I have now had 2 Bold headphone jacks break. I've never dropped the phone and am very careful when I plug/unplug the headphones or audio cable. Problem is - I travel A LOT and listen to my Bold for the duration of the flights twice a week for 5 hours each. I also use AT&T Navigator with my rental car stereo all the time.
Sidebar - if you are using Navigator with a 3.5mm audio cable and you can't get sound out of your stereo just turn off your Bluetooth. Start up Navigator, verify your sound is coming out of the stereo, then restart Bluetooth. That tidbit would have saved me countless hours of upgrades and a replacement phone from the warranty center...
Back to the jack - My first Bold jack lasted until March (bought Nov 4) and the little ring busted off. Incidentally my SIM card got fried as well, apparently due to a short from the jack ring being broken off. AT&T replaced it, but of course they use B-stock for replacements (B-stock is refurbished). I took the second one back when Navigator didn't work with it. The third phone lasted 2 weeks before the little ring broke off again. I just got my replacement (Bold #4) today. I'm on BES so each time I get a replacement I have to reload my OS, re-sync, restore from my backup I took before replacement, re-register 2 BIS email accounts, re-register apps that are bound to my old pin, and re-activate to my BES. Then I have to reconfigure things like Navigator, although my locations are easily downloadable from the website.
I'm going to contact RIM next week about this. When the jack breaks off you can clearly see it is just a little metal ring with a recession underneath that is glued to a plastic part. The plastic is thin and breaks easily with any sort of normal use. I doubt I will get anywhere, but RIM needs to either modify the plastic to be either stronger or maybe a harder material, or reinforce the metal ring by securing it to the case somehow. That way when you plug/unplug headphones the whole jack doesn't bear the pressure and break the plastic. I'd say that is a valid design flaw on a part that will face considerable use over the lifetime of the phone.
Sorry for the rant - I love this (these?) phone, but having 4 in 5 months is more than ridiculous.
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