Tag Archives: iphone

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

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iPhones Used by Citizens to Keep Gov’t Officials Accountable

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If you have ever meant to report vandalism or broken street lights to City Hall but simply forgot, then you are like a lot of people. Too many responsibilities get in the way, and next thing you know, you are walking by the same broken street light or defaced public bench. Even if you had an iPhone with which to take a photo, where would you send it?

Access to Government

Today, cities across the United States are starting to use current technology to keep government officials on their toes. Americans can now download apps which give them access to City Hall. Instead of getting mad, then forgetting about the pothole that nearly took out his left-front tire, a citizen can photograph the offending hole and send it to local government immediately. This allows the government to triage and do an initial evaluation to measure their priorities.

Getting Results

The result is that problems are solved much more quickly than before. It is typical for an iPhone user to photograph vandalism in the morning before work and see it cleaned up by the time he drives home at 5 p.m. Local government adopted the technology to enable Americans to become more involved and to urge officials to behave responsibly.

Images are applied to tracking software which shows City Hall where a problem is located. A pothole will be fixed or a light replaced within hours. This is the key: the apps are working. Members of local governments act quickly when damage or a code violation is brought to their attention, partly because it is now publicly documented.  Just make sure your phone is working – if you can’t take a picture, you can’t report a problem.  Get your iphone camera fixed by professionals like iFixYouri.

Bad Behavior

Another way this tool has been used is to report instances of abuse. Citizens might spot a member of Congress:

  • Using a government car to go to a baseball game
  • Enjoying expensive luncheons on city dime
  • Committing fraud (or even abuse, in the case of police)

More than 200 cases of fraud have already been called in by concerned members of the public.  With the proliferation of mobile technology in America, this trend is sure to be on the rise.  Do you think this technology is going to be more important, going forward?

Accessories

iPhone Projectors: Reviews and Tips

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If you are planning to purchase an accessory for your iPhone, then a projector is the coolest gizmo available. Not only does it come in handy when watching movies, you can use it for business presentations. Gone will be the days spent squinting at a small screen. In addition, the projectors are portable and can fit snugly inside your pocket. This guide will take you through some of the best projectors you can purchase for your iPhone.

Optoma PK-301

This pico projector boasts the latest DLP chipset technology from TI. As a result, it supports WVGA resolution. Since the high-brightness mode (up to 50 lumens) can gobble up power quickly, the manufacturer has included an external battery pack. With a native resolution of 854 by 480, you can rest assured picture quality is top notch. The Optoma PK-301 has VGA/HDMI/V/USB/A ports. This means you can comfortably watch 3GP, AVI, MP4, as well as MOV image formats. Other features include 30 Mb of internal memory, an audio-out jack, and 0.5w speaker.

Microvision Show WX

You can never go wrong with a projector that combines value and quality in one neat package. With a resolution of 848 by 480 and a contrast ratio of 5,000:1, you will not be complaining about image quality. The compact Microvision Show WX weighs in at an amazing 122g with the battery included. To ensure images are always in focus, it uses laser-beam-steering technology.

Cinemin Swivel Pico Projector

The Cinemin Swivel is a multimedia projector with a 90-degree hinge. This enables users to project images at different angles. If image size ranks among your top benchmarks, the Cinemin Swivel can project images up to 60 inches at a resolution of 480 by 320. The battery packs enough juice to keep you going for two hours.

AXAA Technologies P2 Pico Projector

With a pixel resolution of 800 by 600 and brightness of 33 lumens, the AXAA P2 is one of the best projectors. Add sharp video images of up to 80 inches diagonally and you have the ideal projector in your hands. The manufacturer has included 1GB of internal memory as well as a memory slot.

Optoma NEO-i

If you want a projector that can accommodate all versions of iPhone and iPod adapters, the Optoma NEO-i is a perfect choice. In addition, the Optoma Neo can project images of up to 120 inches at a resolution of 854 by 480. Throw in a contrast ratio of 2,000:1 and your video watching experience will never be the same again.

While you can watch videos and images on your iPhone comfortably, a projector offers a much better viewing experience. At the same time, it makes watching images and movies with other people easier. Since most of these projectors are quite small, portability is not an issue.

Adding a projector will allow you to view the contents of your phone, but in case you are having difficulty seeing your screen due to damage, don’t hesitate to fix it.  iFixYouri has seen every kind of damaged iPhone screen, and will provide professional repair with quick turnaround.

Apps

How To Create an iPhone App That People Will Love

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iphone-app-ifixyouriThe iPhone app development industry is considerably competitive nowadays, but at the same time it is a very rewarding one. With hundreds of iPhone applications made available every day, it can be quite difficult to build one that grabs the attention of the public and becomes a big success.

Nevertheless, new developers should not be discouraged, as the demand for these apps is also very high. Moreover, the technology existing today and the numerous tools available to iPhone developers make the process of building an app pretty straightforward and fast.

Virtually anyone can design and develop his or her own iPhone app these days, without a lot of difficulties. Here are the most common as well as most necessary steps that have to be made in order to build and market your own application.

 Brainstorm

The process starts with a brainstorm for ideas, especially if you do not have any ideas yet. The secret for succeeding in such a competitive market is to come up with something truly unique. This, however, involves a lot of thinking, since nobody can come up with something entirely original and practical that has not been implemented before without doing some research on the market needs and putting a lot of thought into it.

Another thing you can do is to take an old application that was once popular, and spend some time on studying its flaws and determining how you could correct them and improve the application. You can also take an app category where you are very knowledgeable and then design an app with several innovative features that most competitors do not have. Finding a narrower niche on the other hand will make the designing and development process run a lot smoother.

Research

When creating an iPhone app, you cannot disregard the competition. You should always do some research on your competition and see how thorough that particular niche is. The higher the competition in that niche, the more difficult it will be for you to successfully market and sell your app.

The ideal method is to find a narrow niche with high demand and low competition, yet this is one of the most difficult things to do. If however you decide not to let the intensity of the competition scare you and choose to dive into a high competitive niche, you will have to come up with a really unique and innovative application, with features that will make it stand out from the rest.

Finding Help

There are numerous tools you can use in order to make your iPhone app look more appealing. Nonetheless, the best ones are usually the most expensive. You can always do some research, read user reviews and ask for recommendations on development forum boards about which of these tools are more recommended for your particular needs and requirements.

Also make sure that you have an iPhone or working iPod touch to test the prototype on – if you own an iPhone or iPod that needs repair for this step, iFixYouri has the expertise and resources to fix your Apple product. Designing the app should not be too difficult once you have all the right tools to work with (assuming, of course, that you have a background in programming, or are eager to learn). To get started, look at Apple’s main hub for iOS developers, and this tutorial site (with marketing tips).

 

iphone-app-ifixyouriMarketing

After the development process has been completed, you can go on to the next most important step, which is marketing and selling your iPhone app. A good marketing plan is required in order to get the consumers’ attention, even if your final product already looks good and has lots of useful functionalities.

 

 

Reviews

One of the fastest and yet most efficient ways to market an app is through referrals by customers who are satisfied and impressed with your application. For this, you will need to develop a list of clients that can take some time to test the app and then give some positive reviews, spreading them around the internet. These reviews can be either done in the iPhone app store, or in other various forms of marketing.

You may also want to offer incentives for users who are promoting your application on message boards or by using other online marketing vehicles. Another alternative is to release a free (or heavily discounted) version of the app, at least for a while. The more people start talking about your new released iPhone app, the more profit you will generate.

Different Mediums

One of the biggest mistakes that many iPhone developers make is to limit the marketing of their applications to online mediums and mobile environments only. The truth is that print advertising (newspapers, magazines, flyers, etc.) usually sticks a lot longer, mainly because people carry them around, share them with their friends, and generally look at them a few times before throwing the magazines away. Therefore, you might want to expand your marketing approach and get your iPhone marketed in an appropriate printed magazine or publication, according to your budget.

Targeted Market Analysis

Lastly, you should understand that iPhone app marketing is all about following your target audience, going where your potential buyers are and sending them a compelling message. Do not limit your exposure and use any means possible to present your product to iPhone users worldwide. Do a market analysis regularly and then use that data to find new ways of maximizing your sales and allow more and more people to discover your awesome application.

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Happy Birthday Mr. iPhone! You are about to turn five!

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Thousands upon thousand packed the streets in front of Apple stores and at the time, only AT&T stores to cough up a chunk of change to hold in their hand and own what became a cultural phenomena.  In a quick 3 days, apple sold a million of them.

Critics thought the device was too expensive and wouldn’t sell. They thought it was a cool device, but since the customer was stuck with only AT&T at the time, and also stuck using iTunes software, it was doomed to fail. Out came the App store that helped strengthen the hold on the customer and came to deepen the bond that was iPhone and iPhone user. Over 650,000 apps are available on the Apple App Store. 30 billion downloads have been made. The iPhone had proven itself and in a short time, it won over even the toughest of critics.

Regardless of the lack of open-source, people still loved it. Apple made it so that there was only one way(without jailbreaking), to install apps, transfer data and music, and sort your pictures. The iPhone did what every other device that was coming out on the market was trying to do. It created a loving relationship and a simple way to combine an internet communicator, a camera, an ipod, and a phone all into one.

It is the premier consumer device in modern times, and has created industries single handedly. iFixYouri for example, spawned from a single broken iPhone. It all came from one single iphone repair. Model after model, droves of people line up outside stores during launch time to be the first to own the next greatest device of our times. Images get leaked months prior, people go nuts and rumors spread like wildfire.  In the first quarter of 2012, Apple reported more than 400,000 activations per day. Yes, I said 400,000.  That means their global sales have recently doubled. Absolutely insane.

We feel that the iPhone has a usability that is unmatched. It’s literally so easy to use a 1 year-old knows how to use it. That’s the key. Keep it simple.

The iPhone is not only the world’s most popular smartphone, it makes Apple a ton of cash. Apple sells only 9% of the cellphones out on the market, but accounts for 73% of the industry profits.

The fact that there are over 200 million of these devices on the market now has created a whole other industry. The industry that iFixYouri is in. We fix Apple products, and love fixing iPhones. Just think about that for a second. Apple creates so many devices that sell so well, companies can survive just off of fixing one product, of one company. Pretty amazing, and for this, all of us at iFixYouri say thank you and happy birthday iPhone. On June 29th, 2012, you will be 5 years old.

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iDiagnose – Part 5 – iPhone does not sync, speaker does not work, or mic does not function.

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Plug it in, sync it up, load your new music. Simple as that right? Not always. What happens when you plug it in, and nothing happens? Why are you getting no charge to your iPhone?

Perhaps it’s your cable. Most people have extras laying around. Seems like they’re as common as, well, I don’t know, an extension cord? Sure, we’ll go with that.

If it’s not your cable, it’s your dock connector. The dock connector is responsible for many functions in both the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3Gs.

Problems with the dock connector come from:

  • Water damage – most common
  • Dropped iPhone – fairly common
  • Improper repairs – pretty darn common as well
  • Age – getting to be a little less common
  • Plugging iPhone into improper power source – finally, least common

Symptoms of a bad dock connector

  • iPhone will not charge
  • iPhone will not sync
  • Speakerphone sounds distorted, or does not work at all
  • People on other end of a phone call can not hear you
  • Home button does not work
  • Weak service signal

The dock connector is a vital feature of the iPhone. It controls numerous key functions and features that help make the iPhone what it is.

DIY Repair Difficulty – 5/10 – Moderately difficult

This repair can be a little tricky as it involves removing the entire logic board in order to remove the dock connector. With the glass removed, you’ll have to disconnect all connectors, remove all screws holding the logic board in place, and very gently remove the board. This will give you access to remove the 3 screws holding the dock in place. The dock connector consists of multiple iPhone parts put together into one unit. The mic, charging port, external speaker, home button pads, and the cellular antenna are all pieced together to make this one unit. If you are having any of the symptoms listed above, you are in need of a dock connector repair.

Turnaround time on iPhone dock connector Repair – Same day

With this iPhone repair service, our technicians will fix your dock connector problem in no time! All deliveries that we get here by 1pm, get fixed and shipped out the same day.  Whether you’re local in Palm Beach County, or a distant customer in California, iFixYouri can fix this problem for you quickly.

DIY Fix, E-Waste, Repair Parts

Sell and Recycle – What to do with your old iPhone

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The problem – Electronic Waste (e-waste)

This day in age we need to be more and more aware that all these nice little gadgets that we collect don’t exactly filter back into the earth. Many times the end up in junk yards and add to the ever increasing problem of electronic waste(e-waste). When people look to get their devices fixed, often times they realize selling it is easiest and a gateway to getting an upgrade without the hassle. This is especially true in the iPhone repair industry where the turnover rate is quick.

According to Greenpeace.org:

Many old electronic goods gather dust in storage waiting to be reused, recycled or thrown away. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that as much as three quarters of the computers sold in the US are stockpiled in garages and closets. When thrown away, they end up in landfills or incinerators or, more recently, are exported to Asia.

As a preventative step in preserving the environment, we urge you to take the appropriate measures in order to limit e-waste.

The Solution – Sell and recycle

We fully promote self-repair as our iPhone Parts section will show you. The reality is though, that most people don’t want to deal with their broken stuff. That’s when you Sell your iPhone to us! We pay top dollar to help you and at the same time, you’re doing your part in helping momma nature. Even your old, used, broken, water damaged iPhone can put a couple bucks back into your pocket.

You may be sitting there asking, “what do you guys do with my old junk?”

  • Salvage for parts
  • Recycle toxic parts properly
  • Refurbish and donate

Here at iFixYouri, we help consumers properly dispose of not only iPhones, but computers as well. You know that old computer that you have sitting collecting dust in your garage? We’ll fix it and donate it to local charities and schools. Perhaps it’s not the latest technology, but we can assure you that we’ll find a ‘match’ for your computer, and a user who would love to browse the internet, learn, and most importantly, use it!

Repair Parts

iPhone 4 Glass – Will it break?

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We here at iFixYouri did a little science experiment the other day with some of our newest iPhone parts. Many people have been talking that the new iPhone has strong glass, less prone to scratching, 30 times stronger than plastic, etc. Will the new glass prove to be ultra strong and never break?

I’m going to go with a no on this one. Why may you ask? They do say that it is 30 times stronger than plastic, and there is a video of it bending. Bending, yes. They did also state that the iPhone 3Gs Glass was stronger when that came out as well. It may bend more, but can it handle shock and sudden impact, that is the real question. That is what causes 95% of glass shattering. Not because you bent the glass in your pocket, not because you dropped it and it bent, but really because of sudden impact.

Land it flat on the ground, and it will smash. We have evidence. Before i show you the evidence, I am going to point out a design flaw that will bite them in the future. On the new iPhone, the glass basically sits on top of the aluminum frame. On the old iphone, it was recessed and protected by a chrome bezel.

We have a full iPhone 4(minus the circuit board), here at our shop and decided to do a little drop test. This drop was performed from 3.5 ft up. The iPhone 4 did survive 2 drops, as expected, but on the 3rd drop there was a loud POP, and yet again, shattered glass.

We will continue to be the leader in iPhone Repair, and now iPhone 4 Repair.

More updates/pictures here!

Since this posting has got waves from many people, we’re going to clear a few things up here.

1) People are saying, “there’s no way you have iPhone 4 parts yet, the phone isn’t even out!”

  • The fact is, is that we’re a repair shop. Along with other major repair shops, we’re able to receive parts earlier than most. A simple google search will show that not only us, but other top players in the ‘iphone repair’ world, do in fact have these parts. We did put out a press release on June 3rd stating that we had the parts. This is no secret. A rather large competitor had them as earlier as May 19th. This is also widely spread on the internet

2) You hit it with a hammer

  • Uhmmm…no…we didn’t. That’s the most ridiculous thing we’ve heard.

3) Fake

  • We’re going to go with a no on this one as well. iPhone 4 Parts are available to all major repair shops…just seek and you shall see. Google ‘iphone repair’ and check some of the top competitor sites…they’re all ramped up and ready to service iPhone 4’s.

Here’s EXACTLY how it went down…if you want to read more into it, go for it. But honestly, and truthfully, this is the EXACT re-enactment of what happened:

It was a hot day on June 7th, 2010 and us here at the shop had just finished listening to the keynote by the great Steve Jobs. He had made a statement that the glass was stronger, more bendable, etc. After hearing that, one of our techs said “We should test a piece of the glass that we have in stock(iphone 4 glass that is).”

We proceeded down the hallway with our assembled iPhone 4(minus the internal circuit board), stepped out the front door and out to the side walk. Our tech held the phone(front facing the ground), and dropped it. Nothing(drop 1-we were very impressed). Drop 2, nothing. Drop 3, smash. He dropped it flat on the face and it popped. The all too familiar pop sound that some of us beloved iPhone users fear for.

As we sat talking about it, we decided to show our results on our blog, so that our readers could see what we had found. Not expecting it to take wind the way it did.

That is all…no ulterior motive…just to show our readers what had happened. That is it.

Please do yourselves a favor and check some competitor sites and you will see that the iPhone 4 parts aren’t as rare and elusive as you may think. There are numerous places out there with iPhone 4 parts already.

Repair

New iFixYouri.com launches! New service center to be opened soon!

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As ifixyouri.com continues to grow, we are proud to announce the launching of our new website for 2010! ifixyouri.com is South Florida’s premier iPhone repair specialists. We are currently located in Lake Worth, Palm Beach County, FL. We are currently in the process of expanding our facilities to a new service center located in Lake Park, Palm Beach County, FL. As the date draws closer, we will provide you with new and exciting updates about our new location that is soon to be opened!