a replacement on the way, i can handle a little light, but not almost half the bottom of the phone and a dust magnet of a gap for pocket lint.

 

[NJ Guy]

Instead of chancing it and returning your phones in hopes that the next one is not worse, why not try the fix that Air Force One did (which is listed on page 7 of this thread)? Here is the link


Air Force One, if you read this, is this the stuff you were talking about? I'm gonna try it but want to make sure to grab the right stuff:

autozone product link

 

[Mikuro]

Instead of chancing it and returning your phones in hopes that the next one is not worse, why not try the fix that Air Force One did (which is listed on page 7 of this thread)? Here is the link


Air Force One, if you read this, is this the stuff you were talking about? I'm gonna try it but want to make sure to grab the right stuff:

autozone product link

That's the problem though, we shouldn't have to go out and buy a self fix of silicone to get a $250 phone to look how it should look.

 

[Air Force One]

Instead of chancing it and returning your phones in hopes that the next one is not worse, why not try the fix that Air Force One did (which is listed on page 7 of this thread)? Here is the link


Air Force One, if you read this, is this the stuff you were talking about? I'm gonna try it but want to make sure to grab the right stuff:

autozone product link

That's the exact one

 

[NJ Guy]

Thanks Air Force One for the quick reply!

Yeah, I think this is the best bet to solve the issue. Looks like there are some people lucky and don't have the issue but the majority of people do have the issue. Yes, it should not be happening but other than that little flow, my phone is fine. I am going to do this repair not because the light leak is so bothersome but simply to know that dust will not get under that screen. Iv had the phone a few days and have been keeping it in its baggie lol until I do the fix.

 

[Air Force One]

Thanks Air Force One for the quick reply!

Yeah, I think this is the best bet to solve the issue. Looks like there are some people lucky and don't have the issue but the majority of people do have the issue. Yes, it should not be happening but other than that little flow, my phone is fine. I am going to do this repair not because the light leak is so bothersome but simply to know that dust will not get under that screen. Iv had the phone a few days and have been keeping it in its baggie lol until I do the fix.

You're welcome. I'm in the exact same place as you. I agree we shouldn't have to do it, but other than this issue, my T-bolt is perfect. I'm not willing to take a chance on getting one with a stuck pixel or some other defect by trading for another. This was an easy fix. Like you, I only did it for the prevention of dust under the screen. The actual light leak itself didn't bother me at all. As a matter of fact I couldn't even see it unless I held my phone at odd angles and looked for it. I just didn't feel comfortable pocketing it with those little gaps there for fear of dust.

 

[NJ Guy]

When you did the repair did you apply the sealant all the way across or just in the leak spot(s)? I only have the tiny leak but it appears like the glass is too short. At the top it is flush but the bottom glass doesn't look like it meets the plastic. Does this make sense? Leak or no leak, I'm assuming they are all like that?

 

[Air Force One]

When you did the repair did you apply the seaman all the way across or just in the leak spot(s)? I only have the tiny leak but it appears like the glass is too short. At the top it is flush but the bottom glass doesn't look like it meets the plastic. Does this make sense? Leak or no leak, I'm assuming they are all like that?

I hope you mean silicone

I started off trying to just hit the small holes but finally said to heck with it and just went all the way along the bottom. I kept going into a dark room and seeing some light so it was just easier for to go all the way across.

Correct: the bottom part the glass is raised from the frame. I think it was designed that. I've see it this way on all Thunderbolts including review units. It's that little crack where you put the silicone. The glass being raised actually makes it a little easier to get it in there imo. I even noticed the raised glass at the bottom of the device in hands on videos way back at CES in Jan.

 

[NJ Guy]

Thanks for the info! I have an Autozone about 10 mins from me. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.