While it’s generally pretty easy to tell the difference between an iPhone 3G/3GS versions and the iPhone 4/4S, telling the difference between the 3G & 3GS and the 4 & 4S is not so simple. For example, the only visible difference between the 3G and the 3GS is the shininess of the text on the bottom of the back of the phone. Telling the difference between the iPhone 4 and 4S can be even more subtle. Hopefully this post can help you figure out which one you have. Let’s start with the pictures.
Full story
Which iPhone do you have?
January 26th, 2012 Tags: iPhone IdentificationCustomer Service Solution for Free
November 26th, 2011 Tags: customer service, google apps, google voiceI was recently interviewed for a podcast and the main topic was how Jet City goes about doing our customer service and at the end of the interview, I was asked if I could post something about our system and how to set it up. So that’s what this post is mostly about.
Full story
Motorola Droid Repair Disaster Averted
July 13th, 2011 Tags: Droid Screen RepairA couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about how fixing your own cell phone is harder than you think. As the story below will illustrate, it turns out that that’s true even for some “professional” repair shops. This is the story of a man, his Motorola Droid 2 Global, a Toledo, OH cell phone repair shop, and how we, Jet City Device Repair, came to the rescue.
Full story
Repairing Your Own Cell Phone – Harder Than it Looks
June 24th, 2011I obviously have a vested interest in people not trying to repair their own phones but rather having a professional do it for them. But that doesn’t make what I’m about to tell you any less true:
Fixing your own phone is harder than the online videos make it look.
Full story
New Chicago Office Up and Running
June 5th, 2011We are very excited to announce that we have just completed the move of our Chicago office into the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Chicago Smart Phone Repair (the Chicago division of Jet City Device Repair) is now located just east of DePaul University on the corner of Fullerton and Southport. The exact address of this new location is 2351 N Southport, Chicago, IL 60614.
Full story
Now offering the HTC G2 (T-Mobile) Cracked Screen Repair
May 12th, 2011Yet another repair coming from us here at Jet City Device Repair. This time it’s the cracked screen repair for the HTC G2 for T-Mobile. We are fixing the cracked glass only, the LCD only (the LCD is the picture underneath the glass), or both the LCD and cracked glass. As always, this is a full-service repair that includes parts, labor, and a 90 day warranty.
Full story
iPod Touch 4: Most Fragile Device Ever?
May 10th, 2011We’ve been fixing hand held devices since 2007 and while that’s not a long time in comparison to “ever” it has given us a lot of knowledge about which devices are durable and which ones are fragile. In those 4 years we have repaired well over 10,000 cell phones and iPod Touch devices. So I have some expertise in this area and you can believe me when I say that the 4th generation iPod Touch is the most fragile device I’ve ever seen.
Full story
John Matthews Becomes First Jet City Device Repair Store Manager
May 6th, 2011We are very excited to announce the promotion of John Matthews to our Seattle store manager. He will continue to repair broken cell phones for customers (which he is awesome at), but will become much more involved in the customer service and vendor relation duties for the company.
Full story
Cell Phone Screen Repair: Do-It-Yourself or Hire a 3rd Party?
May 3rd, 2011Starting in 2007, Apple changed the cell phone industry forever by releasing the iPhone. While it’s big, beautiful glass screen allowed users to do a lot more than just talk and text, it had one major enemy: Gravity. This new glass screen did not survive well when dropped. SquareTrade did a study in 2009 showing that 1 in 5 iPhones were broken by users through an accident.
Full story
“What cell phone should I buy?”
April 26th, 2011See the official news release.
Regardless of your profession, you will discover family, friends, and random strangers calling you up to ask for help. If you’re a doctor, your great aunt will be calling to inquire about that weird rash she has. If you’re an investment planner, you’re cousin Joe will hit you up at the family reunion about the next hot stock to buy. You’re a mechanic? Some random guy at the next party you go to will undoubtedly have some “small issue” that he’s sure you can help him with. And God help you if you happen to work for Microsoft because your proud mother will have everyone of your 40 cousins calling when their computer inevitably crashes (I speak from experience on this one).
And if you fix cell phones for a living, you will frequently get asked: “What cell phone should I buy?”
Three years ago that was a very simple question to answer because there was one cell phone that stood head-and-shoulders above all the rest: The iPhone. But a lot has happened over the past few years and the market is now flooded with fantastic smartphones. The iPhone is of course still near the top of the list but so are all the Samsung Galaxy S phones, the MyTouch 4G, HTC G2, Droid Incredible, Droid X, Motorola Atrix, and a host of other phones. The list of highly capable iPhone competitors grows weekly and you really can’t go wrong with any of them.
So what is my answer to the question of what cell phone to buy? Don’t worry about the phone, figure out which carrier best suits your needs. Once you’ve found the carrier with the coverage and pricing you like, then take a look at their top-tier phones. You pretty much can’t go wrong at that point. The following is a short list of the phones I’d recommend right now.
- AT&T: iPhone 4, Samsung Captivate, or the Motorola Atrix.
- Verizon: iPhone 4, Motorola Droid X, HTC Droid Incredible
- T-Mobile: MyTouch 4G, Samsung Vibrant, HTC G2
- Sprint: HTC Evo, HTC Evo Shift, Samsung Epic 4G
- US Cellular: Samsung Mesmerize, HTC Desire
- Cricket: Sanyo Zio
Again, this list is for today. New phones are coming out constantly so a month from now the list of phones may change completely but I can guarantee you the phones will only get better, so the fundamental process of picking a phone will remain the same: Select a carrier, then pick a phone.