Did your phone get wet? We can help!!

As a company based in Hawaii,

we know a lot about water damage!

First things first! - What should I do if my phone gets wet?

1. DO NOT CHARGE IT !!!   When your phone is wet, abnormal current pathways are created ("short circuits") that can damage it's components. That damage can continue to occur as long as electrical current is applied.  With increased resistance, the battery will heat up and die quickly but if you plug it into the wall, the damaging current just keeps flowing and causing MORE DAMAGE!
2. If possible, take the battery out.  For some of the newer phones, they make it pretty hard or impossible. Don’t worry.  Your chances of repairing the phone and recovering your data are still very high!
3. Bring or mail it in ASAP (check out the small Priority Mail flat rate boxes from the US Postal Service). Phones brought to us quickly, that haven’t been charged, are repairable 90% of the time!!
4. Drying the phone out first actually makes it harder to repair. The name of the game is speed!!

What we do:

In order to explain our procedure in repairing your phone, let’s talk about what water does to it.

Answer: Nothing!!

Pure water is, in fact, not conductive and therefore not the problem! However, the impurities in water are conductive when wet but then often block conduction when dry!! It’s a lot like the water spots that show up on your car the day after it rains, only pure water evaporates and leaves the rest behind. In a phone, that residue is left on the internal components and conductive pathways causing both bad contacts and short circuits. Fixing this kind of damage is labor intensive and we try to save you money!

Cell phones are made up of many components but only one that constitutes “your phone” and cannot be replaced - the “mainboard”. The first step, then, is to access and remove the mainboard, thoroughly clean and inspect it, and it’s connectors, then install it, when possible, in another identical phone where all of the other components are known to be functional (the up-front labor fee). If it works, only then are the remaining components of your device meticulously cleaned and restored or replaced, if necessary (the repair fee). If we cannot get the mainboard to function, however, then it is of no value to you for us to clean and repair the other components. In this way the additional repair fee is avoided, saving you money.  We then simply re-assemble your phone as-is and discuss other options with you. We still have a 70-90% success rate in repairing these water damaged phones!

How much does it cost?

Because there is no shortcut and because we can't predict success with certainty in advance, we charge an up-front labor fee of $40. Most phones these days are considered smart phones and for those, after we attempt the repair and if everything is 100% working, we charge an additional $60 in labor. Parts are not included in this price but most water damage repairs do not require new parts. When parts are required, most of them are around $15 each. For simpler phones, the price is still $40 up front but only an additional $40 if all goes well. If we can't fix your phone, the most you pay for the attempt is the $40 labor fee. Because of the unique nature of water damage, our usual one-year warranty on parts and labor does not apply.

We always check the value of your phone in advance and will tell you honestly if it is not worth repairing.  It may be possible to recover some or all of your data and to transfer it to an equivalent or upgraded refurbished phone for a reasonable price. If you are not interested in fixing or replacing your phone and simply want to sell it, see our FAQ on how we might buy your device. Our motto is "We provide options" and we can almost always find something to do to help! So, give us a call and we will be happy to discuss those options with you.

Is your phone's display not getting the picture? Don’t Panic!!

Our phones these days have bigger and better displays than ever. The proper name for the screen on most phones is the LCD or Liquid Crystal Display. Unfortunately, once any part of the display isn’t working, the whole display needs to be replaced. The good news is that it is generally not too expensive, and if we have the part in stock, it can usually be repaired while you wait or if you mail it in,  it can usually be back to you within a week using the small flat rate Priority Mail boxes from the US Postal Service!!   All repairs come with a 1-year warranty on parts and labor!!

Some of the symptoms suggesting that this is your problem are:

1. Gray lines or blotches in the display
2. If the screen shows only a white picture
3. If your phone got wet and you see spots, especially on a white background
4. Most commonly, you dropped or smashed it, and now the screen only shows the picture in certain places

Is the glass on your smart phone cracked??

In this day and age, our phones are becoming essential in more ways than ever before. With the new glass touch screens (which are called digitizers, in case you were wondering), the great responsiveness and sleek look came at a price. These screens are fragile and can crack with the right (or wrong!) impact. The good news is that we can fix it!! We do our best to keep the most popular phone parts in stock which allows us to repair your phone often while you wait or run a quick errand or no matter where you live, using a small Priority Mail flat rate box from the US Postal Service, you can usually send us your phone and have it back within a week!  The prices vary depending on the model,  but our 1-year warranty on parts and labor goes for all of them. The warranty is a lot like the manufacturer's in that we won’t fix it for free if you break it again (talk to us about a protective case to prevent future mishaps) but if it gives you any problems then were all over it.

If you have an iPhone 4 and do have the misfortune of breaking your touch screen, it may not be all bad.  If you have to replace it anyway, think about a color conversion to fit your personality and lifestyle. Regular color conversions come in Pink, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red and Clear. The very stylish Metallic Conversions come in Metallic Dark Blue, Metallic Dark Purple and Metallic Bronze, Gold and Chrome! All conversions include the front screen digitizer/LCD, the back case and the Home button. We have them all in-stock and they all come with a 1-year warranty!

Though we fix all cell phones,  here is a list of our prices to fix iPhone touch screens:

(Prices include parts, labor, return shipping -when applicable, and the 1-year warranty)

- iPhone 4 front glass (digitizer/LCD): Black or White $130

  (The LCD and digitizer are one piece to prevent dust from getting in between them. The LCD is the picture display of the phone)

- iPhone 3G and 3GS front glass: Black $70

- iPhone 4 back glass: Black or White $60

- iPhone 4 Color Conversions: Pink, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red and Clear  $169  

- iPhone 4 Color Conversions: Metallic Dark Blue, Metallic Dark Purple, Metallic Bronze, Gold and Chrome  $199 

(All color conversions include front screen LCD/digitizer, back case and Home button)

If you are not interested in fixing your phone and simply want to sell it, see our FAQ on how we’ll buy your device.

Don’t want to fix it? We may want to buy it!!

Our goal is to show you all of your options and then put ourselves in your shoes and make a suggestion based on what we would do in your place. Maybe you have an upgrade and don’t mind signing a new 2-year contract. Maybe you have an old phone that you don’t mind using until your dream phone comes out. Or sometimes, depending on the value of your phone and how bad the problem is, it simply isn’t cost effective to fix it. If this is your case, we offer other options.

1. We may be able to order a refurbished equivalent or upgraded  phone for a lot less than buying a new one. We give a 1-year warranty (comparable to a manufacturer’s warranty except less picky) on any phones we sell.  In many cases we can salvage and transfer your personal data to the replacement phone and have you up and running again with a minimum of inconvenience and expense.
2. We may have a phone you want in-stock in our refurbished phone section.
3. We may be able to buy your broken phone from you for cash or give you a store credit towards another repair or device.

This is how it works:

We research the value of your phone, that is, what it is worth online in its current condition, and offer you one third of that value in cash. You get a third, we get a third and the other third goes towards expenses and labor. With this option you get some cash with no strings attached and no additional hassle but also no replacement phone.

If, instead, you choose the store credit option, we give you one half of the online value which can then be applied to any product or service offered by the store.

Some devices are not worth any money but are still worth recycling for the sake of our environment! We send off unusable parts and devices for recycling rather than putting them in landfills. MobileREMEDIES makes a donation to The American Cancer Society for every phone that is donated to us for recycling.

Phone locked with a password that you don't know or can't remember?

If your phone is locked with a passcode or password, in most cases you need to restore the phone to factory settings to make it usable again. This is especially true with smart phones, and it means that you will lose all of the personal data stored in the phone's memory, which you hopefully have backed up on your computer or the internet. With some phones, in order to restore it, you need to put it into maintenance or DFU mode. This can be researched and done on your own, or you can have us take care of it for you.

Generally for this repair, we charge our minumum labor fee of $39.95

What does it mean to UNLOCK or FLASH your phone?

When you buy a phone from a service provider like AT&T or T-Mobile, it is to their advantage for the phone to only work with their service. Unlocking a phone allows you to use the phone on different carriers, although this is only the case for phones that use a sim card service (called GSM) like AT&T or T-Mobile. The vast majority of the world uses this technology and if your phone works on all 4 GSM frequency's (commonly called Quad Band), than it will work anywhere with any sim card service provider after being Unlocked.

For phones that don't get their service from a sim card like most phones from Verizon or Sprint (which use a CDMA network), the proper term for making it work with a different carrier is Flashing. CDMA phones can often be flashed to another carrier, but will only work with the carrier it has been flashed to.

For example, if you flash a Sprint phone to work on Verizon, it is only programmed to look for Verizon service. In order for the phone to work on Sprint again it needs to be flashed back. The other disadvantage to an all CDMA phone is that it won't work almost anywhere overseas as most countries use only GSM technology.  Verizon and Sprint both sell a few World Phones, or phones that can use both GSM and CDMA service which can be Unlocked to work on AT&T or T-Mobile here in the USA. For example, the new Apple iPhone 4S is a world phone.

Since you are the owner of your device, Unlocking or Flashing your phone is entirely legal and at your discretion. We Unlock all types of GSM phones and can Flash most CDMA phones to certain CDMA carriers. These services start at our minimum labor fee of $39.95

Is sound only coming out of one side of your headphones?

If sound only coming out of one side of your headphones, or if you need to hold the connector in a certain direction, the headset jack needs to be replaced. We have the parts in stock for most of the popular devices and the repair is usually $55.

If the sound doesn't work at all, and it was very sudden without noticable problems beforehand, it may be a problem with the main board.

Want to Jailbreak or Root your device? Consider it done..

First let’s answer this question:

What is a Jailbreak?

A Jailbreak is usually when a prisoner or prisoners escape from a penitentiary. In our case it is a little different.

When you buy your smart phone, iPod or tablet, it comes with an operating system installed on it. The operating system (OS) only gives you access to the features that the designers intended you to use. Jailbreaking allows you to get behind the OS and use your hardware as you see fit. Jailbreaking and Rooting are completely legal, because you own your device.

With iOS, namely iPod touch, iPhone and iPad, Jailbreaking gives you access to a program called Cydia. Cydia is basically an app store where developers can make their applications available to the public without the manufacturer's approval. Many of the applications you can get in Cydia are free and use features of the device that the OS normally doesn't give you access to. Most people who jailbreak their device do it so they can change the appearance of their phone, Unlock it and use it on another carrier or use their device's data package on other devices through tethering.

With the Android system, it is essentially the same, but the procedure is called Rooting, because it gives you access to the root file system of the OS.

If you decide at some point you want to remove your jailbreak, you simply restore your device. With enough research, you can Jailbreak or Root your own device but it can be complicated and a bit intimidating. If you don't feel comfortable doing it or don't want to spend the time at it, we can do it for you!!

Call for an estimate! Though we back-up your photos and contacts first, we recommend you do a full back-up before doing a Jailbreak or Root.