Related
Apologies in advance, I could not post proper links for this review due to my low post count.
Background
I ordered a Nexus 10 on November 20th, 2012. Initially, I was pleased by the battery life (~6.5 hours). Probably a bit like the "Boiling Frog" metaphor, the battery life degraded and I didn't notice it. I began to notice the battery degradation recently when my tablet began doing the 0% battery shutdown at ~30%.
First thing I did was get on the phone with Google, to see if I could get them to warranty the battery. Being a couple of months out of warranty, I wasn't expecting it to work, but it couldn't hurt. Denied. So, I called Samsung. After two hours and 8 different technical support phone numbers, they couldn't recognize my tablet serial number. I'm guessing it was unrecognized (which is no excuse, by the way) because I bought it on the Google Play Store. Besides all that, they didn't recognize the product name, kept calling it strange stuff like Nexus 10.1 or Nexus Note. They told me they would research and return my call at a later time.
My Nexus 10 is a daily driver with a minimum of 3 hours of use a day and often over 6. After impatiently waiting a few days, I began to panic. I began to believe that I had paid ~$500 for a device that, after a few more cells died, was going to be an expensive brick. I did some research and could find NO reviews on the NewPower99 battery kit, and since I felt that my options were relatively few, I decided to take the plunge.
Kit Contents and Cost
Ordered from Amazon for $75.41 (shipping and taxes included)
1 Cameron Sino 9000 mAh 33.3Wh Lithium-Polymer Battery Pack
One tiny screw screwdriver
Two tiny plastic prying tools
One plastic video disk (Not sure what it does, they special players can spin it fast and a video will play(!!??))
The Replacement and Pitfalls
Rather than using the included plastic video disk, I searched YouTube until I found the video: NewPower99 by NewLife2OldStuff. It's a great primer for this battery replacement, but there are a few parts where the disassembler's chubby fingers get in the way of disconnecting connectors. I suggest watching a few other Nexus 10 teardown videos prior to the actual teardown.
Prior to this, I had not attempted any mobile device disassembly/assembly. I did break a little insulation on the video card connector on the main board but this is due to me only watching the NewPower99 video and missing a detail (pull the display cable rather than flip the connector). Also due to how delicate the internals are, I did not push the display connector in far enough, which led to the display power being spotty. So, I had to redisassemble the tablet a few days later and reconnect it. Had I done more research and been a bit more patient, I'm sure the replacement would have been flawless.
The aftermath
My tablet has not yet exploded. As a matter of fact, one week in, I'm amazed. I've fell back in love with my tablet. Since the battery replacement, I usually don't need to charge until the end of the day. I run a conservative brightness on the display and, of course, that helps. Also, while I've done no metrics, I believe I've seen an unintended improvement: the charge time has improved. It was not unusual for me to plugin during sleep and still not have a full charge in the morning, which I haven't seen happen since battery replacement.
At a later time, I intend to respond to this post with an unscientific update on the battery's life. If the battery life stays relatively the same, I wouldn't really mind yearly replacement at this battery's warranty limitation and probably expected minimum life. Small price to pay for great battery life and a very underrated tablet.
Also, Samsung did, finally, return my support call a few days ago but I never called back. Don't call me, I'll call you .
Light Statistics (screenshots below)
~11:46 battery time
~6:45 display on time (top battery user)
~1:45 RetroArch (runner up top battery user)
These aren't really shabby for this tablet. Non-scientifically: the display was at ~25% brightness (in-house usage) >95% of the time, and never went below that. ~3-5% of the time the display was 100% (outdoors).
Program usage was an ordinary day of tablet use.
Not going to lie this is quite an informative post since the battery went bad over the course of a year later... I don't use my tablet as much as I first used to, but with all this android tech talk and new phones coming out at this time I use it more than I normally have (and also for the room 2 love that game!). I will definitely subscribe to this post so I have it handy if/when my battery starts doing the same thing as well in due time.
Thanks for this thread. My tablet has been going to 0% when it reaches 15%. So I've been looking to get a replacement battery. Cheers mate.
Avuton Olrich said:
Besides all that, they didn't recognize the product name, kept calling it strange stuff like Nexus 10.1 or Nexus Note.
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Click to collapse
Next time, give them the model #. Samsung GT-P8110
thanks for posting this. is it better to buy the cameron battery from amazon or thru this link: http://www.cameronsinobattery.com/tienda/prodList.asp?idcategory=32&curPage=3&sortField=description
and how about newpower99.com is it a reliable/legit seller?
xOnerOs said:
thanks for posting this. is it better to buy the cameron battery from amazon or thru this link: http://www.cameronsinobattery.com/tienda/prodList.asp?idcategory=32&curPage=3&sortField=description
and how about newpower99.com is it a reliable/legit seller?
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Click to collapse
Wow, that's an impressive price and I definitely would have taken it from there. I can't really speak about any company's reliability in general but the newpower99 thing worked well in my case. The only thing I'd have to say about getting it directly from cameroninobattery.com is finding those tiny tools; it shouldn't be that difficult at all (definitely worth the $50 to find them!). Still loving the battery life. :good:
Post made in error
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Free mobile app
E-shop with the battery available?
Just for the record, e-shops (below) don't seem to have the battery in stock these days, but there are many sold at e-bay if one searches SP3496A8H (the part number).
* http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Nexus-GT-P8110-Replacement-Installation/dp/B00F3T9SYC (out of stock)
* http://www.newpower99.com/Google_Nexus10_Battery_Replacement_Kit_p/google-nexus-10.htm (says available, but I ordered and got money back with they explanation they don't have those in stock)
* http://www.cameronsinobattery.com/1435-samsung-gt-p8110-gtp8110-ha32arb-google-nexus-1/ (out of stock)
I am extremely disappointed by my options to keep my nexus 10 going strong. I love the tablet... w/ its current screen resolution i really have NO reason to upgrade to a new device... however right now NO ONE carries this part. If google is NOT going to support having replaceable batteries, and there are no 3rd party options, we are all simply buying disposable electronics... its ridiculous.
Right now it is out of stock everywhere and there are 2 shady listings on ebay. Extremely disapointed with this.
mr_fro2000 said:
I am extremely disappointed by my options to keep my nexus 10 going strong. I love the tablet... w/ its current screen resolution i really have NO reason to upgrade to a new device... however right now NO ONE carries this part. If google is NOT going to support having replaceable batteries, and there are no 3rd party options, we are all simply buying disposable electronics... its ridiculous.
Right now it is out of stock everywhere and there are 2 shady listings on eBay. Extremely disappointed with this.
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Click to collapse
I am going through this right now! I am not sure if I should buy from the sketchy eBay listings or what. I tried NewPower99 but claim to have none in stock due to a production issue. It is almost as if Samsung went after the 3rd party that made the battery so they could not sell it. My tablet is out of warranty and I have no idea what to do as its worth nothing to trade in and I don't have the $$$ for a new tablet. If anyone has any suggestions or bought a replacement battery and hasn't used or opened it and would be willing to part with it I may be interested in buying.
CombustLemonz said:
I am going through this right now! I am not sure if I should buy from the sketchy eBay listings or what. I tried NewPower99 but claim to have none in stock due to a production issue. It is almost as if Samsung went after the 3rd party that made the battery so they could not sell it. My tablet is out of warranty and I have no idea what to do as its worth nothing to trade in and I don't have the $$$ for a new tablet. If anyone has any suggestions or bought a replacement battery and hasn't used or opened it and would be willing to part with it I may be interested in buying.
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Click to collapse
I am having the same problem. Nobody has the battery. So I finally found something on Alibabba and ordered it straight from china for something like $35 (through a friend's account, so I don't have the details at the moment). I expect it will take at least a month to get here. I hope it works and lasts, cheap batteries rarely work out very well in the long term.... but what choice do I have? This is a $500 tablet that is not that old! It now powers down at 70% battery, usually less than an hour playing a game
I went ahead and ordered the nexus 10 battery off of Ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/261555419335?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
I'll let you know my results with it.
EDIT: Will I also need to purchase special tools to install it?
michaelearth said:
EDIT: Will I also need to purchase special tools to install it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a (size 0?) phillips (you can pull off the cover to see the screw size). If it fits one, it'll fit all you need to get it pulled off. :good:
Somewhat offtopic, I might end up getting the new Nexus tablet, regardless. The center of my screen has started getting a brown burn-in color, most visible when the screen is white. Which is quite a shame, this tablet is still plenty peppy for me (it's my fastest development device), and have no other problems with the device at all (the battery still shines). The monitor life was probably accelerated by the high sleep time (10 or 30 minutes, don't remember which one) since it's a development machine I keep it on between compiles so it's there when I need it. :crying:
michaelearth said:
I went ahead and ordered the nexus 10 battery off of Ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/261555419335?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
I'll let you know my results with it.
EDIT: Will I also need to purchase special tools to install it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you received and installed the battery? I feel there are less and less options to find one these days.... Let us know thanks!
mr_fro2000 said:
Have you received and installed the battery? I feel there are less and less options to find one these days.... Let us know thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't received it yet. Estimated delivery is October 30th.
When I do get it and after install it, I'll write a full report here for you guys.
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Free mobile app
michaelearth said:
Haven't received it yet. Estimated delivery is October 30th.
When I do get it and after install it, I'll write a full report here for you guys.
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be awesome, thanks!
looking for nexus 10 battery replacement in india
hi,
i am also facing the same issue. request you to intimate if you can find one in india?
Anyone bought from here/?? I have just ordered it.. cross my fingers..
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BATTERY-ORIGINAL-SP3496A8H-SAMSUNG-GOOGLE/dp/B00IXODOL2
Hello everyone,
During the last few months I've had issues where my Xperia X8 would randomly enter a repetitive reboot. After five or so reboots, the phone would stabilize and would function normally for a few days until the same thing happened again.
Lately, it started doing it more often, and especially when I was to either make a call or surf the internet for longer than a minute or two. In other words, the problem finally caught my attention as it interfered with the basic functions of a smartphone.
After restoring a six-months old back-up, removing all of the mostly unused apps, formatting the SD card, testing another SIM card and trying out the GingerDX ROM instead of FroyoPro, nothing of which did anything to solve the problem, I asked a fellow X8 user to lend me his battery for a few days as a last ditch fix which I could do on my own. Luckily, this turned out to be the culprit. Now I'm four days in without a single restart and the phone working faster than ever being all cleaned up.
A short story was made long for future reference if anyone else happened to have the same issue. I also posted in this forum instead of Accessories because this one is most active. Sorry about that
Now I'm in the need of a replacement battery, as my friend would prefer to get his battery back. No fancy stuff - a simple 1200 mAh replacement would do. Does anyone have any experience with this?
What's your opinion on these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/GENUINE-ORIGINAL-ERICSSON-XPERIA-BATTERY/dp/B007C99ES6/ref=pd_cp_ce_0
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mobile-Accessories-Battery-Compatible-Ericsson/dp/B005GK27KA/ref=pd_cp_ce_1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SUPERSTORE-ERICSSON-XPERIA-COMPATIBLE-BATTERY/dp/B003NGCZVU/ref=pd_cp_ce_2
The price looks fine and all that, but we all got burned at some point buying non-official merchandise. I'm pretty sure these are neither genuine nor SE batteries, but might as well do as replacements.
Any suggestions?
xWhiskey said:
The price looks fine and all that, but we all got burned at some point buying non-official merchandise. I'm pretty sure these are neither genuine nor SE batteries, but might as well do as replacements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
The price seems very low and i guess you can give it a try. In the worst case you will lose 5£ or so.
I guess they will work for a while but I'm on the same opinion as what you wrote above.
stamatis said:
This.
The price seems very low and i guess you can give it a try. In the worst case you will lose 5£ or so.
I guess they will work for a while but I'm on the same opinion as what you wrote above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, and some of the reviews look completely rigged.
Anyway, by some stroke of luck I found what seemed to be the only shop in town that still had the EP500 model replacement battery in their storage, so no ordering via web-shop or other internet venues was necessary. I'm from Croatia, so it ended up costing 9£, which would be the exact equivalent as if I had ordered a similar model from Amazon, taking total shipping into account.
One day in, one call, ~10 SMSs and an hour of so worth of listening to music later, about 15% of the battery was spent, but keep in mind I only use 2G and the phone puts itself on airplane mode during night time.
So, I'm satisfied The only thing I can recommend is that you absolutely try your local vendors before trying anything else, as you do get warranty in most cases and you can easily return the battery if it explodes.
hi. i have had my eyes on this tab S 8.4 LTE since it was announced. i have been saving a lot so as to get this tablet.
the day i got all the money for this tablet saved, i went to the Samsung store and bought the device right. hell, i even paid extra for the Bronze color one.
i felt blessed and happy. after like half an hour of using the tablet, i found the stutter and lag to be all over the UI. it was not deal breaker but definitely was Heart breaker. for a premium one of a kind, Samsung Flagship tablet, i didnt expect that. i have owned Note 3 and both have EXACTLY the same hardware other than the screen.
but i got over that and accepted that as part of deal from samsung cause after all it had Touchwiz. i personally love touchwiz. i really do.
after like a week of usage, i started to feel like the battery on this tab is giving up on me. i tried every thing there was to try. i rooted it, removed the bloatware, installed greenify, swapped roms, minimized brightness and all i was advised by good folks here on this very good community of xda.
then i was told that many people here found the solution by re-sitting the battery connector on the mother board. and i tried that. i removed the back cover, with all the pain and cringing, and REALLY found the plug to be very loose. looked like some child had it just PLACED it on its place. it was not even all the way down. i did that, and boom, i got the battery back to normal, i un-noticed all the scars and scratches there were because of removing the back cover.
after like 4 or 5 days same **** started happening. battery would fail after like 3 hours of screen time and that also doing nothing just plain UI browsing, because my tab was in the period of showing it to friends and relatives. u know the usual stuff. people asking u to let them see your new tab. every body praised and loved the SUPER AMOLED!
after like some time, it literally gave up on me. it would not boot, it would power on. it would charge and that also very weirdly, when i plug it it sometimes said, 50% battery, then at the next second i remove the charger and re-connect it and it would show, 89% battery. the next second i would remove and re-connect the charger and it would say 4% battery.
i could not do anything. so i went to samsung OFFICIALL sales & repair centre and I LITERALLY MADE THAT STUPID ***** WRITE DOWN ON THE JOB SHEET TO NOT LOSE THE IR BLASTER COVER THINGY. they gave me 15 days of time for to repair it and asked for Rs 5000 which is equivalent to US $ 55 approx. i was like, ok if u fix it all well i can pay that. and FYI, the TABLET WAS IN FREAKING WARRANTY! IT WAS ONLY 20 DAYS OLD!
you get where im going? well i called them 15th day and they didnt pick my phone. i tried for next 2 days and they didnt pick any call. i went to their office and asked them what happened of the tablet. they said sorry we could not fix it and we were told this by our ENGINEERS the second day. i was like why didnt u tell me that before why make me wait 15 days and they said our phone was dead... MOTHER****ERS!
i asked them to return my tablet, they charged me Rs 1000 approx US $10 BEFORE returning me the tablet.
when they returned me the tablet, it had that IR blaster cover lost. i was so angry i cant explain. i could not do anything against them i went there 3 times and waited for like 30 min each time JUST TO SEE THE MANAGER AND HE NEVER MET... i wish they all die in deepest pits of hell for eternity. amin.
anyways, firstly i didnt trust the local small repair shops but i had no choice i gave the tab to one of shops and he repaird it for me in like 1 day. i was really happy. but he charged me Rs 3000 about US $30.
i started using the tab and it was fine. i got the normal 6-7 hours of screen on time. and btw, he didnt replace any thing including the batter.
since this saturday, the same **** started happening AGAIN. i went to the same shop and gave him the tablet to repair. just today he called me and told me the expense for this time repair would be Rs 5500 approx US $55.
NOW, this is my experience with samsung's greatest tablet ever. i have learnt my lesson the hard way i guess. Spending US $40 or $60 might not be a big deal for some of you Europeans or Americans out there but im from Pakistan. im a student. i dont get money very often to repair my ****. and that also a mere 28 days old BRAND NEW OUT OF THE ****ING BOX TABLET.
i know, i might get hate here as well, cause not many these days, understand others problems.
but i would advise you all new comers NOT TO GET THIS TABLET EVEN IF U ARE GETTING IT VIA SALE. i paid the full price and even more cause of import fees and taxes.
and btw, its not just me, there are many people who didnt get the battery life they were told they would get.
you have been warned.
Why didn't you get a replacement by warranty? Didn't get that.
pibach said:
Why didn't you get a replacement by warranty? Didn't get that.
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Click to collapse
HAHA... replacement? there is no such thing as replacement here mate! they only talk to the customers until they pay them and thats it. after that they dont have any time for you. as i have already said, they were not even ready to return me my device which they had ****ed up by losing the IR blaster cover. they said first i need to pay then they will return my tab. its been one of the ****ed up experiences of my life.
and to top things off, no one is there to complain. no executives, no senior person, no managers NOTHING! only sales girls with fake smiles and little cleavages. u see, women here, especially women who work in such sales department, like all over the world are used very wrongly. and in our country you can not even look at a woman with anger, let alone talk to them about the **** they did wrong to my tablet.
its very very saddening situation here man, very very saddening! people who have resources get everything and students like myself or people who have not much relations are the victims. i know if i were in any other country i could have sued their asses off. but here NO.
and its the device its self thats the problem. u see if samsung cuts its product lines even 25%, and works more on QC and software, things like thing would never happen.
all the hype around S6 and i bet you, it will all be the same. I bet you it will still lag, it will have almost the same issues as previous phones. yes there will be changes, but merely cosmetic!
Reality bites
pibach said:
Why didn't you get a replacement by warranty? Didn't get that.
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Click to collapse
Unfortunately, most of the stores in some countries are only third party/franchisee, so they don't offer the same wonderful customer service you may be accustomed to. They don't readily provide brand new unit replacements, heck, we usually even have to fight for parts replacement and settle at that (better than nothing, I guess).
From where I'm from, we're usually told, "we will have to have our technician take a look at it. Please come back after 5-7 business days." When we come back, they tell us that they were unable to elicit the problem, and if we want, they can have it sent to their main branch (in a different city) to take a look at it. Of course, they still end up telling you that there's nothing wrong with it and charge you anyway.
---------- Post added at 02:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:24 PM ----------
Thank you for this post. I actually considered getting the Tab S2 when it comes out. Your post reminded me of my past experience with a Galaxy Tab 8.9 and an S3 (tablet had a defective motherboard and I could only get the parts replaced, no new unit) and my Galaxy S3 wouldn't connect to a WiFi network unless I literally stood right next to the router (this one I actually did manage to get a replacement unit, but the trouble I had to go through..ugh).
Anyway, I'm so sorry for the trouble you had to go through.
Sorry but just because you had an bad experience it doesn't mean that others should be scared off. I bought my tab 's 8.4 on sale and I use it at least 4-5 hours per day without any lag at all and with around 35% battery left every day. I think you could just have said that you had a bad experience instead of telling everybody in bolded text that they shouldn't get it.
Except I have WiFi version. So if this is a common problem on the late version then I have nothing to say.
Pills_e said:
Sorry but just because you had an bad experience it doesn't mean that others should be scared off. I bought my tab 's 8.4 on sale and I use it at least 4-5 hours per day without any lag at all and with around 35% battery left every day. I think you could just have said that you had a bad experience instead of telling everybody in bolded text that they shouldn't get it.
Except I have WiFi version. So if this is a common problem on the late version then I have nothing to say.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree - I have the 10.5 and yes it suffers from slight lag but theres ways around that (Nova/debloating etc).
My note 4 is the boss and not issues at all now i'm on 5.0.1. You can't really slat a manufacturer entirely if the country you reside in doesn't have the support required - you took that risk on.
As for the technical problems you are having, I guess taking apart a device that was under a month old kind of invalidates any warranty - if you didn't have one I suspect all you've done is cause problems for the engineers. Did you contact the sellers/retailer? Have you contacted samsung to see who they'd recommend/are there others that may be able to sort it out?
However if you cannot get Samsung repair service in your area, why didn't you consider a make that can be supported locally?
I imported a gear VR from the US to UK and if it went wrong I'd wholly expect Samsung not to honour the warranty....sometimes we take risks and it doesn't work out!
Well no doubt you had a nightmare experience and sorry that you didn't have my experience. For me I couldn't be happier and have zero regrets with my purchase. Other then the lag problem which was fixed by debloating and switching to nova launcher I really really really love my tab s and so glad I didn't get the iPad mini like I was planning.
Now I eagerly await the lollipop update.
Sucks that you can't get proper service. Sorry to hear that but a lot of us can get proper service so I don't think its right for you to tell people to stay away. If someone gets unlucky here where I am they can easily return it and get a new one. For me I was first disappointed by the battery life but have quickly realized maybe I was spoiled by the 10+ hours my ipad 3 got. I don't experience any lag and have mostly good things to say about the device. I do wish the battery would go a bit longer. My only complaint comes with the power button. After only a few weeks its not looking good. Its going to go at some point. It already looks like its pushed in.
I have a 10 as well, and I have had zero issues with it. I have read some other complaint threads, but I haven't had any issues at all with mine. Sucks to hear others have issues, but this is the finest tablet I have ever owned.
bonerp said:
I agree - I have the 10.5 and yes it suffers from slight lag but theres ways around that (Nova/debloating etc).
My note 4 is the boss and not issues at all now i'm on 5.0.1. You can't really slat a manufacturer entirely if the country you reside in doesn't have the support required - you took that risk on.
As for the technical problems you are having, I guess taking apart a device that was under a month old kind of invalidates any warranty - if you didn't have one I suspect all you've done is cause problems for the engineers. Did you contact the sellers/retailer? Have you contacted samsung to see who they'd recommend/are there others that may be able to sort it out?
However if you cannot get Samsung repair service in your area, why didn't you consider a make that can be supported locally?
I imported a gear VR from the US to UK and if it went wrong I'd wholly expect Samsung not to honour the warranty....sometimes we take risks and it doesn't work out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pills_e said:
Sorry but just because you had an bad experience it doesn't mean that others should be scared off. I bought my tab 's 8.4 on sale and I use it at least 4-5 hours per day without any lag at all and with around 35% battery left every day. I think you could just have said that you had a bad experience instead of telling everybody in bolded text that they shouldn't get it.
Except I have WiFi version. So if this is a common problem on the late version then I have nothing to say.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
both of you are very right at your position. i might have also said the same things if i saw some thread like this and i had no trouble with my tablet.
but the thing is, samsung has Proper sales and service business here in my country. u would not even believe that some of the products are not even launched in some big countries but they are made available here. Note 4 was launched here 2 days before its international launch! same case with some other big tabs and smartphones.
removing the back cover does not void ANY kind of warranty. i snapped it back and no body could tell if i ever removed it. i dont have the tab with me, but when i will i will try to show you guys what the OFFICIAL samsung ENGINEERS did to it. i opened the back with a debit card and nails and they have proper equipment, i guess, but they ruined it for me. and how come they lose some part of the tab when i CLEARLY TOLD THEM & EVEN ROTE IT TO THEM NOT TO LOSE IT because its too small thing to lose.
any how, all of you guys who have no trouble with your tabs, great for you. i feel good for you. i would have called it my bad luck if it was my first experience with samsung device. i have had sasmsung devices for a very long time including even some of the house hold electronics. mobile division of samsung sucks balls in terms of QC.i remember having S2 having dead speaker after 2 months, S3 having strange glue marks on the AMOLED screen, S4 having heat up issues and now this.
@ Pills_e and i didn't write text in bold or what ever to seek attention. why didnt you write such a thread? because you didnt have a problem right? i just tried to warn people. i have said it already and would say it again, im a student. i dont have a full time job. its Very hard for me to spend US $40 or $60 after 10 days just like that on repairing a gadget that is not even available to me. it might be easy for you, but not for all.
i just advised based on my experience and its just sincere brotherly advise to all new comers. people will get what they like, no matter what. i just poured in my experience. thats it.
aami.aami said:
hi. i have had my eyes on this tab S 8.4 LTE since it was announced. i have been saving a lot so as to get this tablet.
the day i got all the money for this tablet saved, i went to the Samsung store and bought the device right. hell, i even paid extra for the Bronze color one.
i felt blessed and happy. after like half an hour of using the tablet, i found the stutter and lag to be all over the UI. it was not deal breaker but definitely was Heart breaker. for a premium one of a kind, Samsung Flagship tablet, i didnt expect that. i have owned Note 3 and both have EXACTLY the same hardware other than the screen.
but i got over that and accepted that as part of deal from samsung cause after all it had Touchwiz. i personally love touchwiz. i really do.
after like a week of usage, i started to feel like the battery on this tab is giving up on me. i tried every thing there was to try. i rooted it, removed the bloatware, installed greenify, swapped roms, minimized brightness and all i was advised by good folks here on this very good community of xda.
then i was told that many people here found the solution by re-sitting the battery connector on the mother board. and i tried that. i removed the back cover, with all the pain and cringing, and REALLY found the plug to be very loose. looked like some child had it just PLACED it on its place. it was not even all the way down. i did that, and boom, i got the battery back to normal, i un-noticed all the scars and scratches there were because of removing the back cover.
after like 4 or 5 days same **** started happening. battery would fail after like 3 hours of screen time and that also doing nothing just plain UI browsing, because my tab was in the period of showing it to friends and relatives. u know the usual stuff. people asking u to let them see your new tab. every body praised and loved the SUPER AMOLED!
after like some time, it literally gave up on me. it would not boot, it would power on. it would charge and that also very weirdly, when i plug it it sometimes said, 50% battery, then at the next second i remove the charger and re-connect it and it would show, 89% battery. the next second i would remove and re-connect the charger and it would say 4% battery.
i could not do anything. so i went to samsung OFFICIALL sales & repair centre and I LITERALLY MADE THAT STUPID ***** WRITE DOWN ON THE JOB SHEET TO NOT LOSE THE IR BLASTER COVER THINGY. they gave me 15 days of time for to repair it and asked for Rs 5000 which is equivalent to US $ 55 approx. i was like, ok if u fix it all well i can pay that. and FYI, the TABLET WAS IN FREAKING WARRANTY! IT WAS ONLY 20 DAYS OLD!
you get where im going? well i called them 15th day and they didnt pick my phone. i tried for next 2 days and they didnt pick any call. i went to their office and asked them what happened of the tablet. they said sorry we could not fix it and we were told this by our ENGINEERS the second day. i was like why didnt u tell me that before why make me wait 15 days and they said our phone was dead... MOTHER****ERS!
i asked them to return my tablet, they charged me Rs 1000 approx US $10 BEFORE returning me the tablet.
when they returned me the tablet, it had that IR blaster cover lost. i was so angry i cant explain. i could not do anything against them i went there 3 times and waited for like 30 min each time JUST TO SEE THE MANAGER AND HE NEVER MET... i wish they all die in deepest pits of hell for eternity. amin.
anyways, firstly i didnt trust the local small repair shops but i had no choice i gave the tab to one of shops and he repaird it for me in like 1 day. i was really happy. but he charged me Rs 3000 about US $30.
i started using the tab and it was fine. i got the normal 6-7 hours of screen on time. and btw, he didnt replace any thing including the batter.
since this saturday, the same **** started happening AGAIN. i went to the same shop and gave him the tablet to repair. just today he called me and told me the expense for this time repair would be Rs 5500 approx US $55.
NOW, this is my experience with samsung's greatest tablet ever. i have learnt my lesson the hard way i guess. Spending US $40 or $60 might not be a big deal for some of you Europeans or Americans out there but im from Pakistan. im a student. i dont get money very often to repair my ****. and that also a mere 28 days old BRAND NEW OUT OF THE ****ING BOX TABLET.
i know, i might get hate here as well, cause not many these days, understand others problems.
but i would advise you all new comers NOT TO GET THIS TABLET EVEN IF U ARE GETTING IT VIA SALE. i paid the full price and even more cause of import fees and taxes.
and btw, its not just me, there are many people who didnt get the battery life they were told they would get.
you have been warned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm so sorry for you. I hate that you've been through all of this stuff regarding samsung devices. I wonder if the tabs going to Pakistan are made in a different factory than United States ones? I hope you have better luck in the future.
Sent from my Galaxy Tab S 8.4 with much love to the xda community.
I have the 10.5 and am on a stock rom and have zero lag anywhere. Initially there was lag with the OS it was released with (I bought it release day) but subsequent updates removed all the lag I had. I love my Tab S and I get 11hrs watching videos on it on long flights and drives and the screen is amazing.
What you should have done was try to return the tablet for a replacement INSTEAD of opening the back. Opening the back voided your warranty and is not something I EVER do for ANY device I own that's within warranty period. Outside of the period I may take the chance but not a day before.
Sorry to hear this happened to you as I know how frustrating these kinds of things can be.
I'm Surprised!
I'm surprised that Samsung would even touch your Tab S 8.4! After you rooted it, changed the ROM and then opened the device up which a user is never supposed to do, I'm surprised your warranty is worth the paper it was written on.
You should have taken the Tab S back to whomever you bought it and got your money back.
Hmmmm... was just about to order a tab S 8.4 WiFi as well... Lol.
i have 10.5 LTE and the battery stand only 3.5 Hours after few month of purchase its stand around 6 hours before
i have already make root so i got KNOX flag 01
but i will pay 50$ if this will fix the problem but after i read your story im afraid to fix it and the problem come again .. i don't know what to do
Hi all,
I've gotten the phone 5 days ago, had my eye one it since the day it came out, it finally became attractively priced. I got from not the most reputable source, the box was opened, I didn't fret too much cause I'd gotten opened box new phones before and they were totally fine. They gave a warranty voucher but I really do not expect them to do much (or anything) should something happen.
So ever since I've gotten the phone I've encountered following issues:
Overheating, throttling, low bench scores, dimming screen. At first I though I had a faulty screen or some major bug in the SW/FW that would constantly loose brightness for no apparent reason. Reading up helped understand this is an overheating issue common to many 888 smartphones. That's slightly relieving, however then there was some BS with Xiaomi throttling apps and not benches, I assume after the exposure Xiaomi made changes and now they throttle benches as well. It would be great if somebody could confirm this cause my GeekBench5 scores are stable at 851/3250! What a shame... That's actually lower than the 870.
Randomly dropping refresh rate. Now this is not related to overheating cause it can happen on an idle phone. So far it lasted anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes and I wouldn't say it drops all the way to 60, rather 70-80 Hz is where it's at.
Loose power and volume buttons. Having owned the phone for only 5 days this is very annoying, I am not sure if it was this way out of the box since I put it inside the case in the store and haven't really used the phone without it since. I've had a couple other owners confirm their buttons are fixed solid which makes this even more frustrating. They are really loose, as in they can go anywhere within the socket but still function normally. I imagine I will stop worrying about this with time especially if used with a case. But is there perhaps a way to somehow fix it?
Fried WIFI modules and motherboards. Now this is really worrying. Especially with people on the web talking about it like it's just a matter of time before this happens. In a parallel thread @hhwjthje had a theory about some 'bluetooth voice' being exposed on a HW monitor app, however I can't really understand what he meant.
Other than those 4 points I've been loving the phone so far. However considering I expect the seller to resist any warranty service I'm wondering if I should sell device while it's still early.
Return it. Don't pass the problems on to someone else.
blackhawk said:
Return it. Don't pass the problems on to someone else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't. They don't take returns. Thanks for the life advice.
youngniggapreach said:
I can't. They don't take returns. Thanks for the life advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You pay with a MC or Visa card?
You can do a charge back if so, call your bank.
Follow their instructions...
Life advise? In the future deal with trusted vendors only.
blackhawk said:
You pay with a MC or Visa card?
You can do a charge back if so, call your bank.
Follow their instructions...
Life advise? In the future deal with trusted vendors only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think explaining anything to you would bring tangible returns. So I won't.
1. he was just trying to help. act nice to people from whom you want help. and from what you have encountered so far seems you got a bad apple.
2. for problem 1 and 2, have you tried flashing the stock rom again ? i wouldnt trust the preinstalled rom if the phone was bought from not the most reputable source.
3. loose buttons ? best you could do is take it into service. nothing you can do from your end.
Fytdyh said:
1. he was just trying to help. act nice to people from whom you want help. and from what you have encountered so far seems you got a bad apple.
2. for problem 1 and 2, have you tried flashing the stock rom again ? i wouldnt trust the preinstalled rom if the phone was bought from not the most reputable source.
3. loose buttons ? best you could do is take it into service. nothing you can do from your end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it is not the best of situations, I admit. You pay a hefty sum for a phone that was probably brought from China inside a suitcase. You mention that there is no warranty, yet you're being told to return it. I bought phones like that several times before and this is the first time I have problems. After googling I realize the whole 888 Mi 11 line up is problematic.
I am just trying to gain as much info before I make my decision, which won't be returning it, since I can't do that. As a matter of fact I want to keep to phone, but I want to figure out whether it's worth the risk of having it randomly bricked one day. I also want to know if all Mi 11 Ultras throttle and have heating issues, or is there just too many bad apples?
2. The ROM installed is Global MIUI 13 Stable. I was thinking about trying the weekly EU builds, but I heard of people saying it's worse than Stable. Also the last time I bootloaded an Android was probably 9 years ago, so I'd rather not just yet.
Also, how does custom ROMs and warranty generally work? Don't you lose your warranty?
youngniggapreach said:
Well, it is not the best of situations, I admit. You pay a hefty sum for a phone that was probably brought from China inside a suitcase. You mention that there is no warranty, yet you're being told to return it. I bought phones like that several times before and this is the first time I have problems. After googling I realize the whole 888 Mi 11 line up is problematic.
I am just trying to gain as much info before I make my decision, which won't be returning it, since I can't do that. As a matter of fact I want to keep to phone, but I want to figure out whether it's worth the risk of having it randomly bricked one day. I also want to know if all Mi 11 Ultras throttle and have heating issues, or is there just too many bad apples?
2. The ROM installed is Global MIUI 13 Stable. I was thinking about trying the weekly EU builds, but I heard of people saying it's worse than Stable. Also the last time I bootloaded an Android was probably 9 years ago, so I'd rather not just yet.
Also, how does custom ROMs and warranty generally work? Don't you lose your warranty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you have warranty or not ?
the processor is known to have overheating issues. it affects every smartphone running it. the reason why i suggested flashing a new rom is because it could have preinstalled unofficial apps. that could get your data, credit card info etc. you could flash the same version.
Fytdyh said:
do you have warranty or not ?
the processor is known to have overheating issues. it affects every smartphone running it. the reason why i suggested flashing a new rom is because it could have preinstalled unofficial apps. that could get your data, credit card info etc. you could flash the same version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, assume that I don't. I have a warranty card that I can wipe my ass with.
language. there are kids on this forum.
use this to debloat your phone without root
GitHub - 0x192/universal-android-debloater: Cross-platform GUI written in Rust using ADB to debloat non-rooted android devices. Improve your privacy, the security and battery life of your device.
Cross-platform GUI written in Rust using ADB to debloat non-rooted android devices. Improve your privacy, the security and battery life of your device. - GitHub - 0x192/universal-android-debloater:...
github.com
Fytdyh said:
language. there are kids on this forum.
use this to debloat your phone without root
GitHub - 0x192/universal-android-debloater: Cross-platform GUI written in Rust using ADB to debloat non-rooted android devices. Improve your privacy, the security and battery life of your device.
Cross-platform GUI written in Rust using ADB to debloat non-rooted android devices. Improve your privacy, the security and battery life of your device. - GitHub - 0x192/universal-android-debloater:...
github.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Frankly I am not so worried about overheating and performance compared to other units. I just ran Antutu and scored 789763, which makes it obvious that Xiaomi now throttles GeekBench5 and not Antutu. Also I realized I was running benches in normal and not performance mode before, which made a significant difference for GB5 - 965 single-core, still below reference values for the 888 however. I don't game, so if Xioami are using throttling to make up for cheaping out on cooling to prolong the phones life - I am okay with that. The wobbly buttons? I guess I can live with that eventually. I'm just really don't want to get a brick one day just cause, you know ... heat?
youngniggapreach said:
Frankly I am not so worried about overheating and performance compared to other units. I just ran Antutu and scored 789763, which makes it obvious that Xiaomi now throttles GeekBench5 and not Antutu. Also I realized I was running benches in normal and not performance mode before, which made a significant difference for GB5 - 965 single-core, still below reference values for the 888 however. I don't game, so if Xioami are using throttling to make up for cheaping out on cooling to prolong the phones life - I am okay with that. The wobbly buttons? I guess I can live with that eventually. I'm just really don't want to get a brick one day just cause, you know ... heat?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are safe. the phone is smart enough to throttle down if it overheats. dont leave it in direct sunlight and dont use it while charging. even if you do, the heat will kill just the battery. the phone wont brick.
Fytdyh said:
you are safe. the phone is smart enough to throttle down if it overheats. dont leave it in direct sunlight and dont use it while charging. even if you do, the heat will kill just the battery. the phone wont brick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I heard otherwise. Because of the wifi module. Which eventually kills the motherboard.
usually those modules are soldered at a higher temperature compared to a temperature of an overheated phone. the phone is smart enough and usually performance cores are used when needed. still, if you are worried about it, i recommend buying a blackshark cooler. or you could unlock the bootloader, root it and underclock both your cpu and gpu. beside getting better battery life, that would help with heat generated.
Now I mostly worry the loose buttons will mess up the IP rating and it seems like it might.
The temps seem more than reasonable though. As I understand with phones it's pretty much the same temperature across the board, and while idle with WIFI on and some background apps my temps get all the way down to 30-31 with 25 Celsius ambient. I understand there is no way to monitor real-time load temperatures without root. I saw people reporting temps as high as 38 while idle. It feels like Xiaomi might have implemented much stricter throttling after so many devices died.
This thread is useless and waste of time,
1- Poster is rude and with bad language, does not take any advice seriously, and attacking people.
2- You either bought a lemon, or a second hand, or you do not know how to use it. Yet you complain about all solutions.
3- You do not give your self any chance to test a solution. So there is no point in advising you since we know you'll only complain.
Now I'll try my chance and give you a few solutions, while I know you'll attack me. But this is what we do here, helping all types of people,,,
Firstly, which version is your device originally? Is it global out of box? Is it Chinese with global rom?
1- This device over heating issue has already been resolved, all you got to do is use your device for 7-10 days and the problem will be completely gone. The device will build algorithm of your device usage and will balance it with power consumption behaviour, this will drop temperature a significant drop.
2- Regarding refresh rate issue, this is a well know issue that has started since MIUI13 release, you can only live with it for now until new update coming very soon. Or you can update your themes app and system app, there are also some other apps you can try, I update them manually and this issue rarely occuring now, like 3 times a week.
3- You either bought a second hand one, or a refurbished device, or (unlikely) an out of box device. This issue isn't that hard to fix, all you got to do is open the back cover, you can watch a few videos that shows you how to, it will be either lose screws, a lost screw, broken peace than you can buy a replacement through Ali express. This will be a really easy fix that you can do it your self with very basic skills.
4- Not sure if your have a friend WIFI module or a fried motherboard or just worried about this.
To clarify things, use original Rom or just use Roms from original source and move away from MIUI.eu and other 3rd party OS and you'll be good to go.
Hope this attitude of yours accept advice and gives you some knowledge of your device.
From playstore search for MIUI downloader and install it. Go to APPS tab and update main apps you can see including camera.
For other system apps updates open this link
MIUI SYSTEM UPDATES | MSU
MIUI SYSTEM UPDATES No.1 Telegram Channel where you can get latest MIUI System Apps ! Buy Ad - https://telega.io/c/miuisystemupdates https://adsly.me/@miuisystemupdates Cooperation - @TheShams99 Support - @MiuiSysSupportBot
t.me
and scroll up for themes, security, and other stuff you want, and wait for new updated apps. Usually all China apps will work on global rom miui13, so do not worry about the line (may not work on global rom). But make sure not to update anything that can brick your device, you'll figure out which ones by your self when you read description .
Good luck
@hassanaliyeh, hi. Thanks for your extended answer.
1 - I've read something similar. Seems weird but okay, I guess I will wait.
3 - I really don't think so, the phone seems to be completely new. If it was refurbished they would have taken care of that I suppose. Also I don't believe it is possible to refurbish something visually to this new state. The battery tests also show it's new
youngniggapreach said:
@hassanaliyeh, hi. Thanks for your extended answer.
1 - I've read something similar. Seems weird but okay, I guess I will wait.
3 - I really don't think so, the phone seems to be completely new. If it was refurbished they would have taken care of that I suppose. Also I don't believe it is possible to refurbish something visually to this new state. The battery tests also show it's new
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my battery test is still showing new even after 18 months usage, I thought I'll lose at least 15% of it after the speed charger. They could have replaced battery as well,
not trying to scare you, but trying to help with what's happening.
either way, your choice. Either contact the seller, contact bank to get back your money, send back device, or they will nominate a store to fix it, or if I were you, I'd open the device and check it my self, then I'd buy parts of anything broken.
just remember, if you open it your self, disconnect battery as step 0, before step 1.
hassanaliyeh said:
either way, your choice. Either contact the seller, contact bank to get back your money, send back device, or they will nominate a store to fix it, or if I were you, I'd open the device and check it my self, then I'd buy parts of anything broken.
just remember, if you open it your self, disconnect battery as step 0, before step 1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I paid cash. Went to the store yesterday. They told me I can bring it for service to have a look Monday, but refused to return the money. Really doubt I want to use their service and would rather use one of the official Xiaomi ones.
The main reason I want to have the buttons fixed is not to void the IP rating. Which as I understand will be voided completely once I open the device. An authorized service center should be able to restore the hermiticity when they reassemble?
youngniggapreach said:
I paid cash. Went to the store yesterday. They told me I can bring it for service to have a look Monday, but refused to return the money. Really doubt I want to use their service and would rather use one of the official Xiaomi ones.
The main reason I want to have the buttons fixed is not to void the IP rating. Which as I understand will be voided completely once I open the device. An authorized service center should be able to restore the hermiticity when they reassemble?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just FYI, IP rating does not protect your from water damage, any water damage to device will be out of your pocket.
Let them fix it. And they will difentely protect device better than you as they have better tools for that.
If I were you I'd stay there and see what is happening to my device and how they will fix it. If I can
I'm thinking of purchasing a Pixel 5a off of eBay, but I just started seeing all the (very large number of) threads on reddit about the BSOD/motherboard issue with the 5a. How widespread is this problem? Is it better to avoid this phone and get the 4a5g instead?
cb474 said:
I'm thinking of purchasing a Pixel 5a off of eBay, but I just started seeing all the (very large number of) threads on reddit about the BSOD/motherboard issue with the 5a. How widespread is this problem? Is it better to avoid this phone and get the 4a5g instead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's widespread enough that Google officially extended the warranty from 1 year to 2 (https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/11833075?hl=en)
I don't know if it's a bad idea or not. I've been running the phone with the hope that it won't happen.
i´m using my 5a in Argentina from more than 1 year now, all ok, never any fail
I got mine in November 2021. Still using it. I'd be more concerned about getting one off of eBay myself.
Dopamin3 said:
It's widespread enough that Google officially extended the warranty from 1 year to 2 (https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/11833075?hl=en)
I don't know if it's a bad idea or not. I've been running the phone with the hope that it won't happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I saw that they extended the warranty. It doesn't seem like a great sign. Although I suppose it's possible Google did that because of the level of complaining, rather than because the problem is greater with the 5a than other pixels (there also are some, though far fewer, reports of the 4a5g and 5 suddenly bricking themselves).
I sort of wish I'd never looked at reddit. I also wish there were good statistics on the actual failure rate. But now I think I may always be wondering if it will just suddenly fail one day.
miguelAr9 said:
i´m using my 5a in Argentina from more than 1 year now, all ok, never any fail
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite a few people say it happens around the 14/month mark. Some people say they got more than one replacement from Google and they all failed. It's a little crazy if you look at reddit. If you search on simply "5a" in the pixel reddits, literally just about every post is about the phone suddenly dying. It is interesting that you don't see that here on xda so much (although the reddit threads are much more active, with many more people).
mikehd1959 said:
I got mine in November 2021. Still using it. I'd be more concerned about getting one off of eBay myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear you. But I'm pretty careful about who I buy from on ebay and ask lots of questions first. So far I haven't had a problem (fingers crossed). I know people like Swappa. But Swappa seems to have been completely taken over by businesses, selling the same type of refurbished/open box inventory as you see on ebay. And you can't ask businesses questions on Swappa, which I just find bizarre.
I just picked mine up after second mothboard replacement. First mobo replacement has radio issue. My wife's just died too. We bought exact same time from google store unlocked. Glad to hear about the warranty extension.
Welp, mine just died yesterday. Got the RMA approved by Google. Pretty sad, I only used my Pixel 5a for a few months before switching to other devices. Then I switched back to it. Probably had less than 6 months total power on time.
I was using the phone and screen went black. At first you could tell it was still on, like it would still vibrate. Then it just died and won't power on. Battery was at ~68% and trying numerous chargers/cables did nothing.
Google also gave me a single use 20% off coupon towards Pixel 6a, 7 and 7 Pro. If they were still on sale for $100 - $150 off it would've been a no brainer for me, but they went back to full price and decreased the trade in value on the 5a.
I'm going to dump this phone as soon as I get it back. I've never had a phone die like this.
scottybweyy said:
I just picked mine up after second mothboard replacement. First mobo replacement has radio issue. My wife's just died too. We bought exact same time from google store unlocked. Glad to hear about the warranty extension.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear that, but thanks for the feedback. Interestingly, it seems from reddit that this doesn't really happen with the 4a5g or regular 5 (though failures are not entirely unheard-of with those phones). I wonder if that's really true and why that would be considering how similar the three phones are?
Dopamin3 said:
Welp, mine just died yesterday. Got the RMA approved by Google. Pretty sad, I only used my Pixel 5a for a few months before switching to other devices. Then I switched back to it. Probably had less than 6 months total power on time.
I was using the phone and screen went black. At first you could tell it was still on, like it would still vibrate. Then it just died and won't power on. Battery was at ~68% and trying numerous chargers/cables did nothing.
Google also gave me a single use 20% off coupon towards Pixel 6a, 7 and 7 Pro. If they were still on sale for $100 - $150 off it would've been a no brainer for me, but they went back to full price and decreased the trade in value on the 5a.
I'm going to dump this phone as soon as I get it back. I've never had a phone die like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, that's crazy that your's died three days after you replied to this thread. Sorry to hear that. It's such a bummer, because the 5a really seems like the best of the 4a5g/5/5a trio. Especially the giant battery is nice.
The way your phone failed, from reading a lot of posts on reddit, sounds exactly like what people have been experiencing: screen goes black, you can interact with it even though you can't see anything, and then it completely won't power on. Some people seem to only have the black screen issue, others it just goes straight to dead and won't power on, it's interesting that you went through both in quick succession.
I would get the 6a, even though I don't like the size (the new phones are so large and chunky) and a hate the visor, except the 6a/6/6pro/7/7pro are all notorious for their poor signal/recpetion issues. The modem in the Samsung exynos chipset that Google uses as the base for Tensor is just crap. Tons of people say they get the worst reception they've ever gotten on any phone, with the 6a/6/6pro/7/7pro.
The rumor is that the 7a will have a Qualcomm modem, which says a lot that Google is only going to use exynos for the CPU and not the entire chipset, modem included, as is normally done in cell phone designs. I wonder if that will make sticking to five years of updates hard, since Qualcomm sucks so much at providing driver updates. Anyway, I would hold out for the 7a and see if the rumors are true, before getting another Pixel device.
I'm sort of trying to find a phone that can tide me over until the Pixel 8, which hopefully will have a better design, smaller, thinner, drop the visor. Probably I'll pick up a 4a5g, since it seems like the 5a BSOD issues are definitely real. I like the 5 better, sizewise, but the under screen earpiece is just too poor quality; it's really a shame Google went for that gimmick on the 5.
I bought mine off eBay barely a month ago and so far I have no issues. Is there anything I should look for? I've never heard of this BSOD issue.
Vision919 said:
I bought mine off eBay barely a month ago and so far I have no issues. Is there anything I should look for? I've never heard of this BSOD issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think there's any way to tell if you will have the issue or not. Reports are that after typically about a year the phone will just suddenly stop working, wih a black screen, like Dopamin3 describes above. It's a problem with the motherboard failing. If you want to get a sense of it, search for Pixel 5a in the r/GooglePixel reddit. Most recent posts about the Pixel 5a concern this. It seems to clearly be a problem with this phone model in particular, that the similar 4a5g and 5 don't have (or it is much less common). What I can't tell is, okay yes, this happens to a lot of Pixel 5a phones, and so there are a lot or reports online, but what precent? How likely is it? On the other hand, it happens enough that Google extended the warranty on this phone for an extra year, as Dopamin3 points out above.
Mine just died. Going through the process of having to send it in. Wish me luck.
cb474 said:
I'm thinking of purchasing a Pixel 5a off of eBay, but I just started seeing all the (very large number of) threads on reddit about the BSOD/motherboard issue with the 5a. How widespread is this problem? Is it better to avoid this phone and get the 4a5g instead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Problem just happened to me, 16 months owned. I'd say stay away, not only because of the mobo problem but honestly, the phone isn't all that great anyway. It's pretty slow. And I don't know if this is related to the mobo issue but there are times when I would screen press an icon 4-7 times before it responded.
cb474 said:
I don't think there's any way to tell if you will have the issue or not. Reports are that after typically about a year the phone will just suddenly stop working, wih a black screen, like Dopamin3 describes above. It's a problem with the motherboard failing. If you want to get a sense of it, search for Pixel 5a in the r/GooglePixel reddit. Most recent posts about the Pixel 5a concern this. It seems to clearly be a problem with this phone model in particular, that the similar 4a5g and 5 don't have (or it is much less common). What I can't tell is, okay yes, this happens to a lot of Pixel 5a phones, and so there are a lot or reports online, but what precent? How likely is it? On the other hand, it happens enough that Google extended the warranty on this phone for an extra year, as Dopamin3 points out above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phone went black on me about 4 days ago. It took about an hour but I was able to get it started again. Plugged it in to recharge overnight and in the morning, found it had shutdown again. Was able to reboot immediately, this time. It worked for 2 more days and then yesterday, while on a hike, it died and has not come back since then.
It's almost funny how they tell you to backup the phone and then erase it before sending it in. Hard to do when you can't get the phone to turn on!
I spoke to one of the uBreakiFix stores here in Silicon Valley and the guy told me that he doesn't have any mobo's in stock and that they are difficult to get. If I brought the phone to him, he has 5 or 6 people ahead of me and he is only allowed (by Google? or store management?) to order one 5a mobo at a time.. So I am sending mine into Google for repair.
I had been thinking of trading this phone in back in Dec for a Pixel 7, when they had those good offers. It would have cost me $150 for the P7 with the trade in then. Wish I had done that now!
@joe99joe Sorry to hear your phone died. The way you were able to get your phone to come back a couple times, I wonder if you have a battery issue, rather than it being the motherboard. It sounds a little like how I experienced a bad battery replacement in an OG Pixel. Anyway, good luck, whatever you do.
I ended up getting a Pixel 4a5g. It doesn't have anywhere near the kind of reports of dying on people as the 5a. I'm hoping it will be good for a couple years and then maybe I'll get a Pixel 8a or 9 or something. I'm still waiting for Google to sort out their low quality modem issues in the Pixel 6 and 7 series, causing really bad signal/reception.
cb474 said:
@joe99joe Sorry to hear your phone died. The way you were able to get your phone to come back a couple times, I wonder if you have a battery issue, rather than it being the motherboard. It sounds a little like how I experienced a bad battery replacement in an OG Pixel. Anyway, good luck, whatever you do.
I ended up getting a Pixel 4a5g. It doesn't have anywhere near the kind of reports of dying on people as the 5a. I'm hoping it will be good for a couple years and then maybe I'll get a Pixel 8a or 9 or something. I'm still waiting for Google to sort out their low quality modem issues in the Pixel 6 and 7 series, causing really bad signal/reception.
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No, it was power. I sent it to Google on Monday, Arrived Tuesday and was confirmed power problem. They are working on repairing it now and should have it back in a few days. No charge, no postage fees. Sometimes Google does good. Meanwhile, I am using my od Pixel 3XL, which truth be told, is a better phone than the 5a. It's lighter, speedier but the battery is dying and the screen is cracked.
This happened on my 5a. No signs of life. Since I needed a backup phone for my Xperia, I'm gonna get the Nothing Phone 1 today.
I actally thought 5a will stay with me for 3 years, but no.... Only a year and one month. Damn you Google
I would just get the 4a honestly I took mine to ubreak today and they replaced the screen a bunch of times then told me there was nothing else they could do even though the receptionist told me it's Google's policy that they have to fix any phone they open. I contacted live chat and they told me to send it to them and it would still be covered even though it said my warranty expired in October.
I cannot believe it's happened to me again (first was august last year). i should've traded it in for a pixel 7 when i had the chance, although idk about using pixels anymore. this is ridiculous. last time it looked like they installed a better display, because this one looks free of scratches without using a screen protector. but i wish they knew why this happens. also looks like they allow an extended warranty for this kind of damage. they should honestly at least upgrade me to a 6a.
For those who have experienced this, how heavily do you use your phone? Like how often do you have to recharge, and do you run things where it heats up much? I am wondering if the typical failure is some problem with thermal cycling and fractures, or flash degradation. I assume its not just the battery/power supply if they have to replace the MB to fix it.
I bought mine direct from Google back in Aug 2021, so have been using it about 20 months. But I am a light user and typically get 7-10 days on a charge... I was originally assuming the hardware would last longer than Google is going to support the firmware.
k, so i'm really p*ssed off right now. the inspection came back saying audio problems that would cost $99 to repair. got nowhere in chat, so i called. she said there was a speaker problem and a volume button problem (they would have had to occur concurrently with the main problem, cause i would have definitely noticed em) no mention of the display or power issue. how? when i sent it in, the display would simply not work. i tried re-flashing stock firmware using google chrome's flash tools, and it would fail at booting into fastboot. i could tell the phone was on, though, because i felt the vibration and the usb connect sound on the laptop. so how was there no mention of those problems? i'm not sure if i should just assume that the phone's display is working. she would only say that the phone powers up properly and there was no mention of a display problem. the language seems too vague, and knowing full well what happened this time *and* how it's exactly what happened last time, i'm skeptical. how last time they replaced the motherboard, but this time, there's not even a mention of a display or power issue. and when i asked what the trade-in value would be if i forgo the repairs, she said $25. if it powers on and is free of scratches, it should be the normal value. should i just take my chances on getting it back without repairs and take the trade-in value, whatever it'll be, for the 7a?
edit: i see the trade-in value is $25. idk why it went down so much, but i'm sure it'll go back up for 7a deals