Salta al contenuto principale
« Torna a Tutte le Storie

iPhone 4S MIA

infmz -

Il Mio Problema

Breaking down one evening in June 2013 on the M1 (the main highway connecting many UK cities), I had to evacuate my frantic wife and sleepy kids from my car - the perfect ending for our driving holiday. After calling for help, things went from bad to worse - I'd lost the car keys. Angry and frustrated I hopelessly retraced every step through the knee-high grass and even taller weeds that bordered the motorway, in a vain search for my Toyota's keys.

At this point I saw an iPhone 4S covered in rainwater, grit and whatever else right by my ride. I picked it up thinking I'd dropped my phone while searching my pockets, but seconds later was in doubt that it was mine. I had bigger fish to fry and gave it little attention, continuing the hunt for my car keys. I later found them in my son's coat pocket with a Snickers bar? Go figure!

After a nine hour tow-ride followed immediately by a 9 hour day at work, I came home and looked at the iPhone 4S. I assessed its condition and was convinced that I could bring it back to life. It later went into a container of rice, and was forgotten...

The weeks passed and then one evening, having successfully addressed an overheating issue in my Macbook a1278 (turned out a wall of dust was blocking the CPU heatsink/fan vent), I remembered that I had an iPhone 4S to look at. That I did.

La Mia Riparazione

I used both a spudger and tooth brush to get rid of some of the grime (and rice!). I then sprayed some foam cleaner and gave the phone a complete makeover. All but the openings of the phone (3.5 jack, charging connector, speakers, mic) looked good. I was convinced however that the phone suffered from some water damage as I had found it wet, face up on the M1 a month earlier. The charging connector was also bent.

I used contact spray to clean the connector of any water damage and other muck. The spudger again came in handy as I carefully 'straightened' the connector. Next I drove out the annoying pentelobe screws, removed the battery and then the charging block. I brushed and blew out all dust as needed. To my astonishment however, the phone's internals looked as good as new. I couldn't actually see signs of any water damage other than the charging block itself. I closed the phone and decided the best thing to do would be to charge it up before taking it apart any further.

The iPhone 4S came back to life and someone had left a message on the home screen saying that it had been lost (that seemed obvious). I sent a text to the user in hope of reuniting him/her with their device and was called immediately. The phone had been out in the wet, missing in action for over a week or so before it spent a few more bathing in rice at my home. I shipped the phone back just yesterday, refused his reward, as it seemed more dutiful and right at the time - all I did was find it and clean it. I've just had word that the two are reunited.

Il Mio Consiglio

With the power of repair (after the will of God, that is =) ), I was able to fix the charging contacts, give the phone some juice and track the owner who had been in search of his phone after the battery died. Someone not willing or not confident to take the challenge, which in this case was small, would've been unable to do so.

I guess it's worth reminding everyone that that could be your device missing, at a very precise point whereby the likelihood of it being found is small. What were the chances of me breaking down on a 300km motorway, right next to an iPhone accidently dropped a week prior? Make sure you use Find my iPhone or other equivalent services in a timely fashion if you think you've lost your device. Find out too late when the battery has died and you will have to rely on fate alone!

« Torna a Tutte le Storie

0 Commenti

Aggiungi Commento