Dock so tight it cracked the Z1 Screen

[ciM55]

Hi All

First post. Wondering if anyone else has experienced what happened to me:

• Bought genuine Sony Z1 Dock from Sony owned store
• Sony staff fitted screen protector and case - they were VERY helpful
• Re-configured dock to accept the case (changed out the little dock adapter which makes it wider)
• They tested the Z1 in the dock - it seemed tight but they sold it all to me OK
• Got home and after a couple of days use the Dock corner has cacked the screen due to such a tight fit

So just wanted to know if anyone else has had this happen and also to warn people not to buy the Dock - really bad design flaw.

It's quite devastating as I LOVE my new Z1 and is my first non-Apple phone. Loving Android and the beautiful screen - well before it was cracked anyway

ciM

[Uliwooly]

Sorry to hear that, I haven't experienced that myself but you don't quite need the dock, you can get the magnetic cable or even open the Dock and just use the cable, you should take it to a Sony repair center 

[Sophia]

So sorry to hear your experience. But I bought a magnetic charging dock, too and it works well. If i use the naked phone, i should use a black cushion to ensure stability. And i also can charge with a ultra-thin case.

[firstsonyphone]

Magic self-breaking phone!

Very let down by Sony!

The Z1 was my first Sony Phone - first Android Phone. I wanted to get away from Apple products.

I bought the Z1 in October 2013 from Official Sony Store in Shatin, Hong Kong. The helpful staff fitted the front and rear screen protectors for me, explained how to use it, charging, etc.

I used it every day - probably a few hours use - mostly for internet reading, email, photos. I was certainly too scared to do any water testing! Until the fateful day, two days ago, nothing exceptional had happened. I had however noticed that the phone did get quite hot at times - especially near the top on the phone unit. I always used the wireless dock that came with the phone. It was a snug fit, but I presumed that this was normal - after all - the Sony staff were the ones that set the phone up, and explained things to me.

Three days ago, I went to sleep with an intact, fully-functioning phone, on the charger. In the morning, I took the phone off the charger, and it started going crazy. I thought it had been hacked - the phone wouldn't respond to touch properly, and applications were randomly starting and stopping. Text and numbers seemed to appear from random. Looking closely at the phone, I realized that there were a set of fine cracks initiating from a single point at the edge of the screen - very close to the edge of where the docking-charging unit sits.

The phone was slightly, but noticeably bent at this point.

I took the phone to the Shatin Sony store yesterday, where I had originally purchased it from. The staff member verified the phone ID, and confirmed that it was still under warranty (1 year). However, he added the caveat that screen was not covered by this warranty.

I went to the Sony service centre later that day, where after waiting for ca. 40-50 mins, the service officer told me that the phone would cost HK$1,400 to repair (ca. US$180).He told me that that the phone was to tight for the charging dock, and that it was bent. I replied that it was very straight before the screen cracked! Also, I said that the staff in the Sony store had fitted the front and rear screen protectors.

I handed over the phone and docking unit for him to send to the repair centre. I have just found out that this is not covered under warranty, and that I must pay ca. HK$1,740 (ca. US$225) to have it repaired. Great news indeed. Sudden inflation.

So what caused the crack? was it poor build quality? bad luck? The overheating, or the docking unit, or the combination of the two factors?

Whatever it was, I was extremely disapointed. Sony charges a premium for its products, resting on it supposed high-quality products. I believed this 10 months ago. I'm not so sure now.

From reading the posts on this forum, and from other reports on other fora, i suspect that there is an underlying technical or design problem here.

Look at the photo below - taken in a bit of a hurry (with an emergency replacement HTC phone) at the Hong Kong Sony service centre (in Mong Kok)

Note that the phone is not perfectly docked - as the 'magic self-breaking phone' was bent, i could not insert it easily into the unit.

I would be interested to hear more from Sony about this. However, they will most probably ignore this post, and pretend that there is no problem here.

To them, I'm just probably just some silly doctor in Hong Kong, who has nothing better to do than complain about expensive Sony smarthones with a good camera that just magically break by themselves after 10 months of regular use.