Nowadays, cell phones have become our lifelines. Many households don’t even use active landlines, because everyone in the household has their own cell phone. We use our smartphones for phone calls, Internet searches, emails, text messaging, picture-taking and so much more. Without them, most of us would feel lost.
It’s only natural for your stomach to drop when your cell phone has been damaged in a way that will compromise the use of it — or even worse, you find out it has been damaged beyond repair.
Cell Phone Survival Planning:
Water damage is by far the most common reason a mobile phone breaks and becomes unusable. Other common damages are scratches on the screen, faulty I/O ports, speaker damage, camera problems, bad batteries, and more.
Most of these problems are a result of human error. We use our phones so much and they accomplish so much for us that we start to think of them as superheroes — like nothing could stop them from ever doing their job. When catastrophes happen to our cell phones, our lives feel empty.
The best defense you can have against cell phone damage is to keep it out of danger in the first place. But when the unfortunate happens, you’ll also need to know how to save it.
Because the majority of mobile phone damages come from our own carelessness, they can generally be avoided by using caution in a variety of common situations. Follow these tips to make sure your phone is always properly functioning:
- Have your phone out only when in use. If you’re not using your phone, you should keep it in a safe place, whether that’s your pocket, purse, on a belt clip, etc. Leaving it on the kitchen counter in reach of little kids or dogs, or on the roof of your vehicle, are two examples of places where your cell phone can be damaged, lost or stolen in a split second.
- Find a secluded spot to talk on your phone. Talking in common areas with a lot of people and noise isn’t a good idea. A dance club, a busy part of the bar, a sporting event or anywhere you could get accidentally bumped is bad news. Even worse, if you get bumped and drop your phone, you’ll be trying to find it on the ground where people are walking carelessly with no regard to your phone.
- Avoid the bathroom. The bathroom is also home to a silent killer, steam and humidity. The steam from your shower or bath will cause corrosion around the I/O ports. And anytime you use your smartphone when taking a bath, you run the risk of dropping it in.
- Use a plastic bag when you’re around sand and water. It’s understandable to want your smartphone when you’re at the beach, on a boat, kayak or canoe. Placing your phone in a zip plastic bag will protect it from sand and water that could ruin your phone.
- Stay away from extreme heat sources. Leaving your phone directly in the sun on a hot day, especially if it’s black, can cause potential damage. You’ll want to avoid other heat source as well. This means you should avoid putting it next to the grill or the stove — if your body or skin can’t stand the heat, neither will your phone.
- Don’t talk on the phone in the rain. This should be a no-brainer, but it’s still worth mentioning. Find a place to take cover instead of exposing your phone to the rain. Although you may not see any problems right away from talking in the rain, repeating this habit can cause damage in the future.
- Be careful where you plug your phone in for charging. A faulty connection at the battery charger port can be a big problem for mobile phone users. One of the biggest reasons for this is where and how we choose to charge our phones. If you charge your phone on the ground in an open area, or in a place where people walk often, you risk disconnecting the phone improperly.
If someone trips over the cord that goes from the wall to your phone, your phone will be ripped away from the charger without properly releasing the clips. In the worst case scenario, your phone will no longer connect to the charger properly and you’ll have to seek out a repair shop to have it fixed.
Cell Phone Protection
Do cell phone covers actually do the job they claim to do? In this section we’ll talk about the survival gear your phone will need to take on zombies and help save humanity.
There are a few things to consider when selecting the right case for your smartphone. For starters, if you bought your cell phone because of its sleek design, a case would be covering up the stylish phone you wanted to carry around.
Docking can also be inconvenient with phone covers, as most cases cover up all the I/O ports except for the charger. Every time you want to listen to music from your phone or utilize another function, you will be forced to take the cover off.
In some cases, you might actually harm your mobile phone with a cover. A cover can trap in debris, moisture or other foreign objects that can then scratch your screen, get caught in the I/O ports, or cause those ports to corrode.
However, if you don’t ever want to learn how to save a wet cellphone — and you make the time to shop around for a phone case that fits appropriately to your phone and offers protection — a cell phone cover could be the way to go. It can easily protect your phone from a variety of harmful situations.
Phone covers like Life Proof or Griffin’s Survivor All-terrain Case offer great protection against water, dirt, snow and drop shock at reason prices. If you find yourself dropping your phone a lot, this extra added protection might be well worth the money.
Repairing Your Mobile Phone When the Unfortunate Happens
No matter how many precautions you take, accidents are going to happen. Your phone goes on every adventure you go on, and it may only be a matter of time before you have a mishap. When that day comes, we’ve compiled a survival guide for saving your phone in a variety of scenarios:
How to Rescue a Water-Damaged Cell Phone
Dropping your phone in water is one of the most common and lethal reasons cell phones go dead and never start working again. When reviving a water-damaged cell phone, it’s important to quickly follow these steps to ensure the best possible outcome.
| Follow these steps if you dropped your phone in water: |
|---|
| Quickly remove your cell phone from the water as soon as possible. |
| Don’t even bother powering it down — just open up your phone right away and disconnect the battery. If you have no way of getting the phone open, then you can try powering it down. Cutting the power as fast as possible will prevent any more damages such as short circuits. |
| Get a towel and soak as much moisture as you can out of it. Some recommend using a blow dryer, but this is a dangerous and controversial method. The heat from the hairdryer can cause heat damage in your mobile phone if you’re not careful. |
| Try putting your smartphone in a tub of rice or another substance of that sort. Use your own discretion, as rice hasn’t been proven to always dry out your phone. You could also try letting your phone sit out in the open with a fan blowing on it. |
There are products on the market such as a Bheestie Bag and Dry-All that serve as little pouches and have synthetic desiccants inside, an agent that absorbs moisture much better than rice. We recommend keeping it on hand during all of your many adventures and outings.
If you have one on you, all you have to do is retrieve your phone from any liquids right away, shut the power down, drop it in the bag and seal it. You’ll still probably be stuck without your phone for 24-36 hours, but these products have the potential to truly fix your phone.
Ultimately, the key to rescuing a water damaged phone is to react quickly and get your phone out of the water. Make sure you shut the power off as soon as possible – after that, you’ll need to have patience to let it dry out before you can to see if it works again.
First Aid Tips: How to Repair a Damaged Cell Phone Screen
Your screen can get scratched pretty easily if you’re not using a screen cover. And if you have really deep scratches, there’s a chance they might not come out. However, if you have minor ones, there are products you can buy from many stores, such as Best Buy or Walmart, that are inexpensive and easy to use. You can also be creative, save some money and make your own scratch remover.
- Try to find one of these common household products: baking soda, toothpaste or baby powder.
- Take just a few drops of water and mix it with a tiny bit of one of the agents mentioned above. Mix it until you create a fine compound.
- Grab a soft cloth and your homemade compound, and rub it in a circular motion on the screen — just like you’re waxing a car. As you’re rubbing it, you should notice results. You may have to do it more than once, but if the scratches are shallow enough, they should at least fade.
DIY Fix: Replacing the Screen on Your Cell Phone
If you find that you need to replace the screen on your cell phone, your first reaction might be to take the phone to a repair shop which could charge anywhere from $45.00 and up and then labor. But this is a project that even the average non-handy man can handle. You can purchase a screen and tool kit for about $15.00 online. As long as you replace the screen correctly, this DIY option will help you save money — money that you can put towards a new phone.
Simply research step-by-step guides, tutorials and videos — there are a lot of them out there. Follow the instructions, have some confidence and a steady hand, and you can complete the screen replacement on your own.
Frozen with Fright! How to Fix a Frozen Screen
If your mobile phone screen is frozen and there’s no real damage, there are some simple steps you can take to unfreeze it. Try powering it down if you can, and then go to the back of the phone and take the battery out. Don’t bother with the Sim Card.
Next, hold down the power button for five or ten seconds and let the existing power out. Replace the battery and turn it back on. If you still have problems, you might have to go through a reset process. Smartphones will typically have detailed step-by-step instructions in the owner’s manual on how to do this. There will be a soft reset and a hard reset. If you decide you need a hard reset, this will wipe all of your data, so plan accordingly.
Diagnosis: How to Repair a Damaged Cell Phone Speaker
If you have a damaged cell phone speaker, you should first diagnose whether or not your cell phone speaker is damaged. Cell phone speaker problems could be one of three things:
• Network problem
• Software problem
• Hardware problem
If it’s just a hardware problem, you’ll only need to fix your speaker. But how do you determine if it’s a hardware problem? It’s simple — if you can’t hear anyone talking to you but the person on the other end can hear you, it’s a speaker problem. And for about $15.00, this is a problem you can quickly fix on your own. You can buy the speaker anywhere cell phone parts are sold, so look at some online tutorials. If you get proactive, you can save yourself an expensive trip to the repair shop.
On the other hand, if your network is broken, your speaker may work in certain places and it may not work in others. You may hear cross chatter, static, robot voices or echoes. If you’re experiencing this problem, you’ll need to contact your network provider.
If it’s a software problem, your speaker will work when it’s performing certain task but not others. For example, you might be able to hear people talking to you, while the newest video you downloaded won’t play audio. Or your alarm might work fine but your newest game is mute. If you’re experiencing this sort of problem, you need to delete the software and try to reload or live without it.
Live and Let Die: When Your Phone Is Damaged Beyond Repair
In the worst-case scenarios, your phone may be damaged beyond repair. The good news is that you can always sell your used smartphone online, even if it’s broken, to receive cash for a new one. The Whiz Cells will buy your mobile phone or tablet, and send you money fast.
We have the fastest payment in the business, and you can receive your payment in about 24 hours. If you decide to use your own packaging, we guarantee a payment within one business day of the delivery. If you don’t have your own package, we offer free shipping and packaging.
When you decide to sell your smartphone for cash at The Whiz Cells, payments are as easy as receiving a check or a Paypal payment — whichever option is the most convenient for you.
If you’re dealing with a phone that’s damaged beyond repair, consider selling your smartphone for cash to get a new one. This is the easiest way to get another phone back in your hands as soon as possible, and it’s also a great way to help the planet by recycling. Contact The Whiz Cells today, and get a quote for your cell phone or tablet.