[Q] Micro Arc Oxidation failure?

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kyuubi_ac

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2011
138
29
Hamburg
Won't happen to blue version. Blue one doesn't have micro arc oxidation

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2

I think he meant the sim-cover-problem and this is an issue for both versions. But I've rwad so far, that it really is tricky to close it properly. On the other side I've played around with a device for quite a time and the cover wasn't sitting perfectly (maybe 0.1-0.2mm).
 
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QuintusDias

Senior Member
Sep 16, 2010
85
8
Groningen
today i noticed a few scratches on the top of the device and it was realy annoying. i went to my local dealer and he changed it without asking to the grey one. he also told me that in one week he had over 50(!!!) plaints because of that. i doubt that htc will figure that in that short time

He had 50 returned devices in 1 one week at just his shop because of the chipping? Now htc must surely take this very seriously

Sent from my GT-S5660 using XDA
 

kolyan

Senior Member
Jan 8, 2008
2,930
231
Engadget:


The black HTC One S uses a process called micro arc oxidation (MAO) to harden its aluminum unibody and make it feel like ceramic. We've recently experienced some chipping on the finish of one of our review units, so we reached out to HTC to find out if this is a known problem. Turns out we're not the only ones to report the issue, and while rare, the company's gone ahead and tweaked its manufacturing process and is offering to swap affected phones for free for existing customers. Here's HTC's statement:

"HTC is committed to delivering a high quality product and great experience for all our customers. There have been a few, isolated reports of this issue. The finish on the One S was laboratory tested as being at a hardness similar to ceramic. While that's hard, it doesn't mean it's impossible to damage. Regardless, HTC takes quality very seriously and are providing all customers with an immediate fix and we are implementing some small changes to ensure customers do not experience this issue in the future."
 

enserio

Senior Member
Oct 26, 2010
344
22
California
Engadget:


The black HTC One S uses a process called micro arc oxidation (MAO) to harden its aluminum unibody and make it feel like ceramic. We've recently experienced some chipping on the finish of one of our review units, so we reached out to HTC to find out if this is a known problem. Turns out we're not the only ones to report the issue, and while rare, the company's gone ahead and tweaked its manufacturing process and is offering to swap affected phones for free for existing customers. Here's HTC's statement:

"HTC is committed to delivering a high quality product and great experience for all our customers. There have been a few, isolated reports of this issue. The finish on the One S was laboratory tested as being at a hardness similar to ceramic. While that's hard, it doesn't mean it's impossible to damage. Regardless, HTC takes quality very seriously and are providing all customers with an immediate fix and we are implementing some small changes to ensure customers do not experience this issue in the future."


"tweaked" their process? Just like that, they figured out what was wrong and fixed it? I'm normally pretty optimistic about things, but I'm willing to bet they make the rest of them out their usual materials. Not bad materials, mind you - just not all this fancy forged by lightning stuff.
 

MemphisLeak

Senior Member
Aug 8, 2010
101
5
"tweaked" their process? Just like that, they figured out what was wrong and fixed it? I'm normally pretty optimistic about things, but I'm willing to bet they make the rest of them out their usual materials. Not bad materials, mind you - just not all this fancy forged by lightning stuff.

My guess would be they just prolonged the micro arc oxidation process to thicken the coating enough that it would adhere to the aluminium properly. They probably reduced the time in the original process to be as cost efficient as possible. 10000 volts doesn't sound particularly cheap.

That's if they have tweaked it at all.
 

wayne850

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2011
178
52
He had 50 returned devices in 1 one week at just his shop because of the chipping? Now htc must surely take this very seriously

Sent from my GT-S5660 using XDA

Yes i was really shocked to hear that. And my town is comparing to others small (250k people). I dont wanna know how this is in ny or anywhere else

Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium
 

avataranjie

Senior Member
Sep 26, 2010
300
31
Fremont, CA
So two problems MAO chipping and sim-cover not closing properly Agh... not sure if I'm getting it anymore. I'm OCD about "small stuff" like this. Hopefully they fix it in the second batch.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
 

Komadyret

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2010
481
49
Bought the MOA yesterday. Inspected the unit well before leaving the store. Looks good. Now I just have to put it through a few days of my regular abuse to see if there are any chiping.
Already unlocked and rooted btw ;p
 

avataranjie

Senior Member
Sep 26, 2010
300
31
Fremont, CA
My guess would be they just prolonged the micro arc oxidation process to thicken the coating enough that it would adhere to the aluminium properly. They probably reduced the time in the original process to be as cost efficient as possible. 10000 volts doesn't sound particularly cheap.

That's if they have tweaked it at all.

That won't make a difference. The oxidized layer will be thicker and will just fall again. These are two different materials I don't think they will stay together unless you paint something over it.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
 

Komadyret

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2010
481
49
Or maybe more like increasing voltage to improve the bonding between the aluminum and the oxidized aluminum. Who knows, I'm not the metalurgic-geek here ;)
 

Untouchab1e

Senior Member
Apr 11, 2007
1,252
802
The store near where I live has halted sales of the black One S. At least they are advising customers not to get it until the issue is fixed.. Engadget states the issue is rare.. fail.

---------- Post added at 09:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 AM ----------

That won't make a difference. The oxidized layer will be thicker and will just fall again. These are two different materials I don't think they will stay together unless you paint something over it.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2

I hope HTC will detail why the issue occured in the first place. My question is whether its due to the bonding between the aluminium and the oxidized layer, or if its simply due to contaminants affecting some of the devices manufactured..
 

Sebastian768

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2008
113
8
"Small affected number of phones"...right, well then...

Shops are not going to send them all in, soooo.... you would actually have to buy the One S to find out if yours is affected. I get it, I'm not buying it. The actual phone that is...not until I'm certain that the first batch is sold out and I'm getting a new one.

Would you buy a BMW, if you knew it might have to go back to Germany for refurbishment?
 

ptr_hamilton

Senior Member
Aug 1, 2010
1,320
583
I also had that coating problem.. Got it exchanged at mediamarkt. Because I don't think HTC will fix it soon and I don't like the blue one s I decided to get a one x instead. Damn the one s was so frickin fast :(
 

mr_stoosh

Senior Member
Oct 1, 2010
122
13
I also had that coating problem.. Got it exchanged at mediamarkt. Because I don't think HTC will fix it soon and I don't like the blue one s I decided to get a one x instead. Damn the one s was so frickin fast :(

+1

I ended up doing the same as to me the grey One S doesn't look as good as the black. I'm going to monitor the situation and if HTC have sorted out the problem in the new batch then I'm definitely going to get one as the One S is an awesome phone.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
 

aza314

Member
Sep 14, 2010
19
12
You have to be really dumb to release phones like this. This is not the first time HTC has done this. QA obviously sucks at HTC

As a potential HTC One S owner I'll just inject a few words into this thread.

Most of the people complaining and spouting their opinions on QA have no frigging clue about metallurgy or SCM.

I have consulted for companies that design & sell 100k-1M units. There are so many steps in the process until that phone gets to your hands (at a very low price, considering the complexity!), that the mind would boggle - and sometimes it's amazing that anything works at all, ever.

As for the coating process, I doubt that HTC mills the metal or has plasma baths in their offices. All this stuff is outsourced. And in China its hard to ensure that you get what you pay for (or specify) - Ive seen this happen with PCB laminates, components where the BOM says one thing, and a middleman will just ignore it and pocket the difference.

Maybe the base metal was a 3003 alloy instead of a 6100, maybe it was not degreased well enough, maybe some employees handled the edges, perhaps the plasma bath was too cold, or things not given enough time to warm up due to the units/hour presure from the line manager. Moreover, unless you destructively test the devices it's very hard to spot such failures unless you decided that's what you're going to look for.

Of course I would be disappointed when my One S has a chipping issue, but it seems like HTC is being responsible and has quickly acknowledged the issue, without telling the customers "you're holding it wrong"


FWIW I own a HTC Desire, a Nokia N79, SE K750 and lots of old Nokias.
 

s8m

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2010
310
114
I think it looks kinda tacky.

I have to disagree. I prefer the look of the grey/blue version, and plan to pick one up later this month.

But it does seem that people like the "texture" of the black version, and apparently the grey is too "slippery" or something... I haven't either one up close, just basing my judgement on the HTC press shots. Has anyone seen close-ups or videos of the grey and black which shows the difference between the coating on both of them side by side?
 

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  • 7
    Does anybody has got the problem with the ceramic surface which is shown in the following pictures??

    Looks like a major problem with the production technology :-(
    7
    You have to be really dumb to release phones like this. This is not the first time HTC has done this. QA obviously sucks at HTC

    As a potential HTC One S owner I'll just inject a few words into this thread.

    Most of the people complaining and spouting their opinions on QA have no frigging clue about metallurgy or SCM.

    I have consulted for companies that design & sell 100k-1M units. There are so many steps in the process until that phone gets to your hands (at a very low price, considering the complexity!), that the mind would boggle - and sometimes it's amazing that anything works at all, ever.

    As for the coating process, I doubt that HTC mills the metal or has plasma baths in their offices. All this stuff is outsourced. And in China its hard to ensure that you get what you pay for (or specify) - Ive seen this happen with PCB laminates, components where the BOM says one thing, and a middleman will just ignore it and pocket the difference.

    Maybe the base metal was a 3003 alloy instead of a 6100, maybe it was not degreased well enough, maybe some employees handled the edges, perhaps the plasma bath was too cold, or things not given enough time to warm up due to the units/hour presure from the line manager. Moreover, unless you destructively test the devices it's very hard to spot such failures unless you decided that's what you're going to look for.

    Of course I would be disappointed when my One S has a chipping issue, but it seems like HTC is being responsible and has quickly acknowledged the issue, without telling the customers "you're holding it wrong"


    FWIW I own a HTC Desire, a Nokia N79, SE K750 and lots of old Nokias.
    4
    surface flaw, no scratch

    Have been at a surveyor. He told me this are doubtless no scratches. And indeed I did not drop my phone. On the pictures they took you can clearly see that there are no scratches aroud the affected area, which should be there if I dropped the phone.. What I think is the my reseller will tell me I am stupid if I show those very little flaws to him :eek:
    Let's hope for HTC
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    4
    Thread Cleaned

    I have cleaned some posts from the last few pages. Some of the comments are not acceptable. Further trolling will result in a infraction/ban. Do not engage trolls, just report them and let the moderation team sort the problem. In short, dont feed the trolls!​
    4
    ^^Good post psch0t1c^^

    I'm not sure about sending it back to HTC in case they do try and say I have damaged it which I KNOW I haven't. I'm inclined to wait a few more days and see if the problem becomes more widespread and HTC become more aware of the problem.

    I think we should ether do a new thread or add a poll to the OP so we can gauge how many people are affected thus far.