I, like some of you, also have a problem with the O2 XphoneII smartphone’s joystick cap. From what I’ve learned, the side of the cap easily breaks which causes it to loosen up, and eventually getting lost. The problem could have been easily remedied by going to the service center and have them install a new joystick cap. Alas, availability of this tiny part is always scarce. These issues are two of the main caveat among XphoneII owners.
With the help of a couple of people here in Airfagev, I was able to come up with a workaround. It was X-Mint who gave me an idea on what to do. He told me before that joystick caps for other cellphone models (like the Sony Ericssons) can be bought in some cellphone shops that offer repairs. Usually a cap would cost around Php 100.00. You just have to find a joystick cap that fits right into the XphoneII.
I was able to find a suitable cap from a Sony Ericsson model which escapes my mind as of the moment. It fits just right, but the sides of the cap are so thick that it makes the joystick immovable. X-Mint suggested that the cap’s sides needed to be carved. He suggested using papel de liha but I used a cutter instead, which is kinda acceptable but it doesn’t look good afterwards. Fortunately, I went to abusememore’s shop in Cubao (to repair the XphoneII because I made a booboo, see my post in the SAP Blog) and he has a tool there which effectively carved the sides of the joystick cap.
I let him and bongherz use the XphoneII and both of them agree that it’s a good workaround. Up, down, left, right – the joystick responds very well! I don’t know how long the cap will last but I think it will be better than the original XphoneII cap.
Compared to the original cap, the one I used is more recessed but I don’t find it much of an issue.
Abusememore said he’ll try experimenting for a better workaround based on what we did earlier today.
For those XphoneII users who don’t have the patience anymore to wait for the said part, this is a very cheap and easy workaround that you may want to try.
Thanks to X-Mint, Abusememore and Bongherz for helping me with this problem!
