[dejanh]

Photos or video proof needed. I find it extremely unlikely and beyond statistical probability that there could be so many units going to the same buyers with the reported issues. This just does not happen.

Lol, you want proof go to the FutureShop where I returned all of them. They inspected them, and they found them to be defective as well exactly as I described. This is not a matter of whether you believe it or not. Fact is fact. My family total bought 5 PlayBooks so far, only one has been non-defective and my sister kept that one. The other 4 were bought my me and my wife and now all returned. We are on our 5th PB and *so far* this one seems OK, aside from the bulge in the back.

Would you believe if I told you that when the Torch 9800 came out, the first had a failed trackpad, the next two died within a span of 2 weeks, and finally the 4th one was the one I kept that is still working? Probably not, but it did. First 3 were all Mexico 1 and 2, last one was Mexico 5, go figure. I still loyally use RIM products, and I will in the future (if they are around) but they really need to start taking more care what kind of products make it to the retail shelves, particularly their condition.

[kennyliu]

Photos or video proof needed. I find it extremely unlikely and beyond statistical probability that there could be so many units going to the same buyers with the reported issues. This just does not happen.

Are you sure it is beyond statistical probability?

There is a good post on this (see post # 68). And that's just for the dead pixel issue.

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...40/index5.html

[dejanh]

Are you sure it is beyond statistical probability?

There is a good post on this (see post # 68)

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...40/index5.html

Interesting, based on that post, roughly 3/10 PBs have had dead or stuck pixels. That's quite a bit.

[Megacharge]

The OP is just incredibly unlucky! Me and my girlfriend have 3 between us, and none of them have a physical flaw whatsoever. In fact I was recently reading somewhere that RIM's products in general have the lowest defect rate of all the big name cell phone/tablet companies (ie Android, and that other guy). I'll try to find that link and post it here if anyone wants to see it.

I think Blackjack has a good point. It certainly seems like the OP is most likely getting previously returned units.

[alnamvet68]

QC is no better or worse then any other manufacturer; to suggest that the Playbook is worse then anybody else is pure histrionics. I purchased 5 PB's, all 5 work flawlessly, and the 2 my neighbor bought are flawless as well. This deliberate display of excessive emotionality for effect is something I just don't buy. I'm sure there are defective units out there, but come on, am I to believe that one can exchange several PB's in a row and find them all to be defective? I don't think so, unless all these units are back room clean up and repackaged returns sold as new.

[Send Again]

I have 2 PBs. 1 purchased in April of last year on launch day and 1 purchased last month. Neither have dead pixels, light bleed nor dust under the screen.

[kennyliu]

QC is no better or worse then any other manufacturer; to suggest that the Playbook is worse then anybody else is pure histrionics. I purchased 5 PB's, all 5 work flawlessly, and the 2 my neighbor bought are flawless as well. This deliberate display of excessive emotionality for effect is something I just don't buy. I'm sure there are defective units out there, but come on, am I to believe that one can exchange several PB's in a row and find them all to be defective? I don't think so, unless all these units are back room clean up and repackaged returns sold as new.

Statistically speaking, it is possible and the chances are not too low. Besides, if that happens to someone, there is a good chance that he/she will post his/her problems here on this forum.

It is also possible to purchase multiple units and end up with all of them being flawless (much better chance). But, based on this fact alone, one shouldn't say that a different outcome is not possible. The sample size for individuals is too small to make any reliable inference.

Long storry short, I wouldn't say that it is impossible that "one can exchange several PB's in a row and find them all to be defective" just because you haven't seen defective Playbooks.

[Pacmanuk]

thought i would give my input in the uk.

first playbook i bought was the 16gb, it was perfect out of the box.. no bulging, good on button and no dead pixels/dirt behind screen.

today i bought a 32GB and decided to test it in the car before taking it home from the store where i found a dead/stuck red pixel cluster, i returned it a few minutes later and checked the next playbook.. dead white pixel in the middle of the screen and the next... dead white pixel at the top and the next... some sort of white dirt spec behind the screen.

The store refused to bring me any more units out so i gave up and will order a 64GB one instead from elsewhere. ive read about stuck pixels other people have been having problems with and most seem to be from 32gb units??

so yeah, not impressed with what i thought and other people said was excellent build quality and i will be checking my next unit in store before i take it home.

-P

[wordworkr58]

QC is no better or worse then any other manufacturer; to suggest that the Playbook is worse then anybody else is pure histrionics. I purchased 5 PB's, all 5 work flawlessly, and the 2 my neighbor bought are flawless as well. This deliberate display of excessive emotionality for effect is something I just don't buy. I'm sure there are defective units out there, but come on, am I to believe that one can exchange several PB's in a row and find them all to be defective? I don't think so, unless all these units are back room clean up and repackaged returns sold as new.

i also had a rough start with my 16 GB playbook purchase: first unit purchased through Amazon (3rd party retailer) factory-sealed box, dead on arrival; replacement unit direct from RIM (with $$$ charge to my credit card until defective unit in transit) lasted 10 days and usb port gave up the ghost; and third unit from RIM (no charge this time) with factory seal opened (my request that they please check the PB before shipping) is working great and i feel good about the purchase now. RIM was terrific: no complaints there.

Very grateful to all the contributors in this forum. Looking forward to the OS2 update and more good things from RIM in 2012.

[dejanh]

So far the new unit is working good. As long as I do not wake up tomorrow morning to a bunch of dust behind the glass panel I think that we may have a winner

I actually fixed the back bulge too, so the PlayBook is now totally flat when resting on a flat surface. For everyone's information, here is what I did.

I took a long, hard object, in my case a pen, and pressed down the center of the back right where the BB logo is located. I applied moderate pressure, not too much but just enough to noticeably push the bulge down so that it becomes slightly concave (pressed in vs. bulging out). Then I took a hair dryer, put it on high and heated the area around the center for about 1 - 2 minutes making sure that I blow evenly around the center in about a 2cm - 3cm radius. The hairdryer was kept very close to the surface, maybe 0.5cm away only. Once I feel that I have heated the surface so that it feels quite warm, almost hot to the touch (not burning hot though) I removed the hair dryer and just kept applying pressure to the center while blowing cold air at the area around to cool it off completely. Once it is cooled off I then repeated the same procedure once more. After cooling off the area around the second time, I put the PlayBook on a flat glass surface back down/screen up (any flat surface will do) and stacked 3-4 large books on top of the screen to apply some pressure for about 5min to 10min. Once this was done, the back is now perfectly flat, no more bulge and the PB is working flawlessly still.

There's a bit of info for you if you wish to use it

I'll update tomorrow whether I get dust settling in the PlayBook!

[dejanh]

Quick update, approximately 16 hours later with the PB sitting out in the open no dust has so far settled into the new device and the device seems to be functioning pretty good so far. I will post an update later again but so far so good *crosses fingers*!

[blue-b]

thought i would give my input in the uk.

first playbook i bought was the 16gb, it was perfect out of the box.. no bulging, good on button and no dead pixels/dirt behind screen.

today i bought a 32GB and decided to test it in the car before taking it home from the store where i found a dead/stuck red pixel cluster, i returned it a few minutes later and checked the next playbook.. dead white pixel in the middle of the screen and the next... dead white pixel at the top and the next... some sort of white dirt spec behind the screen.

The store refused to bring me any more units out so i gave up and will order a 64GB one instead from elsewhere. ive read about stuck pixels other people have been having problems with and most seem to be from 32gb units??

so yeah, not impressed with what i thought and other people said was excellent build quality and i will be checking my next unit in store before i take it home.

-P

Are you seeing the "dead pixels on boot up"? Two of my pb had what appeared to be dead pixels during bootup. But it really only showed up on boot up, and now I don't think they even showup on boot up. I'm sure many are really dead pixels, but wondering if some is this case too. As far as I know that is normal. Now if it is broken in, and you now still see it, during regular use that is a problem. If you on see it in the bootup screen and that is it, it shouldn't be an issue.

[dejanh]

^ Yeah, those would be stuck pixels which generally can be fixed or would work themselves out over time. I had two stuck pixels on my newest unit but they are functioning normally now.

[kennyliu]

Are you seeing the "dead pixels on boot up"? Two of my pb had what appeared to be dead pixels during bootup. But it really only showed up on boot up, and now I don't think they even showup on boot up. I'm sure many are really dead pixels, but wondering if some is this case too. As far as I know that is normal. Now if it is broken in, and you now still see it, during regular use that is a problem. If you on see it in the bootup screen and that is it, it shouldn't be an issue.

If you are seeing light(stuck) or dead pixels on boot, then you probably do have dead/stuck pixels. Try turning screen brightness all the way to the maximum and run screen helper. I had the same issue with my first two Playbooks. First, I only noticed the stuck pixels on boot but later they appeared during normal operation (mostly on solid backgrounds).

[TheScionicMan]

Has anyone here worked in manufacturing or done QC? They can't test EVERY component going in nor every tablet made. They take a sampling and check it, if there are many problems then they look further or see if there's a pattern. It's also more likely that problematic components will be grouped, since the problems probably came from something affecting the manufacturing process. Most problems aren't just randomly occurring and spaced apart. So getting several units with problems from the same supply is normal, not an indicator of all units being bad.

It happens to all manufacturers, that's why they provide a warranty.

[tharrison4815]

How do you get dust collecting under the screen? I have many times had mine in the wood shop and get a thick coating of fine saw dust(MDF). Just a shot with the air hose and it's new again. Never a speck of dust under the screen. The area between the glass and LCD should be sealed and certainly not open enough to allow dust to collect in a matter of hours.

I only got my PB last week and on the first day I checked it over because I had read about all of these issues and there was a fair bit of dust under the screen. Literally a minute after taking it out of the box. I'm sure you are right that these things are well sealed but I can only assume it entered during the assembly process considering it was there upon first opening. But yes it definitely happens.

It is a little irritating but other than that the rest of my PB is perfect so I don't want to swap it unless I get one with other issues. Besides, considering the price (�169 from Carphone Warehouse UK) I can't complain.

[kennyliu]

Has anyone here worked in manufacturing or done QC? They can't test EVERY component going in nor every tablet made. They take a sampling and check it, if there are many problems then they look further or see if there's a pattern. It's also more likely that problematic components will be grouped, since the problems probably came from something affecting the manufacturing process. Most problems aren't just randomly occurring and spaced apart. So getting several units with problems from the same supply is normal, not an indicator of all units being bad.

It happens to all manufacturers, that's why they provide a warranty.

I think many of us know how the QC process works. However, in this particular case, we are talking about a massive (at least as the polls indicate) scale problem. I suspect RIM has dealt with so many returns and am surprised they haven't fixed the problem yet. Although it is possible that they have and a poll on the manufacturing date vs defects could reveal that. It is also possible that RIM is not much concerned (aside from the damage to reputation) with returns as they may have an arrangement with Quanta, in which Quanta is responsible for the returns. Anyway, only somebody from RIM can tell us anything anything definitive about this problem.

As for us, we don't have any other choice but to rely on these forum reports/polls that clearly indicate there is a serious problem even considering the sample bias problem (i.e. the tendency of those with the problems to reach out in forums like this one).

[blue-b]

If you are seeing light(stuck) or dead pixels on boot, then you probably do have dead/stuck pixels. Try turning screen brightness all the way to the maximum and run screen helper. I had the same issue with my first two Playbooks. First, I only noticed the stuck pixels on boot but later they appeared during normal operation (mostly on solid backgrounds).

Ran the utility on all 3 playbooks, no issue, and I remember one originally had the issue with a reasonably high number of pixels on boot up. I am wondering if some of these reports are people see this on boot up and panic. Let the device run for a bit, run the tool as suggested, but don't think just because you see it on boot up you have a faulty device. I know with one particular playbook I saw it and panic'd but it is fine it hasn't been an issue since then.

[rkennedy01]

1344-0 here and button is raised. In fact nothing to complain about so far. Screen is perfect and overall build quality is excellent. Gotta check the wife's 16GB (mine is 32GB), but I know hers is raised, too, so...

RCK

[TheScionicMan]

As for us, we don't have any other choice but to rely on these forum reports/polls that clearly indicate there is a serious problem even considering the sample bias problem (i.e. the tendency of those with the problems to reach out in forums like this one).

No, it doesn't indicate that. All the PlayBook owners on this forum don't equal 1/10th of 1% of the PlayBooks out there and only a small percentage here have had problems. Not even taking into account the forum bias, it's not an indicator of "serious problems".

[blackjack93117]

I have 2 PBs. 1 purchased in April of last year on launch day and 1 purchased last month. Neither have dead pixels, light bleed nor dust under the screen.

Same story here, 2 playbooks, niether returned.
Neither dust nor light nor bulge of back.

One flush power button , but nothing a lollipop stick wont cure.

[blackjack93117]

Statistically speaking, it is possible and the chances are not too low. Besides, if that happens to someone, there is a good chance that he/she will post his/her problems here on this forum.

It is also possible to purchase multiple units and end up with all of them being flawless (much better chance). But, based on this fact alone, one shouldn't say that a different outcome is not possible. The sample size for individuals is too small to make any reliable inference.

Long storry short, I wouldn't say that it is impossible that "one can exchange several PB's in a row and find them all to be defective" just because you haven't seen defective Playbooks.

Good point - I would say it is possible but very unlikely and rare, but not specific to playbook - all manufacturing operations have defective products and return rates (lemons, factory seconds) . Most get lucky but some are very unlucky - its statistics. Someone has to be on the fringes of the bell curve and those are the ones you will hear from.

nobody posts when they have perfect playbooks, only the few with bad luck. To ask "what is wrong with playbook QC" is kind of a unfair, you would have to ask what is wrong with everyone's QC.

Sorry for your bad luck, but anytime you feel like changing the misleading and presumptuous thread title would be ok with me OP
Just ask a mod press the little red report button in the upper left corner of your original post.
We in playbook land would appreciate it.
.

[dave.armstrong]

I bought my PB from Staples in a small town north of Toronto. Did so one week after GA. My primary use-case is news feed & e-book reading, email, and web access. Only complaint has been the usual OS related shortfalls, which are not show stoppers, just annoyances. I wouldn't say I "love" my playbook yet but I use it daily and would be less productive without. Waiting axiously for OS 2.0

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[blackjack93117]

Interesting, based on that post, roughly 3/10 PBs have had dead or stuck pixels. That's quite a bit.

Oftentimes stuck or dead pixels do not show up until the units have left the factory - It's just the nature of the beast - nothing to do with QC.

[blackjack93117]

thought i would give my input in the uk.

first playbook i bought was the 16gb, it was perfect out of the box.. no bulging, good on button and no dead pixels/dirt behind screen.

today i bought a 32GB and decided to test it in the car before taking it home from the store where i found a dead/stuck red pixel cluster, i returned it a few minutes later and checked the next playbook.. dead white pixel in the middle of the screen and the next... dead white pixel at the top and the next... some sort of white dirt spec behind the screen.

The store refused to bring me any more units out so i gave up and will order a 64GB one instead from elsewhere. ive read about stuck pixels other people have been having problems with and most seem to be from 32gb units??

so yeah, not impressed with what i thought and other people said was excellent build quality and i will be checking my next unit in store before i take it home.

-P

What you're taking about is not "build quality", it is defective display screens, or too much dust in the manufacturing area and bad inspection.. Build quality has to do with design, not manufacturing..if manufactured as designed, with non defective parts and properly inspected - it has excellent build quality.