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Author: Quik Fix Repair

Phone Repairs: When To DIY, When To Bring It In, And When To Replace It

Naturally, when an issue develops with your phone, you want to spend the least amount of money possible in fixing it. The assumption is always that a DIY method will be the quickest and cheapest fix, but when you factor in the cost of failed repair attempts and collateral damage to other phone parts, the cheap phone repair can turn into the expensive mistake in a hurry.

Likewise, there are occasions where a phone is going to be so far gone there’s no point in even attempting a repair. This guide will help you to determine what the best choice is for your particular problem: do it yourself, bring it in, or just start shopping for a new phone. DIY

 

  • Battery Replacement (Android phones)

If a phone isn’t dropped or smashed in some way, the most likely repair you’ll be looking at is a battery replacement at some point. Most phones use lithium-ion batteries that don’t develop a “memory” in the way that older batteries did, but they will still gradually lose their capacity as a side effect of the process of using and recharging energy. For most Android phone models, replacing a battery is as simple as popping off the cover, popping it out and inserting a new one. Unfortunately, iPhones aren’t so simple, which is why they don’t land in this category!

 

  • Virtual Button Replacement

Have a button that is stuck or has lost function? You can at least get a patchwork solution going by replacing it with a virtual button, assuming the defective button isn’t stuck in the active position. For Android phones, try the app Button Savior. Apple phones have their own built-in Home, Lock Screen, Volume Up and Volume Down virtual buttons that can be enabled by turning on the AssistiveTouch feature in the Accessibility menu.

 

  • Headphone Jack Replacement

This one comes with a big caveat — if you have a phone model that’s easy to open up, it’s usually not hard to remove the existing headphone jack and insert a new one, as there’s usually a simple plug for them attached directly to the phone’s main board.

 

  • Foreign Matter In A Jack Or Port

This is a big issue among those who bring their phone or tablet to the beach. Sand likes to get everywhere, including inside the various jacks and sockets of your device. Fortunately, it usually won’t go much further than that. You can swab it out either with a Q-tip or a paper clip with tape attached to the end.

 

  • Hairline Cracks

We recommend that you bring in a phone that has serious cracks, as it is more cost-effective to ensure the screen replacement is done the right way the first time. If the phone has a hairline crack that is only making swipes and pinches uncomfortable, however, you can avoid that and prevent the phone from further damage simply by installing a screen protector.

PROFESSIONAL REPAIR

 

  • Cracked Screens

It’s true that certain models of phone make it fairly easy to replace the screen, provided you don’t mind opening the phone up yourself. The problem with these DIY repairs is that you often find the phone mysteriously won’t turn on or the screen develops a flicker and visibility problems. You then end up having to bring it into a shop anyway, and you’re out the cost of the repair kit. Unless you’re a professional yourself or have done this repair successfully with your particular phone model before, it’s nearly always more cost-effective to bring it to a repair shop that gives you a competitive price first.

 

  • Camera Issues

A camera glass replacement is one of those things that can be easy and DIY-able if you have a model that’s easy to open, but if the phone is designed to be more resistant to opening you may well damage something else in the process. The rest of the camera is usually attached directly to the motherboard, however, so replacements and repairs should be left to the professionals.

 

  • Submerged/Soaked Phones

If your phone simply had water dumped over it, or was submerged for only a very short time, it’s very possibly salvageable if you power it down and remove the battery immediately after recovering it. You can try leaving it in silica gel or uncooked rice for a minimum of 48 hours to soak up any moisture trapped inside. If it still refuses to power on or has performance issues after that time, have a professional take a look at it to see if there is anything that can be done before scrapping it.

  • Battery Replacement (iPhone)

Unlike with most Android phone models, Apple does not provide you with easy access to the battery. It is possible to do this yourself with a repair kit, but if you open the phone up to find out the battery is no longer working because of a broken connector, you’ll just wind up bringing it into the shop anyway unless you’re comfortable with soldering it yourself. Early models of the iPhone also require soldering to remove and replace the battery.

REPLACE

  • Phones Submerged For More Than Several Seconds

If a phone is submerged for an extended period of time, the damage is likely too extensive for it to be recovered. Sometimes these phones will fool you by working for a while after being thoroughly dried out using the techniques described above. However, the corrosion of the internal parts is going to be very thorough, and will spread over time. You might get weeks of use out of it before parts of it start gradually failing one by one. This is the reason that many repair shops will decline to even attempt to repair a phone that has been submerged, because even if they get it back into a fully functioning state in the shop, they can’t guarantee it won’t lose function over time. If the phone is not designed to be water-resistant and it spent more than a couple of seconds submerged in something, it’s time to give serious thought to just replacing it.

Still not sure if your phone needs repair or replacement? Want professionals to take a look at it? Contact us for a repair quote that’s completely free!

Samsung Galaxy Vs. Iphone Comparison- The Race for Perfection

Samsung Galaxy and iPhone have been major rivals ever since the Galaxy first came out, and they’ve definitely pushed the other competitor to greater heights along the way. How do these two phones match up in terms of which phone is better for who? What does the future have in store for the properties, and will either eventually be victorious?

Personality Wars-Order vs. Creativity

There’s no doubt that the Apple store has some of the best apps in the world. You won’t find any genuinely terrible apps there, generally. If you want to only look through the best, and have everything be ordered, and this is your personality, then the iPhone is definitely for you. Being a casual developer, or someone who wants to learn from the ground up is also going to be harder with the iPhone. They call the App Store a “walled garden” for a good reason.

On the other hand, if you don’t mind having to sort through an absolutely huge number of apps, many of which are of poor quality, all for the sake of finding some truly creative, new ideas for your phone, than going with the Galaxy which runs Android operating system derivatives, may be the better way to go instead.

Personality Wars-Power Vs. Novelty

This really goes back and forth depending on the models you’re comparing. For example, the Galaxy S7 has twice the Ram at 4GB compared to the iPhone 6S which has 2GB. Both have a comparable chip, though the 6S has the 64-bit core. This can be generally representative of how this fight goes. Samsung often has more power on paper, with the iPhone6S having some cute little extra thing.

So, it just comes down to which interests you more most of the time? Do you want just whatever is the most powerful on paper, no matter what? Or do you like playing around with some new thing that you’ve never seen before? That can help you decide for sure.

Personality Wars-Preset vs. Customization

People definitely vary about how much they want to take personal control of their phone and customize it to their heart’s content. Android phones like the Galaxy tend to have huge options for this. Depending on your technical skill, you can change around just about every aspect of the phone from the lock screen, to the pull-down menu, to the wallpaper and everything in between.

You can get your own third-party virtual keyboard and load it with all of your own words if you don’t like the keyboard that comes stock, for example. You can make it look just like a Windows phone, you can upload all of your own images and preferences and make the phone truly your own.

The iPhone doesn’t like you messing around with this kind of thing nearly as much. The focus is on user-friendly, which generally means preset controls. It’s easy for user’s to go awry when you have a lot of customization options, after all. The iPhone has to play catch up to a lot of what Android and Galaxy has already. The rumor is that it will take until iOS 8 to get predictive text, third-party keyboards and other such features that Android and Galaxy have had for ages.

In other words, the iPhone will likely often be easier to use than the Galaxy, but it will also be slower many times when it comes to changes to the O.S., especially when it comes to all of those features that require tapping into customization on the phone considering how reticent iPhone can be about giving you access to that. This is especially the case for any features involving third parties.

Apple really doesn’t like opening up third-party access to its hardware without a tremendous amount of vetting first, so this is inevitably going to be way slower on Apple than on Galaxy.

Looking Towards the Future

The year 2017 is going to show a decisive battle with the Samsung Galaxy S8 versus the iPhone 8. This is actually a good example of the kind of fight these two devices have had and will be having apparently, for some time to come.

You see, the iPhone 8 has rumored features including an iris scanner and wireless charging simultaneously. It’s rumored that the Galaxy S8 will be matching it, except without the charging port. This extra feature is the type of thing that iPhone is often known for, after all. After all, iPhone is what started off the whole smartphone revolution in the first place.

They really know how to stay on the cutting edge of new extra features. The rumor is that the S8 will have the better dual lens camera with 16MP and 4k video recording, just beating out the 12MP of the iPhone 8. The rumor is also that the iPhone 8 will have up to 4GB of RAM whereas the S8 could have as much as 6GB of RAM. That’s a lot of RAM!

So, even in the rumors, you have some innovative tech combinations with the iPhone with more of a focus on aesthetics and some real hard-hitting hardware options with the potential Samsung Galaxy S8. Tech-heads may want to go with the Galaxy into the future, but those loyal to Apple and its beautiful designs are unlikely to be swayed by anything anyway nor should they be!

For more information on these topics and others, please contact us today.

Textiquette: The Etiquette of Texting

These days, many people would rather send a text than get a phone call. It’s faster, easier, and simpler to toss off a few lines than it is to go through the small talk necessary to get to the meat of a phone call. All of that convenience, however, still comes along with a few clear social rules–and making sure you understand the important ones will keep you from frustrating everyone you interact with via text. While the rules of texting might not have made it into an etiquette book yet, understanding proper textiquette will keep you from making a major social faux pas.

Watch the Mass/Group Texts

While sending out a mass “happy holidays” text or a single text announcing a new engagement or pregnancy can be tempting, avoid the urge to mass text arbitrarily. A few general rules of thumb:

  • Restrict mass texts to people who actually care about your news or wishes. That random contact you haven’t actually spoken to in a decade doesn’t need your pregnancy announcement!
  • Don’t start a group text when you know most of the people on the list will be in school or at work. There’s nothing more frustrating than a phone buzzing repeatedly when you can’t answer it.
  • Avoid sending mass texts to people who deserve a personal communication instead.
  • Control who you include in a group text list. Your parents and your best friend don’t necessarily need to be in a group text with the ten people you work with every day, most of whom they have never met.

The Basics of Responding to Messages

At some point, everyone has received a message that caused them to think, “Oh, I’ll answer that later,” then put their phone down and forgotten about it. If you’re guilty of regularly failing to respond to simple messages, however, it’s time to brush up on your textiquette! Keep these things in mind:

  • Try to respond as soon as possible to questions.
  • If you’re avoiding making plans with someone, be honest about your lack of desire (or ability) to attend instead of making them wait. This will give them the maximum amount of time to make other plans.
  • Don’t fall into the trap of responding to everyone else in the group or posting to social media while you’re ignoring a text message.

When Not to Text

It’s incredibly common today to see people sitting beside one another or across the table from one another, the entire group paying attention to their phones instead of each other. If you’re out with friends, these basic etiquette rules should apply to your phone usage.

  • Check your text messages and social media updates before meeting your friend–an extra five minutes in the car is all it should take. This will reduce temptation while you’re spending time together and allow you to be more fully present.
  • Avoid getting trapped in a text conversation while you’re out with someone else.
  • Make a habit of putting your phone down during meals and not picking it up again until everyone at the table is done eating.
  • If you’re expecting an important text, let the people you’re with know that you’ll be checking your phone for that information. Avoid looking at your phone unless it’s given you a notification.
  • If you answer a text, let your companions know who you’re talking to or a brief overview of the content when possible. Try not to send texts that can’t be shared with the people you’re with until you leave. 

Texting and Slang: Use With Care

Texting abbreviations and slang are fairly common. You don’t want to be the person who is constantly aware of your friends’ grammar–and comments on it–but if you’re going to use abbreviations or emojis, make sure you know what they mean. When in doubt, ask: you might prevent a major social faux pas simply by knowing what that abbreviation actually stands for.

What About Emojis?

Emojis, or the cute little characters available on most smart phones, can add a layer of depth to the conversation and help convey your meaning more effectively. A smiley face, a wink, or a heart can say much more than words. In general, emojis are a relatively safe choice that has gained in popularity as they’ve moved from keyboard characters constructed in such a way that they vaguely mimic human expression to actual pictures. Emojis, however, do have their time and place: keep them out of professional communications. 

Length Matters

When it comes to texts, you should usually keep things short and sweet–but not too short. A simple “k” is often frustrating to your recipient and can lead to an immediate end to the conversation. On the other hand, if you’re going to write an essay, you might be better off lifting your phone a little higher and making a call instead. Keep your text communications brief. If a conversation is extending excessively, consider swapping to a phone call or saving it until you get together in person. This is true whether you’re debating over plans or having an argument with your spouse in the middle of the work day. Keep in mind, too, that most people are more likely to skim long text messages than they are to read the entire thing, so the longer your message, the greater the likelihood that something will be lost in translation.

Paying attention to critical texting etiquette is the best way to ensure that your text conversations take place without frustrating either you or your recipient. If your texting device is broken, that frustration is likely already mounting. The good news is, we can help! Contact us today to learn how we can get your phone back in working order.

Don’t Throw Away Your Old Phone! 7 Ways to Do Something Great With It Instead

Most of us have an old phone lying in a drawer somewhere. With most companies upgrading phones every two to three years, we all have to do something with our old phones. Instead of letting that phone collect dust, what if you could do something great with it instead? Next time you think about tossing that phone in the garbage, try one of these innovative ideas. Don’t throw away your old phone! Do something with it! You might be surprised at the difference you can make with an old phone.

Cure Alzheimer’s Disease

If you have a smart phone taking up space, use it to help scientists at Stanford University study protein folding. With the information they gain, these innovative researchers hope to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, and several types of cancers. Just download this app and your phone will begin a protein folding simulation. Protein folding plays an important role in these deadly diseases, but the computing power required to simulate it is too great even for a single supercomputer. By recruiting the power of thousands of old smart phones and computers, the researchers are effectively creating the world’s largest supercomputer. Be a part of the cure just by running the software on your old phone. You’ll join more than 100,000 other devices. Each phone is one more step toward a cure.

Fix Your Car

Even an old smart phone has the technology to run diagnostic tests on your car, check error codes, and more. But no one wants to get their regular phone covered in grease. Install the Car Diagnostics Pro app on your old phone and connect it to your car with a wireless cable through your car’s Data Link Connector. If you’re not sure where to find that, check your owner’s manual. Once you know what’s wrong with your car, you can use the information to make an informed decision about whether to fix it yourself or take it to a mechanic. There are thousands of instructional videos online that will walk you through the process of many basic car fixes, so this one function could end up saving your thousands of dollars on car repairs and labor!

Save the Rainforest

According to Rainforest Connection, destroying tropical rainforests is a leading cause of climate change and mass extinction, and illegal activity is usually the cause. Fortunately, the cheapest, easiest way to fix it is to turn your old smart phone into a forest guardian. Using old phones to alert officials to illegal logging operations has already proven successful in Sumatra, and this company is ready to expand its protective operation in Indonesia, Africa, and the Amazon. Donate your phone, and this company will use it to monitor and protect the rainforest in one of these areas. To top it all off, your phone won’t take up space in your home anymore!

Get a Free Video Baby Monitor

We’ve come a long way from the audio-only baby monitors of the past. With apps like this one, you can take baby monitoring to the next level for maximum peace of mind. Use your old phone as the child device, and it will stream audio and video to your current phone. Need a nap for yourself? You can connect that old phone to multiple parent phones, so you can pass on the parenting duties to someone else while you get some much-needed rest. The app does everything that a commercial baby monitor would do, but keeps it all connected to your phone. And don’t worry, if you’re on the phone, the app will alert you if the baby is crying with a series of tones that don’t interrupt your phone call.

Start a New Hobby

With this inexpensive controller app, you can take photography to the next level. Control auto and manual focus, shutter speed, filters and more with this app. It’s especially great if you need a tripod and it’s essential that the camera doesn’t move. Take the step from amateur to professional photographer with this camera controller.

Protect Your Home

Set up your old phone in your house and install a home security app like this one to create your own security system. Protect your loved ones and keep your home secure with an old phone. The basic version of the app is free, but you can upgrade for 24-hour surveillance and cloud storage. It’s the perfect thing for making sure your home is safe whether you’re away on a trip or just out for a date night. Never worry about the safety of your home again and save thousands on a commercial security system with an old phone.

Make a Virtual Reality Headset

With this $5 kit, you can make your own virtual reality headset. It works with any old smart phone, and the unique lenses work with dozens of apps for an incredible virtual reality experience. Try it for yourself with your old smart phone! Stay on top of the latest technology with this amazing kit and your used phone.

With so many great uses for your old phone, there’s no reason to leave it stuffed in a drawer. And don’t toss it in the garbage, either! If nothing on this list appeals to you, donate it to charity. Contact us to learn more about great ways to use old phones, or to repair a broken phone before you buy a new one. Our work always comes with a 1-year warranty and incredible customer service. Let us help you with your phone today!

The Eternal Question: Repair Or Replace?

It’s easier for a rich man to ride that camel through the eye of a needle directly into the Kingdom of Heaven, than for some of us to give up our cell phone.

Vera Nazarian so eloquently hit the proverbially nail on the head with this insight. In today’s day and age, our cell phones are our lifeline. They are our connection to family, friends, work, entertainment, education, and news. They contain all of our most private details, memories and secrets. They are our brain. And the neat thing is, they just keep getting better. Every year a more intuitive, efficient and effective device is released. But do you really need it? Is the cost worth it? Or could your current phone, with some updates and repairs, keep you just as happy? Here are a few of considerations to keep in mind before shelling out a giant wad of cash:

Cracked Screen: One out of every ten people with a cell phone have a cracked screen. It’s probably the most common type of damage that phones can incur. Much of the time it doesn’t even affect the performance of the phone. Sometimes it can affect visibility. It can also be an eye sore and an embarrassing mar across a valuable possession. However, it absolutely does not mean you have to go out and buy a new phone. Depending on the version of phone you have, it won’t cost you more than $200 to fix. And it’s quick. Meaning you won’t need to have all of your contacts and pictures transferred over to a new device or lose your place in a game or upload all of your music to a new phone. Those processes take time. This time, along with the high prices of new phones, just don’t make sense for a little scratch or crack. You can spend that additional few hundred dollars on a few snazzy screen protectors and phone cases to make sure you don’t have the same problem again.
Broken Buttons: It’s surprising how important one little button can be. If your power button doesn’t work, turning on your phone is impossible. If your home button doesn’t work, getting out of apps can be infuriating. If your volume button doesn’t work, you can be put in an extremely embarrassing situation. These little inconveniences build up and will make you want to throw your phone across the room. Don’t! Then maybe you will have to buy a new phone. If you’re having problems with any of your buttons, it is super cheap to fix. You likely won’t spend more than $100 on the repair. Replacing it would be a massive waste of money and, as mentioned above, time.
Faulty Charging Port: There is nothing worse than plugging your phone in before you go to sleep, waking up, grabbing it before you run out the door, and then getting to work only to realize it didn’t actually charge. The feeling of a low or dead phone battery actually makes you feel like the blood is draining from your own body. Don’t assume this means that something is wrong with your phone or with your battery. It could very likely just be a problem with the charging port. This part of the phone gets worn out from being used on a daily basis. And just as the buttons and a cracked screen are cheap fixes, so is the charging port. This repair won’t run you more than $100.
Age: Yes, we get it, this was the first phone you ever got. It has sentimental value to you. You took your first selfie with it, sent out your first tweet with it. It is you and you are it. But now it’s seven years old and it’s fading. The battery doesn’t last long, apps take forever to open and close, the speakers emit a scratchy sound. It’s probably time to bite the bullet and invest in a new phone. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you and your new phone will bond, with its fancy camera and speedy response. One thing to consider is selling your old phone. If it still has a few parts that are in good shape, repair shops and private individuals might be interested in harvesting it for parts and you’ll get a little bit of cash out of it.
Poor Battery Life: Okay, so the biggest consideration with battery life is never assume. Maybe the phone is giving out and it’s time to say good-bye. But, maybe you just need to buy a new battery–if you have a phone that allows you to remove and replace the battery. Or, maybe you just need a minor battery repair. Battery repairs don’t cost much and they can make your phone work as good as new. For this problem, it is best to do some investigation before you make any rash decisions.
Multiple Problems: The list keeps growing. Your home button only works half the time. Your power button has called it quits all together. You have a few scratches and cracks on both the front and back of your phone. The charging port struggles to react to the charger. When you have such a long list of issues, the bill for repairs might be about the same as a new phone. Do your research to make sure, though. And if a new phone is the better option, definitely explore selling the phone for its parts.
Maybe your phone just has a minor issue and it requires a simple repair. Maybe it has quite a few issues and it’s time to move on. Or maybe you aren’t sure what to do with your phone and the problems it’s having. Whatever the dilemma, contact us. We’ll be more than happy to walk you through various options to see what would best suit your needs and your wallet’s limitations.

Cracked Screen? Get iPhone/Android Phone Repair ASAP

Screen cracks are extremely common smartphone repair issues since dropping a phone is such an easy thing to do. If you’ve dropped your phone and now have a cracked screen, you could do nothing or get it repaired. While phones often remain functional after suffering a cracked screen, using a phone chronically with a cracked screen could lead to problems. Here are some reasons why obtaining iPhone/Android phone repair for a cracked screen is your best bet.

Sharp Shards of Glass

Perhaps the most obvious concern with using a phone that has a cracked screen is that you can cut yourself on the glass. You have to exercise extra caution as you run your finger or thumb across the screen to use it, which is annoying and time-consuming. Shards of glass may also fall from the screen inside your purse, pocket, or bag, and you could cut yourself when you reach inside these places.

Cracks Worsen With Time

Cracks only get deeper, longer, and more numerous with time instead of better. Sooner or later, you’ll have to have the screen fixed, and the sooner you do, the least likely the phone is to experience internal damage from the cracks.

Damage From Glass Shards

Glass shards can damage the underlying LCD panel, which is a much more serious problem than broken surface glass. That’s why you won’t want to wait long after you crack the screen to have the phone repaired.

Eye Strain

Reading text on a broken glass screen is hard because you have to strain your eyes more. Text becomes distorted around the cracked area, and it takes longer to decipher the words. Reading text on a small smartphone screen is already enough strain on your eyes as it is, and you should protect your vision by getting a broken screen fixed as soon as possible.

Frustration Viewing Content

In addition to text, videos and pictures are more difficult to see with a cracked screen. You’ll have to scroll and change phone orientation to see a certain part of a picture clearly. This is time-consuming and just another frustration of using a phone with a cracked screen.

Abnormal Colors And Dead Spots

If the panel underneath the screen suffers damage, you may start to see odd colors. The screen may also lose functionality in certain places, and you’ll have dead spots that don’t respond to touch. If your cracked-screen phone has these issues, you should take it to get evaluated and repaired before the damage worsens.

Damage From Debris

When a phone’s screen cracks, its internal structures become exposed and vulnerable. Dirt, dust, oil from hands, and other debris can make their way into the cracks and damage the screen and underlying panel. You can’t even wipe your screen clean anymore with a damp cloth because water can seep in through those cracks. Bacteria may also start to grow in these cracks, which becomes a health concern.

Ruined Water Resistance

If you have a water-resistant phone, a cracked screen takes away this resistance. Some smartphone users buy water-resistant devices because they’re around water a lot. If this is your situation, you’ll want to repair a cracked screen right away to restore water resistance and prevent damage.

Increased Fragility

Once your screen cracks, your device becomes more vulnerable than it was before. If you drop it again, internal structures can shatter and render the phone unusable. Even if your phone still works after you drop it again, further screen cracks increase the chances that touch functionality will fade. If you aren’t in a position to buy a new phone, you should repair a cracked screen before the worst happens.

GPS Trouble

Trying to use a GPS app in the car with a cracked phone screen is really frustrating. Screen cracks distort those little lines on GPS maps, making you more likely to make driving mistakes. You’ll also spend longer glancing down at your phone trying to decipher distorted lines, and this is an obvious safety concern since you have your eyes off the road. If you use GPS a lot, you won’t want to wait to get your screen fixed.

Loss of Aesthetics

A phone with a cracked screen doesn’t look good. If you use your phone a lot at work, you’ll want it to look intact and undamaged. Even if you pride yourself on professionalism, people might still judge you as being careless or unprofessional if your phone is all cracked up. This is an even greater concern if you have to use your phone during job interviews.

Increased Repair Costs

If you wait to repair your screen, you’ll probably end up paying higher repair costs than you would pay if you didn’t wait. That’s because of all the problems that can happen as a result of using a phone with a cracked screen. While you may save money now by ignoring the cracks, you’ll pay for your decision in the long haul.

Turn to the professionals at Quick Fix Phone Repair for screen replacements. We’re highly experienced in replacing cracked screens on iPhones and many types of Android phones. We also work on tablets and iPods with cracked screens, and we offer a 1-year warranty on all our repairs. We can give you a free quote and repair the phone the same day you bring it to us. Please contact us or stop on by our store to find out more.

The Top 10 Qualities to Seek in an iPhone/Android Phone Repair Company

Approximately 90% of Americans own a mobile phone, with iPhone and Android devices dominating the cell phone market. For many of these Americans, their mobile phones are their only means of accessing the internet or communicating with family and customers, creating a culture of cell phone dependency. Our dependence upon our mobile devices is expected to continue to rise as our desire for convenience increases.

The Growing Need for iPhone and Android Phone Repair Services

As Americans become increasingly dependent upon their mobile devices, the need for prompt, high-quality iPhone/Android phone repair service is greater than ever. A damaged mobile phone or tablet is not only frustrating, but can be devastating to professionals who depend upon their cell phones to conduct business. With more than 9 in every 10 cell phone users depending upon an iPhone or Android phone, it is critical for cell phone repair companies to demonstrate efficiency when repairing iPhones and Android phones.

The Top 10 Qualities to Seek in a Mobile Phone Repair Service Provider

Not all cell phone repair companies are created equal. Your mobile phone is the key to your ability to communicate with friends, family and employers. As you evaluate potential mobile phone repair providers, you should look for a mobile phone repair company that possesses the following 10 qualities:

1) Speed of repair services provided. Speed is the most important criteria for consumers who are heavily dependent upon their iPhones and Android phones. Same day service is a top priority for the most dependable cell phone repair companies. Ideally, a repair company should strive to complete repairs within a matter of minutes after providing a diagnosis.

2) Ability to provide an accurate diagnosis quickly. Diagnostic accuracy is critical to the success of the cell phone repair process. Failure to properly diagnose a problem with your iPhone or Android phone can lead to unnecessary expense and ineffective repairs.

3) Experience with a wide range of repair services. A trusted cell phone repair provider should demonstrate competency with a comprehensive array of problems that affect iPhones and Android phones. Below are some of the key issues that repair providers should be prepared to address:

  • Battery repair and replacement
  • Replacement of broken LCDs
  • Evaluation and treatment of phones that have sustained water damage
  • Assistance unlocking phones
  • Repair of WiFi
  • Replacement of damaged back covers
  • Bluetooth repair
  • Repair of cameras
  • Replacement of damaged front glass

 

4) Affordability of services offered. Your mobile phone repair provider should provide superb quality at a fair price. The price of parts and labor should be clearly outlined in writing, and there should be no hidden costs. Additionally, your provider should offer a variety of payment options, including payment by cash, credit card or debit card.

5) Highly skilled repair technicians. When evaluating cell phone repair companies, you should seek a company with technicians who are skilled in the repair of iPhones and Android phones. In addition to industry experience, technicians should receive periodic training on the latest repair techniques and diagnostic tools.

6) Convenience of service. Convenience is a must for many business owners and working consumers who simply do not have time to drive to a cell phone repair store. Some providers offer onsite evaluation and repair of your iPhone or Android phone. This saves time and eliminates traffic hassles for consumers who cannot afford to leave their businesses or places of employment.

7) Quality of repair services provided. A reliable cell phone repair company provides speedy repairs without compromising the quality of service provided. Repairs should be completed neatly and thoroughly, and your phone should be returned in clean condition.

8) Customer accessibility and support. Whether you have an iPhone with a damaged cover or an Android phone with a defective camera, you deserve to receive professional customer service quickly. Leading repair providers recognize that cell phone troubles can strike at any time and offer extended store hours beyond the typical 9 to 5 schedule. The most committed providers offer accessibility by phone or email 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

9) Tools and parts required to perform repairs. One of the key differences between novice repair companies and experienced providers is a complete collection of repair tools and quick access to replacement parts. In addition to basic tools such as an array of screwdrivers, special scissors, and spudgers, your cell phone repair provider should have alcohol on hand to help restore water damaged phones. A healthy stock of replacement parts should include charging ports, glass, and screens for iPhones and Android phones.

10) Warranty offered for repair services. A warranty is the cornerstone of an effective cell phone repair campaign. Ideally, a warranty should be included at no additional charge with your iPhone or Android repair and should cover any subsequent services needed for one year. Before you remit payment for your repair services, make sure that your warranty terms are clearly outlined on your invoice.

Selecting the Best Mobile Phone Repair Service Provider

Very few mobile phone repair companies offer a comprehensive level of service that includes all ten of these key benefits. Fortunately for the residents of Tucson, Quik Fix iPhone Repair sets itself apart from the competition by providing all of the advantages outlined above. We invite you to contact us to find out why we are Tucson’s most trusted choice for mobile phone repair service. Your time is valuable, and we offer our customers an unprecedented level of convenience and expertise. We look forward to helping you with your mobile phone repair needs!

Mac, PC Or Tablet: Which One Is Right For You?

Having trouble deciding whether a Mac, PC or tablet is the best choice for you? The decision really comes down to what you plan to use it for.

With that in mind, we’ve prepared this brief guide that examines what people most often use their computers for, and how each stacks up within that category.

Getting Work Done

If you need a computer primarily for work, you can immediately narrow the choice down to either Mac or PC for most professions. Tablets simply struggle too much in terms of horsepower, available software/apps, and interface. Inherent issues such as typing lag and more limited internet browsing capability are a constant bother with many tablet models, and typing on a screen can never replace a proper keyboard. Once you add in the weight and bulk of carrying a keyboard dock around, the portability advantage of a tablet is greatly negated, and it also adds an extra point of failure in terms of the connector potentially breaking or Bluetooth ceasing to function for a variety of reasons.

Certain career fields do find a tablet more handy than a laptop, though. Artists drawing with a light pen, architects, and construction field workers, for example. In general, however, tablets are not well-suited for office work and anything involving typing or the creation of media. You’ll have to go to the extreme upper end of the tablet market just to start to get on par with the lower end of the laptop market, looking at devices such as the Surface Pro that cost as much as a very powerful laptop would.

As far as the Mac or PC choice goes for work, it’s mostly a personal preference call as they are about equally good. This choice will likely be influenced most heavily by what the people at your place of work tend to use. Windows emulation is decent on the Mac, but Mac emulation in Windows is virtually non-existent.

Gaming

PCs are generally seen as the superior gaming platform since they have by far the greatest library. The knock against them has typically been that they were traditionally complicated and expensive to get into for the purpose of gaming, requiring you to build your own “gaming rig” and sometimes struggle with configuration settings and patches to get games running. There’s plenty of options now for buying high-end pre-assembled desktops or gaming laptops that work right out of the box, and digital distribution platforms like Steam and GOG have made getting games running much easier than it was in the past. Hands down, the PC is the only serious choice if you’re serious about gaming.

That doesn’t mean tablets shouldn’t be considered, however. Tablets have a robust lineup of mobile games that often aren’t available on the PC. Since they don’t have the same horsepower, these tend to be more retro-style titles. If you like social gaming and online cooperative or competitive multiplayer, however, there’s a strong case to go with a tablet. And though PC gaming has become simplified in recent years, tablet gaming is as bone-simple as it gets. Tablets have moved into the “easy to play” space that consoles ceded when they started requiring internet connections and large patches to get games to work. Tablets also double as excellent multimedia devices for movies and TV shows, reading and listening to music.

Mac, unfortunately, just doesn’t work for games. The platform has simply never been taken up as one for gaming by developers. The best you can hope for with a Mac is a handful of ports of titles that were first released on the PC, usually months to years later. Mac computers have many positive qualities, but they are absolutely the wrong choice for a dedicated gamer.

Flexibility / Customization

This is another category where the PC stands out as the clear best option. Macs and tablets are designed as “walled gardens” where it’s harder to screw technical stuff up and get viruses, but the price of that is giving up a lot of control and customization. PCs, on the other hand, can be broken down and built back up on a part-by-part basis.

This extends not to just the hardware and physical design, but the software. Mac and the mobile operating systems want you to only run software approved by a central marketplace. This has the advantage of making viruses much more rare, but also limits choice to a great degree. You have to be more pro-active about your security on a PC, but you also get a much greater range of software to choose from.

Price

Tablets clearly win this war, but they do so by offering much less horsepower and flexibility in terms of software. PCs are typically less expensive than Macs, and can save you a lot of money when problems crop up or it is time to upgrade as it is easier to swap out parts rather than paying a high fixed fee at a “Genius Bar” or replacing the whole thing. Macs do generally deliver excellent build quality and a long life span for their price, however.

What Do The People Say?

According to the research firm Gartner, Android tablets are actually winning the popularity contest by far, with over a billion more units shipped in recent years than either Mac or Windows devices (though that number does include Android phones as well). Mac is slightly ahead of Windows in units shipped, at 297 million for 2015 versus 283 million for Windows. If you want to factor in Apple phones, however, then iOS and OS X are just behind Android at over a billion units worldwide.

Web browsing statistics do show that most internet users are still running Windows, however, indicating they are on a PC. And the Steam gaming service reports that about 95% of their users have been running Windows for the last few years.

As far as polls go, a 2012 survey by Business Insider found that older generations had a strong preference for tablets, but younger people opted for a computer over a tablet nine times out of ten. And a 2014 poll of office workers found that 41% preferred a laptop computer, 23% preferred a desktop, and 21% preferred a tablet.

Summing It Up

In summary, these are the relative pros and cons of each format:

 

  • Macs offer reliability, simplicity, security and quality, but usually at the highest price tag and without the ability to play the latest and greatest games.

 

  • Tablets are very easy to use for the non tech-inclined, have a good lineup of simpler social games, and are a wonderful budget choice if your needs are limited to multimedia and basic web browsing. They won’t be so good for most forms of serious work and have the lowest amount of horsepower and available software, however.

 

  • PCs offer the greatest flexibility and the best platform for gaming, as well as undercutting Mac significantly in price. However, they are more demanding of technical knowledge and are more vulnerable to viruses and malware attacks.

 

In need of mobile device repair? Contact us!

Wild Smartphone Repairs Tricks to Try Out

If your sense is to exhaust every single conceivable approach to fixing your phone before admitting defeat and going in to get it professionally repaired, then there are definitely some options out there for you to look at for sure.

Brushing Your Cracked Screen Instead of Teeth

Believe it or not, toothpaste is one cure you can use to help with small scratches or dings on your smart phone screen. All you have to do is put a bit of it onto something like a microfiber cloth, and then rub it with circular movements lightly. Don’t do it too hard or you could pull off surface coating or even ding the screen further.

Then, all you have to do is wipe it down with a lightly moistened, second cloth. You need the paste kind of toothpaste, and not what’s actually tooth gel. Obviously, if you accidentally threw your phone out of your tenth story apartment, you’re going to need more than just toothpaste to fix it. The kind of help only professionals can provide.

Flaming Hot Phones

If your phone burns when you touch it, chances are fairly good that it just might be too hot. This can happen for a number of reasons you may be able to fix yourself. For example, it may be too hot because you’re leaving the screen on too much, so make sure you check to see if there are any apps that are keeping the screen on more than is necessary. Most smartphone screens really weren’t mean to be left on all the time, and they can really heat up and drain your power if you do.

Also, it’s important not to underestimate breathability. Heat can dissipate from your phone naturally, but only if you let it. If it’s burning a hole in your jeans, it could be because there’s not enough room for the heat to get out. Best thing to do is take it out and put it in a pocket that breathes more like a jacket pocket. Or, you could wear some pants with bigger pockets.

There’s also the possibility that you have some app running on your phone that’s too resource intensive. This could be a game, a video recording app, or something of the like. It’s best to double-check that your heat problem isn’t something this easy to fix before you go to a professional. However, if none of these things are the case, you will want some help because a heat issue is not a minor problem many times.

Bake Your Screen Back from Scratches

Another approach you can try is using baking soda in order to fix smartphone scratches. Basically, you put 2/3rds baking soda in with 1/3rd water and mix it up. This is going to make a paste. Then, you put that paste onto the smartphone screen using a microfiber cloth. If you rub it into the screen, this should help with scratches. Again, there’s going to be a limit to how much you can use this to clean up scratches. If you used it to deflect bullets or beat off a zombie attack, chances are pretty good that hug extensive cracks will take more than baking sofa in order to solve.

In a  pinch, you could also use something like vegetable oil in order to try to clean up scratches, but this is definitely to be considered as nothing more than a temporary, aesthetic fix. It’s a fact that any scratch beyond the most shallow will require more professional help.

The Old Inevitably Loose Charger

If you’ve had a smartphone before, you know how the charging port can get loose to the point that it won’t even fit your phone anymore. Believe it or not, it’s at least possible you could fix this yourself. If you get a toothpick and sharpen one end of it, or use some other non-metal implement, you can sometimes get the lint out of the plug. Then, it’ll fit on the phone much tighter again.

That could be all it takes. If it sticks on the end much firmer afterward and charges again, you’ll know that lint was probably the only real problem that you were facing. Otherwise, you’ll need to go seek out a professional because it could be some issue with the inside of the phone, something related to software, or any number of other problems, all of which will be too much for you to do a cheap fix on your own.

Waterlogged Rice Maneuver

If you dropped your phone directly into a puddle, a pool, the ocean, or had some type of water dragon took a shot at you, you very well might find that your phone is no longer functional. This is often because of the battery or little droplets of water that may be in other parts of the phone.

One approach that’s worked for some people is to take out the battery, and put it under a clump of raw rice.

The idea is that the rice can absorb little bits of water from the phone, and then once they are all removed, you can grab your phone, put it back together, and it may work again. This may not work for all smartphones, of course, especially those that don’t have a battery you can detach. In those cases, you should really go out and seek the help of a professional.

For more information, please contact us today.

Our New Storefront Location!

We are extremely excited to announce the grand opening of our newest storefront location at 2843 N. Campbell Ave in Tucson! This new location has allowed us the additional space to expand our team and services to accommodate all of your repair needs. Since our beginning in 2013 we have constantly expanded and plan to open up an additional 1-2 locations (South Tucson and East Tucson) in the next 6 months to be able to service all parts of town.