Claiming warranty on Xperia 10, should I reflash Android, lock the bootloader?

Well…

The repair center in the Netherlands denied repair of the phone, and kindly passed the phone number for Sony if you don’t agree with the denial of the repair. Even writing emails pointing out to the EU law does not help. I even asked what the cost would be if I would like to pay for the repair (mainboard replacement) and they even denied this because when it is not within the warranty Sony does not allow then to repair the phone. So they basically say you wanted this and even if our product has defects your screwed.

Contacted Jolla support and they point to the FAQ:

Sorry to hear about your situation. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about this as it seems to be a HW issue. Our FAQ on the instructions page says:

How does this affect my warranty with Sony?
The effect of unlocking your phone does affect your warranty, so you should make sure that you read Sony’s warnings during the unlocking process thoroughly. We also recommend that you verify that all the hardware is working properly before unlocking their devices, as although getting repairs for existing faults under warranty may still be possible after unlocking, it will be much easier before.

A similar kind of message is on Sony’s page on Unlocking the bootloader:

Unlock bootloader | Developer World

Truly disappointed about the whole repair process and they even send you the phone back while I asked them to wait for Sony to reply. If they will some day. Costed 36 euros + transport and several weeks further.

I really like Sailfish but knowing now that Sony will deny repair when the bootloader is unlocked they will deny repair. So to me it is a big gamble to buy a new phone and repeat the process hoping the hardware will stay ok. Since there are so many hardware related posts here on the forum.

I also wrote back to support that some hardware defects might be within warranty makes me curios what defects that might be. No speaker sound and vibration sounds like “normal” hardware defects.

Hope this helps people when they are about to buy a Sony and runs into issues. Think twice with a Xperia 10 plus in my case.

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