What happens if your iPhone 4 doesn't have a case:

nuttlys

2 Weeks old + one 4 foot drop + no case = € 210.75 repair fee from Apple. Get a case.

Surprisingly the phone still works. But 30 times stronger than plastic? my hole.

Gumbo

ouch!

hopefully my bumper will help buffer a drop if/when it happens.

Furp

Nasty, mine already had a drop from about a foot onto the floor but it was ok.

I'm in London at the moment and even went into the new covent garden Apple store and not an iphone 4 case in sight.

IamMetaldave

Furp wrote: »

Nasty, mine already had a drop from about a foot onto the floor but it was ok.

I'm in London at the moment and even went into the new covent garden Apple store and not an iphone 4 case in sight.

I was in the one on Regent St the week before last and they had some.

@ OP, Man, that's hard luck.. Is there anywhere else you can get it fixed? Surely there's cheaper than Apple for the 4's?

Dades

Jasus!

Yeah, what is the story with the "stronger than blah" material that shatters and scratches like Waterford crystal?

Is a case going to really help you if you drop the screen on some pointy hard thing?

thewools

I am very wary of the front and back glass on mine too... The glass is obviously some sort of hardened, tampered glass but its still glass. :rolleyes:

I am expecting an invisible shield to arrive tomorrow in the post. I still dont think that would cushion the fall however. Mine has fallen only the once on a hard surface and didnt suffer from it thank god!!

Blazer

I ordered the zagg shield with mine and was disappointed with it as it's slightly too large for the iphone if you use a case with it..the case ends up pushing up the film and makes it look crappy...I tried cutting it down but ended up making an absolute dog's bollix of it..

If anyone gets the full shield (sides as well) let me know if the death grip works?
I'll go for it if I was sure it didn't affect the signal..

deep1

Sc@recrow wrote: »

I ordered the zagg shield with mine and was disappointed with it as it's slightly too large for the iphone if you use a case with it..the case ends up pushing up the film and makes it look crappy...I tried cutting it down but ended up making an absolute dog's bollix of it..

If anyone gets the full shield (sides as well) let me know if the death grip works?
I'll go for it if I was sure it didn't affect the signal..

I am hoping to get mine tomorrow, will let you know, On the site they says No death grip with case, but few videos on You tube prove them wrong.

gerbo

I thought they said it was x amount of times harder than plastic so would resist scratching. Did they say anything about stronger?

Matt Bauer

Ouch, I feel bad even looking at your photos! I dropped mine once onto a concrete floor so far, but luckily it survived with nothing but a tiny dent.

The glass is 30 times stiffer than plastic. That means it is more scratch resistant and harder, not less breakable. In fact, as you strengthen a material, it tends to become more breakable than a soft material like plastic. Think about this: soft materials can bend, so they don't break.

jaggiebunnet

That made me wince...feel for ya OP. Mines fell out my top pocket the other day, scratches in each corner, thankfully all on the back - my cover arrived the next day !! :rolleyes:

naasrd

The day after I got mine I foolishly put it in my top pocket and bent down to pick something up in a car park only to hear it crash to the ground. I still had the platic on both sides and there wasn't a mark. But my heart, on the other hand...

Basq

nuttlys wrote: »

2 Weeks old + one 4 foot drop + no case = € 210.75 repair fee from Apple. Get a case.

Christ.. where did you drop it? Judging by the damage, I'm guessing a blender?

irish1967

Those pics should carry a warning. Very upsetting.

rivalius13

I've been meaning to get mine insured by three...

Blazer

rivalius13 wrote: »

I've been meaning to get mine insured by three...

you can insure it anytime upto 30 days after purchase with three...really must do mine this weekend.

jimbling

have you sent it off to apple yet? Honestly, dont. You can fix it yourself for under €50.

I fixed it on my 3GS a couple of weeks ago.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055973564


The damage wasnt anywhere near as bad, but it's the same thing. I got a package from ebay with the LCD Screen, Digitizer, front glass section (including button etc) and tool kit for €35. Took me about 40minutes to take the phone apart and fix. With yours it might take a little longer.


Of course I lost the phone 3 days later, but hey...lucky I didn't spend the €150 the shop wanted to repair it.

nuttlys

jimbling wrote: »

have you sent it off to apple yet? Honestly, dont. You can fix it yourself for under €50.

I fixed it on my 3GS a couple of weeks ago.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055973564


The damage wasnt anywhere near as bad, but it's the same thing. I got a package from ebay with the LCD Screen, Digitizer, front glass section (including button etc) and tool kit for €35. Took me about 40minutes to take the phone apart and fix. With yours it might take a little longer.


Of course I lost the phone 3 days later, but hey...lucky I didn't spend the €150 the shop wanted to repair it.

afraid its all done and dusted at this stage.... i checked doing it myself as I have replaced a screen on a HTC Tytn 2 before and would have been ok doing the same here but for 2 things. 1) if I did it myself I would lose any warranty I have. And seeing as the iPhones are so new nobody knows if there are any dodge parts that wont go the distance.... 2) there are no official parts out on the market yet. the only replacement shells I could find were from hong kong and made of "similar quality". Ive had problems dealing with hong kong before so thats a no go.

Hopefully when I get the iPhone back I'll post the repair pictures up.

naasrd

nuttlys wrote: »

afraid its all done and dusted at this stage.... i checked doing it myself as I have replaced a screen on a HTC Tytn 2 before and would have been ok doing the same here but for 2 things. 1) if I did it myself I would lose any warranty I have. And seeing as the iPhones are so new nobody knows if there are any dodge parts that wont go the distance.... 2) there are no official parts out on the market yet. the only replacement shells I could find were from hong kong and made of "similar quality". Ive had problems dealing with hong kong before so thats a no go.

Hopefully when I get the iPhone back I'll post the repair pictures up.

I think for the piece of mind you did the right thing. Unfortunately I'm sure you won't be alone in this in the weeks to come...

abouttobebanned

There should be a NSFA warning on this thread.

naasrd

abouttobebanned wrote: »

There should be a NSFA warning on this thread.

Indeed, one photo is bad but three...poor guy. Let it be a warning to us all.

jimbling

nuttlys wrote: »

afraid its all done and dusted at this stage.... i checked doing it myself as I have replaced a screen on a HTC Tytn 2 before and would have been ok doing the same here but for 2 things. 1) if I did it myself I would lose any warranty I have. And seeing as the iPhones are so new nobody knows if there are any dodge parts that wont go the distance.... 2) there are no official parts out on the market yet. the only replacement shells I could find were from hong kong and made of "similar quality". Ive had problems dealing with hong kong before so thats a no go.

Hopefully when I get the iPhone back I'll post the repair pictures up.

ya, fair enough. I was thinking the parts might be a little more expensive, didn't realise they'd be hard to get.

nuttlys

just an update on what has happened since I smashed my iPhone 4:


Its been over two weeks since I first rang Apple. I have had to ring them three times and have emailed them once. Initial phone call they had me send in photos and said yes they could fix it, for €211. I rang back because the courier never arrived. Basically I ended up with 3 repair id's before I got a courier to pick up the phone. That was last Wednesday.

I watched the repair status everyday from then. It currently says "original product shipped back". This evening a UPS rep rang to ask what the original repair was for, I could have lied but I didn't. I told him that it was smashed in the front. He sounded relieved and told me that Apple did not repair it and I'll have it tomorrow.

So there you have it. It appears that Apple will not fix a smashed iPhone 4 front screen even if you are willing to pay the €211 out-of-warranty repair fee. Shocking stuff tbh. Once I see the phone tomorrow I'll ring and find out exactly why it was not repaired.

EB1

Oh that's feckin awful. At over €200 I'm dying to hear their reason for not repairing!

lalee17

Ouch. "30 times harder than plastic"- pssh. A marketing gimmick, and a stupid one at that. There's millions of different types of polymers out in the world. At least one type would be 30 times weaker than their glass. :rolleyes:

However the Apple bumpers are supposed to offer excellent protection for drops! Hopefully mine will be here tomorrow..

corklad32

lalee17 wrote: »

However the Apple bumpers are supposed to offer excellent protection for drops! Hopefully mine will be here tomorrow..

You would think wouldn't ya. Have a gander at this http://gorumors.com/iphone-4-bumper-drop-test-cracks/2753300
I got my black bumper yesterday not bad looking definitely helps grip and stuff - don't over rely on it too much for protection though.

corklad32

nuttlys wrote: »

just an update on what has happened since I smashed my iPhone 4:


Its been over two weeks since I first rang Apple. I have had to ring them three times and have emailed them once. Initial phone call they had me send in photos and said yes they could fix it, for €211. I rang back because the courier never arrived. Basically I ended up with 3 repair id's before I got a courier to pick up the phone. That was last Wednesday.

I watched the repair status everyday from then. It currently says "original product shipped back". This evening a UPS rep rang to ask what the original repair was for, I could have lied but I didn't. I told him that it was smashed in the front. He sounded relieved and told me that Apple did not repair it and I'll have it tomorrow.

So there you have it. It appears that Apple will not fix a smashed iPhone 4 front screen even if you are willing to pay the €211 out-of-warranty repair fee. Shocking stuff tbh. Once I see the phone tomorrow I'll ring and find out exactly why it was not repaired.

What happened in the end?

Savage Tyrant

OUCH!!

I dropped mine a couple of days ago getting out of the car. Hit the concrete driveway. I now have 2 hairline cracks in the top corners. You can barely notice them, but I know they are there and it annoys me. Can't imagine just how sick THAT made you feel.

Hope you're sorted now!

whiterebel

nuttlys wrote: »

just an update on what has happened since I smashed my iPhone 4:


Its been over two weeks since I first rang Apple. I have had to ring them three times and have emailed them once. Initial phone call they had me send in photos and said yes they could fix it, for €211. I rang back because the courier never arrived. Basically I ended up with 3 repair id's before I got a courier to pick up the phone. That was last Wednesday.

I watched the repair status everyday from then. It currently says "original product shipped back". This evening a UPS rep rang to ask what the original repair was for, I could have lied but I didn't. I told him that it was smashed in the front. He sounded relieved and told me that Apple did not repair it and I'll have it tomorrow.

So there you have it. It appears that Apple will not fix a smashed iPhone 4 front screen even if you are willing to pay the €211 out-of-warranty repair fee. Shocking stuff tbh. Once I see the phone tomorrow I'll ring and find out exactly why it was not repaired.

It would probably cost more than that to repair?

bp1989

whiterebel wrote: »

It would probably cost more than that to repair?

How? There's no way a screen would be more than a few euro to produce. Granted, they surely charge more or less 100% extra for manual labour, but there's still no way it would come to anywhere near the price quoted.

whiterebel

bp1989 wrote: »

How? There's no way a screen would be more than a few euro to produce. Granted, they surely charge more or less 100% extra for manual labour, but there's still no way it would come to anywhere near the price quoted.

And you've seen the internals of it have you? I'm sure if it was as simple as changing a glass panel for €200+ Apple would have it done like a shot.

bp1989

whiterebel wrote: »

And you've seen the internals of it have you? I'm sure if it was as simple as changing a glass panel for €200+ Apple would have it done like a shot.

Well I was going on the assumption it was just the screen. We don't know there's internal damage but if there is, I stand corrected.

whiterebel

bp1989 wrote: »

Well I was going on the assumption it was just the screen. We don't know there's internal damage but if there is, I stand corrected.

I don't know either. Just saying if there is, there is going to be an enormous potential bill for that phone. Then if there's a 2nd or 3rd repair under warranty, a demand for a new one. Phone costs Apple over a grand by that stage......My wife had a HP laptop that had a red wine spill on it. I told her to push for insurance right off, but no, paid for a repair with a 3 month warranty. Machine was binned after 4 months.

nuttlys

bp1989 wrote: »

How? There's no way a screen would be more than a few euro to produce. Granted, they surely charge more or less 100% extra for manual labour, but there's still no way it would come to anywhere near the price quoted.

iPhone 4 screen is fused at factory, with LCD panel and touch panel, so not so easy as it may originally seem. The only place I found supplying it like that was directfix.com for $149.99 ex delivery (and VAT if your unlucky!). Your also voiding your warranty if you do it yourself so all in all the 211 euro apple are charging is probably about right (not in a moral way tho). Don't forget that the screen on the iPhone 4 is probably the most expensive piece in it.

Anyway to update everyone on my story which is still on-going!...

I'd gotten a refurb back from Apple after the mess and still ended up paying the €211. I knew it was a refurb by the serial number, week 24 versus the week 29 I sent in. Everything seemed fine until I turned on the camera and a disappointing "mist" appeared which ruined most pictures. I also started noticing a yellow hue in the bottom of the screen, which I read up to be a failure in the lcd/panel glue evaporating at factory level. I went on holidays and came back last Thursday. Rang up again Apple CS, explained my case, and should now have a "free" replacement tomorrow. I say free because I signed up for apple care, which I was going to do anyway, but otherwise would have been €30ish (which I half didn't understand, because this time it was their fault!). The new phone arriving tomorrow is marked as a week 35 production model so I am hoping its actually brand new and fingers crossed no problems.