Surface touch cover connectors ripped apart from Surface body (PICS)

[TheAccuser]

I picked up my Surface this morning and my Touch Cover was hanging from my Surface. This is obviously a manufacturing defect and I will be heading into my local Microsoft Holiday store today to have it replaced. Has anyone else had this happen? Pics below.

 

[PHVL]

nope, i've just test it and it stays fit. but mine is pretty recent, how old is yours?

 

[Coreldan]

Damn, that sucks. I dont see any reason why that wouldnt get exchanged though, clearly it's on their end. I havnt heard of this happening to anyone before, only a very small part of the "fabric" coming out of under the connector plastic, but never like this.

 

[DougB541#CB]

holy crap haha.

Nah all good over here.

 

[aldovelco]

Nice wallpaper you got there

 

[TheAccuser]

Damn, that sucks. I dont see any reason why that wouldnt get exchanged though, clearly it's on their end. I havnt heard of this happening to anyone before, only a very small part of the "fabric" coming out of under the connector plastic, but never like this.

Yeah, I've seen the fabric issue. Happened to my friend's Surface. I rarely take the touch cover off too.

 

[TheAccuser]

Nice wallpaper you got there

Thanks! My buddy made it. He actually made a logo for all of us that play BF3 to match up with our Soldier names.

 

[TheAccuser]

BTW, those pics were taken with my HTC 8x...liking the camera.

 

[power5]

I am totally shocked that the super strong magnets they used are just attached to the fabric and not to some more robust structure inside the cover. That is unacceptable design and engineering right there.

 

[TheAccuser]

I am totally shocked that the super strong magnets they used are just attached to the fabric and not to some more robust structure inside the cover. That is unacceptable design and engineering right there.

Yeah, they are held in place by their own magnet. After that, it's just a thin piece of metal with some glue on it.

 

[TheAccuser]

 

[inteller]

smooth move there chief! It would be interesting to know your locale/climate.

 

[jmerrey]

How did that happen? You said you walked out and it was hanging there? Did a pet get a hold of the device? I'm not doubting your story at all, but it seems like there would need to be some type of leverage to make the cover just rip off like that. I'm just trying to make sure I don't do the same thing. Good luck at the MS store, I'm sure they'll replace it.

 

[stephen_az]

I am totally shocked that the super strong magnets they used are just attached to the fabric and not to some more robust structure inside the cover. That is unacceptable design and engineering right there.

What would you have them do - redesign that touch cover with little metal hinges? Otherwise, the magnets are obviously always going to be attached to the part that connects to the tablet and there is always then going to be a bit in between that bends back and forth. Saying it is an unacceptable design flaw is the equivalent of saying the human shoulder is an obvious design flaw because if you pull hard enough you can pull the arm out of its socket.

 

[stephen_az]

Personally, everything about the images suggests to me a violent act which usually also implies intent. Sorry but the twisted nature of the connector doesn't look like something that would happen by "picking up" the tablet.

 

[martinblank64]

Yeah that happened to mine, I am just sticking it out with some black electrical tape though...




...kidding, haha, no hasn't happened!

 

[Gken]

holy crap, send that back to Microsoft and maybe they will give you two touch covers for your troubles.

 

[TheAccuser]

Personally, everything about the images suggests to me a violent act which usually also implies intent. Sorry but the twisted nature of the connector doesn't look like something that would happen by "picking up" the tablet.

First of all, I didn't do anything jarring to the device. Last night I was using the Surface in bed like always...mostly with the cover as a surface...playing some Wordament. Plugged it in and set it on my night stand. Woke up this morning, pulled the cover off which I only do occasionally and the cover stayed half attached to my Surface. The magnets pulled out of the Surface body. As you can see in the original pictures, the metal was not twisted/mangled like it looks in the 2nd set of pictures. When I pulled the strip of metal (which is VERY thin and malleable) the magnets are so strong that they latched together and it was really hard to pull them apart. No possible way I could do it with my fingers, so I got a little knife and wedged it between the magnets. This is why it's looking a little mangled in the 2nd set of pics.

To answer some of the other questions:

- I would say the Surface was maybe a month old.

- I live near Cleveland and my bedroom is probably around 70 degrees at all times. Also, the Surface was never near a heater or anything that would heat it up causing the glue to loosen.

 

[TheAccuser]

holy crap, send that back to Microsoft and maybe they will give you two touch covers for your troubles.

So, my Surface is the 64 GB that comes with the black touch cover. I went to my local Microsoft Holiday store today and they exchanged my Surface of course. I asked if there was any way that he could give me a red cover instead of the black one that comes in the box. He grabbed one for me, AND also let me keep the black one! Now, that's customer service.

I was planning on returning my Surface anyways because the volume rocker issue was driving me crazy. Almost every time I turned the volume down, it would shoot down to zero and stay on screen. My new Surface volume rocker feels MUCH tighter and I can't duplicate that issue. I wonder if that issue will come back or if it was a specific (or early) run of Surface tabs.

 

[power5]

What would you have them do - redesign that touch cover with little metal hinges? Otherwise, the magnets are obviously always going to be attached to the part that connects to the tablet and there is always then going to be a bit in between that bends back and forth. Saying it is an unacceptable design flaw is the equivalent of saying the human shoulder is an obvious design flaw because if you pull hard enough you can pull the arm out of its socket.

Uh, I would have them put a bend in the metal and then extend it under the keys a little ways and glue the metal to the bottom of the keys. That would transfer the force to a much larger area than a thin strip of metal held in place by a seam of the cover material.