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Extend the life of my dying phone!

My two year or so old Sony Ericsson is finally biting the dust. It's had memory problems for months, and now it won't hold a charge. I took it by the AT&T store to have them look at it and they confirmed my belief that the charger is my primary problem. The copper inputs on it have somehow been pushed or bent so they're now at two different lengths, so they aren't really locking in to the charge port on the phone. My warranty is long gone, and they don't even have that charger in stock anymore. I attacked the charger with tweezers and got it to charge again a few days ago, though it didn't look any different to me. Now it seems to be back to not charging at all.

Long story short, I'm going to bite the bullet and get a smart phone, but I'd love for people to able to reach me in the next few days, till I can decide what I want and get everything set up. Any ideas to get it charging again?

Also, I'd love advice about what smart phone to get. I'm leaning towards the iphone 3GS, since it's about $150 bucks cheaper and I'm already on At&T. But I'd love some unbiased opinions on what works well and is easy to use. I saw your comparison between the iphone and Evo elsewhere on QL, but I don't really even know what to look for when comparing.

Sara Brickman asked in Geek Week 10 months ago | Report
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  • Cappa_small
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    Getting a smartphone and data plan contract due to a bad charger is like getting married for the sex. Or buying a 747 because you like the peanuts.

    There are tons of places to get a replacement charger for under $10, if that's all you want to do. Gimme a model number and I'll send you a link.

    But if you really just want to get a smartphone, then all that doesn't matter. :-) So which do you really want?

    capicola answered in Geek Week 10 months ago | Report
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  • Tonks_small
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    Anthony Hecht

    The charging issue is a tough one without seeing the thing. You were probably on the right track with the tweezers, but it can be a dicey operation. You just want to get all those contacts as close to their original location as you can on both the charger and the phone to make sure they all make contact. The problem is if they're loose, they'll just get pushed back out of the way when you try to attach the charger. If they've lost contact on the other side (to the battery, or to the charger's power supply), you might be out of luck. If the problem is on the charger side, you could probably pick up a new one on eBay for a few bucks.

    As for which smart phone to buy, this is basically a religious argument these days. I'm an iPhone guy, so I like those, but there are many great Android phones too, and Windows Phone is also quite good. It comes down to personal preference. If you haven't used them much, you should at least go to the store and use an iPhone and an Android phone for a while to get an idea of which makes most sense to you and feels better, and try some apps for things you're likely to do - email, Twitter, whatever - and see which ones you like better.

    The consensus is often that iPhone is a bit easier to learn and use and the apps tend to be more stable and polished. There are lots of exceptions and people who would disagree of course, so you should check them out for yourself. I think you'll quickly get a sense of which feels better for you.

    Anthony Hecht answered in Geek Week 10 months ago | Report
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  • Bierce1_small
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    I'm an iPhone fan, but I'd attack using quality tweezers again and wait as long as you can, hopefully until the 5 comes out in a few months or closer to end of year. If you can't wait, I'd avoid the 3GS. I can't stand the crappy camera, it annoys me greatly. Go for the iPhone 4 or similar featureset Android if you must.

    Black Beetles in Amber answered in Geek Week 10 months ago | Report
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