Retail droids could possibly ship with faulty cameras

[shatteredzman]

I found a post on the howard forums from a guy with a retail model droid and he claims that some droids have cameras that may be faulty and will have to be returned to be fixed.

The good news, maybe the camera isnt as bad as some people claim it to be, the bad news... the only way to improve picture quality is to replace your phone!


"
2)If you are hearing "clicking sounds" coming form the camera when the program starts (which I am) then the camera may not have been installed/mounted correctly. Since this is hardware related, only a new unit would be the way to fix it.

On the Droid unit I had last week, and the new one I got this week, both are having problems with the autofocus and having this "clicking sound" when the program starts. I would say that out of 20 pictures I took outside with bright sun, only 1-2 would focus correctly.
"
HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource - View Single Post - Motorola Droid: Picture-of-the-Day, Camera Reviews and Issues thread



***UPDATE***
More bad news.


FAUguy added more information in another post.
HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource - View Single Post - Motorola Droid: Picture-of-the-Day, Camera Reviews and Issues thread
"
I received a good suggestion that I should record a video of the camera problem.
The first video is with the camera set to auto focus, and the 2nd video is set to macro.
In both cases you can hear the "clicking" when the program starts, and hear the lens moving when trying to focus.
Notice that each time it showed the 4 red corners, meaning it wasn't able to properly focus.
If you turn the focus off (set to infinity) you still get the "clicks" at the beginning, but not when taking the picture (since its not focusing).

Droid Video 1 with Auto Focus 33MB
http://home.comcast.net/~fauguy/droid/droid1.avi

Droid Video 2 with Macro Focus 50MB
http://home.comcast.net/~fauguy/droid/droid2.avi
Sorry for the large files sizes, but not YouTube account
"



***UPDATE***
Things are looking better.

i have the clicks as well, but problem is, is that every phone we tried at verion had the same clicking noise. are we sure that this is an issue? we tested 6 phones and two demo phones and they all had the noise...

If you read back in this thread you will see that FAUguy, on howardforum posted a clarification to the clicking issue.

I've found out today that the camera 'clicking' sound is normal, but some units may be louder or quieter, but the hardware isn't defective. The problem with the autofocus not working is purely a software issue and will be fixed in the next software upgrade, expected between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

From what I've read here, and on Howardforums, if there is a problem, it is in the autofocus function of some of the phones. New2u got a phone that focused correctly at first and now is having a problem.

FAUguy also had this to say.

I don't think anyone can say with 100% certainty at this point.
The only way we'll know for sure is once the SW update it avaliale.
Then, if it focuses properly, but the images still looks soft, then it could either be the HW (sensor) or the way the SW works.

 

[New2u]

Well they stated that alot of the focusing and stuff that is controlled by the software could be fixed via OTA updates. But the clicking and not being mounted correctly. That doesn't sound good at all. Thanks for the info

 

[cereal killer]

this is a good find.....so a software update will fix the auto-focus problem BUT if we hear a clicking sound when activating the auto-focus thats hardware. I'll do this before leaving the store.

Thanks for sharing this....this is great.

 

[danDroid]

Wow, very good find.. not the kinda news you want to leak out one day before the launch.. I'll work up a small article for the front page on this.

 

[RayPaganJr]

Even in the reviews that I've read thus far, the camera is by far the one that has the most complaints. Hope this is really not an issue by the time the Droid is released, or at least they should have a plan to fix the problem.

 

[mth04]

Not a very good thing to hear. Only 48 hrs' until release. I hope they get this licked if it's true quickly

 

[Neofite]

well the people in the know will test out the camera in the store and ask for a new unit right then!

I'm sure it will piss off the reps some but it will be coming back in a hour asking for a new one.

 

[ckidwell]

Thanks for sharing, I would have been pretty upset had I gotten home Friday with a phone that was faulty out of the box. I'll be trying mine out as soon as they hand it to me.

 

[garrett]

well the people in the know will test out the camera in the store and ask for a new unit right then!

I'm sure it will piss off the reps some but it will be coming back in a hour asking for a new one.

but those of us that will most likely order it online have no choice.

open box test camera goto store to exchange if needed.

 

[cgaliffi]

Thanks for the info. I'll make sure I test the phone out when I get it.

 

[ZeRo_C0oL]

Thanks for sharing, I would have been pretty upset had I gotten home Friday with a phone that was faulty out of the box. I'll be trying mine out as soon as they hand it to me.

Ditto. I'm hoping for the best.

 

[pilot25]

So what do you do when the camera clicks in the store and they give you another and that clicks?

How do you prove the clicking is a flaw? Is the clicking coming from inside the device or is it an audio speaker click?

We have 30 days on this thing, right?

 

[New2u]

You do have 30 days trial on the phone yes, but you should notice a decent audible noise when you start up the software. if when you start the camera up and you hear a noise you think could be the clicking, talk to the reps as soon as possible. This is another reason to get it from the VZW store, the BB reps will probably be like "oh well". If they say the noise is normal or anything like that, try to insist that you try another 1 or two and see if they make the same noise. If you still don't feel satisfied, tell them to mark on your account that you are concerned that the camera is defective, and that the rep would not give you a replacement, if you use this method, do not leave until you are certain that the note has been put on your account. (Even if they are going to give you a replacement for the phone but they don't have anymore left at the store, I would still tell them to mark that on my account for future reps to be aware of.)

 

[pilot25]

Thanks for the inside info. I'm going to try 3 devices and then walk away and wait until they are fixed in the next shipment.

 

[Zippster]

Should be pretty evident if you dont even need to take a picture but simply start up the phone seeing as though you need the phone on to activate it.