Decius

I think the only thing that has a chance of preventing the cracks is a rigid case that prevents any amount of flexing or twisting of the phone housing. That's the only thing I can think of that would be causing these cracks. I've carried my replacement Treo Pro in a Seidio holster. My original cracked device was carried in a pocket almost all the time. I never sat on it, but it's possible it flexed a bit while walking up stairs, etc. Who knows if the replacement would crack if carried the same way...

no_basho

Bah, if we need to be cautious about not carrying our phones with us in our pockets as we walk up stairs, something's seriously wrong! My wife's battered 680 is still going strong after well over two years. It's been dropped, sat on, accidentally kicked across the floor, had coffee spilled on it--and it's certainly been in her pocket as she ascended staircases all and sundry. There are scratches o'plenty, but no cracks.

As much as I love this phone, I am seriously disappointed with what seems to be a persistent design flaw in the hardware.

FWIW, my replacement unlocked Treo Pro has gone a whole week without cracking. I guess I should see that as reason for celebration.

insol

In my case yep... STP and same crack in the casing near the volume rocker you see in pics. I kept it naked in my front pocket... was very careful with the phone (i.e no drops, hard handling, or other rough treatment -- not even stuff in the same pocket)... crack showed up sometime around 27/28 days from new.

decalex

I got a Sprint TP when it came out on Mar 15th-- The back (battery) cover seemed to be loose and creaky within the first few days of having it. Two weeks later, it worsened and cracked (a little chunk fell out too) below the volume buttons. It had never been dropped and I took really good care of it. So I replaced it... now the new one's back it getting a little creaky (after a week). I'll probably just get a case.

eklenken

I am thinking about getting a Treo Pro from Alltel. If I do and it starts to get these cracks is the carrier or Palm that will replace the phone? Also do you get to keep the phone until the replacement comes (my cell phone is my only phone like a lot people)?

Also I know a lot of you have the GSM phone, I will be getting the CDMA phone. Does is this problem occuring with the CDMA phone?


thanks

brettw.10

Hi guys,

Just thought I would give you an update on the never ending saga with the repair of my cracked Treo Pro.

As I reported earlier, my Pro developed a crack above the volume buttons on the right-hand side, and I sent it in for repair to Palm in Europe. A week later I received my repaired Pro, and I was pretty happy until I started it and discovered that they had installed the Telstra Australia software onto my Unlocked Pro that I had bought in the US. So I contacted them again and they said to send it in to have the software replaced, so I did.

Yesterday I got my phone back for the second time. I opened the box to discover that they had replaced the casing and the keypad again (which wasn't damaged this time), and had described my Pro as a Telstra Australia phone in the documentation. My fears were realised when I booted the phone and the Telstra customisations were applied.

So now I am going to have to contact Palm for the third time and send my phone in to have this ****ty Telstra ROM replaced. Let's see if they replace the casing again or not.

Regards,
Brushy

Slem

You're all fortunate that you can send your phones back and forth to be mended and re-mended. All I can do is watch the cracks on my Treo multiply over time (so far from 3 to 7) and hope it doesn't disintegrate. I get a certain degree of revenge by advising friends and colleagues not to buy a Palm phone. I for one will never buy the Treo Pre simply because I'd be afraid of it cracking.

cscoot03

I respect my phones, I have so many cases or if in my yard I use my shirt pocket. Everyone should have something to protect the equipment they've paid so much for, common sence.

insol

While I keep my phone naked (as I have done with my last 5 or 6 $400+ phones; none of which cracked like this), I keep it in my front pocket (with nothing else) and treat it with kid gloves. Never dropped one, never set it down hard, nothing -- I treat it like fine china. I am now on my 3rd STP, the last of which developed a crack after 11 days, the one before that took 27 days to crack!

While I understand your statement about common sense, this cracking issue has nothing to do with common sense. It is faulty manufacturing plain and simple. Its a defect in the materials, processing, or engineering. I get buying protection from abuse or accidents, but in my opinion, if the phone REQUIRED a case under normal use it should have come with one. I should not have to change my habits to suit my equipment -- it needs to work for me, not me for it.

Having ranted... I love this phone -- as close to perfect for me as I think realistically possible/likely. I have cased this third phone... the Seidio innocase. It will still go in my front pocket. Lets see if it cracks now; I am not optimistic.

berdinkerdickle

The cracks these Treo Pro's are developing have nothing to do with whether they baby their device or not. It's a design flaw in a certain batch of Treo Pro's.
We've narrowed it down some. An example are the 9N8H & 9M8H have the most reports of cracks and the 9C8H have no reports of cracks at all.

Side note that emphasizes that it's not the fault of the user is I'm really hard on my Treo Pro. In this thread I mentioned how I've dropped my Treo Pro (9C8H) from upstairs to the floor below and it sustained no cracks. I've dropped it from about 3 feet to a tile floor - battery cover flew off - and still no cracks.

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Berd

cscoot03

OK OK I'm not sending any quips w/regard to common sence I'm sure we all use this (common sence) AND I'm definetly Not going to step in your way or give you a hard time, I follow your knowkedge & I think that if you know it's improper equipment manufacturiing then OK if this has happened to you that's bad but luckily this has not happened to me. This makes me wonder if it's time to really leave WM & head on up to the Pre. OK?

cscoot03

berdinkerdickle, how do I find out what number I have to determine if my phone is one that might have this flaw?

insol

Berd,

I am not sure those serials translate to STPs... but do you think your bodygaurdz helped? Physics seem to suggest that the bodygaurdz skin might help.

While I am hardly a mechanical engineer, I have some limited background in materials and reliability. The area where the cracks appear is one of the weakest points on the case. Looking at the nature/location of the cracks, I suspect that they begin with some sort of twist/bend to the phone, which in my case might happen as the phone is in my front pants pocket, flexing as I sit or walk (e.g. stairs etc.).

My hope is the hard edge and sealing fit of the innocase will prevent this bend/twist. But I have a bodygaurdz and could put it on -- not sure if the innocase will still fit though.

insol

Settings --> systems tab --> about --> phone tab

berdinkerdickle

That was before I sent it in for repairs:
http://discussion.treocentral.com/1545201-post10.html
I've been naked for 3 mos now.
The 2 drops were with the new one that I haven't had a skin on.

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Berd

berdinkerdickle

Here is my theory

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no_basho

My mouth is agape. I can't believe that you've had to put up with this incompetence. I would call and demand that they send you another unit.

brettw.10

The latest story from Palm in Europe is that the european repair center doesn't have access to the Unlocked image from the US, and now I have to contact Palm in the US and send it in for repair over there.

I am pretty annoyed about all of this, especially seeing that is it now my responsibility to contact Palm in the US, and that Europe didn't put Palm US in contact with me. Also, I want to know why they bothered touching the software at all in the first place give:
1. It was a hardware fix that was required; and
2. They didn't have the right software to upgrade it with.

Anyway, I will keep you up to date with the saga of the stuffed up Pro.

Tschüß,
Brushy.

no_basho

This is utterly ridiculous. How is it your responsbility to facilitate communication between Palm US and Palm Europe in order to take care of their (multiple!) mistakes? How hard did you press them when you last spoke to them? Did you get past Tier 1 support?

palandri

That's probably what happened. Both my wife and I have the early versions with the "9N8H" serial number that we bought through NewEgg and our cases are fine. We keep on expecting to find a crack, but there are none.

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