Mobility Digest » Repairs

Ask the Readers: Am I in Warranty Trouble???

Vikram — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:45:59 +0000

ya doin good maan aye?? This is how a local Bahamian asks you if you are doing well. Well, long story short I am currently in the Bahamas and my beloved HD2 decided to give me some problems. The problem started out of no where, I came home took my phone out of my pocket to check some email while I sitting on the can to save some time. So I sat down woke my phone up from sleep mode and tried to unlock my phone and I could not do it. My phone would not recognize my touch on the screen. I did not panic since this happens once in a while and I just pull the battery and put it back in and then it works fine once it reboots. I did this again this time and still same problem the phone would not recognize me touching the screen (indicating a problem with the digitizer). I do the battery pull and reinsert a few times getting more and more worried each and every time it started up. Soon I gave up and finished my business on the can and googled my issue, lots of people had the issue and only option was to send the phone to HTC or to fix the screen myself.

I quickly fire off an email to HTC to ask them to check my warranty status and I get back good news, I have warranty until September 16th, 2011. That is GOOD NEWS!!! but also bad news because my phone stopped working on September 14th, 2011 which was yesterday evening. I quickly called HTC and went through the RMA process and I tell them that I am in the Bahamas and they tell me the closest repair center is in Texas and I have to mail my phone to them before the end of warranty expiration which is in two days. This is a problem, there is no way my phone will get to Texas from the Bahamas in one day without me paying an arm and a leg and even that is no guarantee since people here work on an island time and lifestyle. So the next best thing to do was to send my phone with a friend to Miami tomorrow and have him ship it from Maimi and it will get to HTC by Monday which is two days after my warranty expires.

Now do you think HTC will consider my device to be out of warranty since I sent it in two days late when I am out of the country? I still reported my problem within my warranty period and logged the case with them but shipping my device to them took me a little longer and due to circumstances out of my control. So do you think will HTC try to screw me over? Have any of you had this problem before?

PPC Techs Memorial Day Sale

Doug Smith — Mon, 31 May 2010 19:06:14 +0000

Here is a good sale running for this Memorial Day. Our friends at PPC Techs is having a Memorial Day sale and you can take 20% off your purchase. PPC Techs has a full repair service for a ton of great devices as well as accessories that you need. PPC
Techs is also the manufacturer of the popular WriteSHIELD Screen protectors that are offered for just about every application you could want as well. They have just released over 40 new kits that include the Apple iPad. From PPC Techs:

To celebrate Memorial Day, from Saturday May 29th through Wednesday June 2nd, 2010, enter the code PPCTRC0510 in the Special Instructions Section of our online order form and receive a 20% discount off the MSRP of any accessory, part or repair that we offer. The discount will be applied once your order is processed.

So head on over to PPC Techs and check out their Memorial Day sale happening now through June 2nd!

CLICK HERE

iFixit Expanding To All Devices With User Supplied Teardowns

Doug Smith — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:07:40 +0000

If you own an iPhone, iPod, or Mac then you have probably heard of iFixit.com. They have a wealth of knowledge and make it easy for device owners to better understand and make repairs to their device that would never be possible through manufacturer or carrier support. For example, one of the biggest complaints or criticisms with the iPhone is that you cannot remove the back cover and replace the battery. With iFixit, yes you can. They supply very well laid out instructions, videos, and the tools necessary to perform many DIY repairs.

Today iFixit is changing repair forever. Today — Earth Day, 2010 — we are launching a global repair community. Our goal? To teach every person on Earth how to fix every thing they own.

You know us as the folks who take apart new hardware and show people how to fix Apple products. We’re not going to stop doing any of that, but starting today we are going to massively expand our scope: We are relaunching iFixit as the free repair manual that anyone can edit.

Repair is stuck in the 20th century. Service manuals are almost never available online, and the few troubleshooting forums that exist are rife with spam and ad-baiting. Reliable parts suppliers that understand e-commerce are few and far between.

Making repair accessible to everyone is the best shot we’ve got at reducing e-waste and starting to make our high-tech lives sustainable. We can’t keep throwing away cell phones every 18 months! We need to get every last bit of functionality from the things we own before we toss them aside.

What if everyone had free access to a repair manual for everything they owned? How much longer would our things last? Our mission is to give people the information, parts, and tools they need to make their things work as long as possible.

We showed our vision to officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, and they were ecstatic. Andrew Fanara, Product Development Team Leader for the ENERGY STAR Program, commented that “the EPA would like to see more done about the growing e-waste problem, and iFixit has a novel, community-driven approach to make electronics work longer. We are encouraged by their solution, and are looking forward to observing the environmental impact of iFixit’s platform.”

Join us, and together we’ll fix the world!

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

Make Your Own Video Out Cable

Doug Smith — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:40:58 +0000

I always wondered how anyone that forked out the money to buy a Touch Pro or Fuze would not have the money to buy a video out cable. But if you are one of them, or if you have heaps of extra time, a spare corded earphone cable, and a spare RCA Cable, then you can save yourself $12.95 and build your very own Video out cable for your cutting edge Windows Mobile device that has video out capabilities. The one thing I will say, is that I applaud XDA member audible_paradigm for coming up with this trick way to make the video out cable yourself and posting his findings with some great pictures over at XDA.

I’m not going to do a cut and paste job of his instructions, so you will have to head on over to XDA (click here) and check it out for yourself. I have attached few pictures that show you the end result and how the cables will need to be connected.

Thanks again to audible_paradigm for hooking us up with a great tutorial on how to make your own video out cable for your HTC Touch Pro or AT&T Fuze.

RapidRepair.com To Tear Apart An iPhone 3GS Friday

Doug Smith — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:01:10 +0000

About a week ago I wrote an article about RapidRepair.com tearing apart the Palm Pre and exposing it’s inner workings and calculating the cost at $170.00 total. RapidRepair.com also writes instruction manuals for devices that are very detailed and break things down step by step including all the necessary tools. Of course, RapidRepair.com also repairs devices as well.

Today, RapidRepair.com announced that they would be tearing apart the new iPhone 3Gs and giving iPhone fans a first look at what’s under the hood. RapidRepair.com will also compare the iPhone against other devices including the Palm Pre which is the latest device to challenge the iPhone. We’ll have to wait and see how the new iPhone matches up in RapidRepair.com comparison. But as we wait for that, why tell us how you feel about how the iPhone stacks up against the Palm Pre or your favorite device!

Read the RapidRepair.com press release after the break.

First Look at Latest Apple iPhone’s Core: Rapid Repair to Give 3G S Fans Insight – Literally – Into Speedy New Device

iPhone 3G S Inner Workings Will Be Revealed Online for Do-It-Yourselfers, Thanks to Rapid Repair Technicians

KALAMAZOO, Mich., June 16 /PRNewswire/ — Rapid Repair, the most well-known and reputable national online repair service for consumer electronics, announced today that it will give iPhone fans a first peak at the technology inside Apple Inc’s recently revised smartphone with a launch-day iPhone 3G S disassembly on Friday, June 19. Images of the disassembly process will be posted to the company’s website at www.RapidRepair.com as it unfolds, shortly after Apple stores open for the 3G S launch.

Rapid Repair technicians will expose and examine the guts of Apple’s latest iPhone to date, to analyze its performance capabilities and see how it stacks up against other comparable devices, most notably the Palm Pre – its biggest competitor just released a few weeks back. Rapid Repair will use the knowledge gleaned from the disassembly to create an iPhone 3G S Repair Guide for do-it-yourselfers who opt to make repairs on their own.

"The smartphone market is very competitive right now, and the demand for this latest iPhone is bound to be high," said Aaron Vronko, service manager at Rapid Repair. "With more users, comes more need for repairs. We’re happy to be able to facilitate that for customers."

The 3G S is Apple’s fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, containing re-configured internal components to deliver a speed increase of 2.1 times in launching applications. Viewing attachments is almost 4 times as fast, and even graphically intense applications benefit from a performance boost of almost 3 times. Rapid Repair technicians will inventory the iPhone 3G S’ new internal components, and offer commentary on the layout of the internal technology to provide guidance on the ease of do-it-yourself repairs. These insights are much anticipated, since it has been highly speculated that the device’s new "speed" is the result of an upgrade to a nearly 50% faster 600 MHz Samsung System-on-a-Chip processor based on the ARM Cortex-A8 core and the much improved GPU in Imagination’s new PowerVR GSX.

In addition to doubling the system memory and a few other adjustments, the new iPhone is expected to match the recently released Palm Pre in hardware. Rapid Repair will focus on putting this speculation to rest with definitive answers and a comparison of hardware in prior iPhones and the current crop of smartphone competitors.

Images and commentary on the iPhone 3G S disassembly will be posted as soon as they are available at http://www.rapidrepair.com/guides/iphone-3g-s-repair/iphone-3g-s-dissasembly-r epair-guide.html and the do-it-yourself iPhone repair guide will be posted within a week.

Rapid Repair is one of the longest-standing and most reputable sources for small electronics repair, specializing in iPod, iPhone, Zune and handheld and console game systems. Customers receive free diagnostic services on most items by completing the diagnostic service request form at www.rapidrepair.com and sending in their device for evaluation. A technician consults with the customer within 48 hours to provide an estimate and gain approval before any work begins.

Rapid Repair not only fixes iPods, Zunes, and iPhones with sound issues, liquid damage, hard drive problems and broken screens, but also customizes the devices with colorful screens and faceplates. For do-it-yourselfers, the company sells parts, accessories, and manuals, and includes professional installation of most parts at no extra charge.

  For more information, visit www.rapidrepair.com.

What Does A Pre Cost Palm To Build? $170 According To RapidRepair.com

Doug Smith — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:44:42 +0000

I never really get into what the parts of a Cell Phone actually cost a manufacturer to make. There is so much more that goes into the device than just the sum of it’s parts. There are obviously TONS of engineers and programmers working their rear ends off to develop devices like the Pre, but I’m sure there are a ton of other costs attributed to making the device that would make our heads spin. In any case, I take the actual cost of the device with a grain of salt. But it is interesting that RapidRepair.com got their hands on the recently released Palm Pre and tore it down with expert precision and identified everything that goes into the Palm Pre. And what was the cost of just the components? $170 bucks is all.

If you would like to take a look at the step by step process that RapidRepair.com used to disassemble the Palm Pre then head on over to their website for the full photo illustration with step by step guide. I like the fact that they make this available for all to see so that NO ONE else will feel it necessary to do it on their own and completely destroy their device. So enjoy their Palm Pre Repair Guide so you won’t feel the urge to tear it apart on your own, leave that to the experts!

via BGR

PPCTechs.com Is Throwing A 20% Off Memorial Day BBQ!

Doug Smith — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:01:27 +0000

There is nothing better than going to a Summertime Barbeque with all your friends and family. It seems I spend almost every weekend enjoying a cold beverage and cooking our favorites, and right now our friends at PPCTechs.com are throwing a Memorial Day Barbeque for all their friends with a special 20% off savings on any accessory, part or repair that they offer!

Now when you head on over to PPCTechs.com you are going to be very surprised, because not only do they have a ton of cool stuff for your favorite device, but they can also do a lot of repairs to commonly damaged devices! Broken Screens, Broken Sync Connectors, and a full Diagnostic Service is available. Knock on wood I have never needed to use their Repair services, but I do enjoy their Lil Sync Charger, retractable cable (This is a MUST Have), and their Write Shield Screen Protectors! Okay, enough about all that, HERE’S THE DEAL:

Special Offer: From now until June 30th, 2009, enter the code PPCTRC0509 in the Special Instructions Section of our online order form and receive a 20% discount off the MSRP of any accessory, part or repair that we offer. Your discount will be applied when we process your order.

So head on over to PPCTechs.com and enjoy their special Memorial Day Barbeque with 20% off Savings on any accessory, part or repair that they offer!

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