by dave
Editorial: RIP HTC TyTN
April 6, 2009 in Editorial, Spotlight by dave
Over the weekend my HTC TyTN (aka Hermes) suffered an untimely death.
I felt the phone vibrate and took it out of my pocket to check my new text message when I noticed that the screen was white and unresponsive. I turned the phone on and off again… nothing. I rebooted the phone… nothing. Pulled out the keyboard and pushed it back in again… still nothing. I put it back in my pocket and anxiously tried to ignore it but that didn’t seem to fix it either. Twenty minutes later I pulled it out of my pocket again and – voila! It worked. But as I was replying to my text message, the screen faded to white again.
A quick search of Google later, I discovered that this is a common cause of death among the TyTNs. Apparently there are often problems with the ribbon connector from the mainboard to the screen. I tried several of the non-intrusive tricks I found online — tightening the screws on the back of the screen, loosening the screws on the back of the screen. Nothing. There are several suggestions that one can strip it down gently, clean the connectors and re-attach cables with new tape to better secure the ribbon, but since I am technically still under warranty, I’ll avoid that one. I will bring my phone to Rogers and see if they can resurrect her.
Tell me all about your experiences with untimely phone death! What did you do? How did it happen?
And be sure to read my follow up report, hopefully entitled “How Rogers made my day by resurrecting my HTC TyTN!”
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good luck, Bambi! I hope things work out!
Rogers has two departments that settle phone warranty. One is the regular department, and one is the ’smartphone’ department.
The regular department – You go to a local Rogers store, they package up the phone, and send it to a Nokia/Motorola/LG/Sony Ericcson/Samsung/etc repair site. They have loaner phones for you to use. It takes up to “14 business days”.
The Smartphone department deals with phones that do more than just calls. BlackBerry, iPhone, WinMo devices, and certain Nokia devices, like the E71. You call this department, and they try and troubleshoot you over the phone. If they cannot solve the issue, they will send out you a working model, and in that box that they sent you – you put your old one in and send it to the address attached in the waybill supplied.
Why two departments? Well, Smartphone users must have working devices ASAP.
Why can’t Smartphone users just walk to a store and get a brand new device? Because of a few reasons:
1) Smartphone devices cost Rogers up to $1000 per device. Does your specific telephone number usage bill cost that much?
2) Your warrenty is settled with the manufacture of the device, and not the provider of the service. You don’t go to the Gas Station to get a new car, you go to the Manufacture of the car to get a new car.
Do they ever give you a new car? No, they fix the cars problems.
Can you take your GM car to be fixed under warranty at a Ford repair place? No, you must have it fixed by the authorized warranty place.
The “working” device you receive is usually a refurbished device that has been fixed of the previous problems. What are the previous problems? Usually software issues that customers don’t have the knowledge to fix themselves. JVM 102 errors? Heh.
After the one year warranty, Rogers will want to sell you a new device. You usually can get one at a discount, with a renewal of your contract.
Sheesh my phone is showing symptoms of misuse but I won’t let it die. The thought of customizing a new phone is terrifying – although there is some excitement thinking about getting a new phone with all the rumors of hot new phones coming in the summer.
Hermes!! nooooo