Advice from the resident IT Guy Hardware

Avoiding DIY Cell Phone Repairs: Can You Trust Yourself Over the Professionals?

If you’re having cell phone problems, it can be tempting to try to fix your phone by yourself. After all, DIY cell phone repair can be less expensive than going to a professional electronics repair company. A DIY repair is also a great way to learn about how electronics hardware operates. However, DIY cell phone repair is something that takes considerable skill and effort to successfully complete. If your electronics repair skills aren’t up to snuff, you could end up doing more harm than good, and you may even render your device unusable. The phone repair experts at http://www.pineapplerepairs.ca suggest contacting a professional technician if you’re not completely confident in your technological abilities. Professional cell phone repair technicians are thoroughly trained in how to disassemble your cell phone or smart device, diagnose hardware issues, and repair or replace vital components. If you’re a technological dabbler with a broken phone and some spare time, you might not want to crack open that cell phone case just yet. Here are some things that you will need to consider before attempting a DIY cell phone repair.

Do You Have Another Phone to Practice On?

When you first start out attempting to repair cell phones, it’s short sighted to try to repair your main cell phone with no training or experience. If all you have to practice on is your primary cell phone, the one that you use every day, then making even the smallest mistake will compromise your cell phone and leave you without a phone for several days, at least. This can be a serious inconvenience. If you do decide to attempt a DIY repair, you should first practice on an old phone that you have no intention of using ever again. However, even practicing on an older phone may not give you sufficient experience to successfully repair your main cell phone. If the phones are of different makes or models, the experience will not necessarily translate to the phone you actually want to repair. Additionally, it can be easy to forget the things you learn in practice if you only ever practice on one cell phone. If you don’t have several spare phones of an identical model with which to practice, it will be very difficult to gain the experience necessary to complete a phone repair without incident. Experienced cell phone repair technicians have had the practice required to master phone repair. They understand the various parts that go into a cell phone and have practiced a variety of repair techniques on several phones, and therefore know exactly what they’re doing every time they open up a phone case. This means they can do the repair properly the first time, without damaging your phone.

Do You Frequently Work With Your Hands?

Another major consideration when deciding whether or not you should attempt a DIY repair is how skilled you are with your hands. Do you do a lot of tinkering with mechanical and electronic devices? Are you employed in a line of work like electrical engineering, which forces you to exercise your fine motor skills? Repairing a cell phone takes great fine motor control—cell phone technicians need to be skilled with their hands. If you don’t have this kind of manual labour experience, your hands will not be sufficiently conditioned to properly manipulate the relevant components or tools. If you’re not good with your hands, you will find it very challenging to remove and replace the various plates, chips, and electronic components that are contained within a cell phone. This means you could end up accidentally breaking an important component while trying to fit it inside the phone. Cell phone repair technicians work with their hands every day in their jobs, and often have additional experience in other positions that require excellent manual dexterity. A cell phone repair technician has excellent fine motor control and has developed the dexterity necessary to resist hand tremors, which means fewer mistakes during repairs.

Can You Afford a New Phone if Something Goes Wrong?

There are a number of ways in which a cell phone repair can go wrong, and only one way in which it can go right. If you accidentally damage an electronic component or interrupt a circuit, your phone may not be able to get power from the battery; in this case, a battery replacement won’t help. If you attempt the repair in an uncontrolled environment, moisture or dust could get inside your phone and cause issues. Even worse, a buildup of static electricity could compromise your phone during a repair. Cell phones are highly sensitive to static, and static electricity can build up around your phone in a number of ways. If something like this happens, your phone will not function as it should. Even if you take it to a repair technician afterward, there is no guarantee that the technician will be able to get your phone working again; if you have damaged a critical component that cannot be replaced, you will have no option but to purchase a new phone.

A cell phone repair technician knows how to repair a phone without causing additional damage. Expert phone technicians work in controlled environments that have been designed to minimize moisture, particulates, and static electricity, so after your phone is opened, the only things that go into it are the replacement parts.

DIY repair solutions are popular among professionals and handymen alike. However, repairing a cell phone takes a significant amount of skill, and professional cell phone repair technicians receive a great deal of training. Though repairing a cell phone may seem simple, you could do more harm than good if you don’t usually work with your hands, if you don’t have an obsolete phone to practice on, or if you don’t have a controlled environment in which to perform the repair. Ultimately, using a professional cell phone repair service guarantees the best possible result—you’ll get a proper repair, in less time than it would take even the most enthusiastic of do-it-yourselfers.