Unresponsive / Over Responsive Ipod Touch Screen

2 months from purchase date, my iPod Touch is in for repairs / replacement. Honestly, I'd rather they just replace the whole thing rather than having one that has already been tinkered and prodded open.

I brought it today to Power Mac Center Megamall Branch to have it looked at and they did admit a possible hardware defect though I was quite irritated at first because my iPod was trying its best to act fault-free exactly at the time I needed it to do a tantrum. Thankfully, I was able to convince the people there that it was indeed a problematic unit.

The Problem:

It started from a tiny strip of unresponsive part of the screen, approximately 2 mm thick. I wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't from the drawing app I installed and tried to use. It was when I tried to draw a circle on the virtual canvas that I observed that the circles that I was making tend to be lopsided on the left part of the screen. I tried to shade the whole screen with "ink" with vertical strokes and there I saw a strip of canvass that wouldn't fill up. I tried horizontal strokes and the strip was shaded reluctantly.

I ignored it for weeks because aside from the drawing app, it wasn't disturbing any of the iPod's functions and my day to day interaction with it. But then it started interfering with my typing and I couldn't press the letter E and the number 3 in an upright keyboard but when rotate via landscape, I was able to type freely so I let it go. Then things started going horribly wrong.

The unresponsive strip was beginning to thicken and now, when rotated to a landscape view, all the letters on the third row of the keyboard with Z, X, C etc. and the backspace key would not respond to touch. I also experienced some weird, alarming things with the faulty screen. Two times it happened that when I touch and hold on the defective part (while viewing a photo), the screen would start twitching like it's having a gadget-seizure. Afterwards, just hovering my finger on the screen would make it select things on its own like a possessed iPod in need of exorcism. Sometimes it would even open applications when my finger is nowhere near the device. (These are the problems that my iPod pretended not to have while speaking  and doing a demo with Power Mac's representative. I told them about it although I don't know if they believed me.)

Just a day before finally giving in on having my iPod  (and all my ebooks on Stanza. *gasp!*) temporarily taken away from me for at least two weeks so that it could be repaired and/or replaced (Thank Obama for the 1-year Warranty) I could not even select the apps on the left most side of the screen including music etc. without repeated touching so I guess that left me no choice.

Thankfully, the representatives at Power Mac were quite accommodating and it didn't matter that I didn't bought the unit from their store. They didn't even look at the receipt, the only proof that it was still under warranty, and 10 minutes later, I was out the door with an acknowledgment receipt with a number to call in case I want to check on my unit in their San Juan Service Center branch.

Hopefully, my good mood will prevail in the 2-3 weeks that I have to painstakingly wait for the return of my beloved non-human companion. Am crossing fingers that I will get a replacement unit. Now that will make me very happy.