yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 4 General] bladebuddy:
Don't understand all these phones cracking e.t.c .

I have a hybrid case that's part soft rubber part hard plastic. Cost less the £5 and the phone's flown to the road whilst cycling , dropped on the concrete platform getting of the train , hit the kitchen floor more times then I can remember and there isn't a scratch on it.

I could happily sell it on EBay as mint and be happy I am telling the truth.

So all I can think of is I picked well with my case and recommend it to all. Maybe the soft rubber allows for some expansion whilst the hard plastic protec
[Nexus 4 General] Sherrillface:
I've had mine since July first week mine cracked between speaker and bottom besel while I was sleeping phone was charging laying on carpet screen side down woke up phone in same spot with a crack its 100% a defect and T-Mobile knows it cause they normally wouldn't except a cracked phone for a trade in but there excepting mine .
[Nexus 4 General] april.watkins48@gmail.com:
Nexus 4 Shattered

My phone and my cousins phone both shattered in the same area. Neither of us dropped them. I didnt know hers was broken till I told my Uncle what happened to mine. He too thought it was weird. The more I look online the more I have to think its an issue with the phone. Quite angry about it.
[Nexus 4 General] xtatsh:
Dont know how that happened though, i have the Nexus 4 for quite long time now,fell a bunch of times at times there is no case to protect it,bumped hardly while on my pocket amd worse thing happend was a little part of paint on the black part faded not noticeable unless you look really closely though
[Nexus 4 General] tweaked:
Yeah, Point of impact out of No Where!

Really, just because you don't know when you hit it. Doesn't mean you didn't.

Any one with eyes can see the dent caused by something pushing in at the spot of the speaker.

Now, does that mean it isn't weak in this spot? Not at all. It could have been defective and only a small hit could have caused it. But it was hit. I could circle the inpact spot with a sharpie its so large I don't feel its needed tho.
[Nexus 4 General] Humu Toor:
I read that your credit card company has buyer's insurance for up to 90 days. May be worth looking into that, and may be able to get it fixed by Google/LG.
[Nexus 4 General] RealiZms:
Cool story bro. Never knew I had explosive in my phone near the speaker grill. Thanks for the info!
[Nexus 4 General] Rogix89:
Back Glass Replacement

Does anyone know where to get a new Back piece of glass?
[Nexus 4 General] neotekz:
It is a weak spot. The edge is the weakest part of a glass panel.

For the op I would you contact LG/Google. I don't think it will be as expensive as you think but might be hard though since their supply shortage probably includes spare parts. they are charging pretty reasonable prices to fix broken screens. My guess would be around 75 for the back since there is a lot of components there.
[Nexus 4 General] mrbkkt1:
I'll tell you what bugs me. The have plastic, around the hole for the camera flash, but not around the hole for the speaker. I had intended to run the phone naked, but bought a silicon gel case to protect the speaker hole.

By habit, I keep my phone in my front pocket with the back facing out, but realistically it should be front facing out, since the back glass is so much thinner than the front glass.
[Nexus 4 General] hatyrei:
If this is in your pant's I bet you hit some corner of a table or something. Gorilla glass 2 doesn't shatter out of the blue. Glasses have breaking point that is caused by pressure. :)
[Nexus 4 General] luckylui:
That Google bumper is worthless! I returned mine cause that **** was slippery, didn't like it much when held. I returned to my $5 China made Gel TPU case.. Its boss!
[Nexus 4 General] ghostrid3r:
Extreme temperature change or/and tight skinny jeans causing this? :eek::silly:
[Nexus 4 General] adamhlj:
I wish I would have known you were going to return it. I would have been interested in buying yours, lol. Even tho you don't seem to have liked it much.

But back to the OP, whether or not you are telling the truth, there is probably no way to prove that it wasn't caused by an impact unless you happened to have been video recording the incident at the exact moment it fractured. You are probably SOL with the warranty exchange.
[Nexus 4 General] FallN:
I've had my Nexus 4 for a whole month now. Used almost exclusively naked. I have yet to get a single scuff, scratch, dent, ding or crack anywhere on the device.

(I take amazing care of my devices, BTW.)

Upon inspecting the photo, it's clear the exact point of impact. That's right, I said POINT OF IMPACT. The backing didn't spontaneously crack out of no where. There was pressure applied to the North East corner of the glass surrounding the speaker. Again, it's glaringly apparent from the supplied photo.

As others have said, the glass on the back is a good deal thinner than that of the front so the BACK is more prone to cracking than the front!

So it's that much more important to COVER THE BACK with something, anything, if you want to try to avoid this sort of damage.

A case with a full back, slip case, screen protector, something, anything, to keep the back from coming into direct contact with another surface or object.

It's your choice: $10 TPU case or $150 to LG to replace the glass back. The choice should be clear!

As for me, I peeled off my Skinomi screen protectors a while ago. I assumed the risk and knew if anything went wrong I would take full responsibility. Mind you, I ordered a TPU case. It's been in transit for over a week now ( :rolleyes: ).

But in the meantime, my N4 is completely naked. I baby it, seriously. I would highly suggest you baby yours too until you have some solid protection for both the front AND the back or don't be surprised when stuff like cracks happen...

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] kolyan:
its funny how tough they made Nexus One along with that commercial where they drop and bend Nexus and its still good.....and now this Nexus 4, the most fragile phone on earth !

I really dont know what Google and LG were thinking, glass back is THE only thing that keeps me from buying N4. I had alot of smart phones starting with Tmobile Dash and original iPhone, NOT 1 phone has ever seen a cracked screen, and alot of my phones dont even have cases, i drop them constantly, and even had to fish out 2 phones from the bottom of the lake :)

Iphone 4 was horrible, but even Apple understood that glass back is not that great.....

That said...I am shopping for another Gnex for my wife....
[Nexus 4 General] luckylui:
TPU case is the way to go. I didn't like the bumper one bit. I was excited to receive it but once I got it, it was like holding a butter stick!
[Nexus 4 General] [hfm]:
The temperature extremes required for this would damage other objects around the glass like components or clothing.
[Nexus 4 General] Locksmith81:
I'd be more pissed about wearing skinny jeans than anything
[Nexus 4 General] letom:
Yeah I agree, at first I didn't like the bumper, however after using it for two weeks I'll probably keep it on. With a TPU case unfortunately the phone just looks like an iphone, which I didn't like. In the bumper it looks really sexy, and I can't under state just how nice the glass feels to hold with the bumper.
[Nexus 4 General] RealiZms:
Don't forget polar bears.....Polar bears in skinny jeans
[Nexus 4 General] zephiK:
If you're looking for a case replacement, I'd take a look at the Rearth Slim. very nice case, not a fan of TPU. especially cheap TPU that attracts lint.

good TPUs from diztronic is okay. just make sure the TPU isnt cheap material
[Nexus 4 General] RealiZms:
I've got a white $3.00 china wave s-line tpu case and the thing looks sexy. Fit, finish and looks is top notch. So glad I got this and didn't wait for the bumper.

With or without a TPU case the Nexus looks NOTHING like an iPhone at all. Why an iPhone comparison? Can we stop comparing the Nexus to a glorified dumbphone already?

A Nexus looks how it looks....Others may look like it. It doesn't look like them :)
[Nexus 4 General] Cactus42:
Obvious impact damage. What I want to know is what the hell people are doing to "Magically" smash the glass. My 2 year old plays with mine, he dropped it down the back of a radiator at the weekend and it still doesn't have a scratch - no screen protectors or case either. If it was as fragile as people claim it would be in a thousand peices by now.
[Nexus 4 General] tengen:
It's hard to say with glass. Sometimes all it takes is a little tap at the right spot to shatter. I'm not saying that this is necessarily what happened here, but it might be interesting to look at what happens with Prince Rupert's Drops. One part of the glass is tough enough to withstand hammer blows - but a tiny nick in the tail end makes the whole thing explode. I suppose it's possible that some flaw in the manufacturing/design process could have created similarly dangerous weak points in the N4's glass...
[Nexus 4 General] slannmage:
I'm not saying it isn't possible, I'm not a scientist and I wasn't there and I'm not saying glass is a good material to make a phone exterior out of, however that looks like impact damage to me.
[Nexus 4 General] luckylui:
Same TPU over here. A clear and black one :)

Nice and easy to hold doesn't slip its good ****. I just feel the bumper would not help in case my back gets scratched like a TPU would. I have ocd and once I see a scratch I will tweak lol. This phone is my holy grail. Hahaha
[Nexus 4 General] droidmakespwn:
Thanks for that... Just spent half an hour watching videos haha
[Nexus 4 General] adi_scorpios:
My friend has same kind of broken glass around the speaker but he did hit a table corner. His phone was in his pocket and the corner of table hit phone with moderate force and he got same broken glass as yours .
[Nexus 4 General] @rbiter:
I ate chili last night. I can't figure it out. My butt just keeps spontaneously combusting. I'm gonna call Levis Strauss because I can't figure out all these streaks in my pants. :rolleyes:

I voided my warranty.
[Nexus 4 General] johnciaccio:
The only way the lg will cover this kind of thing is if it happens to A LOT of people and may be a lawsuit. However the fact that it is the first Nexus from LG they may want to build a good rep.

Looks like we should start seeing a lot of back covers ob ebay now ;)

Just hope I won't have to worry about this since I normally keep my phone in my pocket.
[Nexus 4 General] lowrider262:
Lol i was thinking about ordering the bumper too till i saw this thread. I got a cheap s-line China case too, and I'm actually really happy with it. It fits real well, isn't too bulky, and even has grips on the side so u don't accidentally drop it:thumbup:
[Nexus 4 General] droidmakespwn:
Let's see a picture without the bumper.
[Nexus 4 General] [armitage]:
I'm sorry,but I am so sick of all these people pouncing on these threads and accusing people of lying!

Did he bump into something,without knowing...?...Maybe,even probably.

BUT...Is this phone fragile as ****...? ...Hell yes!

I never,with any phone heard so many stories and saw so many pictures of "broken" phones.

Sure, not many other phones have a glass backside,but that fact alone just tells me what a stupid decision it was to use on in the first place.

Does it look beautiful?...Yes.

Was it a smart and userfriendly decision?...Absolutely not!

I mean I get that there are so many people trying to defend this phone,cause it's the "Google Nexus".

But guess what....Google or LG made a really f-ing fragile phone.

Accept that!

Do you really and honestly think this phone is so cheap,cause of the good of google's heart.

I mean yes,of course...One big reason is to give a basically much better and cheaper option to the ridiculously expensive and useless iphone(and otheres) and to gain a bigger market share.

But to make it that happen and to make it possible to sell it for such a cheap price they HAD TO cheap out on some things and those things had to be hardware related.

Again,this phone isn't so cheap cause google loves you.

They still had to make a profit and this is probably the way they did it.

Of course people that own a nexus 4 should be more carefull with their phones and probably many of the cracks and what not happend,cause there was some sort of force on the phone...BUT when I drop my gnex,or accidently bump into a table or something(and it just happens no matter how carefull you are),it f-ing doesn't shatter...

You may argue now that the gnex looks and feels like a cheap piece of plastic and that the nexus4 looks beautiful and feels great,but I prefer a sturdy piece of plastic( and the gnex is by no means an ugly phone) that is completly fine after over a year of usage, over a beautiful but very fragile phone any day.
[Nexus 4 General] daveyglow:
I have no case on my nexus. And won't get one until after Christmas. I wear skinny jeans and I've even bumped my phone a few times. I have not a single scratch, crack, blemish or whatever. The phone is really not as fragile as some make it out to be. You should just learn to take better care of the things you invest your money in.
[Nexus 4 General] Chad_Petree:
I don't get why people say he's lying i mean what does he have to win? it's not like LG is going to repair his phone because he convinced some guys on xda :rolleyes:

I feel for you man, i can only hope this doesn't happen to me again, i knew this glass back idea was horrible as soon as i saw it on the iphone 4, 2 years ago... apple learned their lesson

Why did they choose to go with this glas back? :/ for better recepction for the antenas? they shouldve used mate polycarbonate like the one x :crying:
[Nexus 4 General] xchasa:
^^ Agreed. Op even said he heard a pop while he was standing up straight, not leaning on anything....

I suspect heat may contribute perhaps?

I've seen glass break spontaneously and most times its either heat or slight pressure damage done prior with a delayed failure.

Glass back on a phone looks amazing on the specs sheet and in photos.

Not so good in real world usage.

Now we have the dilemma of what side to put down on a table and which side to face out in a pocket.
[Nexus 4 General] letom:
Sorry but you do not have the phone, so I'm not sure your second hand opinions are useful. 5 or 6 threads with broken glass, let's all panic because nexus 4's are going to break with a sudden breeze. Sorry but this phone is not THAT fragile. I'm tired of people who don't even have the phone speaking of its fragility.
[Nexus 4 General] il buono:
+1 I've dropped my nexus 4 a couple of times without a case (once onto concrete) and never once did it shatter. I finally decided to get the bumper case just for some basic drop protection on the corners.

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] Tony_YYZ:
again, lol @ all the armchair physicists.

All it takes for glass to shatter is a hairline crack/chip and heat. There may very well have been a defect in the glass upon manufacturing that expanded on the bottom side of the glass, invisible to the naked eye until the stress grew too much and forced it to shatter. Body heat and the phone's operating temperature accelerate this process.
[Nexus 4 General] drpepe:
There "may very well" have been loads of things that occurred prior to the glass shattering.

Including knocks, drops,repeated flexing in the OPs pocket, without resort to manufacturing defects imo There are far too few reports of spontaneous damage to draw broad conclusions on that.

Occams razor suggests the most likely problem is individual owners unknowingly damaging their device.
[Nexus 4 General] @rbiter:
With your theory, even if a hairline chip or fracture is introduced it won't shatter if heat is introduced and it would take an extreme change to crack. Not go spider web crazy like op. Nice try armchair physicist.

I voided my warranty.
[Nexus 4 General] CMNein:
I see what you did there :D
[Nexus 4 General] Tony_YYZ:
It is definitely a possibility that he bumped into something previously that lead to this event. Also, just because you don't read all the reports online doesn't mean there aren't more of them out there. Not everyone logs onto XDA (or other forums) to post their experiences.

It is clear now that you have no idea how glass responds to thermal changes. I suggest you take up some readings from Bill Nye The Science Guy for your educational purposes.
[Nexus 4 General] Richieboy67:
In regards to what you just said about thermal changes. I think for any " thermal changes" to cause a breakage it would surely take much more than could happen a pants pocket..

This looks like an impact to me and just because you were not aware of it did not mean it did not happen. It is obvious it did happen.

It is just highly unlikely it spontaneously broke on its own. People really need to take responsibility and stop posting garbage like this. It helps nobody and provides no useful or helpful info at all.

Glass does not break by itself.. If it broke, it broke for a reason.. If there was something else in your pocket that would explain it. It is onions from the image that something pushed our impacted. Go watch some glad breakage videos and you can see how a pattern like that happens.

If it was just a long crack I would think maybe some pressure cause it but this really looks like an impact or something pushed into it.

There is nothing wrong with the glass.. As much as those with broken glass would like there to be. Glass just breaks.. You have to be a little careful. It really is not hard though.
[Nexus 4 General] derPianist:
I am experiencing a similar problem.

The back glass is not cracked yet on my Nexus 4, but my device has serious build quality problems.

I can almost push the glass back a bit into the device on the exact same point and when I am holding the Nexus normal the glass back according to the side plastic does make awful noise. It just creaks so damn awful.

It is nearly obvious that the speaker slot is so damn misplaced :(

via Google Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] DarkSi08:
For the record, my fiance and I have had our phones for right around a month now. She has a bumper, I have no case. Neither of us are particularly careful with our phones, and she's horrible with dropping phones, smacking them on things, etc, and neither one of ours has a single scratch yet.

While there may certainly be some out there with build quality issues, we typically have the worst possible luck in that area...
[Nexus 4 General] CMNein:
That's what most people are failing to realize, if the glass is lifted even by a negligible amount, that's enough to create a fairly huge point of weakness, at which point it's not that difficult for it to crack exactly like the OP's which doesn't scream impact damage. If anything, I see the opposite.

Edit: and something as simple as a skin can help eliminate potential for breakage. Same principles as underground shotcrete.
[Nexus 4 General] tweaked:
If you can't see the point of impact in that picture, inspector clauseau I hope you aren't in any law enforcement. FYI you need to invest in a pair of glasses.
[Nexus 4 General] RealiZms:
It's pretty obvious. Made for a good laugh though. "I don't know what happened, I mean I put my phone in my pocket and it blew up!"
[Nexus 4 General] CMNein:
LOL, if you can't see where the crack propagated from and interpret the cracks, I hope you don't have a car. FYI, you need to invest in something > GED.
[Nexus 4 General] tweaked:
Posted by the guy who can't see the obvious pushed in area. Good luck finding a good cane for walking.
[Nexus 4 General] CMNein:
Posted by the guy who thinks any of those cracks indicate an impact area. Your ig'nance of the physics of glass breakage leads me to believe you have the collective wit of a giant wall of vaginas
[Nexus 4 General] tweaked:
Your humor is terrible. I hope you aren't a blind comic.
[Nexus 4 General] CMNein:
Wanna know how I know you don't know what humor means?
[Nexus 4 General] tweaked:
Is that where you meant to stop typing? I feel like there is so much more you wanted to say. Maybe its to hard to type it out on a braille keyboard?

Do you have to keep touching the monitor to know that you are spacing the words correctly and that they are spelled correctly? :p
[Nexus 4 General] nbell13:
I've had a Stryker EMS cot rammed into the back of mine while it was in my pocket. Did it break? Nope. No case but bumper either.
[Nexus 4 General] CMNein:
You should put as much effort into explaining your opinion as you so into these wit filled (?) retorts. I'd love to hear how the shallow angle cracks are pointing in the wrong direction to indicate an impact, or depression of any sort. Thoughts?
[Nexus 4 General] nbell13:
Also, I just beat on the exact location (top of speaker area) with my knuckle about 6 times and it also didn't break. Shocking, I know.
[Nexus 4 General] tweaked:
Haha, see you can be humerus.
[Nexus 4 General] xchasa:
Here's a thought.

But if a certain component or piece of framework not fitted correctly were to heat up, expand and cause "pressure" on the glass edge, then a delayed failure "could" cause a screen to shatter. Here in Australia, it is common on a hot day for a car body to expand and shatter car windows. Front or back usually. Even if that same car had endured hotter days over the years, with the right conditions they sometimes just decide to "pop". Now imagine the minute tolerances in a phone.

Has happened to my cars 3 times.

People need to stop defending LG like its their country and accept that some units are faulty. Not saying all are either.
[Nexus 4 General] CMNein:
You throwin' me a bone?
[Nexus 4 General] [hfm]:
I lived in FL for 26 years, it gets damn hot in central FL. I have never seen this happen. If it does happen there must have been a flaw already and it's extremely sensitive to even very slight expansion.
[Nexus 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
No glass is "by itself." It's in or on something and affected by its surroundings like temperature, vibration, and even harmonics. There have been multiple postings about the glass breaking with no apparent cause; all starting around one of the cut-outs made in to the glass. If there's any stress on the glass from one or more of the mounting edges not being aligned properly or if the base it's set on isn’t perfectly flat it could easily cause it to crack based on temperature or even minor flex and it might not affect every device equally. The internals are designed to incredibly tight tolerances; trim is not. And if the glass was going to crack from something non-impact related it makes total sense that it would start at a cut-out where the glass has already been weakened during manufacturing. Another poster from one of the Dakota's posted his screen cracked radiating from a cut-out just because of rapid temperature change. Not only is OP's story plausible it's probable.

I find it fascinating how people attack someone who, just like them, spent good money and really wanted to love their new toy simply because they took the time to non-confrontationally post a negative experience. Every device has issues and one of the great things about XDA is you get to hear about them first hand rather than take the fluff posted by the media as gospel. When I’m looking for opinions on a device I intentionally look for negative patterns; there’s no shortage of “feel good” stuff. And as more threads start to identify patterns of problems all the "it must by you" and "mine's perfect" posts become harder to believe and make the poster’s look a bit fanboyish and non-credible. Saying someone’s not having a problem because you’re not doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem. It just means you aren’t (potentially, yet) experiencing it.
[Nexus 4 General] xchasa:
Well after working a day in 42 degrees Celsius heat just last January, my rear window looked like it was covered in waterdrops. Only it hadn't rained. Got closer and the glass completely shattered and was still cracking and popping half hour later. Had that car for 6 years and never had an issue before. No leaks. Just the right conditions we're needed. Glass repairer said parking on an angled slope can easily do this. Adds stress to a point not usually under stress. Same with a glass phone in a pocket??