I was reaching for my iPhone 6S and dropped it on the tile floor in the condo we are renting. This was not the first time I did this. I have dropped my phone many times and it’s been fine. However this time sounded different. When I picked it up the screen was shattered! I would have cut myself trying to access the screen it was so broken.
Mr Ram put the whole phone into a Ziploc bag to protect the phone and us from the sharp cracks in the screen. (Even now after 2 years of blogging we forget to take pictures so we have no pictures of my shattered iPhone screen. If you really want to see a shattered screen, click here.)
Now we had to decide – do I fix this phone or get a new phone? We talked about how old my phone is, how well it worked and if I was really ready for a new phone.
My 3 year old iPhone 6S is one of the smaller phones and it fits into some of my pockets. Women’s clothes do NOT have good pockets and larger phones just don’t fit. Having had neck and shoulder problems, I decided to stop carrying a purse when we hit the road. My phone holds my ID, a few cards along with some emergency cash for those rare times I need to use cash.
The only thing I really hated about my phone was the battery life. After an overnight charge it was great – until the early afternoon. Then I would need to charge it again.
Mr Ram and I looked at new phones for me and were shocked by the cost! An old iPhone 6S like mine is still $300 but doesn’t have the memory. My phone apparently is special since it has 64gb while the new ones at $300 only have 32gb. Or 128gb for even more money. A new iPhone 7 or 8 was $600 to $800!
Like finding a place to service the van, we looked for a place we could have my phone fixed. Without having any insider information from local friends and relatives, Mr Ram once again had to rely on google reviews. Most places had many good reviews and a few bad ones. After a few phone calls it seemed a new screen would be $100 to $130 and a battery could be as much as $50. It seemed that my old phone could be fixed quickly for about $150 plus tax.
I really liked my 3 year old iPhone and did not want a new phone. I am not tech savvy and don’t enjoy setting up new devices. All of my notes and other junk might transfer over ok or it could be a mess. And if the battery life could be improved…I decided to fix my old phone.
We took my underpowered and injured iPhone to the ‘Cellular Phone Hospital’ about 15 minutes away from where we are currently living. The guy behind the counter told us it would take about an hour. Since we were having a screen and battery done he discounted the service so it was only $138 including tax.
An hour later…a taller guy than the first one we met came out with my phone. He proceeded to tell us all about Android and Apple phones! (yes this guy should have been an engineer – ask him for the time and he will give you instructions on how to build a clock.) iPhones tend to break screens but Androids have less robust internal parts.
Even though he fixes phones for a living, he won’t fix either of his own state of the art phones (he showed us both of them). He said he buys the $29 Apple plan and plays dumb at the Apple Store so he doesn’t have to fix his own phones. I understand that the last thing you want to do when you get home from work is more work! We lived near a painter when we owned our house…he had his house vinyl sided!
My phone looks great and now lasts all day. Placing my phone back into that sleek case I had been using, we noticed it did not extend much beyond the screen. When it fell face down on the tile there just wasn’t much to cushion the impact. Time for a new case!