A bout a month after I bought my E71 I noticed a few specks of dust on the display, underneath the plastic covering the screen. I was a bit annoyed (particularly considering how well built the E71 feels), but it wasn’t too bad so just ignored it. Well the problem continued to get worse, to the point where a third of the screen had a grey haze over the top of it. Since this is the first phone I’ve actually bought in a while, I was pretty peeved!
I was going to take it to a Nokia service centre a few weeks ago, but just haven’t had the time. Also, I wasn’t sure of the warranty status since the one I bought came from eBay, and may have been a grey import (it was very cheap, so I’m pretty sure it is). Fed up, I decided to give fixing the problem a go, and surprisingly it’s not that hard.
Under the battery cover you will see four star-head screws. These are the only screws holding the front panel of the phone on. You need a T5 screwdriver to remove them, don’t try using a flathead screwdriver (I tried, only served to slightly strip the heads).
With the four screws out, press a small flathead screwdriver into the holes shown in this photo, on both sides of the phone. They are little clips that hold the front on (in addition to the screws, obviously). With those released, pull the front forward and slide it slightly up. There are two metal hooks holding the top of the front to the phone.
So, now you have the front off and can see the dust. Clean it off both the screen and the plastic that covers the screen, and reverse the process. All up this shouldn’t take you much longer than 10 minutes.
Before (after I’d wiped a bit off)
After (Nice and clean!!)
Obviously this isn’t a solution to the problem, but it is a temporary measure to fix it. When I get time I’m going to see if I can augment the foam that is supposed to stop this from happening. The question is how did Nokia manage to engineer all the stuff they did into the tiny E71, yet screw up on this?
