Cell Phone Care

It's amazing how many people come into my store with broken phones in need of desperate repair. I will take the time to address proper cell phone care and maybe suggest cell phone accessories to prolong the life of your cell phone. I find that there are three major damages that occur. The number one damage to phones is dropping it in water.

Thats a NO NO! I've had countless numbers of customers dropping their cell phones in the toilet, the sink and etc. Sometimes there is a slight chance that the cell phone could dry out and function properly for a while. Even if the cell phone dries out, there is a high chance that it will stop working after a few weeks. The reason for this is because on the inside, mold will form and cause corrosion to the main circuit board inside. If your phone falls into water, take it out as soon as possible, then take out the battery and sim card, and then you let it dry. If you so happen to have a can of uncooked rice, put your phone in there. The reason why is that rice will help dry your phone faster. Wait till your phone dries and resist the temptation of turning it back on after a couple of hours. Let it dry overnight just to be safe. If youre extra handy, dissassemble your phone and brush the inside with a little amount of rubbing alcohol. That will disinfect it and help from mold and bacteria from forming on your warm circuit board. Get insurance if you know youre horrible with keeping stuff in working condition.

So heres rule one: If possible, do not use the phone while going to the bathroom. Call them back after you use the bathroom. It's also etiquette.

Another high reason of cell phone damage is to the battery. This is called overcharging. Sometimes when you buy a cell phone, the charger that comes with it might not have an IC Chip inside of it. The IC Chip regulates the amount of power that a phone receives. When it notices that your cell phone is completely charged, it stops sending power to your phone. You're phone also has this feature but its always better to be safe than to be sorry. The symptoms of over charged batteries include the physical battery being distended or bulged, your phone saying its full but when you make a call it dies out almost instantly, and if your battery just doesnt work anymore. Batteries aren't made to last forever. You would usually have to buy a new battery in a year or two anyways. Its just how they are made. The new Lithium Ion batteries also need to be trained. The first time you charge your phone, they say to charge it 10+ hours. To get the maximum battery life, you must then use your phone until its really low and beeping at you. Plug in the charger and charge it till its fully charged. If you fail to train your battery, you would not be able to get the maximum battery life.

Rule two: Try not to keep your phone plugged in the wall overnight or for more than 5-6 hours. Keep it plugged in until it says on the phone that its fully charged. Stick it on the charger when you get to the absolute bottom and charge it till its completely full.

The last category of problems is very diverse. It's physical damage. Physical damage is horrible to your phone. Treat it with care. Think of your phone as an investment and not a throw toy. Decent cell phones are quite pricey as well. A cheap cell phone here and a cheap cell phone there really adds up. Might as well get a good one and take care of it. I've seen damages from LCD screens cracked, flip phones snapped in two, and phones that look like its on the last strings of its life. Take care of your phone properly. Buy a protective case or a carrying pouch to keep your phone safe. This will help a little bit but ultimately it depends on the user. Get insurance if you know youre horrible with keeping stuff in working condition.

Rule Three: Treat your cell phone with care if you want to use it for a long time. Buy protective cases for it or a carrying pouch to prolong its life.

Allrighty then?

PSP Faceplate Changing

Today we go over how to change the faceplate of a PSP. A faceplate is the front of your object that covers the internal parts and screen. There are a great number of aftermarket faceplates for Game Consoles as well as Cell Phones.

You can see that a faceplate can visually revive a system like this green faceplate for the PSP.

Your PSP will show signs of wear and tear as the time goes on. My original faceplate was so badly scratched up that I couldn't see the top half of the screen. Eventually I went online and bought myself some custom PSP faceplates. It was very arduous considering I didn't know what I was doing. I will try to help the masses of changing a PSP faceplate today.

Things you'll need:

1 x #001 Phillips Head Screwdriver and clean hands.

First you take the battery cover off and take the battery out. After doing so, you take the bottom sticker strip of the PSP off. There are two hidden screws undearneath. In the picture, the label part is lifted up to show which one you should remove.

Unscrew all the rest of the screws and put them in a safe place. You'll definitly need them. Now time to flip the PSP over and take the analog stick off. You can use your thumbnail to just lift the analog stick controller off.

Now you flip the faceplate part over and unscrew several screws. You need to take the buttons off and now place them in the new faceplate. Make sure you remember to take the bottom button strip off as well. The analog stick has two screws you need to unscrew. Unscrew that and install it onto the new faceplate. Put all the buttons that you've taken out and put them into the new faceplate as well.

You should put the faceplate back onto the PSP and then screw it back into place. Voila!! Looks like a brand new PSP.

Here's a good tutorial on it from YouTube.

Why I'm So Crazy About the PSP

Okay, i'm sure that all of you are wondering why i'm so gung-ho about the PSP. The PSP is a portable gaming machine and iPod Video in one. They both can play music, videos, view pictures. That's all gravy baby but the real reason why i'm so infatuated with the PSP is because it can be hacked to play homebrew.

Homebrew are applications that people have made and is open sourced. It's like Linux. People have made countless homebrew applications ranging from being a universal remote control to playing emulators and roms. You can back up your games that you legally own and play it straight from the memory card(which cuts load time by a lot). Sony is constantly trying to advert hackers and software pirates away from stealing and running games off the memory card. Sony releases a new software upgrade from time to time which deters hackers but the hackers always end up finding a way. I believe that this is one of the reasons the PSP Slim has been made. As of yet, the PSP Slim remains hack-free....but i suspect not for long.

EDIT: Slim has been hacked !!

PSP SLIM!

The PSP SLIM is out.

I'm a little slow on the ball but nonetheless, the PSP Slim is out. What this PSP does is add more functionability to that of a normal non-modded PSP. The PSP Slim adds a TV out, chargability via USB, redesigned button layout, more precise controls(for fighting games), loads UMDs faster, a brighter screen, and a lighter weight. Sony has answered the challenge that the Nintendo DS Lite offered. You will not be able to run homebrew on the PSP Slim yet but I'm sure the hackers worldwide are hard at work trying.

EDIT! ALREADY HACKED!@

Back To Basics

I will be talking about how to solder. We need to know how to solder in order to do little modifications/repairs on electrical appliances. Warning: Never attempt to repair a microwave or such appliances! I had a customer who tried to fix his own microwave and now he is 6 feet underground.

Mostly I will be discussing how to modify the PSP. The Sony PSP is a versitile gaming machine. It is a portable gaming machine that can view pictures, play music, play videos, has an intergrated web browser, and of course, play games. Since it is portable, the controls maybe too close for normal to bigger adult hands. You can add an additional D-Pad (directional Pad) or an additional analog stick if thats the case.

But first, the basics of soldering:

You need: A Low Watt Soldering Iron (15 - 25 Watt Preferably), thin solder, tweezers or small pliers, patience and a steady hand.

Soldering is the process in which two metals are joined together by means of a third metal or alloy having a relatively low melting point. (defined by wikipedia) I've used soldering for my car speakers, my game controllers, fixing phones, modding the PSP, my car and motorcycle, and for plain old fun.

Practice on spare wires from unused and UNPLUGGED wires from appliances for example unused speaker wire or from any game controller that doesn't work anymore. Plug your iron in and wait till it gets hot. BECAREFUL! You might burn your fingers while using your iron. The metal part in the wires need to be exposed so strip the tips of the plastic tubes off. Since were using two seperate wires we'll name the first wire, wire1 and the second wire, wire2. Prepare the wires by melting a little bit of solder on to the part where wire1 and wire2 will meet. In my experience, this makes things a lot easier. After preping the wires, cross wire1 and wire2 where you want to connect them. You can add more solder if you want or since they are already prepped you can just solder them by touching your iron to the point. Once the solder melts, blow on the almost connected wires to harden the solder. Once harden you should have the once two seperate wires into one connected wire. As Sacha Baron Cohen from "Borat" once said, "High Five".

Once you get used to this we'll actually start to mod a little bit.

Whats going on? iPhone Cheaper!?

The price on the iPhone has dropped 200 dollars! Those of you that have bought the 8 GB iPhone have been duped! Buyers who paid the full price ($599) and who are not eligible for price protection will receive $100 in credit. Only good at the Apple iPod Store. This might be good if you wanted to buy some songs through iTunes but who would buy $100 dollars worth of songs? I feel sorry for iPhone owners and thus am offering my condolences and a good shoulder to cry on.

The iPhone is the current hottest topic of cell phone enthusiasts everywhere. (My favorite is still the Nokia N95) It has many useful features that help the modern day internet junkie stay connected and entertained. The initial price sticker was a shocker but many, including our own mayor John Street, have shelled out the money for this impressive gadget. This was the most anticipated phone since the V3 RAZR. Is this phone worth it? In my opinion, gadget wise yes, pocket-wise no.