zte blade hardware reliability

[Guest oxyg3n89]

hi everyone! im new here because just bought my first zte blade to replace samsung spica phone. the main point of this topic is to ask you guys how reliable does blade feel for you? the hardware specs are best at it's price range however there seems to be other dark side as so many people keep claiming about dust under screen,dead blades,not charging,headphone sockets,in a few months broken power buttons wtf ??even a year did not passed by after blade release...

i have been reading samsung spica community forums for 3months everyday and most of problems are software related...pretty calm hardware related problems there :D

i need phone to last more than 1 year!!all previous phones did:)

how do others compare in built/hardware parts quality? htc,SE phones for example?

Edited August 2, 2011 by oxyg3n89

[Guest mullen666]

<br />hi everyone! im new here because just bought my first zte blade to replace  samsung spica phone. the main point of this topic is to ask you guys how reliable does blade feel for you? the hardware specs are best at it's price range however there seems to be other dark side as so many people keep claiming about dust under screen,dead blades,not charging,headphone sockets,in a few months broken power buttons wtf ??even a year did not passed by after blade release...<br />i have been reading samsung spica community forums for 3months everyday and most of problems are software related...pretty calm there <img src='http://android.modaco.com/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' /> <br />i need phone to last more than 1 year!! <br />how do others compare in built/hardware parts quality? htc,SE phones for example?<br />

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reliability is good

what you need to know

is that with a huge community like the blde

you will hear much more neagative

mine has worked perfectly for the past year

[Guest t0mm13b]

<br /><br /><br />

reliability is good

what you need to know

is that with a huge community like the blde

you will hear much more neagative

mine has worked perfectly for the past year

I disagree with your comment 'You will hear much more negative' -

The Blade community is excellent and hits the sweet spot. The 'negativity' that is perceived is because the newbies are not willing to read the threads properly and to hear what others say and do not clue in on the major threads that are stickied.

There is no negativity what-so-ever! Simple really.... its just you are not reading between the lines on the threads and unfortunately, all the good threads get lost in the pile of threads by others screaming 'PANIC' or 'PLEASE HELLLLLPP!' which adds to the noise-signal ratio!

Sure the search facility sucks on this site which underwent a major revamp not so long ago.

This is a hint, use google and the keywords to use is this

site:modaco.com a_key_word_to_search_for

replace 'a_key_word_to_search_for' with the appropriate word that you're trying to home in on and you will get better hits. :)

My 2cents B)

[Guest flshg]

I think its fair to say that the hardware and build quality on the blade is probably lower than phones from other major manufacturers. This is my first smartphone so it may be a little unfair but compared to my previous (non-smart) phones from samsung and motorola, I feel its a lot more likely to develop some fault. I already have issues with it charging, though its possible its the ac charger at fault. Theres no denying the value-for-money, but there must have been corners cut somewhere.

[Guest t0mm13b]

I think its fair to say that the hardware and build quality on the blade is probably lower than phones from other major manufacturers. This is my first smartphone so it may be a little unfair but compared to my previous (non-smart) phones from samsung and motorola, I feel its a lot more likely to develop some fault. I already have issues with it charging, though its possible its the ac charger at fault. Theres no denying the value-for-money, but there must have been corners cut somewhere.

Cannot compare smart-phones with dumb-phones i.e. non-smart - simple really!

Plus you're looking at the very core nature of the Open Source ecosystem. With non-smart phones, they were proprietary and thus had "little tinkering". Unlike the Android system and in general with the Open Source ecosystem, as well, which has a huge varying levels of tinkering plus customization of the handset - with different ROM's etc.

Sure there would be a few glitches, but in reality, for what the smart-phone manufacturers have done, is huge and a win-win for the community.

Also, with dumb-phones - there was not much of a community there either due to closed-source/proprietary nature of systems used which made us all get "locked in" and very little to play with. :)

B)

[Guest flshg]

Cannot compare smart-phones with dumb-phones i.e. non-smart - simple really!

Plus you're looking at the very core nature of the Open Source ecosystem. With non-smart phones, they were proprietary and thus had "little tinkering". Unlike the Android system and in general with the Open Source ecosystem, as well, which has a huge varying levels of tinkering plus customization of the handset - with different ROM's etc.

Sure there would be a few glitches, but in reality, for what the smart-phone manufacturers have done, is huge and a win-win for the community.

Also, with dumb-phones - there was not much of a community there either due to closed-source/proprietary nature of systems used which made us all get "locked in" and very little to play with. :)

B)

I know its not a good comparison smartphones vs non-smartphones, but my comment was more to do with build quality feel between phone manufacturers, and the blade, despite not having any real "squeaks or creaks" feels less well-engineered or sturdy. Even compared to a cheaper samsung galaxy apollo, it feels less substantial, like its only got the very bare minimum or cheapest material that does the job. Dont get me wrong I love the blade and extremely pleased with my purchase, but know its not going to last forever.

[Guest wbaw]

I know its not a good comparison smartphones vs non-smartphones, but my comment was more to do with build quality feel between phone manufacturers, and the blade, despite not having any real "squeaks or creaks" feels less well-engineered or sturdy. Even compared to a cheaper samsung galaxy apollo, it feels less substantial, like its only got the very bare minimum or cheapest material that does the job. Dont get me wrong I love the blade and extremely pleased with my purchase, but know its not going to last forever.

You're lucky, the older ones have a squeaky volume rocker.

They aren't the best build quality, but they're not that bad. The touch screen died in the first week with my first one, but I got a replacement with no trouble & no real hardware problems since. Power button is a bit flaky, but i think it just needs a clean. It's held up pretty well for 8 months, despite how thin & delicate it feels.

Millions of the phones have been sold all over the world & most people never have a problem, you just never see 'my phone is still working!' threads. There are always a small percentage of problems with any hardware, if a lot of phones are sold, that small percentage is quite a large number of people & with the blade, this is where they come to post if they have a fault.

Edited August 3, 2011 by wbaw

[Guest Roph]

I've had my blade for around 5 months now, and while there have been a few bumps and scrapes here and there on the case edges, everything's in perfect working order.

Treat your phone with a little care and it'll last plenty. I'd also recommend putting a screen protector on too, the hard plastic screen of the blade isn't so scratch resistant as something like gorilla glass.

Edited August 3, 2011 by Roph

[Guest Anil k Solanki]

hi everyone! im new here because just bought my first zte blade to replace samsung spica phone. the main point of this topic is to ask you guys how reliable does blade feel for you? the hardware specs are best at it's price range however there seems to be other dark side as so many people keep claiming about dust under screen,dead blades,not charging,headphone sockets,in a few months broken power buttons wtf ??even a year did not passed by after blade release...

i have been reading samsung spica community forums for 3months everyday and most of problems are software related...pretty calm hardware related problems there :D

i need phone to last more than 1 year!!all previous phones did:)

how do others compare in built/hardware parts quality? htc,SE phones for example?

I will state the obvious. You get what you pay for. The blade isn't jewel-like, say like a HTC or an Apple handset. But on the other hand it is not a piece of junk either. A thin jelly skin case and a screen protector are a good investment. And as another member suggested, a bit of care and you will be OK for at least a year.

Long story short. You can buy at least 3 Blades for the price of one HTC handset, or 5 Blades for the price of an iPhone 4. It's a no brainer in my opinion. Get one.

Anil.

Edited August 3, 2011 by Anil k Solanki

[Guest targetbsp]

Mine works. :D Though it does have that squeaky volume rocker wbaw mentions.

It's not exactly rugged but I've dropped it a few times from height onto a carpeted floor and it's fine - so it's not especially fragile. But I haven't, and wouldn't want to drop it (or any phone) onto a harder surface. Go for a screen protector though. I scratched my first screen protector so I was glad I had one on!

I provide tech support on a forum and as wbaw says, you mostly don't get people on them whose product works. They're busy using the product rather than typing about it so a forum tends towards suggesting the product doesn't work. Only the guy with the sales figures comparing the number of people posting vs those sold really knows how reliable it is

As for the hardware/software post balance... I like to think it's that our devs around here provide us with better software than samsung rather than zte providing us with worse hardware. :) And having used an SGS... I can well believe that!

[Guest oxyg3n89]

Thanks for your opinions ! i actually got mine on ebay for 60£, so would be no problem to spend some more cash for any replacement part in future,unless phone not dead completely :)) htc desire would have cost twice the price, and still no warranty:) moreover you can not expect Mercedes quality for the price of Wolkswagen ( unless it's stolen :D ) that's for sure :)

[Guest wbaw]

I haven't been especially careful with mine, it's been dropped a few times, lives in my pocket, no screen protectors, jelly cases or anything & the only damage is a tiny scratch on the screen which is very hard to notice. You don't get the same build quality as a phone that costs 5x as much, but it's not likely to fall apart either.