Tag Archives: iphone

All posts pertaining to iPhones, including repairs, news, teardowns, service, drop tests, etc.

There are many occasions when we have to find a gift to give, Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, to say thank you, etc. It can be difficult to decide what to buy someone that they will get use out if and at the same time isn’t too expensive. An iPhone case is an ideal gift.

They come in a variety of different styles, and you can never have too many. People carry their iPhones everywhere, and to every type of event, therefore having a couple to choose from is a great idea, and protecting them from damage is also important.

This is a list of 50 of our favorites, some are strange, and some are practical, which one do you like the best?

Top 50 Unusual iPhone Cases

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News

How to Use Your iPhone More Effectively

December 28, 2012 Staff Leave a comment

Modern phones are harder to operate than ancient phones. As a result, a large number of people (especially senior members of our society) usually have a hard time trying to use their iPhone more effectively. Listed below are tips on how to use your iPhone more effectively.

Tips on How to use Your iPhone More Effectively

Once you’ve bought an iPhone, you will want to learn how to use all the cool features and amenities that come with this device.

Set up the iPhone Properly

Setting the iPhone up properly is a must. After you’ve bought an iPhone, you will need to install iTunes on your desktop computer and/or laptop and create a personal iTunes account. It is also a very good idea to sync your new iPhone to your email account. This will enable you to not just send and receive messages but also manage your calendar and add or delete contacts from the iPhone. Popular email accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo and MSN are all compatible with iPhones.

Web Browsing

Most people who buy an iPhone use it to browse the web. For this reason, it is very important to choose a compatible web browser and install it properly. All iPhone models come with Safari, a free built in web browser, but some people prefer to use other browsers.

Music

Learning how to manage various music options is also very important. A beginner will want to learn how to get songs from CD onto his or her iPhone, make playlists and use the iPhone with an FM car transmitter.

Choosing the Right Apps

Choosing the right apps will significantly increase your iPhone’s effectiveness. The idea is not to choose a large number of apps but to simply pick the ones that you need and are likely to use. There are many great apps to choose from, ranging from gaming apps to cooking apps.

Jailbreaking

Jailbreaking an iPhone is no easy task, although there are some programs that make this job a lot simpler than it would be otherwise. Jailbreaking an iPhone enables a person to get apps that are not available from Apple’s App store. It is completely legal to jailbreak your iPhone but Apple will not help you resolve any problems that may arise as a result of your actions.

If you damage your iPhone while trying to use your iPhone more effectively, you can rely on ifixyouri.com to get it up and running in no time.

Apps

LocalScope And Other iOS Apps For Your Local Search

December 22, 2012 Staff Leave a comment

Since the dawn of the smartphone, our world has become smaller and considerably more accessible. Through the aid of local search apps, getting a bearing on one’s location and what of interest may surround them is as easy as a simple click. It almost makes you wonder, how did we survive prior to such a convenience?

While browsing through a list of iOS apps, I came across a local search tool called LocalScope. Though a lot of people already use Google Maps (which is now available for iOS) for their local search, and the Apple Map (powered by Yelp), after reviewing LocalScope (review available below) however, I decided to also search for some other apps that may help you in finding what you want, near your location.

Apps For Your Local Search

Unfortunately, the Android version of these apps is currently unavailable.

AirYell

A free app that provides you with a listing and green car icons you can use to get turn-by-turn directions.

AirYell is like a personal Yellow Pages, where you can add a search term or speak it out, to get a list of results for your area. You may also get some listings too by touching some of the icons at the bottom of the app interface. AirYell provides some information about its listings and maps to view their locations, and it also provides turn-by-turn navigation features with voice.

Where To?

An app with an appealing interface and lots of categories (cost – $2.99).

From the Where To? interface, you may choose a common search item which will then be displayed in a list, on a map or through augmented reality (this will cost you an additional 99 cents). Where To? has a massive list of alphabetized services you can quickly get to. The augmented reality feature in the app allows you to see all the places that are in some specific directions within your area, though the extra you may have to pay to use the feature may be a turn-off.

LocalScope

An app that uses social data from popular social networks, along with GPS, to provide you with some information and details about what is near your location. You may search through a lot of social networks and other reference sites with it (cost $1.99).

With LocalScope, you will get some listings, photos, tweets, history, and a lot more through the Search or Discover buttons in its app interface. It is a great choice for finding what you want and discovering other new places too.

To enjoy these apps properly, you’ll need a GPS that is working. Unfortunately, it is one of the features that seems to fail for many iPhone users. If you are experiencing this problem or any other technical issue, you can send your phone to professional repair specialists at iFixYouri.

DIY Fix, iPhone

Dealing With an iPhone Black Screen

December 20, 2012 Staff Leave a comment

Most iPhone users freak out at their first encounter with the iPhone black screen. This often occurs unexpectedly and has been known to strike even brand-new phones. After all that money spent, most users don’t want to see their phone display pitch black. It’s important to know what to do when this problem occurs. If any of tips fail to bring your device back to life, send your phone in for a free diagnostic and our expert technicians will diagnose the issue and iFixYouri will offer to repair it (or buy it from you for cash!).

How to Deal With an iPhone Black Screen

If your iPhone screen blacks out, there’s no reason to worry. Several methods can get rid of the black screen. Below you will find some of the most common ways of dealing with this issue.

Hold the Home & Wake Buttons

Press and hold the Lock/Wake button on the right side of your iPhone.
Simultaneously, press and hold down the Volume Down button on the left side. Keep the Lock/Wake button pressed.
Continue holding the buttons until the screen goes black and the Apple Logo is displayed.

Also known as a hard reset, this is the first solution that you try since it is fairly easy. The screen should come back on. If it doesn’t try a full restore.

Do a Full Restore in iTunes

If the first solution does not work, a full restore is your next best bet. The restore returns your phone’s data to its original settings according to the settings on the backup. This is often done to transfer data from a defective device to a new and working device but also works to restore all data from a blacked-out iPhone.

Open iTunes on the Mac or PC used to back up your device.
Connect your device to your computer with a USB or Lightning cable. If prompted for your device passcode or to Trust This Computer, follow the onscreen steps.
Select your iPhone when it appears in iTunes.
Choose Restore Backup in iTunes.
Review the date and size of each backup. Choose the most relevant option.
Click Restore and wait for the restore to complete. Enter the password for your encrypted backup if asked.
Keep your device connected after it restarts. Wait for it to sync with your computer. You can disconnect after the sync finishes.

What to Do When the iPhone Black Screen Won’t Go Away

If none of these options work for you, you should contact the nearest Apple store and have your phone looked at by the technicians at the Genius Bar. If you try to do any repairs yourself, you’ll end up voiding your warranty. If your phone suffers from simple software problems, they can easily make quick fixes for you. If your phone is still covered by the warranty, the people at the bar can open it up and see what is wrong. If a visit to the Genius Bar reveals that you have a defective unit on your hands, you may get a replacement iPhone.

Other Options Available

If the warranty period for your iPhone ended, you can have it repaired by professional technicians. At iFixYouri, we have some of the best technicians in North America, with lots of experience fixing the black screen on iPhones as well as any other issue under the sun.

Uncategorized

Is it Possible to Fix Water Damaged iPhones Completely Submerged in Water?

December 14, 2012 Staff 1 Comment

Is it possible to fix water damaged iPhones? Contrary to what many people believe, repair can succeed, even if the device has been totally submerged in water. If you take the correct steps immediately, there is a high chance that your iPhone can be brought back to life again.

What To Do to Fix Your Water Damaged iPhone

Make sure that the device is off and do not switch it on again
Open the case and take out the SIM card
Without going to extremes, shake out any excess water and dry it with a clean, dry cloth
If you do not have silica, put some rice into a bag, and place the device into the rice immediately after you have dried it off
Search online for companies that do repairs on water-damaged iPhones, and contact them as soon as possible.

Don’t imagine that by putting your iPhone in a bag of rice, it will get perfectly dry and work as normal again, because it probably won’t.

Effects of Water Inside an iPhone

Even if there is just one drop of water left inside your iPhone, corrosion can set in very quickly. Eventually this can damage your device beyond repair. The repair company that you send your iPhone to should have the expertise to remove any liquid or oil damage from your device. It is possible to get it working as good as new again.

If this proper process is not carried out on your iPhone, it will probably work for a while. However the features will start dying out one at a time as corrosion takes over.

How to Fix Water Damaged iPhones

Make sure that you find a company that specializes in repairing water damaged iPhones, rather than taking it to the manufacturers, who will only replace your iPhone with a reconditioned one, at a price of about $200, and all the data from your old device will be gone for good.

Companies specializing in fixing iPhones damaged by water will give your device a thorough diagnostic. Then they can fix any problems that might be preventing your iPhone from operating normally. The best thing about such companies is that you can send your phone via mail to the company. Then after they fix it, they will send it back to you, making it a hassle-free process. The next time you accidentally drop your iPhone in water, just send it to us and we will fix it for you.

News, iPhone

Using Siri on iOS

December 14, 2012 Staff Leave a comment

Not long ago, Google enhanced their iOS search app by including a voice-enhanced feature. This has caused many users to compare the search results of Siri with Google results, which in the end, has caused users to misunderstand the capabilities of Siri.

Understanding Siri

Apple refers to Siri as a “virtual assistant” with good reason. With it, users can be reminded about upcoming events, appointments or book tables. This along with searching for reviews of movies and current sports scores makes it an invaluable program.

Note: As amazing as Siri is, such a feature can be rendered useless in the event of an unforeseen accident that may require iPhone repair. Therefore it is always best to have a professional repair service, such as iFixYouri, at your disposal for these unpredictable instances.

Users love Siri on iOS and rely on it as their own personal digital assistant. Not only is it capable of handling simple searches, but it can also be used as an alarm as well as a reminder to buy milk. While Google offers much of the same on Android, these capabilities are unavailable in the iOS search app and were not thought of during the original launch of the app.

Digital Assistance

Digital assistance features allow the user to interact with their computer without the use of a traditional mouse and keyboard. These features intertwine in a way that allows the OS to start the functionality upon request. The assistant changes the request of the user into a system action, but does it in a way that is not only dictation or searching the web.

Dictation, as well as reminders, showed up on the desktop with the use of OS X Mountain Lion. Notes were created in iCloud and various other iOS-motivated features. Although all of the components were present, the voice and action connection were not present, which is why Siri did not arrive at this point.

Connecting OS Features

There is a lot of engineering that goes into connecting the features of an OS with a virtual assistant. It is possible that Apple did not see this as a priority at the time that Mountain Lion was being created, or perhaps, testing was incomplete.

Siri is quick and efficient and users like that it takes less effort to complete tasks. This is the main reason users would like to see it become part of OS X. There should be few enough technological issues that nothing should stand in the way of that happening.

News, Software

The Litigation Triagle Between Apple, Samsung and HTC

December 14, 2012 Staff Leave a comment

Apple has been ordered by a California court to produce an uncensored report on the recent HTC patent agreement because Samsung Electronics says there is relevancy with it’s argument with Apple.

The Legal Fight Continues

As ordered by the Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal, the viewing of this document will only be available by those attorneys involved in the patent lawsuit.

Earlier, HTC made an agreement to make available the Patent License and Settlement Agreement with Apple (PLSA). This was providing that certain payment terms were not disclosed. They also wanted the document to be marked as “Highly Confidential- Attorneys’ Eyes Only”.

The terms of compensations that HTC wishes to censor are said to be sensitive to the competition.

Although the settlement terms were not made public, Apple and HTC have settled their disputes over their patent. During the 10-year agreement, both sides will license all patents from the other.

Because Samsung believes that their dispute includes some of the patents included in the Apple/HTC settlement, they have asked that Apple be required to produce a copy of the HTC agreement. Samsung believes that Apple’s agreement to license patents in HTC agreement will poke holes in the theory that irreparable harm has been done.

Further Court Hearings

There is a court hearing scheduled for December in order to make a decision concerning Apple’s request for a permanent ruling on the sale of certain phones by Samsung. They believe that financially, the agreement supports the debate that paying royalties is preferred over a permanent ruling.

There have been innumerable third parties in this case that have not been allowed to censor their the financial portions of their licensing agreements and HTC should be no different. This is especially true because the protective order has been followed and the integrity of the outside counsel that is representing Samsung has been recognized.

Samsung and Apple’s Current Position

Samsung has obtained the agreements of the court where compelling further depositions from three experts at Apple were concerned. Apple also requested two more depositions if the request by Samsung was granted.

Luckily, we as the consumers of these great products have only to worry about their usage and making sure accidents don’t render them inoperable. If your smartphone is in need of repair due to a cracked screen, water damage or any other issue, the experts at iFixyouri can help.

News

6 Setbacks of the iPhone 5

December 12, 2012 Staff Leave a comment

The iPhone 5 is considered to be one of the best gadgets on the market these days. However, just like any other type of smartphone, this product also has its imperfections.

This is the reason why Apple keeps on updating their iPhone to provide the best benefits to their loyal customers. Although their may be some instances that may require iPhone repair, Apple has made it a point to make the customers experience as positive as possible.

iPhone 5’s Top 6 Glitches

Here are the top 6 iPhone 5 glitches identified by the customers of Apple:

6. The Date and Time

One of the common problems mentioned by users of iPhone 5 in several forums is the setting up of clocks. According to Apple, the issue regarding time is something that the carrier needs to address. However, up to this day, there is still no response from Apple or Verizon with regards to this problem and users are still manually setting up their clocks.

5. Problems in Cable Charging

Many users have also complained that lightning cables less than 24 hours are not able to charge and sync. Although there has been no response with regards to this issue, many users said that a full replacement is provided without any hassle.

4. Problems with the Wi-Fi

A user of iPhone 5 has complained that his 3-hour old iPhone is not able to connect with the Wi-Fi. Many other users also responded to this problem saying that Apple can solve the problem with a brief restore. However, another user mentioned that he needs to reload the iOS 6 just to solve this matter. Despite the quick-fix response of users coming from the team of Apple, many still find a lot of hiccups to the Wi-Fi feature of the latest iPhone model.

3. Issues with the Reception

During the initial day of launching, many people or users have already complained about the reception when the phone is shifted from 3G to LTE. This includes Canadian-based iPhone users who are not using Verizon’s network. One user even described the phone as horrific especially when you are not sitting right next to a cell tower.

2. The Digitized Voice Sounds

Aside from the bad phone quality reports against the iPhone 5, many users also experience poor sounds that are attributed to LTE and are digitized in nature. However, disabling the LTE setting s will help alleviate all call quality issues.

1. Issues in Battery Life

The battery life of a 5-diay old iPhone 5 has been reported to drain quicker compared to the previous models of iPhone. This is something that apple is trying to resolve as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, some users also think that the battery life of the newest model is actually quite superb.