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Captivate Vibration Rattle

Hey all, I love the phone but I've noticed a quirk and I would like to see if anyone else has been experiencing it. When the phone vibrates sometimes there is an extra rattle, almost as if something is loose. It only rattles when its at a certain angle though, not all the time. Has anyone else experienced this with their phone? I'm trying to see if I should go exchange it or not.

For what it's worth, I haven't noticed it.

In case, out of case?
Sometimes the lip of my Body Glove case will rattle a tiny bit. Simply touching the case stops this of course, since it's not my phone but a surface adjacent to it.

max_warheads said:
In case, out of case?
Sometimes the lip of my Body Glove case will rattle a tiny bit. Simply touching the case stops this of course, since it's not my phone but a surface adjacent to it.
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Nope, out of a case. Just the bare phone.

eriamjh said:
Nope, out of a case. Just the bare phone.
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I think I know what you're talking about. If you tap the phone does it do the same thing? If so, I did notice it in mine as well. Also, when I put it down sometimes I would hear a little vibration. I think it's just the design of the phone.

I get the rattle and it's annoying. Not going to do anything about it but it's nice to hear I'm not alone.

jbradt said:
I think I know what you're talking about. If you tap the phone does it do the same thing? If so, I did notice it in mine as well. Also, when I put it down sometimes I would hear a little vibration. I think it's just the design of the phone.
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Is it near the camera? I can hear it as well, it sounds like when you tap near the cam it either rattles the metal backplate or it is directly hitting the camera assembly, I'd avoid doing it if I was use.
The body glove case helps, but if you tap it'll still make a noise

You're not alone. I actually noticed this shortly after I bought it. Posted about in the at&t forums. I even went to the store to play with the displays. The displays also made the same noise.
I can't post a link but if you search for "Captivate has a rattle" in the at&t Samsung forums you'll find my thread.

you are not alone... it feel like the vibrator motor is loose... it fells just like my iphone 3g... which has a motor loose ..

I hear the rattle as well. I believe its coming from the sd card tray in the back. Hopefully when putting an sd card in itll go away.

I have an SD card in and don't hear any rattles. However, I also lowered my vibration intensity a couple notches.

gtg465x said:
I have an SD card in and don't hear any rattles. However, I also lowered my vibration intensity a couple notches.
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Tap the back next to the speaker and see if you can hear it. Hopefully having the sd in there helped.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I've never heard anything even remotely like a rattle from mine, and I have vibration intensity maxed and swype set to vibrate on keypress, so I get lots of vibration. I've had the SD card in and out of it a lot, but no difference. No vibration. Guess I got a good one.

Psylas said:
Tap the back next to the speaker and see if you can hear it. Hopefully having the sd in there helped.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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Don't hear anything except my finger tapping the back.

Ummm Guys, sorry to rain on the parade....but if you can replicate the rattle by tapping on the speaker (which on a Galaxy S phone, Nexus One, Desire is right next to the camera), the rattle is the little Auto Focus assist system being gently lodged-dislodged (motor + spring setup).
The AF requires slight freeplay to allow it to focus in and out when using the camera.....sorry but the rattle wont go away....its also normal. Try any camera phone with AF Assist and tap near or vertically on top of the lens.... .
Personally My Nokia N82 from eons ago was the loudest of all. I havent got a Captivate (you lucky Yanks) so I could be way off the mark but my desire rattles too (as did my nexus one) when tapped or on vibrate.
Cheers
Oz

+1 auto-focus mountings.. makes sense.
For those wishing to replicate: with or without case, tap directly below the camera, and horizontally beside the speaker, with the phone near your ear. You'll hear a little tiny rattle. I didn't notice it until I went tapping away to find it.

Thanks for the replies. After tapping the back of my phone I believe I can detect a faint clicking sound. It's odd how loud that becomes when the phone vibrates, it's magnitudes louder than the normal vibration sound.
Maybe I'll go to my local electronics store and play with some models since I used to work there and I still have the connections for it.

yeah... no rattle here..

Significant rattle during vibration makes sense....its to do with the frequency of vibration of AF and phone chassis being in sync....i.e. close to resonance. Betcha its louder face up OR face down, and on a hard surface.
The other possibility is the metal battery cover vibrating as well
Oz

Hello Everyone,
I recently bought a Captivate. I noticed the same issue when using the vibrate setting on the phone - phone rings, and the vibrate is extremely loud (other people really shouldn't be able to hear it).
I thought it was that particular handset - so I went back to AT&T and exchanged it. Sure enough, this one has the same issue.
The one weird thing I've noticed is that changing the Haptic Feedback setting (the vibrate intensity for it) seems to affect the button that you use if you pull the notifications bar down. (Drop the vibrate intensity to 0, and you'll notice that the Vibrate button in the notifications bar does not vibrate when you turn it on). However, this doesn't seem to influence the way the phone vibrates when you get a call, text message, etc.
Any idea what the disconnect could be between the vibrate setting in the Notifications bar, and the actual vibrate intensity?
I'm inclined to think this is software, rather than the phone itself having a physical flaw that causes it to vibrate louder. If the setting in the notification bar didn't vary - I would be quicker to assume that it's hardware...

Does your phone rattle?

I had returned a defective droid charge with a defective, buzzing earpiece speaker. Before I returned it, I had noticed that it seemed to also rattle... if I held it between my thumb and forefinger with nothing in it (no battery, no SIM, no sd card), I noticed that if I shook it, there was a rattle from the top part seemingly near the earpiece. The new phone has the same problem... does anyone else's phone rattle like that?

This has been discussed previously and we came to the conclusion that it was a part of the sensor in the camera. You should be fine.

Like a rattlesnake! On a serious note, I haven't had this issue so far. Take it to a Verizon store. If its a physical issue like that, they have to replace it plain and simple.

Mine does it too. I'm fairly certain it's normal.

Yep. It's the camera rattling around. Not quite sure if it's a good thing.
Sent from my Droid Charge running Humble 1.42

My guess is it is the lens assembly rattling since it has a real focusing lens (versus the generic one-focus-fits-all lenses on older phones). I suspect that it is adjusted by use of an electromagnet assembly and therefore is free to move when it is not activated.

Thanks for the input everyone. I wasn't aware that it was discussed previously, searching didn't turn anything up.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

[Q] When i wave the camera end of the phone near my ear I hear.....

When i wave my phone around my ear holding the bottom near the beats logo, i hear something shaking around. Initially I thought it was the camera lens, but I really don't know and I was wondering if any of you guys had this.

Yeah got it too... But its not a big deal
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Thanks. I was hoping it's. no big deal because I don't want to exchange one.... too lazy haha

Yeah i have it too
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

its a stability sensor for camera i believe
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

My Captivate has always had a slight ticking when changing orientation as well, it's probably common to handsets that need to detect motion or orientation.

It may also be something in the micro-sim enclosure as well. I don't know.

this has been discussed in the international forum with pretty good depth...
Mine has the same thing- just noticed it last night actually...but it is nothing to worry about...has to do with camera or sim slot.
others say they have volume rocker rattle, which may be a recall

its one of the sensors, probably the gyro... or maybe the vibrator motor. It's fine... ignore it.
edit,
its the camera.

I actually discussed the clicking issue with a guy at AT&T who was speaking live to the HTC rep on his computer (I was watching). The HTC rep said it was part of the locking mechanism for the micro-SIM slot. We thought at first it was related to the focus mechanism for the camera, but the HTC rep said it was not.

I'll bet it's the volume rocker - take a look at it, you can probably slide it up and down ever so slightly with your finger - that is causing a rattling on mine.

It's not the sim card locking mechanism or the volume rocker. Its the camera and its normal. My iphone 4s used to make the exact same sound from the camera. Its nothing to worry about.
Beamed from my Rogers HTC One XL

same issue
Not sure what it is, but I have it too. it's a clicking-like rattle when shaken, from near the camera area. i've removed the sim and tray, as well as securely held down the volume rocker, and it still makes the sound. i was initially concerned until i read all of the comments in the Int'l forums and also stopped into the ATT store at lunch today only to find out that both of the demo models they had out made the same sound. either it's not a big deal at all or every single one of the phones is screwed. i'm leaning towards the former. that said, it still doesn't seem like this should be happening. whatever, as long as the phone keeps delivering utterly ridiculous performance, i'm fine with it.

It's the autofocus module. Every phone (and tablet) has it, if you open the camera app and autofocus on something, you'll hear it make the same clicking noise. It needs to be somewhat loose inside the phone for it to focus properly, which means if you shake it around you'll be able to hear it.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

I have it as well. It's definitely coming from the camera region. And it's definitely not the volume rocker.

Do any Nexus 5s NOT have the loose button issue?

Hi all. Just got my Nexus 5 in the mail. It mostly looks great, but the volume and power buttons are loose and rattly, as many have complained about here. I had this problem with an old HTC phone, and it eventually drove me nuts. Not sure I can hang with it in this case either. Question is, is it worth going through the whole replacement process to try to get a better unit, or are they pretty much all like this?

I got mine today, buttons are secure and make no noise whatsoever. Give it a shot
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Out of all the problems this would be the least worrying for me. There's a good chance certain cases even would fix this and I would hate to receive a replacement with worse problems.
My power button wiggles but no audible sounds are heard with heavy tapping.

Mine is just fine.

My buttons are solid, no rattle or noises :good:

loose buttons?
all is fine here.

Didn't know there was a loose button issue
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Fine here also.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

My buttons were solid as a rock initially. They loosened up a little bit after about a week. Yesterday you could hear/feel the rattle whenever you were typing or pressing anywhere near the volume rocker or power button. They would also rattle and shake when you jiggled the phone.
I thought about exchanging it, but other than the rattling the phone was perfect. I didn't want to switch and end up with a worse problem, dead pixels, speaker issues, or whatever else people have been mentioning.
I ended up doing the fix that I saw on youtube, may have originated from someone here. Popped the case off and put tiny pieces of paper between the power button/switch and volume rockers/switches to eliminate the gap between the switch and the the floating buttons (they're not physically attached). The only difference was I used sticky notes with the tacky side facing out towards the buttons so the paper will never have a chance to shift out of place.
Buttons are rock solid again, even more firm than before.
*Last resort of course. Tinkering with the inside voids your warranty.

My first N5 had loose power button and loose volume rocker that rattled quite a bit so i replaced it. The buttons on my new one are perfect, no rattling at all

I wonder if anyone has tried picking up a PS4 and shook that to see if anything rattles?
Its not a £600 CNC machined statement to the world, its a 300 quid phone and how anyone can make a mountain of this particular mole hill is way beyond me. The mass of the buttons is so small the noise generated is hardly the equivalent of shoving your head in the speakers at a Prodigy gig.
FWIW my power button rattles if i shake the phone however i very rarely shake the phone in such a fashion that i would hear it and thankfully i am one of the few that owns a Nexus 5 and doesn't seem to live in an anechoic chamber

MrBelter said:
I wonder if anyone has tried picking up a PS4 and shook that to see if anything rattles?
Its not a £600 CNC machined statement to the world, its a 300 quid phone and how anyone can make a mountain of this particular mole hill is way beyond me. The mass of the buttons is so small the noise generated is hardly the equivalent of shoving your head in the speakers at a Prodigy gig.
FWIW my power button rattles if i shake the phone however i very rarely shake the phone in such a fashion that i would hear it and thankfully i am one of the few that owns a Nexus 5 and doesn't seem to live in an anechoic chamber
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While I understand your analogy, your comparison is kind of ridiculous as the PS4 is not a device that's primarily meant to be used and abused, or handled in situations like a mobile device is. A smartphone is meant to be taken everywhere, tossed in bags/pockets, have fingers beating on it for hours a day... A PS4 on the other hand is primarily meant to be stationary with minimal movement. It's built to a different standard.
I can throw in an extraneous irrelevant comparison like yours. I've got a $90 Canon SD1100 IS from 5 years ago with a camera button that's meant to be pressed over and over again, it is also a floating button, and it doesn't rattle. It clicks as it's supposed to and remains solid otherwise. It was also dirt cheap but still built solidly. I've taken thousands of pictures with that thing and the button is still exactly the same as the day I bought it.
My Nexus 5 buttons were initially solid, but to have them degrade and become wobbly and flimsy after only a few weeks was a little disheartening. Sending text messages, or tapping the screen anywhere near the volume/power caused them to rattle. Yeah it was $400, and several hundred cheaper than other flagships, but it's still a button, designed to be pressed over and over again. To have it become loose and jiggly so quickly (or for some people, ship like that) is unacceptable to me. It was an easy fix for me, but for others I can totally understand them wanting to exchange it for a better built unit. The button rattle was even brought up in the Anandtech Nexus 5 review.
If you don't care about the rattle, or accept it because the cost of the unit is less than other phones, that's fine. But don't tell other people to disregard it because it's cheap. Like my cheap $90 5 year old camera, something can be cheap and still be built to a good standard. The Nexus 5 is a fantastic device, but a flaw is a flaw, and I understand people not ignoring it.

Had my n5 since launch on sprint on November 8th and all my buttons do not rattle.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

2 nexus 5s (1 had a defective microphone) and neither had loose buttons.

I guess I was lucky, no rattle at all. Doesn't matter anyway since I use a case.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

My first nexus 5 (which I returned for a different issue) had loose volume and power buttons that wiggled. The second one, only the power button wiggles. Seems like they may still be figuring out exactly how to fit the button's in right.

bblzd said:
Out of all the problems this would be the least worrying for me. There's a good chance certain cases even would fix this and I would hate to receive a replacement with worse problems.
My power button wiggles but no audible sounds are heard with heavy tapping.
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mine is the same. i use a spigen slim armor case and one other case and both fix any button "looseness"

My volume rocker rattles pretty badly. I hear it when I have haptic feedback on and am texting. It's almost gotten to the point where I think I just might get a replacement but the only problem is I would not have a phone while I am waiting for a replacement

There apparently has already been a new revision of Nexus 5 hardware out that fixes the rattle problems (and speaker).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2557699
You can see the housing around the buttons is much thinner/tighter now to prevent the lateral jiggling. The speaker grill holes are also larger.

My volume and power buttons are fine, although there's a slight rattle when I shake it due to the internal components (i.e. if I hold both rockers firm to the casing and give it a slight shake, I hear it).
However, out of curiosity I did the same thing with my N4 and it rattled too, which I noticed for the first time just then. Honestly, I don't even notice it. Like many have said, it's the very least of the problems and I wouldn't risk receiving a replacement with something worse like dead pixels.

[Q] Funny clicking noise when camera is turned on

Hey guys I just got my moto g and i just noticed that there is a clicking noise when i turn the camera on or off. I'm not sure if I damaged it or if it's just the nature of the phone.
Thanks!

g3omanser said:
Hey guys I just got my moto g and i just noticed that there is a clicking noise when i turn the camera on or off. I'm not sure if I damaged it or if it's just the nature of the phone.
Thanks!
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I think they all do it.

This happens to all moto Gs. I think it's just the nature of the phone. There was a thread about this on the moto g support forums and it seems this is normal
Sent from my XT1034 using Tapatalk

me too and i try to ignore it

This is normal, also had it in my old xperia U, figured it was the tiny camera lens getting "ready" and back to a secured position when turned off.

Just tested this now, it seems to make a popping sound when you launch and close the camera they seem to be different volumes too with closing making a louder noise, how stange. Maybe the tiny motor kicking in for OIS
Edit: maybe not as a quick search reveals this camera has no OIS.

michael-jb said:
Just tested this now, it seems to make a popping sound when you launch and close the camera they seem to be different volumes too with closing making a louder noise, how stange. Maybe the tiny motor kicking in for OIS
Edit: maybe not as a quick search reveals this camera has no OIS.
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It does have focus control though which equally requires a moving element.

phew! thanks guys for the help. i was getting worried that my phone got damaged or something. i also thought that the camera was getting ready to shoot like many of you said but i guess there's no need to worry now. i guess you cant really complain about anything about this phone especially with this AMAZING price tag and performance. I just got my 4.4 update btw. SOO excited to see how it runs

g3omanser said:
AMAZING price tag and performance
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Second that, but if you are a detail freak you might be annoyed by some of the corners that are being cut to keep the cost so low. Still, the cheapest place in the UK with stock are Tesco's and they'll take returns til the cows come home, so nothing really to lose.

My old HTV EVO (WiMax) did this also, so I'm pretty sure its normal. It was especially noticeable during boot-up.

Questions and help issues go in Q&A and Help section
Thread moved
Thanks
FNSM

I think it's Auto Focus mechanism. In Moto Defy it was really loud. Also the volume buttons make similar noise to camera's.