Phone Upgrade Odyssey
Depending on your income, a phone can represent a significant personal expense; that’s how I’ve always seen it. So while I hold out as long as possible before making a purchase, I also look forward to my next chance for a better phone.
Besides, the longer you wait, the better the technology will become. Thus, the greater relative upgrade your new phone will represent.
So, it is always frustrating when your phone breaks before it ought to. It’s especially frustrating when a part breaks but the rest of the phone works fine. It sounds like planned obsolescence to me.
Ever heard of the Self-Repair Manifesto or Movement? Check out the iFixit site for more information.
It does seem like I need a new phone once every three years or so despite never dropping my phone or using them in a way that would engender significant wear and tear.
As I’m trying to reduce my impact on the environment, it feels like I’m being a hypocrite when I get a new one.
Recently this happened with my Motorola Moto e4 which has kept its place in my heart pocket since 2018.
During my November trip to Strasbourg, my phone started giving me an error message and didn’t want to synchronize with the mobile network. It had the wrong hour and kept spitting out an error message which hampered my attempts to look on the internet for a solution.
Tech wizard as I am (please detect my sarcasm here,) I tried the God solution first: turn it off, then turn it on again.
No luck!
I kept getting the same error message, and when I tried to fix it, the phone would shut down because it wouldn’t hold a charge even though a moment earlier, it had said 85% battery.
Strasbourg was a vacation, one where I was hoping to take plenty of photos. And since I was in a new and exciting city, I didn’t want to budget much time to searching the internet on a broken phone in my hotel room.
So, phone in luggage, out with the maps! Forget the photos.
Returning chez moi I was able to fix the error message and recover use of my phone again. However, the whole episode concerned me.
I don’t want my phone to shit the bed again. Better to be proactive!
Well, I thought, try to repair it.
I can take this opportunity to learn something new and keep the phone going for another few years.
First step, what’s the problem?
In Strasbourg, I thought it was the battery, but when I fixed the error message I was able to dispel that thought.
Really, the phone works OK if you are delicate with the charger. But that’s not how it should be. Time to clean the port and see if this helps.
Hint: never use a metal object to clean the port because you can scratch the charging elements and render it worse off than before.
I gently used a toothpick to remove the dust and lint that accumulated through daily pocket storage.
It wasn’t that.
Well, maybe it’s the cable?
See https://mraberthon.com/what-phone-charger-do-i-need/ for more information on different kinds of charging cables.
Besides, my cable is starting to look dangerous. It should be an easy fix. I’ll try to swap out my usual Micro USB cable for another.
This means a quick and cheap purchase on Amazon and a few weeks of wait. I doubt cables have the same environmental impact as buying a whole new phone so I don’t feel too bad about this.
The new cable arrived and… it doesn’t work.
It seems like my old cable and my phone have damaged each other in a particular way and are bonded for life. That’s why you have to keep the cable tilted to one side and push the right in more than the left.
Unfortunately, Moto e4s are known to develop a problem with their charging ports.
Looks like this could be evidence of that.
So, now to get into the phone and replace the port. This is beyond simple accessory replacement. I don’t have the right tools.
Another hour on Amazon looking at reviews and finding the right toolset of small screwdrivers and plastic wedge things.
I’ll also need a new port. With some internet sleuthing, I found the correct piece number.
There are lots of fishy-looking Chinese distributors on Amazon selling these pieces for cents (plus shipping of course.)
Another two weeks before the tools and port arrive.
Finally, it’s time to bricoler! I get everything out and watch some Youtube videos to verify that I know what I’m doing.
It turns out that the port I bought doesn’t have all the necessary connectors. I don’t know if it was wilful misdirection on Amazon on the part of the vendor or if I made an error.
It was probably me.
Where else can I find this cheap replacement piece for an out-of-stock phone?
While I was stewing over this problem, my partner went to Free (an internet and cell phone service provider in France.)
Apparently she had been overpaying for her wireless plan for years now. Since we also have a Free router and she has the Free mobile service they could have been bundled together for a discounted rate.
So they gave her a geste commerciale (a reduced rate to compensate for an error on their part) and offered her a discounted phone.
Clever creature that she is, she accepted and upgraded to a newer and better phone. She thought to resell her old one and get an even better deal.
Stephen to the rescue!
Instead of going through the onerous process of listing the phone on the internet and dealing with strangers why not let your husband take care of it?
Well… now I’ve got a used Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 which, while slightly older than my Moto e4, was of a higher grade in the beginning.
According to GSM Arena all the areas I care about: battery life, speed, camera, and the more robust USB-C charger, it marks an improvement over the Moto e4.
So, a lot of hassle for no reason. That was my phone upgrade odyssey. At least it didn’t take twenty years to get back to the same place I started.
Though I was able to acquire some cool mini screwdrivers, avoid paying anything to upgrade my phone, and get away without triggering my environmental conscience.
Have you ever tried to fix a broken phone? Did you succeed? Did you think it was worth your time and effort? Any thoughts on the Self-Repair movement?