Do You know how I know school is about to start up?

Hello friends,

It’s that time of year again, and at Mission Repair we’re getting the sense that school is starting up again. It’s not because my wife is a teacher 😉 it’s because we are getting calls from IT departments all over the country ready to spin up their repair programs.

Since a lot of schools are now Apple 1 to 1 (meaning that every student is “issued” an Apple device like an iPad or MacBook Air) it’s becoming more common for schools to send their devices into Mission Repair for service than using AppleCare. In fact, we’ve successfully saved schools hundreds of thousands of dollars by helping them understand that purchasing AppleCare on on those devices just doesn’t add up. While most districts do buy the extended warranties, at the end of the day it’s not “natural failures” (that AppleCare covers) that are the issue. It’s kids dropping the devices and cracking them.

Yes, a lot of our business comes from schools around the nation. Today, we signed up a new school from the State of Washington that has mountains of iPads that they want to begin repairing the first week of school next month. If you’re a school IT director, are looking for the best repair center in the country (in my opinion!) and need to use Net 30 Purchase orders for your repair program…click here for more information. We’ll be glad to help you out.

Thanks, have a good afternoon and don’t forget to get those school supplies purchased soon!

Take care, Ryan

I’ve never run out of gas…until now.

See that picture out on a Kansas farm road, somewhere in the middle of nowhere with a nice angle shot of my Suzuki Dual Sport?

Yeah…that was actually a picture that I took last night as I was testing out my bike after I made a few modifications on it. I don’t typically ride this motorcycle much, and I forget how much fun it is. I mention the modifications because I think it threw off my assumption that I had gas in my gas tank. Let me explain…

Firstly, this bike (Suzuki DR650) doesn’t have a gas gauge. So the best way to “know” how much you’ve got available is to reset your trip odometer every time you fill up and know that at about 100 miles, it’s time to pull over. That and you can give it the “slosh” test. Bikers know what I mean. I wasn’t hearing any sloshing at all!

Secondly – and the most important part about my mistake – is that I re-jetted the carburetor, twice. This meant disassembling the carburetor twice, dumping all of the gas out of it, and letting the bike sit idling while tuning it. This doesn’t add miles to the odometer; but it definitely takes gasoline out of the tank!

So once I was done messing with my new airbox, carburetor and exhaust setup I had to take it out and of course, run by the gas station. In fact, you can see the gas station in the distance of this picture, but I just wasn’t interested in walking the bike up and down the hill. I showed 86 miles on my odometer, and pop…it stopped running.

So I did what any good dad would do. I called my son to bring me a gallon of gas. I always keep a spare gallon in my truck (Google: “Rotopax Toyota Rail Mount” if you’re interested) and made him get out to Stanley, Kansas and let me fill up my tank.

All in all it wasn’t a terrible experience. I stayed calm, watched the sun go down and luckily had my phone…or otherwise I would have had to push my bike about a mile. Still, could have been worse.

Many of you might suggest that I simply move my gas petcock to the “res” (reserve) position but unfortunately I was running on reserve. Ain’t that my luck! 😉

Let it be known. I ran out of gas last night, and just when I thought only my daughter could do such a thing!

Have a good afternoon, Ryan

Android Phone 2015 Fall Roundup.

Good afternoon,

Curious about the hottest Android phones coming out this fall? Here’s what we know so far from GreenBot.com.

In this ever-changing world of Android, it can be hard to keep up with what’s going on. There are new rumors sprouting up almost every other day, generating buzz for phones that even we didn’t see coming.

To keep up with all the hearsay, we put together a helpful listing of all the Android phones we’re expecting to see in the coming months. Some will be here sooner than you can read through this entire page, while others we’re expecting to arrive as late as October.

Let’s start with the big one (literally): the Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Samsung’s fifth-generation phone-tablet hybrid is coming. We don’t know exactly when, or how Samsung plans to debut it, but we know it’s on its way soon. There are already plenty of rumors that seem to suggest it will debut in August and that its specs will be more powerful than its predecessors.

SamMobile has heard that the Galaxy Note 5 will come equipped with a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. It might also be powered by Samsung’s new Exynos 7422 processor, which will be the company’s first all-in-one chipset that combines a 64-bit oct-core processor with a GPU, RAM, storage, and Samsung’s own LTE chip. It may also be the first Samsung phone to support USB Type-C.
Galaxy S6 Edge Plus

Samsung’s making a mega-version of the Galaxy S6 Edge, too.

The phone will apparently feature the same 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display as the Note 5, but may use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor instead. The S6 Edge Plus may also come equipped with a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, a 3,000mAh battery pack, and Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. It’s likely we’ll see it announced alongside the Galaxy Note 5.

We already know the OnePlus Two will be announced July 27. The company will deliver the announcement via a virtual reality keynote. All you need is your own cardboard to experience the event.

OnePlus Two

The OnePlus Two will run a Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM, with at least a 4,000mAh battery pack. It’s also been confirmed that it will utilize a USB Type-C connector and come with an embedded fingerprint sensor. Those are all very impressive specifications, but OnePlus still has to work on that invite system to keep Android users interested in its product. No one wants to wait months just for the chance to drop $450 on a phone.

Motorola’s third-generation Moto X

Motorola seems to have chosen the late summer to update its flagship device. That’s fine with us, but it also means we’re eagerly awaiting what the company’s planning to drop on us.

Thus far, all we really know is that Motorola is holding an event in New York City the day after the OnePlus Two announcement (July 28). Some news sites have pointed out the conspicuously displayed “XGX” signature in the official invitation means we’ll be getting a new flagship Moto X and a new Moto G. A Swiss retail site has already leaked the existence of the Moto G. Others have made note of FCC documents apparently concerning Motorola’s 2015 smartphone lineup. With all the mixed signals, we’re just going to wait to see what’s next.

One thing we do know: Motorola has publicly acknowledged its lackluster camera, and promised to “bring it” on the new Moto X.

Something—anything—from Sony

You’ll have to forgive me: I’m having a tough time keeping up with all the Sony announcements happening lately. The company recently launched the Xperia Z3+—er, the Xperia Z4?—but for whatever reason that hasn’t stopped speculation about the Xperia Z5. Thus, we’re expecting another major flagship announcement from Sony sometime during IFA 2015 in Berlin.

The rumors point to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor inside, as well as 4GB of RAM and a 4,500mAh battery pack, but that’s pretty sketchy. For starters, it seems pretty early for a Snapdragon 820-based phone to hit the market. Whether this phone will do anything to revive Sony’s struggling mobile business is another thing entirely.

Next Nexus 5—and Nexus 6?

We don’t expect anything new from Google until we get closer to Android M’s official launch date (probably in October or November, though nothing has been announced), but that hasn’t stopped the rumbling about whether it will be Huawei or LG to build the next Nexus phone. The Information confirmed that Huawei’s next in line, though we also hear that LG is making a phone. Perhaps Google will bestow upon us both a second-generation Nexus 5 and Nexus 6? We’ll find out soon enough.

HTC One M9+

HTC hasn’t debuted a phablet-sized phone since the HTC One Max back in 2013. The One M9+ exists overseas in Asia and Europe, however. HTC said not to expect that it’d come stateside, but we’re still waiting for something else to debut.

The rumor mill says HTC will release a phone later this year with “One” branding, though that doesn’t mean it will be a direct relation to the One M9.

Blackberry Venice—yes, really

I can’t believe I’m saying this: we’re actually expecting an Android-powered BlackBerry device to come out this fall. Noted Internet leaker Evan Blass revealed a few details about the upcoming BlackBerry smartphone earlier in July. The BlackBerry Venice handset, as it’s called, will be powered by Android and feature a slide-out keyboard. It’ll be sold exclusively at AT&T. BlackBerry and Google also recently made headlines by teaming up for Google Play for Work.

What about LG?

LG launched the G4 earlier this year and, so far, it’s been a critical success. Now there’s talk that LG might try knock it out of the park again with a competitor to the Galaxy Note 5.

Apparently, there’s an LG G4 Pro in the works. It’ll be a bigger, more powerful version of the G4, with 4GB of RAM, a 5.8-inch QHD display, and up to 64GB of onboard storage. Also, the rear-facing camera might be bumped up to a whopping 27 megapixels. The G4 Pro will also feature a refined, brushed-metal look, rather than the cheesy plastic-and-leather aesthetic the G4’s got going on. The rumors are pretty slim thus far, so we’re not expecting to hear much more about what LG’s up to until after IFA’s over and done with in September.
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I can’t take credit for all of this research or blog. It was all from Florence Ion at GreenBot.com, but I wanted to repost it as it was interesting and valuable information.

Or…you can just make a trip to the Apple Store, right? 😉

Have a good day, Ryan