DESIGN ISSUE? Speaker + vibration motor broke for the 2nd time

[e1337]

The speaker and vibration motor broke for me after the 2nd time after just about a year. I can't see any obvious damage to the data line (edit: i saw later, see below), but it seems to be a common problem: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...#pid102753

So is this design ever going to be changed? I've never had this happen on any previous phone I owned, ever, and some of them I dropped pretty hard, not the few bumps my PinePhones had. If I somehow get this repaired, not that I'd know where since I imagine the average repair shop has no idea about PinePhones, or got a new pinephone replacement, what'll keep this from happening next year?

And a phone without amy sort of indicator for a call when it's in your pocket is somewhat unusable for many people. So it's not like this is a minor issue.

Would be a nice opportunity to step up the robustness and weed out this failure point if you're planning to sell it with a markup and with warranty now.

Edit: chat requested an image, here it is. As far as I can tell, nothing is obviously disconnected, the black cable at the speaker makes an oddly tight turn but I don't think it's disconnected either:

[e1337]

Confirmed now, it's the 4 data lines again. Just didn't notice at first, exact same spot, different phone, the entire flex cable again just ripped same as last time (like someone cut into it from the side). So I guess if I repair or replace it, which just to stress without the skills in these areas isn't that affordable to everyone to start with, it'll break again in a year? I think this should be fixed. I would buy a fixed revision that doesn't keep breaking in that spot for sure.

[wibble]

Where is the failure exactly? cracked tracks in the flexi, failed joints where it connects to the usb-c board, or somewhere else?

[e1337]

It's here:

Along the dotted line, you can even see it half ripped apart already in the photo if you look closely. I circled it in addition so you'll locate it quickly. The whole flex cable just rips off in a straight, clean line, exactly at the same position twice with two different models. If you have any sort of small to medium drops at all even if your screen is still fine from those, seems like this is going to take your speakers/motor out no problem. For a real life product that some people are going to drop sometimes, this should really be fixed with some sort of simple reinforcement. (Unless I did something special somehow to cause this, but I wouldn't know what?)

[wibble]

It doesn't look like a great mechanical design if the pcb moves at all. Whether they'll redesign for later batches probably depends on how often they are failing. A community design of replacement flexi or well documented fix are other options.

[e1337]

My guess is during a fall everything might move a tiny bit, that seems to be the main reason why this happens. While community help would be nice, they might not be accessible to everyone. (I imagine most fixes, whether to repair it afterward or make it more sturdy beforehand, will require tools. If even a screwdriver decent enough to not strip the screws.)

@ Pine64: so is this going to be fixed, ever?

[Veraendert]

Ah, ok, so i'm not the only one. The daughter board is unavailable atm. I really hope it becomes available soon.

[64_Tesseract]

i was about to make a post about a similar issue but thought I might as well just comment here... I wasn't getting sound from the rear speaker, and the problem ended up being that the cable that runs under the battery somehow got half-unplugged from the main board.
A few days ago though it came unplugged for the nth time, so I stuck some foam above the plugs to hold it down better, but now the speaker isn't working *again*... I'll need to investigate that 4-line cable. I drop my phone pretty often, but never from high enough to do much damage (or so I thought).
Would *loosening* that strip make any difference? If it's ripping, then I'd think the sharp angle and tension when the phone is flexed would be the obvious culprit. Maybe loosening those boards from their glue or whatever is holding them down and shifting them together a bit could help prevent this, in addition to reinforcing it...

[Veraendert]

I can't tell. The daughterboard is still out of stock after the 4-line cable came loose. As soon as i can grab one, i'll try to fix it in place somehow. Maybe print someone to hold it in place that fits under the back plate?

[fxc]

I can't tell. The daughterboard is still out of stock after the 4-line cable came loose. As soon as i can grab one, i'll try to fix it in place somehow. Maybe print someone to hold it in place that fits under the back plate?

The board is in stock, see https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-usb-c-side-board/. If it becomes out-of-stock you can open a ticket, support should always have some spare parts in their back hand.