He’s got this ultimate set of tools.

Here’s a fun one that will date me a bit…but I was just 11 years old when this movie came out.  My oldest and best buddy Nolan and I can still quote it pretty well.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High was on TV the other day, which just meant that I had to sit down and watch it.  I snapped this picture of a very famous and hilarious scene between Jeff Spicoli and Mr. Hand:

At the same time, I sent a text to my old pal Nolan (who still lives in California) to say hello.  We laughed a bit about the movie, and we reminded each other that we shouldn’t let our kids watch this until they are “of age”.  Mom, how could you let me see this at 11 years old?  I question that now!

One of my favorite quotes from Spicoli near the end of the movie:

“What Jefferson was trying to say was, Hey! You know, we left this England place ’cause it was bogus, so if we don’t get some cool rules ourselves – pronto – we’ll just be bogus too!”

Oh man, I could go on and on because this was a pretty influential movie on us back then.  You might think it’s ridiculous, that’s OK, but I still embrace it as one of “the greats”.   Dandra sat down next to me to watch it and she fell asleep.  I get it, it’s not for everyone 😉

What movie takes you back to your childhood?  Also, here’s a reminder to contact an old friend and say hello.  Do it now…it feels pretty good.

Take care, Ryan

Top ways we hear how people ruin their iPhones.

Hello friends-

Ruin is a strong word, I should say “ruin your day”, because in all of these cases, the iPhone can be fixed! It’s why we are in business.

I thought it was time for us to run some data through our system and come up with the top 5 ways our customers have reported damaging their iPhones. This data is similar for iPods and Android phones. Without much more to say, let’s see what and why things are happening to our customers in real life! We will start with #5:

5. It just happened.

Unfortunately we hear this a lot. “I set the phone down and the next time I picked it up, the screen was cracked”. Or, “I left my phone in the car overnight, and now it won’t turn on.” These types of issues are a mystery. Spontaneous breakages. I think it’s the aliens that did it.

4. Animal ate it.

Well, I can’t really say “ate it”, but truthfully there are many times that either the family dog thought the device was a chew toy, but we are also going to include dogs stepping on devices in this one. We hear this a lot: “my dog stepped on my iPad” and the next thing you know is that we’ve had to replace a cracked glass on the device.

3. Pulled by the cord while plugged in.

It’s never a good idea to plug your iPhone in then string the cord across the hallway so that your iPhone is sitting on a table. This is a recipe for disaster, and now that white cable that you treasure so preciously just became a tripwire for the next unsuspecting passerby. This issue causes a lot of cracked screens and charging port problems.

2. Liquid Damaged.

I just heard this on Friday: “I had my iPhone in my back pocket, started to pull down my pants to use the restroom…and ker-plunk my iPhone went into the toilet.” We love these (not really). Truthfully clean toilet water in the iPhone doesn’t scare me that much; but some of my technicians might think otherwise. Spilling a glass of water, jumping into a swimming pool with an iPhone in your pocket, or dropping your iPhone into a glass of beer at a Rolling Stones concert have all been reported.

AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON IS……………..

1. Dropped!

There’s not much more to say about this one. Drops are clearly the number one reason that customers call into Mission Repair for service. Some customers even state “I dropped my iPhone from about 3 feet onto the carpet. I can’t believe that it cracked!”. Believe it.

And there you have it. Straight from the customer’s experience. Let me give you one more “abstract” testimonial from a long-time customer of ours that flies with the Blue Angels Navy Team. Lt. Amy Tomlinson took her trusty MacBook with her on a flight, and slammed the canopy of her F/A-18 Hornet crushing the screen. She called us at Mission Repair and we got her back in working order in no time. I’ve recently talked with Lt. Tomlinson and asked her about that MacBook. She was proud to say the she upgraded herself into a new unit; but the original “smashed then repaired” laptop was still being used by her mother after several years. That’s just awesome!

Have a great week, I’ll be back soon.

Ryan

MacBook Pro Unibody – known problem.

Hello friends,

The MacBook Pro Unibody laptops that don’t have a “user replaceable battery” (there is a version that a customer can easily repair the battery themselves) – have a problem that you might want to know about.

After a few years of use, the battery can tend to have issues; but sometimes the symptom starts as a failing trackpad…let me explain. When one of these batteries fails, it can “puff up”.

Although I’ll be talking primarily about Mac laptops in this post, swollen batteries can be found in many devices that use lithium batteries, including Smartphones. There’s also no single cause for a swollen battery. Some are due to manufacturing defects, others are caused by the age of the battery, and still other cases can be caused by misuse, such as not properly exercising the battery over time, or by using the wrong power charger.

In general, a swollen battery occurs when the battery’s cells are overcharged.  This can lead to warping of your case, and pressure under your trackpad that can cause it to stop clicking or even pop up and out of the palmrest.

Here’s what a failed battery looks like when I pulled one out of a MacBook Pro yesterday:

Just check your battery meter in the top tool bar on your Mac.  If it ever warns you to “replace battery soon”, then run (don’t walk!) to your nearest Mission Repair for replacement.  We can take care of you fast, and save you potentially costly repairs before the battery pops.

Take care, Ryan

iPad Air 2 screen repairs = success!

Hello folks,

Since the release of the iPad Air 2 we’ve had hundreds of requests for screen repairs and this month seems to be all “iPad Air 2 Screen Repairs” because we are receiving them in constantly from all over the USA.

Typically, they are just cracked like this one below:

And once we work our magic, this unit looks new again like this:

Cracked glass on your iPad Air 2? No problem, you’ve come to the right place. Mission Repair is on your side and we understand these situations happen. Our certified technicians will repair your cracked screen with a brand new one and get your device back to you fast!

Questions?  844-459-0105.

Take care, Ryan