Mass production faults
Mobile-review have posted a very interesting article talking about production defects in phones. They specifically talked more in depth about the Sony Ericsson S500 (keypad cracking) and the Nokia N76 (paint peeling off). I didn't know that there was a problem with the N76 paint. Below are pics and some parts from the article.
Sony Ericsson S500
Mass production of mobile phones and the never-ending struggle for cost reduction occasionally result in some sort of defects, which keep low profile up to the release date, passed unnoticed by both testers and distributors. Sometimes, the synergy effect brought about by various factors may seem bizarre, but the fact is, even color scheme can affect reliability. Say, the recent story with the Sony Ericsson S500i, probably, would be the best example of that. All units coming in green tend to get their keys cracked 2-3 weeks into use, for the plastic can’t stand the strain. Surprisingly, all yellow-colored handsets never had such issues. We posted a message on the Sony Ericsson S500i’s defect in the VIP Lounge, a private section of our forum, where one of the explanations was the design of the keys themselves. But it was just recently when we learned that the green paint reacted with the adhesive used for sticking the buttons onto the casing. This way, because of the chemical reaction the base of the keys simply dissolved. At the same time, the yellow edition is free of such defects. Thankfully, only a few shipments of these phones have made it to Russia, and you can easily identify them by production date – assembled before week 27 of this year. This case is covered by the warranty, meaning that you can easily get the keypad changed in any service centre.
Nokia N76
Last week Nokia’s service centers received a bulletin with a rundown of the problem, stating that this case is covered by the warranty and replacement of faulty parts should be free of charge. As of today, there are loads of spare parts available, so no shortage is expected in the near term. So, is this a really wide-spread disease, or all we do now is making a mountain out of a molehill?
According to our sources, this defect applies to nearly all Nokia N76 produced up until this day, and it has much to do with faulty parts supplied to the manufacturer, however the worst thing about it is that the spare parts delivered to service centers are no different. This means, that servicing your unit will merely bring you a temporal relief. In light of this fact, some European carriers have already discarded the model, specifically, the N76 is no longer available for purchase in the UK from Vodafone, as they took it off all price-lists on June 20 – no official statements have been made by the carrier as yet. But the rumor has it that Vodafone has returned all unsold units to the vendor – this point of view is explained here.
Sony Ericsson S500
Mass production of mobile phones and the never-ending struggle for cost reduction occasionally result in some sort of defects, which keep low profile up to the release date, passed unnoticed by both testers and distributors. Sometimes, the synergy effect brought about by various factors may seem bizarre, but the fact is, even color scheme can affect reliability. Say, the recent story with the Sony Ericsson S500i, probably, would be the best example of that. All units coming in green tend to get their keys cracked 2-3 weeks into use, for the plastic can’t stand the strain. Surprisingly, all yellow-colored handsets never had such issues. We posted a message on the Sony Ericsson S500i’s defect in the VIP Lounge, a private section of our forum, where one of the explanations was the design of the keys themselves. But it was just recently when we learned that the green paint reacted with the adhesive used for sticking the buttons onto the casing. This way, because of the chemical reaction the base of the keys simply dissolved. At the same time, the yellow edition is free of such defects. Thankfully, only a few shipments of these phones have made it to Russia, and you can easily identify them by production date – assembled before week 27 of this year. This case is covered by the warranty, meaning that you can easily get the keypad changed in any service centre.
Nokia N76
Last week Nokia’s service centers received a bulletin with a rundown of the problem, stating that this case is covered by the warranty and replacement of faulty parts should be free of charge. As of today, there are loads of spare parts available, so no shortage is expected in the near term. So, is this a really wide-spread disease, or all we do now is making a mountain out of a molehill?
According to our sources, this defect applies to nearly all Nokia N76 produced up until this day, and it has much to do with faulty parts supplied to the manufacturer, however the worst thing about it is that the spare parts delivered to service centers are no different. This means, that servicing your unit will merely bring you a temporal relief. In light of this fact, some European carriers have already discarded the model, specifically, the N76 is no longer available for purchase in the UK from Vodafone, as they took it off all price-lists on June 20 – no official statements have been made by the carrier as yet. But the rumor has it that Vodafone has returned all unsold units to the vendor – this point of view is explained here.
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