Nexus 4 battery bloating(blog.testmunk.com) |
Nexus 4 battery bloating(blog.testmunk.com) |
This is a common trick attempted by the retail business - to focus on the warranty (where they dictate the terms) rather than your contract (where they often cannot). If you bought the device, you still have a contract of sale with the seller. The details depend on your jurisdiction.
Perhaps in the US the manufacturer can dictate the terms of your contract of sale, I don't know. But here in the UK they cannot - it is statutory.
When I attempted to have a broken Nexus 7 repaired or replaced here in the UK, the store focused on it being "out of warranty". I insisted that I was not claiming under their warranty, but under the contract of sale (the Sale of Goods Act in the UK) where depending on the nature of the goods and the advertised price the store can be liable for up to six years for manufacturing defects. Eventually, after insisting for a while, they made us good with a partial refund to cover the loss of use of the device subsequent to the failure, though it took us a while to negotiate a cash settlement rather than a store credit.
tl;dr: "out of warranty" is not necessarily the end of the story, although I don't know about the US.
Unfortunately mine didn't qualify for either one! I'm not sure if it was the serial number or the date it was purchased, but when I checked online or called in they said my device wasn't part of either program.
This is the line that got my phone replaced: "I don't care about the programs you are describing - your company created them unilaterally so when you tell me I don't qualify it doesn't mean anything to me. What matters is that my phone is failing, if there's nothing you can do about it that really sucks and I feel really screwed over."
Then they replaced it.
In the US, there is no "statute" for contract of sale like you have in the UK. Its entirely what is written by the seller [which is the warranty], so yes, it is the end of the story :P
Generally, if its nearly an immediate loss/failure, you can do something more but that is about the only situation. Months/years later its whatever the merchant & manufacturer stipulated.
Depends on the specific US jurisdiction and the particular kind of sale, but this is often false. See, most notably, the Uniform Commercial Code. [0]
It's not entirely about what the seller wrote. It's primarily about the representations the seller made (written or otherwise) about the product and whether the product doesn't meet those representations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implied_warranty
In most states, these warranties last for four years. It's common for them to be disclaimed, though.
Anyway, it's stupid easy to replace these batteries--they're just glued in, usually, so you just buy a replacement battery and back cover, use a tool to pry up the battery, place a new battery in along with some adhesive to hold it down, and pop the new back cover on. One pro tip: Buy at least one more new battery than you need, as some percentage of them, no matter where you buy them from, are defective.
We do these in-store for iPhone 4/5 in under 10 minutes--I don't doubt you can do something similar on the N4.
There's a long support thread of people with similar issues at: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/IJSOuc7...
Several of the posters there noticed that their battery had started bulging, ordered a new one, and reported that their devices were back to normal. Same issue and fix for my device.
This issue is definitely concerning, and I'm a bit surprised that more hasn't been made of it by now. It seems to be a fairly widespread problem.
It's annoying really because in the end, there is absolutely NO accountability from either LG or Google that the battery won't work as expected after about two years. Thing is, the price range of the Nexus 4 doesn't exist in the Google mobile lineup anymore, with the Nexus 5 being about twice as expensive. So ultimately, I'll either have to stop buying Nexus phones or spend $400 on a Nexus 5.
I have friends who have been happy with Moto G and Blu Studio phones on the lower end.
I can reboot my phone to make it go away (for about day, but after that the clicking comes back). I've never dropped or scratched my phone.
The heat sink issue can apparently be relieved[1], although I haven't tried this on my own device yet. I did replace the battery, though, after the first one failed and started swelling (not as badly as the pictures, but bad enough to deform the back case noticeably).
[1]: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/got-a-hot-nexus-4-heres-a-hack-...
On another note, I just purchased a Zenfone 2. I accidentally dropped it from about a foot (getting out of the car) and cracked the screen. I noticed most other Zenfone 2 phone that has a cracked screen appears to have it crack in a very similar spot (top right). I guess all phones have their weaknesses. Though, my nexus 4 looked like it went to war and back having been dropped (at excessive heights), and never broke.
Of course this happens with other manufacturer's batteries too. I had this happen with a kindle fire (first generation) and Amazon replaced the unit free of charge. I also had this happen with the battery for my late 2011 17" MacBook Pro. I walked into an Apple store handed it to a clerk and said I needed that one to be disposed of and to purchase a new one since I was out of warranty. He took it to a genius who said something along the lines of "Oh shit, that's a defect just give him a new one" and off I went with a free new battery.
I just ordered a new screen. I would most likely end up giving the phone to a friend whose phone is dying
Very similar logo/mascot.
Some day soon I'm going to really have to try and hunt down a ~4" handset to replace this one... :(
Very disappointed to hear that it happened with a Google backed device - I hope Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 are more stable better. Not sure if I'll buy another Nexus phone in the future after reading all that.
Aparently this is/was a common issue with a certain batch of Samsung batteries causing them to replace batteries with this problem for free outside of warranty (in the UK at least).
Ever since using Cyanogenmod instead of the official ROMs and being more aware of the over heating issue, my battery "consumption" dropped.
You can check out Consumer Reports but it has a paywall.
In other words, there's nothing particularly newsworthy here. The fact that testmunk found this significant and specifically paint it as a problem with the nexus 4 does more to show their lack of experience in the field than anything else.
My google nexus phone was clunky, slow, randomly freeze and restart during phone conversation. When you dropped it the battery and back lid would fall out or not fit properly. I nearly gave up on Android.
Then my asus nexus 7 screen shattered when I dropped it with replacement cost that made it unfeasible to replace it (warranty did not cover it).
Now I have a Moto G, and considering that I paid only 200 bucks for it, it runs extremely light, smooth and reliable, durable, no battery or back lid falling out. Lot of bang for your buck, faith restored in Android.
after reading your comment now I feel anxious and have moved it to another unused room's closet.
My wife and I both have one. The primary thing that I miss compared the Moto G (EU) and some other models is dual-SIM.
The one downside I've noticed is that even with my "OEM" replacement battery (who really knows with these things), charging a lowish battery via a high amperage USB still takes significantly (multiples) longer than my iPhone 5 or 6.
Did it? You can pick up a 2014 Moto X for $299. You even get to customize it to your own taste. This phone has nice specs and near-vanilla Android. (Love my Moto X 2014 with cognac leather back :). Though, I bought it when is was still 200 above the current price.)
I hear that the Asus Zenfone 2 is also pretty ok. In Europe it's a little more than 300 Euro for the variant with 4GB RAM and 32 GB storage (there are some cheaper variants as well).
Someone tell that to the battery in my Nokia 6230i from 2007, cause it's been used daily and it doesn't seem to mind :)
Seriously, though, what makes you think that a 2-3 year battery is at or near EOL? Battery life depends on a lot of factors and even then it should lose capacity not swell and explode.
I don't think its controversial to say that 3 year old phones may start having problems. If this was the new Nexus 6, yes, then there would be a lot of concern, but telling me a budget phone from 2012 is having battery problems in 2015 really isn't saying much.
tldr; the Nexus 4 has a 1 year warranty for a reason.
I find it unacceptable that the phone's life is now limited by the battery. Where can you buy a new n4 battery now? Nowhere.. Yet the rest of my hardware is fine
At the time of purchasing the n4, I had tried to find another decent smart phone with a replaceable battery but didn't find anything suitable. My next phone won't be with Google and I'll instead be looking for something whose replacement battery will still be around, manufactured and not out of date in 3+ years (a guy can dream)
I see a bunch listed on Amazon and eBay. Some of the ones on Amazon have reviews indicating that they are used, but not all of them. You can probably find a new one if you look for it.
And, what I mean is, given that both consumer and company know that the phone's life would be longer with a new battery, why do they refuse to offer replacements? Phones are fast enough and featured enough for me now. If someone made a decent one with replaceable battery that will be on the market for awhile I'd throw money at them