In my daytime job, you know, the times when I'm not slaving away at my latest WhatCulture article, I work at a phone repair centre, which means I come across large amounts of broken phones. The amazing thing is some of the stories, rumours and mythology that surrounds mobile phones are amazing. While many of them come from elite marketing teams within companies like Apple and Samsung in order to entice people to buy their latest phones, some come from completely random sources. Yet, despite all the advanced information we have available to us, there are several myths regarding mobile phones and mobile phone repairs that seem to endure. For an example of the mythology around mobile phones, one only needs to see internet forums ablaze with rumours on what the latest iPhone features will be, months before the company has released the phone, and especially with Apple, most of it pure speculation, based on no actual information. Then again, with every major product release, there will always be rumoured release dates, and improvement settings. However, this article seeks to discuss the mythology that people believe, but is actually proven to be untrue through first hand experience with working with mobile phones.
4. Once You Break It, It Can Never Be Truly Fixed
This one was put forward by a friend of mine, who posed the situation that if, hypothetically, he had broken the screen on his new phone, he would rather pay the extra money to buy a new one as opposed to getting it fixed. Mind you, this isn't a friend with a large flow of cash, this is a guy that is working part time and studying, so not much disposable income. While I've only heard this theory from this friend, and isn't as widespread as some of the other myths on this list I'm almost certain he isn't the only one. I've faced customers who balk at prices, believing that phone repair to be a rip-off when purchasing a new handset costs them over $50 more.
Truth: For most common repairs, such as screen replacements, your phone will be as good as new, from most places. While I'm not denying that dodgy repair centers exist, there is a way to get your phone fixed and it won't break down. This is especially true of screen repairs. For the most part, they are very simple, and the high price of the repair is often due of the high price of the part, or lack of availability. However, the concept that buying a new handset for $350-400 will last longer than the handset with the smashed screen post repair for $280 is just incorrect. While there is a 12 month warranty on phones, most warranty replacements occur very soon after the phone is purchased due to a manufacturer's fault. If your phone has worked perfectly, and has all of your data, why wouldn't you get it replaced, and still retain your data rather than go through the annoying process of switching the data over to a new phone, often meaning you lose some of the application memory that is saved to the phone (such as high scores, internal application unlocks and in-application purchases)?