Pro1, Ghost touches and other digitizer and display issues

[marmistrz 93]

Thanks. That's what I supposed. Given that opening the slider (with impact) seems to help, this feels like a ribbon cable issue. I'll open up the device and try to inspect the ribbon cable.

[marmistrz 93]

The ribbon cable looks intact and reattaching the top half of the device doesn't help, however, I have trouble opening the bottom half. I removed the five screws, but the bottom part won't even budge when I try to pry it open. It's not necessary to remove the keyboard with a heat gun to pry open the bottom part, is it?

[SchattengestaIt 553]

If by 'bottom part' you mean the metal plating on the backside of the display, you are right. This is the easiest part to remove, you just remove five screws and pry it open.

As you have problems, I expect that you want to try to open the casing where the battery lies in.

You'll have to remove the display first and then access three screws on the side where the buttons lie and two screws in the corners of the display.

To access them more easily, there are holes in the back of your display back cover, where you can stick through your screwdriver.

You don't need a heat gun to remove anything, really.

[SchattengestaIt 553]

On 9/3/2023 at 12:07 PM, SchattengestaIt said:

Make your displays last longer

I've recently ordered a bunch of those 'b-ware' displays and out of seven, two were in good condition and one is usable (~20€ each). That's okayish since there are no good displays to order anymore.

As the displays are so scarce nowadays and they never caused touchscreen problems when assembled in the original phones (Elephone U Pro), I've looked more into the touchscreen issues.
I've inspected the frame and searched for a point of failure. And I think I found one.

Using one of the broken displays in my order (big black dots over the display) I found out which cable is used for the touchscreen. It's the black one.
If you look at the frame of the first image, you'll see some cutouts and slightly elevated plastic for the display connection (which goes over the complete bottom of the display).



What you also see is, that there's no additional space for the touchscreen cable. Even worse: there are two cutouts around the cable with a piece of plastic pushing onto the ribbon cable itself (circle). I expect that this middle piece is regularly pushing unevenly onto the touchscreen cable which causes it to break connection over time.

I don't believe this part is needed as structural support, so I filed that part away as seen in picture two and three. This way the ribbon cable has much more space and should - in theory - last way longer. Hopefully for years.

@VaZso Check this 'fix' for your ghost touch problems. I've had no issues about it anymore.

The touch problem didn't appear with the original Elephone U Pro so the display itself can't be at fault. My guess is that FxTec left too little space for the touch screen ribbon cable and therefore squeezed it too much. By natural movement (i.e. in pockets), the ribbon cable lines eventually brakes right where the plastic corner of the frame is.

[VaZso 1,988]

4 hours ago, SchattengestaIt said:

@VaZso Check this 'fix' for your ghost touch problems. I've had no issues about it anymore.

The touch problem didn't appear with the original Elephone U Pro so the display itself can't be at fault. My guess is that FxTec left too little space for the touch screen ribbon cable and therefore squeezed it too much. By natural movement (i.e. in pockets), the ribbon cable lines eventually brakes right where the plastic corner of the frame is.

Another difference is (at least for the very first hundreds of Pro1) is the gluing strength of the display.
(F(x)tec covered almost its entire back of the display leaving only edges for fixing display to frame - they apparently modified this  solution to fully use display's original sticky part without covering.)

By mistake, once I have ordered an Elephone U Pro display together with its frame.
It was a metal frame (so very rigid) and display was fully glued to the surface (whole sticky area was used) - it was not easy to remove it to be used in Pro1.

Definitively there is a reason for this problem appearing the very same way among users and you are right, that is a very sensitive part of the display.
Anything which prevents ribbon cable from moving helps and naturally everything helps which allows more room for ribbon cable for better angle.

However, Pro1's plastic frame compared to Elephone's metal frame is another weak point related to potential movement of ribbon cable.

As far as I remember well, my current display was replaced almost a year ago anyway and this time I have tried fixing that area of display panel before installing to prevent ribbon cable from moving.

Edited May 1 by VaZso