Smart N8 home and recent navigation buttons not working

[Derekrl]

As heading - the two buttons at the bottom of teh screen have stopped working. The return button is still working. How can I sort this out?

[BandOfBrothers]

If you haven’t already done so please try a soft reboot by turning the phone Off and On @Derekrl

[Derekrl]

I have tried the soft reboot - no difference. It is now refusing to donload apps. I think the thing is apiece of rubbish....

[BandOfBrothers]

Sorry to hear it's still not resolved. 

If this was my situation i would back up and factory reset. 

If that does not help then a Vodafone High street Store can send it away under the 24 month manufacturing warranty as long as its not been dropped at any time or the water sensors havent been tripped. 

[hrym]

I don't know this particular device, but that all sounds like a resource issue to me - your storage is probably nearly full and you may be stretching the working memory too.   I'd normally suggest clearing recent apps to start with but, if that button's not working, that's not an option.

Go into the main Settings menu and tap on Storage.   If you have less that 1gb available, that's likely to be the issue.   You can clear some by tapping on Internal and then Clear Cache.   This will clear the app caches (just temporary files and you won't lose anything important).  Then see if the Recent Apps button will work.

If your storage is nearly full, you'll need to free some space up, so uninstall any apps you can live without.   Sadly, some of those will be the ones that are burnt-in and are uninstallable.

Also look at your own content - photos, music etc.   If you haven't done it already, these can happily reside on an SD card.   When transferring, use the Copy rather than the Move option so that you can check that the process has completed before deleting the original.  You may also need to do small numbers to start with until resources are freed up.   Set the camera storage location to the card so that new shots go there.   And, of course, make sure you have cloud or other external backups for the inevitable day when something gets lost.

[Derekrl]

Many thanks for your help. Internal storage is 3.60GB of 10.02 used.I tried to move and delete some photos from internal storage - it says "file deleted" but it remains there. The camera is supposed to be writing to teh SD card, but it doesn't seem to do so. I appreciate your assistance, but am coming to the conclusion that the big problem is that teh phone is not fit for purpose.

[Tash]

Thanks for getting back to us @Derekrl and I'm sorry to see you're continuing to experience issues with your phone.

If the helpful steps provided by @BandOfBrothers and @hrym haven't resolved this for you, I'd recommend visiting our advisers in your nearest store. We'll then be able to take a closer look at the phone for you and advise you further

[hrym]

As a next step, could you take the sd card out and see how the phone performs without it?   I've seen similar things happen with a card that's damaged or developing a fault.   The fact that the camera won't save to it is a further indication.   You may also find that you can delete files from the internal storage after you've taken the card out, too and that would be the final confirmation.   For safety, either do it with the phone off or do a software eject first.

If that doesn't work, the next step would be a factory reset (don't forget to back up your content first).   A reset would be part of any repair process, so you won't have lost anything by trying it yourself.

What you're trying to do are basic operations and any phone should be capable of them.  You also don't seem to be stretching the resources of the device.

[Derekrl]

Hi and again thank you - the SD card is working - phone recognised once removed and no difference when removed, Recognised that it had been returned when re-inserted. I will try the factory reset, but probably in a few weeks when I ma back in the UK. Many thanks for your help, which is much appreciated.

[Tash]

@Derekrl I'm sorry to see the Solihull store were unable to help resolve your microphone issues previously We'll be happy to pass on any feedback that you may have to improve our future customer service!

Please let us know how you get on with the factory reset when you're back