Slider wobble/clatter/rattle/click when tapping on the screen when slider closed

[John Veness 57]

I have the following problem on my fresh out of the box Pro 1, and I was wondering if it was just my device:

When the slider is closed, so using the phone like a keyboardless phone, there is a physical click sound when tapping on the screen, especially the left and right hand sides when in portrait.

See this short video I made demonstrating the problem:

I'm not talking about haptic/vibraion feedback, as I have that disabled and anyway it does it when the phone is off.

The problem seems to be the slider mechanism pivoting or wobbling such that the screen part bangs against the keyboard part.

The clatter/rattle sound is quite off-putting, especially for what is otherwise a premium device.

I was wondering if every Pro 1 did this, or just mine (or just some).

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by John Veness

[Hook 3,031]

Mine doesn't do that at all.  You might check the screws.  If any sticker is not flush, it has been suggested that it indicates a screw that is not fully tightened. Don't know if this helps.

[PC_ 61]

Mine does something similar but doesn't pivot as much on the hinge.  Also the volume rocker rattles a little bit. The phone has moving parts and you're comparing it with a phone that doesn't have moving parts. My Blackberry Priv also has a similar issue when you tap the screen.

[John Veness 57]

Thanks. This doesn't happen with my previous slider phones, but they have been "straight" sliders, not the same mechanism as this one. It would be interesting to hear from (former?) owners of other phones that use a similar mechanism to the Pro 1 to see if they have the same issue.

[Jordi 72]

Mine does the same thing, maybe a little bit less than yours, difficult to say. I would say there is nothing to worry about, a little play is normal to prevent the mechanism from jamming or the parts from rubbing against each other.

[AnnieC 115]

17 minutes ago, Jordi said:

Mine does the same thing, maybe a little bit less than yours, difficult to say. I would say there is nothing to worry about, a little play is normal to prevent the mechanism from jamming or the parts from rubbing against each other.

Probably nothing to worry about but there are people who doesn't have this problem so it seems that it's possible to assemble the phone in a way that it doesn't wobble when closed. It might not worth the effort for F(x)tec to make sure every phone is free of this problem but it sure makes the phone feel higher quality when there is no play when closed.

[Benni 183]

I have a small "wobble" in one corner and a slight wiggle in the sim port. Not an issue for me, though.

[SchattengestaIt 559]

I think it shouldn't do that - not as extremely as in the video.

A personal fix would be a soft black tape taped on the bottom of the screen side so it will never be visible, If it can be solved by tightening a screw, of course that would be perfect.

[John Veness 57]

Thanks. I can't see anything obviously wrong with it, but I don't fancy scraping off those stickers - not without replacements ready anyway.

Guess I'll contact support.

[Slion 1,201]

Interesting observation. They have a couple of plastic bits above the keyboard to stop and amortize the screen when opening it. On Nokia E7, which has the same mechanism, those are on the back of the screen so they amortize opening and closing of the screen while also preventing that wobble. Something for FxTec to improve.

I reckon you should be able to paste such plastic bits to the back of your screen to fix it.

[Parhelion 114]

Right lower corner is completely silent, there's a bit of clattering around the rest of the screen, but nothing I would have considered disturbing. shaking the whole device also gives the slightest noise from volume and power switches.

[Slion 1,201]

17 minutes ago, Slion said:

I reckon you should be able to paste such plastic bits to the back of your screen to fix it.

I would try to find some tiny rubberised adhesives to replace the ones hiding the screws at the four corners of the back of the screen. FxTec could provide them and maybe upgrade their production line.

[Slion 1,201]

My volume buttons and sim tray are wobbling quite a bit. Power and shutter buttons do not have that problem. There is a tiny bit of play in the screen when closed but nothing in comparison to yours.

[SteffenWi 139]

yeah just checked mine, too. No pivoting here. I have the 'rattling' noise others report when you tap a bit harder on the screen but that is from the keyboard and not disturbing.

[david 929]

My Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G (circa 2012) does it a little bit on the side that the keyboard slides out from.  It does it a tiny bit on the other (right, when in portrait) side too.  However, even the left side isn't as much as it seems your Pro1 is doing it and my gap doesn't seem as wide.  It is a straight slider too.  I don't think I ever noticed it until I tested for it now. 

One easy way to tell the difference between a tight fit and a loose fit is to pinch the phone with one hand, with the thumb holding it in the middle and then tap with a finger from the other hand near the thumb.  Relax the grip to see what it is like loose.  Alternate to see how it is with and without the gap.

[netman 1,424]

Mine does this a little bit albeit not as obvious as in the video, only on the bottom half it is noticeable. I figured it is normal since to ensure totally being solid the springs would have to be quite strong in the closed position and make it harder to open the keyboard. (edit: or some rubber or felt would have to be added, iirc eskerahn and mosen did such to mitigate this, I personally don't feel the need to do anything about it)

Edited January 27, 2020 by netman

[Doktor Oswaldo 904]

I am mixed. Mine is rock solid normally. But If I held it upside down it clatters worse than yours. Since I do not often do that, I don't care to much.

Edited January 27, 2020 by Doktor Oswaldo

[EskeRahn 5,464]

See the easy fix I've shown at almost the bottom of this https://eskerahn.dk/?p=3651

Simply take a rougly 5x20mm piece of self adhesive felt.

[Erik 1,487]

That's completely normal and it's exactly how it should be.

As the hinge is based on two parts which aren't symmetrical, certain angles will make more of this noise.

[EskeRahn 5,464]

40 minutes ago, Erik said:

That's completely normal and it's exactly how it should be.

I agree that it is normal.... but certainly not that it is how it should be.....

Luckily there is a VERY easy fix, as described above,
It was one of the first things I did when I got my hands on a pre-production unit. And I showed it to F(x)tec at the London Event. (I even gave them some felt to experiment with...)

I had hoped it had been handled in the released units, So the users would not have to do this individually.

As there (obviously) is some tolerance in design, other strategically placed pieces can do wonders to get a more luxurious feeling. I had eight on the Pre-production unit, but only one on the release unit.

[SchattengestaIt 559]

1 hour ago, Erik said:

That's completely normal and it's exactly how it should be.

As the hinge is based on two parts which aren't symmetrical, certain angles will make more of this noise.

I don't agree. If some have a quiet(er) rattling, it can't be normal being that loud.

Gladly, there is an easy fix, but I still don't like that the end user has to solve the problem.

[John Veness 57]

I haven't contacted support yet. To be honest, Erik's response above kinda put me off.

But I have had success with some felt pads. Putting one where @EskeRahn suggested didn't seem to help so I have one pad in each corner underneath the screen. This seems to have greatly reduced the problem down to an acceptable level - not perfect, but a couple more pads might do it.

I used felt approx 1 mm thick and double sided tape. Hopefully this will last.

[John Veness 57]

A nice side effect of this is that it also makes the bang when you open or close it a little quieter!

(I wanted to add more pics but the 2 MB limit seems to apply even if you add multiple posts‽)

[fredrick 36]

19 hours ago, John Veness said:

Thanks. This doesn't happen with my previous slider phones, but they have been "straight" sliders, not the same mechanism as this one. It would be interesting to hear from (former?) owners of other phones that use a similar mechanism to the Pro 1 to see if they have the same issue.

The nokia n97 did not have that problem at all. Don't know about the n97 mini though.

One of the n97 trailers from nokia has a tech guy showing off the "click" and "clack" noises that the phone makes when opening and closing it. 🙂

Edited January 27, 2020 by fredrick

[_DW_ 628]

28 minutes ago, fredrick said:

The nokia n97 did not have that problem at all. Don't know about the n97 mini though.

One of the n97 trailers from nokia has a tech guy showing off the "click" and "clack" noises that the phone makes when opening and closing it. 🙂

yeah definitely didn't have the problem on the n97

mine is same as in video