Mobile phone

Posted 31st Jan 2023

I've had my Huawei p30 Pro for nearly 3 years in March and it's been a brilliant phone and the camera is excellent for zoom. Bit disappointing for night time photos but it does the job. The only issue I seem to always have is the charge port stops fast charging. Its happened twice usually after a year and both times I've had it postal repaired as it came with a 2 year warranty. It's happening again now and I did email huawei and say about possibly having a new battery fitted. They messaged back but also said that the charge port comes with the motherboard which I've never been told about before. The prices on the Huawei website state batterys are £49 but it also says Mainboard £211.80. Now do they mean motherboard as that's surely taking the biscuit? So I'm wondering whats the best camera phone out there if its not worthwhile paying nearly £300 for a repair? S22? I don't want too but I'm even tempted to go to iPhones as I'm getting fed up with charge port repairs on all my previous phones. (Mainly Samsung)

9 Comments

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31st Jan
As daft as it sound have you tried another USB cable? My S10 stopped fast charging, changed the cable and worked!
Also have you checked a local phone shop for a price. They'll be able to use a soldering iron or heat gun on the port and replace it, if it is damaged! You could try cleaning the port with a toothbrush and some IPA
Author
31st Jan
I'll see if I can find anymore charge cables but I'm fairly sure it's the port. Do they have to be a certain type of cable as my son has a charger but its not fast charge but if its just the plug that has the power then I'll swap the USB cables for it. You can definitely feel it's not as tightly fitted as it has been. Tried the toothbrush technique which helped prolong it but now it doesn't seem to have any affect. Local phone shop maybe the way forward then to see how much they charge. Thanks for the info.
31st Jan
Just to add my 2p...I have the (standard) P30 also coming up to 3 years old, and had the same problem of the USB socket becoming loose and wouldn't fast charge, cables wouldn't even clip in properly and had to be in just the right position to accept any charge. It wasn't the cables (although, I have found cable does make a difference generally to ability to supercharge using the original charger, I have some that support this and some that don't).

Anyway - spoke to Huawei support on the phone and they indicated it would be about £40-50 to replace the USB port, I explained I wanted to take advantage of the half price battery replacement offer too (which I think has now ended), They arranged collection of the phone and said to book the battery replacement online and they would be in touch with exact price and to confirm whether or not I wanted to go ahead once inspected (and battery would refund if I decided not to bother).

In the end though I heard nothing until the phone was marked as fixed and on its way back to me with no further charge, so they have replaced the battery and the port for the grand sum of I think £24.90 - even at full price of the battery I would have been happy with this I think as I can't see any newer phone that ticks the boxes for me. (looked at Pixel 6 when that was available for £299 before xmas but even that seems to be a step back in a number of areas). really happy as it feels like I have a new phone again - 2 days on a charge easy.

So you might get lucky with Huawei support if you book the battery replacement also.
Author
31st Jan
Maybe I'll try giving that a go. That's a bargain for battery and charge port. I'd even pay £50 if they offered that. (edited)
Author
31st Jan
Managed to call their repair centre. Was told it would be £60 for the charge port repair and battery so that seems fairly reasonable. Only problem he said is they are having trouble getting parts shipped from Huawei so they couldn't give a time how long it would take. Will be needing my phone for mid Feb so I'll guess I will send it off after that and hope it's not too long.
31st Jan
It seems more likely to be a dodgy cable, personally I'd try that first
31st Jan
Just a thought, but have you considered using wireless charging instead?
Author
1st Feb
I didn't even know the p30 Pro had wireless charging. I definitely would consider it as a last resort as I would still prefer to get the fast charge working again.