Add another part of T E to the poorly built parts

[StoneRyno]

I dropped my T E 2 times today. But not real far just a couple feet off the ground and now the headphone jack is busted. I got to push from the back right behind the jack to keep audio working in the headphones. When I remove pressure sound is lost. Internal speaker works fine still.

Just one more thing gone bad on it that I am tempted to replace it. Unfortunately all the newer models are still way over the price I want to pay. And I do have a replacement plan from where I bought this one that I can still use but would rather not have to use it so soon. Its of course past the 90 days from palm :( I've had it for just under 1 year. My sony walkman from back in the day had a better design. ui dropped it like 200 times ran over it with a bike it fell down the stairs 5 times and still worked like brand new. Why can't palm design their palms to be that durable.

:(

[StoneRyno]

Update:

I'm now home and i opened up the palm. Same problem with the jack as the power button broken solder connection. When I press on the back it is making the proper connection but when no pressure is applied it disconnects.

Major disappointment :(

[bryus]

Maybe it's just me but how is it poor build quality on palmOne's part that you dropped it and broke it? I have dropped my T3 several times and the slider has been loose because of it but I don't blame palmOne. They are not designed to be dropped.

[ucfgrad93]

Maybe it's just me but how is it poor build quality on palmOne's part that you dropped it and broke it? I have dropped my T3 several times and the slider has been loose because of it but I don't blame palmOne. They are not designed to be dropped.

I agree, its not poor build quality, its carelessness on part of the owner.

[StoneRyno]

Have you loooked at the solder points on the board. The are like the size of grains of sand. Granted I did drop it but my point is solder spots should be stronger to withstand a very small drop. It was only 2 feet off the ground when it dropped its not like I had it at waist high or higher. I've dropped my cell phone from higher up than that and not a single thing big or small break inside or out on it.

If they had soldered the headphone jack like the battery is soldered (about the size of 2 grains of rice or more) on, this would not have happened when it got dropped. So in a way it is their fault (not for it being dropped but the poor craftsmanship of the internals). I know many others have dropped their palms too. It is an eventuallity for many that something they are holding is going to get dropped. Heck you could be in an airport or something and someone not paying attension slams into you and your palm you are working with goes flying out of your hand. If they took in mind that weird things can happen to cause you to drop your palm then they would have soldered and supported the parts better.

Now the power button on the other hand many are familiar with that since i have seen literally dozens of reviews and forum threads probably giving credit to 100s of people that have had it break from normal usage. But that is even worse design than the headphone jack. It has 2 solder points for the signal (forgive my lack of termonology) to go through and 2 little tiny L shaped things that might have been intended to be soldered but were not on the back of the switch. There was no support for it when the exterior plate was pressed that activates the switch. This bends the power button at the 2 solder spots everytime the button is pressed. Eventually it breaks. I won't continue about this since I already expained the rest of my thoughts in a thread about it.

I'm sorry if I'm coming off a bit rough but I'm just dissapointed in the craftsmanship vs other handheld types of electronics i have owned and dropped numberous times with no damage at all. And serveral had headphone jacks that were uneffected by the drops so I know it is possible to solder one that can withstand many drops.

[RobertS]

Comparing the durability of a handheld computer unfavorably with that of a handheld cassette player is just silly. The difference in complexity makes it like comparing a yugo to a formula 1. Phones are designed for first and foremost durability (hence the fact that without the discounts provided by telcoms they are about double the price of most PDAs.

As for the height of the drop there are so many variables that the endless repition of Just Two Feet is idiotic. What did it land on? How did it land? If the point of impact were different there could have been no damage at all or the case could have shattered. It is all about stress points, not height.

At this point the knives are out on the forums for PalmOne over any situation it seems, whatever the cause, and it is becoming absurd. I am sure StoneRyno would be the first in line screaming that the unit was too expensive once the price of the additional build runs he is suggesting was added on. More and more as the T5 argument rages it is clear the mistake Palm made was cutting corners to sell the T|E so cheaply. They are paying for it now and will probably learn from this mistake. Just as HP learned from Toshiba's upgrade debacle that providing upgrades to users causes nothing but complaints, so Palm will learn that once they lower the price point they will never be able to charge fair market rate again.

Enough already...go buy a product you think you'll be happy with and stop whining....why keep torturing yourself and everyone else?

[StoneRyno]

Ok point taken. I'm not asking them to invest tons of money in the palms and make them extreamly high priced. I was only asking for a few more cents spent on putting more solder on the parts sdo they don't break as easy thats all. That any maybe something other than the solder holding some of the parts to the board. Like the battery its wires were soldered on very well and survived the drops. It fell on its back. The battery itself is stuck to the board using some sort of sticky material. Believe me I'm just hoping the flaws that caused mine to break are better in their future models. I like the T5 so I'm not complaining about that one overall just the fact it doesn't have built in wifi doesn't make it work $400 but maybe more like $350 since to get wifi you will have to spend extra. Who knows what the future holds since I don't want to have to replace my T E or spend more money on it until the OS 6 devices are out. I've looked at the competition and so far I don't think any of them fit my needs/wants and are also too high priced IMO. So all I can do is wait and see what come and if its price compared to features justifies me spending the money then I will buy it. At the time I thought that of the T E. i still think it is a decent device but I wanted everyone to know that if you drop it you will likely have the headphone jack and other barely soldered on parts will break off.

I'm not trying to be a jerk but I did get a little upset at the way I have been responded to.

[RobertS]

And I apologize, Stone...I was harsher than I intended. The T5 debate has me fiesty.

Sorry.

[StoneRyno]

Apology accepted. If I came off as harsh in my replies I apologize. I was a bit upset at how easy the parts have broken on my palm. As you can see by the way I suggested they could have been prevented from breaking.

Any ideas when the os6 devices will be out? And are there any brands other than Sony, Palm, Tapwave, and garmin for palm os?