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Pin size dent/cracks/chips in 3g plastic casing...please help

K

kurtcobain

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 21, 2008
12
0
This is my third 3g and it is fine except for one issue.

There are about 4 places on the iphone, where the black plastic meets the chrome, where there are small pin size dents/cracks/chips.

The current Iphone is less than a week old so I will not have any problems swapping it out for a new one. I am wondering if this a common issue? The "defect" is literally the size of a pin head bit its noticeable.

I've looked at a few other 3g models and found that the pin size dents/cracks/chips are pretty common. I want to get a better sampling from this audience before I play roulette and trade my phone in for another one.

Any feedback would be helpful.
 
I've got on tiny little chip on the chrome where you plug in the usb cord to the phone. I have to really search for it otherwise its not noticeable at all. There is also a tiny piece of excess black plastic that sticks out over the edge of the chrome in that same area. On the plastic back there is a portion where it appears a "bubble" formed in the pastic when it was molded.

None of that bothers me since I consider them insignificant and I cover it all with a case anyway. The area where the usb plugs in is destined to get chipped anyway unless you're anal about making sure the plug doesn't ever collide with the chrome. What may drive me to get a new phone is if my 3G data speeds don't improve with the next software update.
 
kurtcobain said:
This is my third 3g and it is fine except for one issue.

There are about 4 places on the iphone, where the black plastic meets the chrome, where there are small pin size dents/cracks/chips.

The current Iphone is less than a week old so I will not have any problems swapping it out for a new one. I am wondering if this a common issue? The "defect" is literally the size of a pin head bit its noticeable.

I've looked at a few other 3g models and found that the pin size dents/cracks/chips are pretty common. I want to get a better sampling from this audience before I play roulette and trade my phone in for another one.

Any feedback would be helpful.
Click to expand...


i've been through 4 white 3Gs and had the pin dents on 2 of them. My current week 32 is pretty much perfect- no cracks, no pin-dents, the bezel is aligned with the body, no dust under the screen. There is a light leak of sorts through the plastic on the back that's noticeable in the dark. 3 in a row have had that. I think I've pretty much given up on finding a white 3G that doesn't let light escape from the back.
 
barkomatic said:
I've got on tiny little chip on the chrome where you plug in the usb cord to the phone. I have to really search for it otherwise its not noticeable at all. There is also a tiny piece of excess black plastic that sticks out over the edge of the chrome in that same area. On the plastic back there is a portion where it appears a "bubble" formed in the pastic when it was molded.

None of that bothers me since I consider them insignificant and I cover it all with a case anyway. The area where the usb plugs in is destined to get chipped anyway unless you're anal about making sure the plug doesn't ever collide with the chrome. What may drive me to get a new phone is if my 3G data speeds don't improve with the next software update.
Click to expand...

The issue for me is not a chip on the chrome itself, rather the pin size chip is on the plastic where the chrome meets/touches the plastic. There are about 4 places where this is the case.
 
Mikey B said:
i've been through 4 white 3Gs and had the pin dents on 2 of them. My current week 32 is pretty much perfect- no cracks, no pin-dents, the bezel is aligned with the body, no dust under the screen. There is a light leak of sorts through the plastic on the back that's noticeable in the dark. 3 in a row have had that. I think I've pretty much given up on finding a white 3G that doesn't let light escape from the back.
Click to expand...

Mikey,

Did you return the 2 white phones w/ the pin dents solely because of the pin dents or were there other issues?
 
kurtcobain said:
The issue for me is not a chip on the chrome itself, rather the pin size chip is on the plastic where the chrome meets/touches the plastic. There are about 4 places where this is the case.
Click to expand...

If its noticeable from a casual glance then I say try to swap it again. The defects on mine are almost microscopic and I didn't even pick them up when I carefully inspected my own replacement(because GPS was busted).

If its your third phone they may give you a little grief about it so be prepared. Ask to inspect the phone before the genius swaps the sim card to the new one and you erase your old phone.

If you have an otherwise well-functioning phone you *may* get a cosmetically perfect one only to discover you get lousy reception. Test that too.
 
kurtcobain said:
Mikey,

Did you return the 2 white phones w/ the pin dents solely because of the pin dents or were there other issues?
Click to expand...

other issues as well. i did point the pin dents out and they didn't seem to want to take responsibility for them. its a little tough to prove that we aren't responsible for them.
 
Mikey B said:
other issues as well. i did point the pin dents out and they didn't seem to want to take responsibility for them. its a little tough to prove that we aren't responsible for them.
Click to expand...

true, but my phone is less than a week old.
 
Mikey B said:
mine was less than 24 hours old at the time. they didn't really care about the pin dents. luckily the other problems were enough to warrant an exchange.
Click to expand...

Did you notice if the pin dent got worse in terms of spreading to other areas and/or getting deeper and/or developing into cracks?

I know one of the phones you had for less than 24 hours, but what about the other one?
 
kurtcobain said:
Did you notice if the pin dent got worse in terms of spreading to other areas and/or getting deeper and/or developing into cracks?

I know one of the phones you had for less than 24 hours, but what about the other one?
Click to expand...

they pretty much seemed to stay the same. didn't really have either long enough to gather much data though. i do remember looking for them on the second one because of the first and not noticing any at first. a couple days later they were there. but, i could have overlooked them at first glance.
 
I have some minor pin dents but no cracks. So far, the dents haven't led to cracks, either.
 
bigmouth said:
I have some minor pin dents but no cracks. So far, the dents haven't led to cracks, either.
Click to expand...

Bigmouth: thanks for the info. Have the dents gotten worse and/or more prevalent? How long have you had the phone for?

I'm guessing it does not bother you enough for you to have swapped it out by now?

Thanks again for sharing.

Charlie
 
I ordered mine last week from Rogers (the Canadian carrier), and received it today. It's a 16GB white iPhone 3G. As soon as I took it out of the box, I saw a crack on the left side, near the ringer volume. What a let down...

They said they will send me a replacement, but there is no word what I will get, as they said when I ship the cracked one back without any of the accessories.

I have no idea when they will send it either... it's so frustrating.
 
Mine has a very and I mean very tiny mark on the right side, and if I am honest even if you get a whole new perfect one, after your 18-month contract it won't be perfect, it will have it's battle-marks like ANY phone. Live with it, enjoy it, you have an iPhone, a PHONE use it as one, it's not a showpiece.
 
?

take it back or live with it. those are your choices my friend. bumping the thread will not remove the dents/cracks/chips.
 
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