Three Design Faults of the Vita that Sony Refuse to Recognise.
I’m sure many of you are currently enjoying your Vita Consoles with all the exploits we have been lucky enough to receive over the past year. We have been lucky enough to be given the ability to play all the classic games through VHBL, and more recently the ability to play PSP games through CEF. If you wish to know exactly what exploits are currently available, please read this article by Rashidsonic.
TN’s new exploit will also be a very nice addition to these with a plethora of features such as the ability to access PSN through the PSP Emulator Kernel. This will apparently be ported to all known exploits. If you wish to read more, please click here to read Jd’s article on the features of the new exploit.
The Vita however, is not without it’s problems or design faults. While there are few documented cases so far, it does have some issues. I will share the three I’ve noticed (and sadly have been victim to).
Seemingly Random Cracks in the Screen/LCD.
This is what happened to my Vita, sadly. I was playing it for an hour or two, then placed it down on a table and fell asleep. When I awoke the Console had not moved an inch however when I turned it on it had some purple colour across my screen. The colour changed a few times, and eventually the screen went entirely black. I then found that I actually had a crack in the Vita for no known reason. Due to this crack, Sony blame me as it apparently falls under the heading of “accidental damage”. Since I got this Console from a catalogue pay-weekly scheme; I still have to pay every single week for the next six months for a Console that I cannot play, nor really afford to fix as the repair cost is near enough that of a new Console.
There are other stories similar to my own. It seems that the unit’s sides place pressure on the LCD panel, and eventually it cracks. This is also incredibly rare, and horrid when it happens. The choice is to either replace the screen and LCD, or to get Sony to fix it (they also update the Firmware, or give you a replacement with higher Firmware) for the cost of a second Vita.
Here’s a video that has been enfuriating me since my Vita broke. These guys drop a Vita three times from four foot, and yet theirs is fine. Mine however sat on a table, nothing dropped, nothing touched it and yet I have to replace it.
Charger Burning.
There have been 23 documented cases of the Vita’s charger back overheating. The charger pack over-heats, and causes the lead to burn which can cause one of two things: The screen to crack or the charger cable being melted onto the Vita’s port. Since there has been so little documented cases Sony refuse to take the blame, even though it’s due to their faulty cables.
While looking into this issue, I found a quote from a user of the forum stating:
“my vitas screen cracked due to overheating, but because i didn’t take the accidental damage insurance, it will cost 175 dollars to repair the screen, plus shipping. i already have 5 games for the vita, and am basically forced to buy another one, since you can’t return games for anywhere near the price, and i really like the system.
i think it’s crazy that sony refuses to accept that they have manufactured faulty units when they are dealing with their customers.”
Vita Units Burning.
This can be linked to the Charger issues as there have been reported cases that the Charger overheating has caused the console to… well, melt. This has happened to a few users, and sadly will end up like this image if you’re unlucky enough to have this issue.
Ways to Prevent.
With regards to the screen randomly cracking, there is no way to prevent this. However, the other two issues are more easily avoided.
The best method to avoid this would be to simply turn it off while not using it to avoid overheating, and monitor as it charges. Do not leave it charging as you sleep, similarly do not leave it on overnight.
Anyway, I hope none of you suffer any of the issues listed above. Sony are pretty tyrannical when it comes to these issues and have often had design faults (Note the 2004 Slimline PlayStation 2 for instance). Yet they rarely take the blame. So, simply be careful with your Console.
Enjoy your Consoles, and feel lucky that you have access to the exploits, and amazing work of the Devs.
major fail the vita front camera right by the square and triangle not good u over the camera at time.
One problem that I have had is when I take my vita outside it freaks out. Its almost like the vita controls itself and freaks out. In apps or games the touchscreen doesnt respond. But when you are on the menu (or Live Area Screen) the page wipe out animation freaks out and other stuff. I believe its because I live in Finland and its -19 celsius. I have a video of it.
Well, -19 celsius may be considered as an extreme temperature.
I would be careful with playing on the PS vita outside at temperatures like that.
i have had my vita ever since it came out and have never had anything wrong with it, the charger, or the oled screen (however i do have the bloches in low light, but only two), however now my vita wont charge; i plug my vita into the charger and what ever is running crashes and the buttons are rendered useless. even the power btton i couldnt even preform a hard reboot. i hqd to just let it sit until the battery died, so i unplugged the charger and the psvita, and let it sit in a dry bathtub (just in case it somehow caught on fire) and overnight the battery died. when i plugged it into the charger the red light went on and it charged but i started to hear a humming noise from the charger. so i let it charge with me watching it, eventually got boared and put it back in the dry bathtub on a towel to charge. nohing caught on fire, but i the noizgot louder and louder qnd now it sounds like a variation of frequancy. it *** off my cat aswell so i had to keep charging in the bath tub. anyway my charger stopped working one day (i alwys turned off the vita just thouht id throw that in). and it started to smell like burning lead. so i unplugged it and threw it away, i had to let it cool down because it was *** hot! but wnyway now i had to get a new charger. i went with another official ps vita charger ant the same crashing happens on the vita, so i charge it when its off,but no smell or noize coming from the charger
If your vita is under a year old,you need to call back sony.Because what has happened you got was is known as a thermal crack which is covered under warranty. The reason I know because I work in warranty, not for not small electronics but appliances. I know that it sounds odd but the samething happens to smooth top ranges,thats why I know the difference. Plus the same thing happened to my son and I just got off the phone with sony and they tried to tell me the warranty was voided because of the crack until I told them about the difference between phycial crack and a thermal one,now they are sending me a prepaid box for warranty repair.Sorry so long.
I had the same *** , out of nowhere my lcd was broken, it was just lying on the table , next morning glass chatterred
The same thing happened to me, we called Sony and they said it was a user error, I kept telling them the below screen cracked, and they kept telling me ‘You must have dropped it and forgot about it.’ since the warranty does not say anything about the screen cracking not counting, I was really mad. I called again and said that the ‘inside mechanisms’ (AKA the lower screen) Where not working, they are going to ‘get back to me.’
this just happened to mine, it’s on the bed and suddenly it just cracked in the morning… what’s the point of protective glass if the screen inside still crack for no clear reason. if one random mysterious accident is enough to ruin this handheld, sony really need to evaluate the vita design. repairing this probably cost almost the same as buying the new one, and this just *** me off big time because it’s a birthday present from my wife!
I got a PS Vita yesterday and the only issue I have with it so far is that when I turn it off and then back on a little later, the time on it skips an hour ahead. I haven’t been able to find a solution…
Had my Vita 4 months, I did leave it charging overnight. Woke up the next morning and it charger and the area the charger connects into was burnt. Sent it off to Sony and they claimed, “Liquid Damage” and said unrepairable and no replacement. Got myself a great doorstop now.
I’ve had my Ps vita for 2 years ago, and I did charge my vita overnight a few times (but not many), and I never had any problem.
Holy moly. That overheating picture you used is hilarious. Yeah. I guarantee your Vita will not look like that if it overheats. That is clearly a picture of a Vita that has been microwaved. You must be a special kind of conspiracy theory nu . XP. Thanks for a good chuckle. Sorry about the broken Vita. It really is a fantastic unit.
I put my fat 3g Vita in my pocket. Took it out 5 minutes later and the inside screen had cracked (not the glass) Luckily I was able to get a refund since it was a pawn shop purchase. But are OLED’s really pressure sensitive? Either way I just ordered the slim Vita and hopefully this one fares better than the last.
ive only had a screen issue twice
first one was a large plant that was thrown at me
sc*** up the screen but protected my leg
then $40 later my replacement screen causes a little strip on the left side to not register touch
some games are nearly unplayable but most games i like dont need that area of the screen
my bed has a bed on top of it that is never used so i someties put stuff up there
my vita fell from it ~7 feet and survived with only a small dent in the plastic