CPR Can Fix Flip Phones Too

Expert service technicians at CPR are fully capable of repairing most flip phones – including all of the earliest flip phones by Nokia, and also their more recent marketplace entries.

Many Americans aren’t really aware that Nokia phones are manufactured in Finland, or that Nokia introduced its initial flip phones more than five years ago. Time flies, especially when it comes to flip phones. Once a trendsetter in cellular handsets, this strategic move had allowed Nokia, the telecom pride of Scandinavia -- to avert a nasty finish that had seemed all but inevitable. Clamshell models, Nokia’s bread and butter, had become less nifty. Nokia did regain a large chunk of market share, but more than five years later, many of these surviving flips are now in dire need of repair.

The models being introduced were quite exciting, beginning with their own third generation phone, their 6630, billed as the world’s smallest 3G. It weighed a mere 4.5 ounces, featured a 1.2 megapixel camera, an MP3 player and promised extremely fast Internet transmission – up to forty times that of any U.S. or Chinese competitor – but unfortunately failed to deliver.

A second high-end model, a clamshell 6260 with a swiveling flip, incorporated a video recorder, Web browser, email and VPN within its configuration, and came with a Bluetooth network and an optional wireless keyboard.

Bells & whistles even populated the low-end of these Norseland Nokias. For instance, the 2600 came standard with a full-color display and a handfree speaker – the latter being an excellent choice for safety-conscious consumers but largely ignored, as safety with cell phones never made decent hype in those days.

Enter CPR. “We’re getting a lot of these old Nokia flips in,” says CPR expert service technician Sven Svardd. “I blooming hate the things,” says the blonde Great Dane. At nearly seven feet tall, he looks like a Viking about to lead a band of marauders, and if reincarnated admits to a predilection for pillaging, but also possesses a Jack O’ Lantern grin that can be endearing to certain women. Although he hates the things and prefers newer model smartphones, “practically anything that you don’t have to plug in,” he explains, “They are extremely simple to fix,” he admits. He might add, especially if you take your smartphones down to your nearest CPR.

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Broken eBook Reader? CPR Can Fix It.

Since Apple’s iPhone now has apps to support Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader, it’s more popular than ever and there’s one more reason to keep your iPhone functioning. But if it breaks, head down to your nearest CPR so you that you don’t lose your place.

The iPhone is swiftly becoming the eBook reader of choice for many people. Last year, the iPhone and iPod Touch claimed the handheld gaming market for the first time. Now, due to new support features, it’s no wonder that book applications for iPhones have begun to exceed the popularity of gaming apps. One out of every five new apps introduced to the App Store during October were book apps. With 57 million iPhone and iPod Touch users worldwide, Apple’s touchscreen devices are far more ubiquitous than is Kindle; so despite the fact that iPhone screens are a lot smaller than Amazon’s six-inch Kindle, they remain a much more feasible(and lucrative) gateway for book publishers . Although their screens are tiny by comparison, loyal iPhone and iPod touch users don’t really mind now that iPhone apps exist to support Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader. In fact, because iPhones and iPods are a heck of a lot more popular than the more practical Kindle due to its more effective marketing blitzes, iPhones are swiftly becoming “preferred” as eBook readers, even if Kindle is still numero uno for the moment. Industry analysts are predicting that Kindle will consistently lose market share as the Christmas buying season looms. Reading books on your iPhone and iPod make these popular gadgets more than mere platforms for handheld gaming.

So what if you’re on Page 223 of Frank Herbert’s Dune Trilogy and your iPhone breaks? Even the peskiest of malfunctions can take that engrossing momentum and personal satisfaction that you can only get from entering an imaginary world of your own choosing and appreciating it in a nouveau setting. There is a way to “get reading” again, the CPR way. CPR’s expert service technicians like to read too -- so let them empathize. “I hate it when I’m reading my favorite copy of War and Peace and my iPhone gets tossed onto the concrete by my girlfriend Estelle,” says expert CPR service technician Leroy McVeigh, “I can fix it fast and all that, but if she keeps doing that, I’ll never make it past the third chapter.”

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Windows XP Smartphone Is Tiny, but So What?

The functionality of the XP has been brought into question. Do we need to prize the tiniest over the more typically-sized gadget? Trying to fix these miniscule techno-wonders may also be a daunting but unnecessary challenge.

It’s new. It runs Windows XP and blends in PC features within the palm of your hand. But is it really useful to have a smartphone so small? The pocket-sized XPPhone blends smartphone, PC and mobile Internet device into a do-all. Microsoft’s Windows XP Operating System never had it so good. Or maybe not, you techno Dr. Know it all.

In the middle of the bug-sized device is a Geode LX chip, running at 533MHz and drawing less than a single watt of power as if it were Picasso in a Spanish outhouse.

Enthusiasts proclaim that a demand exists for devices smaller than netbooks that can deliver the functionality of a much larger PC. Smartphones are changing into Internet surfers and readers of Word documents. This thing may be pushing a similar “one-box” envelope. But is it too laden with resources for such a Lilliputian contraption?

Some experts are daring to ask the fifty-cent question: “Why would anyone want a phone that runs XP?” How often will you have to replace its batteries? I’m thinking a mechanical version of Flomax on steroids might be an apt comparison of what we’re dealing with here. Also, personal computers have had their own issues running XP. Why make a mechanical mini-me vulnerable to the same family of problems? The blue screen of death comes to mind; only it buzzes and stings in a peculiar annoying way because it’s so freaking little. Try to load Microsoft Office on it if you’d like your own immediate cardiovascular event as a way to put frosting on frustration. Add some of the other components of the Windows arsenal and you might just be asking for a convulsion.

There’s also a follow-up fifty-cent question. What if it breaks? Isn’t any repairing a questionable proposition if the unit’s functionality is questionable in the first place? Makeshift repairs might accomplish more harm than good. How can you tell what “works” if you can barely see it? What about warranties? It seems that an independent repair shop might be your only solution, but make certain that the techno-nerds employed as service technicians there have their magnifying tools handy.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Apple 3GS iPhones a Hot Item

Apple 3GS iPhones are selling at a record pace primarily because of their versatile features. But besides death and taxes, one thing is certain, if something bad happens, they will break. When that happens, an independent repair shop may be the best solution.

On its first day of availability in the United Kingdom, the mobile phone company Orange sold 30,000 iPhones. Most were sold within hours. Such volume would have been unheard of a decade ago.

Considering what was being sold, it’s not that surprising. It’s the fastest iPhone ever, twice as quick as its predecessor the 3G. It’s amazing how quickly you can launch apps, render Web pages, or view email attachments. The nifty little gadget can also shoot, edit, and share video – in premium quality VGA portrait or landscape perspectives. Not enough for you? You can also trim your footage by adjusting start and end points with reckless abandon. Take that same instantaneous video and share it in an email, post it to your MobileMe gallery, publish it on YouTube, or sync back to your Mac or PC using the ubiquitous iTunes.

Apple’s 3GS also comes equipped with a 3-megapixel camera that also takes still photos and has a built-in autofocus. A voice control learns the names in your contacts and the music on your iPhone. It comes with a built-in digital compass, so that you might reorient a map to match the direction you’re facing – which is ideal for lost elves at Christmas. Apple’s smartest of phones also can cut, copy, or paste with the best gadgets ever imagined, provide additional typing room with a landscape keyboard, send messages with text, videos, photos, audio, locations, and contact information. An extraordinary feature called “Internet tethering” allows you to surf the Web from practically anywhere.

But there are so many features that can fail – given the slightest accident to befall your treasured little creature of state-of-the-art techno prowess. The merest accident, and suddenly, a precious feature is lost, maybe two, or three, or maybe it’s all dead suddenly and about as useful as a rock.

That’s when the “what ifs” begin to kick in. What if the warranty has expired and your rock is starting to gather dust? What if your little machine has sentimental value or is broken and the person who gave it to you as a gift doesn’t know yet that one or more of the features is broken? Your option is clear. Run, don’t walk, down to your nearest independent repair shop. Don’t drop your iPhone. Don’t you dare drop it.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR Fixes More than Software Glitches

While software issues with Apple’s iPhone OS have now been resolved, it’s important to realize that the thing itself might still break. That’s where CPR comes in.

About a month ago Apple introduced an updated iPhone OS 3.1. This smartphone-related software debuted with a plethora of new features, including a Genius system to recommend new apps, new ways to organize your apps, and the ability to download ringtones wirelessly.

On October 8, 2009, Apple released another update for the iPhone OS. This most recent upgrade is 3.1.2. In the grand scheme, it’s just a minor update as updates go, but the update’s introduction has resolved issues that have arisen since 3.1. According to Apple, the latest update fixes a bug that might cause an occasional crash while streaming videos, resolves sporadic issues that may cause your iPhone to continue sleeping even after you try to wake it up, and further resolves intermittent issues with cellular network services being interrupted. This update is not only for all iPhone models, but also applies to the iPod Touch.

But what happens if your operating system is functioning fine and dandy, and your iPhone is still an itty-bitty clunker? Unless a new “cash for clunkers” program is brought onto the tables to reward you, as you so richly deserve to be rewarded, your best option is to run, don’t walk, to your nearest retail emporium with the CPR logo prominently displayed.

Claude C. Claude, a skilled CPR technician, was recently brought onboard to handle such matters, has this to say about moribund smartphones and streaming videos that show up stillborn. “I’m thrilled to be working at CPR, where my skills for fixing the smartest of the smartphones are appreciated, and where I’m beloved by both colleagues and inanimate objects. Can I, or somebody who looks like me, repair your smartphone if the thing stops working? Let me tell you this. I repaired one the other day that the customer had given up for dead, placing it in an unmarked grave in his backyard before bringing it to me. Is this a Halloween prank I asked? But the customer is always right, even when he stares back at me like a zombie.

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR Can Rebuild Even the Smartest Phones with Wi-Fi

Compare them. Most smartphones boast Wi-Fi capability. But this capability is one of the first things to fail when it matters most. Ask your friends at CPR.

So many smartphones have Wi-Fi capability now; the feature has almost become standard. If you’re shopping for such a phone, you might compare. For instance, the Apple iPhone 3GS is probably the most expensive; it does boast a battery-life that rivals the Great Bunny, and of course has Wi-Fi capability. The Palm Pre, a Sprint novelty, is a lot cheaper, going for about half the price of an iPhone 3GS, also has Wi-Fi. Verizon’s entry into the Wi-Fi capable extravaganza is the HTC Ozone, and it’s even cheaper. Blackberries like the RIM Curve 8900 don’t close like certain smartphones, but they’re convenient in the sense of Wi-Fi too. Another smartphone, the Nokia N97, not only is Wi-Fi capable, but is unlocked – able to be used with any mobile carrier. The Nokia’s downside is that its operating system apparently first came out prior to the GEICO caveman. T-Mobile MyTouch 3G also is Wi-Fi capable – providing you don’t touch it. That’s the problem with smartphones and their Wi-Fi abilities, akin to telekinesis. If your phone is prone to glitches, or else it actually breaks, the first capability to become extinct is Wi-Fi.

This can be more inconvenient than sin. You’re hoping to download photos and find a good restaurant to take your significant other for sushi and pasta. You have your smartphone; you’re in a Wi-Fi hot zone, but … it WON’T WORK!

That’s when you need CPR. The skilled service technicians at America’s leading independent repair shop franchise can make your Wi-Fi function again. It doesn’t matter what brand of smartphone that’s failed, we can fix it so that your Wi-Fi becomes standard again, not a capability that has become extinct.

Says CPR’s service technician Malcolm R. Middel, a true geek if there ever was one, “I hate it when the Wi-Fi fails. That is not good, not good at all.”

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Unfortunately Named, the LG Viewty Smart GC900 Is Bound to Break

When the LG Viewty breaks, who will fix it? Don’t ask Santa’s elves, they’re techno-challenged.

Who names these things? If you incorporate an 8 MP camera with LED flash and enough video editing software to have a party in your handset, what do you call it? If you guessed an LG Viewty Smart GC900, you have rocks in your head, but you’re right. What is this thing really? It’s a phone.

This beauty of a Viewty comes equipped with a standard S-Class interface and a touchscreen that looks suspiciously like a refugee from LG, and despite its light weight of 102 grams, the stocking stuffer is extraordinary for its uncanny metallic feel, though some might perceive this wonder of 2009 as being a tad delicate. It doesn’t have a 3.5 mm headphone port (what do you want, blood?), so there’s an adaptor in the box with or without a jack, but it isn’t the only phone blessed with a socket.

Yes, but did I mention that it is a tad delicate? Your little Viewty, unfortunately named, is bound to break. What do you do then with your not-so-smart-phone?

Since it is a stocking stuffer, you might consider asking Santa’s elves to fix it. Santa often marvels at their prowess; he has been looking on approvingly as they pound away with their little tools in Santa’s workshop since the year 647 A.D. Those particular elves are dead now; no longer busy in our realm, but their replacements might be ready and eager to fix your broken beauty of a Viewty. But there are at least two reasons why Santa’s elves, even the contemporary versions, may not be able to fix your delicate and now mangled smart phone. There’s also a bigger reason why even if they could repair your Viewty, you wouldn’t let them. The elves are based at the North Pole!

Elves also tend to be techno-challenged, although if it was built prior to the 9th Century, they can fix anything. But if an elf isn’t your solution, how can you get your LG Viewty Smart GC900 repaired in a timely manner? The answer is right there, in plain Viewty. Take your unit to your nearest independent repair shop. If you have to remove it from your Christmas stocking, so be it.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

The Sony PSP Go: What do you do if it stops?

Expensive and not always compatible, it looks almost elegant. But it won’t upgrade well and when it breaks, your best solution is often an independent repair shop.

Sony’s PlayStation Portable with a slide-screen gamepad added, but without its disc drive, and what have you got? You have a PSP Go. For $250, you get a PlayStation with a retooled grip, Bluetooth support, and internal flash memory to the tune of 16 GB. This expensive handheld weighs a svelte 5.6 ounces, lighter than the PSP-Slim or the original PSP-1000, but there are compromises that had to be made. For instance, the pixels in the LCD (it’s still a widescreen configuration, 480-by-272) now occupy less physical space, as the diagonal span has shrunk ½ an inch from 4.3 inches to 3.8 inches. The consequences of this varies by game, but to paraphrase the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis – there’s a whole lot more squinting going on when you try reading the on-screen text. Your plans for the future should now include learning Braille.

While you can still see, you might notice that your PSP Go looks nice. It’s an elegant black rectangle nestled between glossy, beveled half-moons. You can buy it in “piano black” or “pearl white.” Fingerprints can show up ugly on the black surface, but there is a way to get around that flaw: just don’t touch it with your fingers. Certain people have learned to make their PSP Go units function quite admirably employing only tactile toes, especially their index toes combined with the uncanny dexterity embodied within their large toes, avoiding fingerprints entirely. This takes a lot of practice, but can be worth the gargantuan effort, especially for those consumers who might find a coating of unsightly finger smears objectionable.

If you are less agile with your feet than you’d hoped to be, apparent disaster can unexpectedly occur. Enough “manhandling” with your toes can cause your PSP Go to simply stop. And remember, explicit stupidity is often not adequately covered in manufacturer’s warranties – if such symptoms are even covered at all. What do you do with a PSP Go which is sure no Energizer Bunny? Well, don’t be a dumb bunny and take that broken PSP Go to your nearest independent repair shop.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Healthier Cell Phones

Low radiation cell phones are more desirable because of health concerns, but which ones pose the least risk, especially to children and other vulnerable users?

While American cell phone manufacturers have reluctantly begun to voluntarily release emission levels on specific phones, it’s still a daunting task to determine which phone is the healthiest of all, or even if the phone you own is relatively safe, safer, or safest. It would be nice if U.S. laws required cell phone manufacturers to include radiation information on their printed materials and advertising, but they don’t – and probably won’t anytime soon.

Cell phones, PDAs, and Smartphones, as a generic species of electronic device, do raise health concerns – such as the risk of cancer due to exposure to radiation. Recent studies have found significant increases in salivary gland and brain tumors in consumers using cell phones, especially over long periods such as a decade or more. Excessive use of radiation-emitting devices, such as cell phones (but not limited to cell phones) pose special dangers to children because their skin is softer and their skulls less developed – and less able to protect their younger brains from excessive radiation. A child’s brain can absorb up to twice as much radiation as an adult’s brain. Commercial interests involved with the manufacture and distribution of cell phones and similar electronic devices – perhaps the most lucrative commercial enterprise geared to consumers in decades -- don’t wish to “rock the boat” with more conclusive studies. The very idea that the ubiquitous cell phone might pose health risks is controversial, especially to capitalists – somewhat in the way that Global Warming was just a few years ago.

But while American industry and regulators are quite passive when it comes to these touchy topics, governments in the UK, France, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, and Israel have cautioned their citizens against excessive cell phone use, especially by children. As far as radiation emitters, the worst offenders are manufactured by Motorola and distributed by Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular. Among ten phones that emit the most radiation, half are Motorola phones, two are T-Mobile, two are Blackberries, and the odd phone out is a Kyocera Jax distributed by Virgin Mobile. Another Motorola model, the RAZR V8 distributed by Cellular ONE, ranks among the safest phones, oddly enough. Except for that RAZR model, five of the six safest phones are various models produced by Samsung.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Nokia 7705 Twist Is a Square Phone with Surprises

The new Nokia 7705 Twist is a completely square phone that swivels open to display its QWERTY keypad in the manner of the long dead Houdini. Loaded with options, it’s an exciting phone, but what if it breaks?
The new Nokia 7705 Twist is being hawked by Verizon Wireless and Nokia as “a fun phone” with a unique square shape. This smart phone swivels open to display a full QWERTY keypad. It has shortcut buttons that assist in providing quick access to messaging, the 3.0 megapixel camera, Web browsing, V CAST Music with Rhapsody, voice commands, and speaker phone options. The Contact Light Ring in the device’s lower right corner can be customized to identify a message or a call from those listed in a convenient contact directory. It’s available online starting on September 23 and in Verizon Wireless stores on September 21 – the first day of fall on the calendar.

The Twist’s features don’t end there. It’s compatible with VZ Navigator SM, V CAST video as well as Music with Rhapsody, Visual Voice Mail, Mobile Broadband Connect, and Corporate Email. Its exclusive habitat mode activates a special interface for visualizing a consumer’s social circle on any of a dozen popular social networking groups, while allowing its customers to easily organize their calls and messaging history. Its 3.0 megapixel camera is also a camcorder with flash and autofocus with a dedicated camera/video key built-in. The Twist allows users to operate customized slideshows. Its Media Center is capable of downloading games, a panoply of ring tones, and more. You can edit photos with this device. Threaded messaging helps users keep track of multiple conversations – like a kind of stellar audio multi-tasking. Twist has an exciting “Post to Blogs” feature. It has a built-in mirror. It supports Bluetooth Profiles. It retails for $99.99 before mail-in rebate, just $49.99 after. What’s not to like?

A simple question seems relevant. What if it breaks?

With this “Twist,” it wouldn’t take much of a fateful twist for the device to suddenly not function – either partially or entirely. Historically, when such inexpensive, mass distributed devices appear, and their novelty wears off, so does their manufacturer’s warranty. With so many components, an independent repair shop may become the only option to get that QWERTY into revealing itself again. Fixing whatever isn’t functioning reasonably and in a timely manner will become a Twist owner’s top priority.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR Fixes Curves Too

CPR is a versatile independent repair shop that can make even your newest Blackberry models work again – even the Curve 8520.

The Blackberry Curve Series has been arguably the most popular series of smartphones ever marketed. Their design is elegant, stylish, and to use a tinge of jargon deemed apt for the most recent entry into the retail consumer sweepstakes, “incredibly approachable.” The nouveau smartphone is the Blackberry Curve 8520, and it comes in another “color” besides black, “frost”, which is a combination of silver, gray, and white, yet has nothing to do with winter. T-Mobile USA and Research in Motion have outdone themselves this time.

Like many so-called “smartphones,” the Blackberry Curve 8520 provides easy access to such communication venues as email, messaging (IM, SMS, MMS), and popular social networking sites (including Facebook and MySpace). Its full QWERTY keyboard is highly tactile, making comfortable, accurate typing relatively easy. Multimedia capabilities are built-in, and music, games, and entertainment mobile applications are at the ready. The thing is Wi-Fi enabled; aren’t they all these days?

But what if another feature worth mentioning – its touch-sensitive optical trackpad – won’t scroll for you all of a sudden? What if navigating the trackpad comes to resemble rubbing your fingers over a patch of cacti? What if the Curve 8520’s dedicated media keys suddenly begin to seem as if they’re dedicated to someone else instead of you?

If your Blackberry, even the newest models like the Curve 8520 begin to get, well, a little too QWERTY on you, it might be time to take the thing into an independent repair shop, specifically, your nearest CPR location.

“The Blackberry is the top selling smartphone brand in the United States,” says expert CPR technician Johnson H. Johnson III, a geek if there ever was one, “but the marvelous thing is that we fix ‘em, we make them work again, so you can text to your heart’s content, little one.”

A colleague of Johnson’s, John-John Doe, agrees. “I bet you’re wondering how I got the name John-John even though I’m not a Kennedy, but more significantly, Johnson H. is correct. We do fix Blackberries, even the curvy ones that can get too QWERTY on you in a hurry."

Johnson H. Johnson III has more to say, which is a revelation, because he usually is a man of few words. “I want to say that a lot can go wrong with a Blackberry, and when something does, we can make it right.”

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR Can Fix Android Phones like Science Fiction

Androids like Data, a Star Trek character, have recently been recycled into devices less humanoid but more functional – like Motorola’s new Android phone. But when Dr. McCoy’s not around, the best Android doctor might just be your nearest CPR.

Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, is a long way from the spaceship Enterprise. But their newest entry into the retail consumer market may just be the ticket to resuscitate the company’s gasping handset division. Remember “Data,” the peculiar humanoid android character on Star Trek who was one of the crew but never quite fit in? Motorola’s new Android-based handset doesn’t look much like Data, instead it resembles a smartphone, and has a different name, Cliq.

The Cliq comes with a lot of standard features, and even quasi-innovations. It has its touch screen and QWERTY keyboard, in this instance the QWERTY slides out from the side. Its five megapixel camera is said to produce sharper images than most other phones like Apple’s iPhone, which only manages three-megapixel resolution.

This widget is versatile, more so than any fictional character no matter how well-scripted. Motorola is attempting to lure away Blackberry loyalists from their arch-competitor. It’s a stab at the smartphone market worth taking, that’s for sure. But warranties? It’s unlikely that if it breaks, Motorola’s struggling handset division is going to want to “be there” for its own.

CPR will be there though. Your most trusted name in independent repair shops for electronic devices is not going to leave Motorola’s Cliq lost in space. “I remember watching that show as a kid,” says CPR expert service technician Manfred Manifold, “It starred June Lockhart and Billy Mumy.” About saving DATA, and more recent science fiction-like technological innovations such as the Motorola’s Cliq, Manifold is much more succinct. “We salvage hundreds of Blackberries every day,” he says with a kind of charismatic robotic expression etched onto his Midwestern yet other-worldly features, “I don’t see why we can’t make those Cliqs start clucking if they’ve become a dummied-down smartphone all of a sudden.”

What would happen if your Cliq’s touch screen becomes untouchable? “I’d take it to CPR before I’d use a phaser on it,” Mr. Manifold concludes. An alternative theory may just be that certain CPR expert service technicians watch too much sci-fi on TV when they’re not working. As for android-based smartphones like Motorola’s Cliq, it might be wisest to search for the nearest CPR shop so you don’t lose any megapixels.

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Strange iPods May Be Difficult to Repair

Knockoffs among the iPod ilk come in many shapes and sizes, and their only real advantage appears to be price. That said, the real challenge might be fixing them when they break.

You might have already heard about the “iPods for Democracy” program, a distribution of iPod knockoffs as some kind of goodwill propaganda effort sponsored by an American organization called Voice for Humanity. This bellicose-related fit of mind flu is ostensibly a showcase for American idealism, a benevolence dubiously demonstrated on the backs of angry donkeys and Arabian horses trekking through isolated regions of rural Afghanistan bearing pink iPods as gifts to curious Afghan women eager to leap burka-first into the twenty-first century. This supposedly invaluable stepping stone toward literacy is genuinely gender-conscious; being pink, but otherwise only resembles a real iPod. Aid workers dutifully distributed 65,800 of these customized digital audio recorders, which cost $50.00 each – an iPod knockoff manufactured in China and loaded with public service messages on topics such as human rights, women’s rights, Afghanistan’s election process, and reproductive health.

Incredibly, dozens of these have been turning up lately broken in various ways, sometimes brought in by family members of Afghans now living in the United States, especially to independent repair shops specializing in cell phones, and electronic gadgets, including pseudo-iPods. A few were turned in with bullet holes lodged in their cheaply-assembled LCD screens. Perhaps ill-advised gifts in the first place, being remote Afghan villages, technicians at a number of independent shops have described the little pink gadgets being recycled as “scary” and very difficult to repair. “I’m not sure what they’re supposed to contain,” admits one less than impressed expert service technician who was soon seeing pink.

From the island of Taiwan, iPod knockoffs have been flying off the shelves fast enough to prompt repeated warnings from Apple. These Chinese substitutes can cost as little as a third of a genuine Apple, and come in various storage capacities from 512 MB up to 2 GB. These knockoffs look like the real Macintosh except for a less clearly delineated “menu” and have a play button in the center of the dial that is typically the first component to break. “I hate those things too,” said one service technician working at an independent repair shop who refused to be identified.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

A Mesh of Cell Phone Gaming & Transformers, but What Happens When It Breaks?

The Cool8800C is a Nokia knockoff with kewl features that seem oddly matched, but it may be surprisingly easy to repair.

Cell phone gaming and transformers were a marriage that was bound to happen, sooner or later. One smart electronic gadget is morphing into another. This Cool8800C, a Nokia Smart Phone knockoff, is the newest techno-entry from Solomobi, a Chinese manufacturer and distributor of mobile phones. The thinga-gizmo is delicate, in the sense of cardboard, because it opens up into a PlayStation portable mode, complete with a d-pad. But its features are amazing for a hybrid, including trendy innovations that seem increasingly indispensable: E-book reader, FM radio, MP3/MP4, and an attractive LCD screen. When it works, the E-book reader is a real page-turner, the FM radio speakers are tiny but can be clearly heard up to six feet from their source, MP3 recordings sound tinny but are impressive considering that we’re still in the midst of the War on Terror and can’t be greedy, MP4 recordings are fainter but still barely audible-- and that’s a good thing -- and the embedded LCD screen comes in several flavors, including tutti-fruity.

But this level of performance can’t always be depended upon with the Cool8800C. Even the LCD screens can lose their luster when the knockoff is knocked around a bit. Other features of the thingee are even more impressive. NES games, also described as “old school” Nintendo, are mentioned, although titles don’t appear and there’s no clue about how to actually access them during “the best of times,” as Dickens might have said.

This hybrid contraption is a heck of a lot better than any Sony-made genuine PSP phone, especially when you consider that Sony does Skype which doesn’t really count. It’s true that this “C” thing barely functions when you look at it from a naysayer’s vantage, but what is really worrisome from Pollyanna’s perspective is what happens if your treasured little knockoff (still selling at $140.00)crashes completely?

The independent cell phone repair shops are the only place you can dare bring it to, when the unthinkable happens. Soon enough, your Cool8800C will be nifty again, and you’ll be able to turn the pages of any E-book of your choice. You’ll be so engrossed in the text by then that you won’t want to do anything else.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR Technicians Say Yes to Nanos and Pinkies

CPR’s expertly trained service technicians can fix the Nano or “repair the Pinkie” no matter how tough the troubleshooting gets.

It wasn’t long ago when the first iPod Nano knockoffs were brought naked into our unsuspecting repair shops, one after the other. They came from China, maybe Taiwan, maybe the mainland. Who actually manufactured them and sold them to gullible but thrifty Americans in the United States is anybody’s guess. One prominent distributor being mentioned was a bizarro referred to only cryptically as ‘Nanohead.’ He looked a little like ‘Eraserhead’ from that classic film of the same name, circa 1980, but this is innuendo, since no CPR employee has ever actually seen him.

An iPod Nano is constructed with several capacities, but the worst of the Nano nonos are these: 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB. Each is ugly as sine, as in critical function, a gadget reeking of cheap construction with little attention paid to detail. On the iPod Nano’s dial, this knockoff is made to resemble a genuine Apple, one suspects, until one of CPR’s observant technicians happened to notice that instead of “Menu,” a Nano customer has to settle for an “M,” while the gadget’s “play” button is in the center of the dial, gazing back at you like a Cyclops arrived fresh from the junker heaps in Hades. Greek mythology aside, volume is controlled at the dial’s bottom, why, no one really knows, unless it has something to do with a spanking. With that instruction in mind, sometimes a CPR technician’s well-placed little tap made the Nano “M” hum again.

Another fake iPod got their start as part of a U.S. government giveaway program. A group called “Voice for Humanity” began passing out customized digital audio players that looked like the trendy iPods, only they were pink—the hue having something to do with the gadgets intended as literacy tools for Afghan women inhabiting remote villages. Several of these “pinkies,” as they came to be called by our clever service technicians always at the ready, made their way through the doors of selected CPR storefronts.

We were as adept at fixing these as we’d been at repairing the Nanos, even if our service technicians instinctively recoiled from their litany of National Public Radio-like sounds, primarily public service messages on topics including human rights, women’s rights, Afghanistan’s elections, and reproductive health, in other words – what went on under the burka. Fortunately, these too were relatively easy to fix.

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Bring Your Gaming-Transformer Hybrids to CPR

Morphed creations such as the Cool8800C can play their old school Nintendo games again when expert CPR service technicians crack them open.

Solomobi makes them. The electronic gadget is called the Cool8800C and it’s a mix of cell phone gaming and transformer, a pretty smart machine made smarter theoretically when it’s combined with a way to play Nintendo games via dual sim cards. This foldable PlayStation Portable comes complete with a d-pad, and does everything it’s hawked to do – read E-books, play its FM radio or an inserted MP3 or MP4, when it’s functioning. The problem is it’s so cheaply made; the “C” only works to a certain extent when it does function. But while NES games are mentioned, no titles ever appear or even information to find titles should they miraculously turn up. This device ‘made and marketed in China’ doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. What “functioning” of the Cool8800C really implies is a slow page-turning for reading E-books that can drive users to distraction, an FM buzzing that emits fuzzy sound in a radius of about six feet from the source and no further, MP3 or MP4 recordings that come out sounding like Alvin and the Chipmunks rescued from pop music antiquity land, and if a user ever tries to learn what to do from the manufacturer, a company called Solomobi, they are out of luck unless they speak a hybrid strain of Mandarin & Cantonese Chinese quite fluently.

Enter CPR. Imagine a scenario when a customer saunters into one of our independent repair outlets, and drops a malfunctioning Cool one, an 8800C, on the counter. “Can you make it work?” the owner of the peculiar little device might ask in a very plaintive tone.

“Sure, I’ll crack it open,” our intrepid and expert service technician might offer bravely. There is no swagger but we will try, as a song from “The Impossible Dream” blends with a selection from “The Miracle Worker” on the thing’s tiny FM radio.

The next day the customer returns to CPR. “Well, is my Cool8800C working again?” he asks, still sounding as plaintive as ever.

“I have good news,” our expert technician says, “Yes, it’s functioning as well as it ever did.” He turns it on like you would begin playing a Nintendo game back in 1978. Strains of music begin emanating. What is heard if you listen very closely is the high-pitched squeals of chipmunks. The customer smiles slowly, satisfied, a bit like the Mona Lisa.

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Spam Wars This Summer

Coming soon to a computer near you is all the spam, viruses, and Trojan-spawned malware that you’d ever want to meet.

The bad geeks couldn’t even spare the already tarnished memory of pop superstar Michael Jackson within days of his tragic demise. They had to create a worm piggybacking in an email that lured the unsuspecting into a treacherous Moonwalk when opened. The bad geeks have no shame.

The e-mail in question with the innocuous-sounding subject line “Remembering Michael Jackson” contained a corrupted zip file spread by USB memory sticks. Claiming to originate from sarah@michaeljackson.com, its wormy zip was supposed to contain secret songs and photos of the dead but bigger-than-life legend, but instead it was primed to infect your hard drive, and any others that you contacted with the efficiency of a Ponzi scheme.

Michael Jackson is just the tip of the gravestone. While spyware is on the wane, the new computer mal-boy of choice for evil geeks is the deceptive Trojans, no nicer now than they were in the time of Troy when Helen was still around. A Trojan used to be something else, an article worn that offered protection. Those safeguards are gone, only to be replaced by fake antivirus protections, counterfeit creations like MDW.

What to do? Where do you go to eradicate the lying software once it’s mistakenly loaded onto your ‘puter? An unlikely destination is the independent repair shop, the same place where you went to fix your iPod, Blackberry so cheaply and quickly you can take your notebook or your laptop. Increasingly as a sign of the times, these convenient places are becoming the ‘in’ place to find out what condition your condition is in – at least when it comes to infiltrators messing up your hard drive because some bad geek wants to have a little malicious fun at your expense. Don’t get mad, get even. Get rid of that MDW before it has a chance to cause too much hullaballoo.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Apple Has a Touchscreen Up Its Sleeve

The newest member of the Apple family is due to be born to consumers come October, and it will be a tablet computer priced relatively reasonably. But who will fix them when they inevitably break?

It’s only a rumor so far, arriving upon American ears via a Chinese website (Taiwanese). But come October, a splendid thingee might greet consumers as a boon to Halloween. An Apple in some bags of treats may be a leap in mass consumer technology featuring a handheld touchscreen computer, its attractive display less than a ten inch diagonal in size – smaller than most netbooks yet adding an iPod flavor to its ownership experience.

Apple has long hinted that such a tablet will be brought down from its R & D mountain, even if Moses has long been dead and so is Charlton Heston. Apple has never touted a netbook of its own, and to tout one just in time for the 2009 Christmas season would be a coup in itself. The touchy feely among us (of which there are many) would relish such a gadget, as would such denizens of Nerd-vana as Ebook readers and people beginning to get bored with their smartphones. The excited murmurs are predicting a price in the $800 range and sans a physical keyboard or a slider (it might come equipped with a slider) this newest electronic gadget looms as the next new fad impetus destined to slide the mobile internet into a nouveau perceived realm.

The size, precisely 9.7-inch as a diagonal, is probably influenced by the Kindle (which is practically identical as to how big it is, an often-asked question), and due to that product’s demonstrable success, should make the Apple tablet whatever it’s called into a hot item with brisk sales manifested during the buying season when retail counts the most.

But this Apple touchscreen to be, like anything sold by the millions, is bound to fail even before the novelty of its existence wears off. What kinds of warranties will Apple or distributors offer, and how useful will these be? It will be a rather expensive item to break, and certainly treasured by many leaving Nerd-vana. Will it be repairable at places that once fixed cell phones and iPods and Blackberries – like independent repair shops when all else fails?

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR Attacks Computer Viruses

CPR does more than repair cell phones and electronic devices these days. The independent chain of repair shops is now into cleaning up PC hard drives.

With the sad passing of pop icon Michael Jackson during the waning days of June, it was bound to happen: Evil geeks set loose a computer virus that played on the music superstar’s death.

In fact, at least a baker’s dozen worth of viruses, malware, and spam bearing the subject heading ‘Michael Jackson’ were making the rounds of computers worldwide.

One significant contaminant was posing as an innocuous e-mail under the subject line “Remembering Michael Jackson.” This techno-crawlie was circulating with a worm contained therein. A zip file attachment would latch onto a victim’s hard drive if downloaded. The e-mail, claiming to originate from sarah@michaeljackson.com, indicated that the attached zip contained secret songs and photos of Michael Jackson. But it was only a worm that was up to no good, no good at all.

Whether or not your computer has been “Michael Jacksoned,” you’ve probably picked up vicious viruses at some time in your downloading history. You might even have difficultly when trying to eradicate contaminants messing up your hard drive right now. What can you do about it when your name brand virus protection software package fails, and all else seems to?

You can have a good geek come to your computer to clean it up, at outrageous “house call” rates. You can take it in to a computer retail store where you got it, lock, stock, and hard drive – with all of the hassle and expense potentially entailed. Or you can take it down to CPR – especially your laptop or notebook – the same place where you got your cell phone and your Blackberry and your iPod fixed so cheaply and quickly.

CPR’s expert and experienced technicians are ready for any virus that might be ruining your Internet surfing, rearing its ugly head like a worm bearing fangs. It seems like there’s a new malicious virus or malware catching you unawares just about every week. If it wasn’t Michael Jackson, it might have been something equally trendy just to make you open it … open it … why don’t you open it? Not!

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Will CPR Fix the New Touchscreen iPod-Like Thing When It Comes?

Before the end of 2009, it will be coming. The newest Apple will be a touchscreen, and though it will be a tablet computer sized like a Kindle, the prediction is that it too shall break.

CPR is fixing most anything these days. I-phones, Blackberries, Kindles, Palm pre, 3G, laptops & notebooks, it doesn’t seem to matter what it is. Their expert technicians used to just fix cell phones cheaply and quickly, but although CPR still fixes “at least several” of those communicating contraptions unknown to the Founding Fathers despite what Sarah Palin might say, and cell phone repair is still what they’re best known for, this trendsetting independent national chain of individually-franchised repair shops has become much more versatile. Since the realm of the I-touch has been breached by CPR’s fix-it gurus, anything seems possible, even engaging in a bit of speculative extrapolation.

Rumor has it that something made by Apple that looks nothing like a breadbox (if one were to guess) but might well resemble a Kindle in that it’s virtually certain to be a 9.7-inch diagonal, and that it will boast a touchscreen display computer tablet as it comes down from the R & D mountain in time for Halloween and that retail frenzy season otherwise known as Christmas – will become available by the millions. Assuming that this newest denizen of the mobile internet world will be reasonably priced (guesstimates of $800 for a single unit have been mentioned), this can only mean that the new whatsa-ma-callits, a touchscreen display iPod-like thingee made by Apple, will be widely available well before the dawn of 2010. Permitting yet another leap of faith, and notwithstanding any claims by Apple or its minions of the newest thingee’s indestructibility, or even similar boasts of such incentives singing the praises of extended manufacturer’s warranties, when the glitz wears off and someone is just a wee bit careless, who shall fix them, these newly-treasured computer tablets, when they inevitably break?

Just as the ingenuity of human error knows no bounds, so might the creativity of CPR’s expert technicians finally be challenged. The key word here is might.

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR Does Computer Repair of the Best Kind

It had to happen. The cell phone repair shop that has been fixing all devices smart, has graduated to repairing computers – cheap and fast.

They break down so often that if it was anything more expendable, we'd abandon the computer age en masse. But we need them, like a co-dependency that won't quit. Still, the computers crash and crash so much that you get the urge to mash and mash – and they're not potatoes. What kind of computers will CPR fix? Any brand of laptop or desktop is doable. Got a virus or too much spam? Worried about hackers or spyware? Is your broadband like the freeway at rush hour, clogged and mired so you can't get wired? We can repair your 'puter so that it's cuter. Can't access your email or Twitter? Bring it over to CPR and cease your titter.

It was inevitable that we learned about software and hard drives and modems. Got Windows on your PC or Final Cut Pro on your Mac? It doesn't matter. We can fix it without much adieu for you, just for you.

Where that familiar smile on your FaceBook? What, you can't access it? The Internet is down. You can't even get WORD to work. Your favorites are being neglected now that you've crashed? Your passwords and URLs are worthless suddenly, don't you know? CPR does computers now. We can fix 'em. Yes we can. Our expert technicians are compulsive geeks when it comes to making your desktop seek, especially on Google but on other search engines too.

Says Stanley L. Succotash who was a vegetable before he started fixing computers for CPR, "I am genuinely curious about what ails your 'puter," he asserts with his distinctive Japanese brogue. "I like to poke around their innards. I'd do it for free if CPR didn't pay me. It's a compulsion, like eating gravy with turkey on Thanksgiving. I can't help it. I fix computers for CPR. That's my life purpose. I've found my religion."

Says Stanley's brother Seth P. Succotash, who also fixes computers for CPR, "He ain't heavy. He's my brother." Of course we already knew that.

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR to the Rescue

If you lose your cell phone, desperation kicks in, but if you get it wet, real wet, don't despair. CPR will come to the rescue to fix your wet device good as new … until you lose it again.

A friend of mine recently had his cell phone stolen. "It was worse than losing my wallet," he moaned. "I was devastated," he said, and the Isle of Despair drifted into mind. With devices such as the Nokia N97, the Palm Pre, and the iPhone 3G s now on the scene, it's easy to guess why. "I had all my phone numbers on my cell phone," my friend moaned, shedding real tears instead of the Croc kind. Many users of these devices store not just phone numbers, but address and other contact information on their mobile handsets. Information such as digital photos, videos, calendars, and music downloads of their fave tunes. Getting one stolen brings up other concerns – such as a user's personal information being used for fraudulent means. It's so much easier if you just happen to get your phone wet, so it drowns on you, and can't be salvaged, can it?

Not so fast if there's a CPR around. Like a drowning person, CPR can and will resuscitate your drenched and soggy not-so-smart anymore phone. While most independent repair shops wouldn't even consider the wet ones, CPR will carefully investigate how to make it function again, troubleshooting through the damp device's drizzly recesses no matter if it went down into the depths of Lake Michigan or into the shallow end of an Olympic-sized oval in the backyard of your dearest billionaire buddy. "It will work again, I know it will," asserts CPR expert technician Sam G. Soggy, a specialist in all gadgets wet. For Sam, the flask of hopefulness is always half full.

But don't go and lose it again after Sam dries it out and restores your smart phone's intricate mechanisms. Losing it can lead to Hari Kari, beriberi (due to a weakened immune system from worrying where you lost it) and willy-nilly. If you happen to have it stolen, that can't be helped, unless you chain it to your right leg. If you happen to be guilty of bedwetting and you've taken it to bed with you and it somehow gets wet, but at least it's not stolen, you know what to do. Take it to CPR a little voice in your dream says, CPR …CPR.

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Palm Pre from Sprint Released on June 6 Sells Out Quickly

The Palm Pre from Sprint made a bigger splash than Palm Sunday did this year. But was the impression a lasting one?

It sold out within an hour. Still, the numbers selling out were small, maybe 50 or 60 in stock -- just enough to feed smaller skeletal crowds with Palm on their minds, nothing like the iPhone mania. Sprint Nextel itself seems vestigial compared to the giant it was when Sprint was a byword for telecommunication. Now Sprint's days selling the Palm Pre are numbered, less than 200, until January 10, 2010, when Verizon becomes the exclusive vendor. They're a new smart phone touted by Palm groupies everywhere, but is this commotion just a conniption?

You could be the first octogenarian on your block to buy a Pre with its nouveau WebOS, but Palm Inc. is dying, and the wireless carrier Sprint is no longer so wired.

Palm Pilot users are like devotees to Marihesh Mahaha Yoga, but will they have the last laugh? Many do prefer a QWERTY keyboard to an iPhone's touchscreen. It's relatively cheap too. Sprint sells the Palm Pre for $200 after a $100 mail-in rebate, plus a two-year service agreement which is better than you can get now with most American-made cars.

Selling out might be deceptive to speak about. Sprint wouldn't say how many units were available nationwide, certainly not thousands at any one outlet, probably not even hundreds. The Pre is great for sorting through emails using a common interface – the secrets of Yahoo, Google, revealed by this smart phone with a QWERTY. The octogenarian might sync his Pre to iTunes -- there's no law against it -- and he was heard saying, "I love iTunes," to his granddaughter, a young woman wearing a cowboy hat from Nevada who prefers Blackberries and calls them fruity. But the Sprint deal will expire sooner rather than later and Verizon will bound onto the scene, with its stability for such issues as service and maintenance, although an Indy repair shop for cell phones might be a better answer for the Sprinters in the interim. Is it Palm pre Sunday yet?

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

New iPhone 3G s Touted as God in a Gadget

The iPhone 3G s is the latest from Apple, but is it a stupid smart phone?

It's the newest in smart phones, and it's bound to sell better than its predecessor, the iPhone 3G. This one is hyped with the letter “s” which stands for speed, twice as fast. But it looks almost identical to a 'regular' iPhone 3G and does twice as fast mean much when it comes to these gadgets? Has it been hyped by Apple? Has this Apple fallen from the tree like the sound of one hand clapping?

It does process tasks twice as fast, with data speeds increased to 7.2Mbps HSDPA (which is nowhere to be found in Pennsylvania, I checked). The newest iPhone's camera has been upgraded to a 3 mega-pixel unit with tap-to-auto focus and auto white balance. The tiny camera even supports 30fps VGA video recording with editing features so users can create their own real-time docs. Other features with the newest iPhone 3G include a built-in compass, Nike+ support, and its own itty-bitty battery that gives you 5 hours of 3G talk time and 9 hours of WiFi use for those absurd moments of messing around time in an Internet café of your choice. You get a voice control interface with the 3G s that allows you to make calls or even control iTunes, and your gadget's "fingerprint-resistant oleo phobic coating" will make it seem like you never touched it even if you're afraid to. 3D graphics and an associated display, so let your games begin …

The newest smart phone boasts cut-copy-paste just like the iPhone 2.0 never had, even though you craved it, you know you did. Now you can paste words and photos, even between applications, like a pasty-faced fool. MMS capability means that you don't have to rely on email alone to text messages or snapshots. Lose your 3G s? The thing has 'Find my iPhone." Probably a small nuclear explosion in your neighborhood will alert you to where it's hiding, I don't know. This feature also allows you to remotely erase all data from lost or stolen iPhones, and then reload the information using iTunes if your device is rediscovered.

So what's not to like? It's hyped as God in a gadget, but is it really supernatural? Errr, no, not really. Everything on the iPhone 3G s can be found on most smart phones available in the market – Nokia, Blackberry, HTCs and Palmtops, for instance, even come with more features in some cases. It's a great music phone, but it doesn't even come in chartreuse. It's common, like a duck among geese, or a mouse among rats, or a pigeon among birds.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Recycle Your Cell Phones to Go Green

Instead of trashing your treasured cell phone, recycle it.

The landfills are filling. It was bound to happen eventually. In a disposable society, it's become second nature to just throw things out.

What gets thrown out more and more often are electronic machines like computers, personal digital assistants, and increasingly, cell phones. With billions of cell phones accumulating in trash bins, discarded like so much flotsam, an apocalyptic environmental disaster is just waiting to happen. But it doesn't have to be that way. Cell phones can be recycled.

Even the Environmental Protection Agency has leaped onto the recycling bandwagon in 2008. Last year's EPA initiative, "Recycle Your Cell Phone, It's an Easy Call" was joined by Big Corporate in the form of AT &T, Best Buy, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless.

Public service announcements heralded the campaign in print, touting environmental, social, and convenient benefits entailed with recycling cell phones. Downloadable podcasts discussed how and why in technical terms. Special cell phone collection events were hosted. Did I mention that cell phone recycling is usually free? Some programs even bought cell phones back from consumers so that they could be recycled. Dropping them off or mailing them in was made easy.

But now it's 2009. The Bush Era is over; enter Obama. Is the Easy Call campaign still in the forefront of your mind? If it isn't, it should be. Cell phones are still filling landfills at an alarming rate. Cell phones are made from precious metals, copper, and plastics – all of which require energy to mine or manufacture. They're not just a gift from Oz, simply appearing in reality and disappearing when you throw them out.

Even if a government campaign isn't in full swing in your area, there are plenty of avenues for recycling your cell phones. Donate them to a charity of your choice while helping the charity earn recycling dollars. Manufacturers and independent retail shops will accept them for refurbishing, if not always for recycling. If you wish to recycle, an independent repair shop will usually know the best way to do it. You can go green. You just have to want to do so.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

The Greatest Race: BlackBerry vs. iPhone

Now that BlackBerry has finally overtaken the iPhone in total sales, the race is on.

It doesn't cost as much. It's available in so many places that it's said to be ubiquitous. But like runners-up everywhere, according to First Quarter 2009 sales statistics, the iPhone is now in second place. How do you like those apples, Apple? Research in Motion's BlackBerry Curve is officially the most popular U.S. smartphone.

The smartphone list of bestsellers was primarily BlackBerry territory, as several types of BlackBerry sets made the list. Hip Hooray for RIM, of course, but since the iPhone is only available from a single source (AT &T), is it surprising that Apple's pride and joy has suddenly morphed into an also-ran? Every major carrier makes BlackBerry's devices ubiquitous, but if that's the case, why is it still a race? Why has it taken this long for the Curve to emerge as numero uno?

The picture is in constant flux. June 2009 is virtually certain to introduce some brand-new Apple hardware, even as BlackBerry’s devices are being continually updated since the release of the iPhone 3G in 2008. The Curve's current lofty stature might soon be as relevant as the hula hoop's place as a child's toy.
Smack in the middle of the list is T-Mobile's G1, the only smartphone to employ Google technology, at least in the sense of an operating system. If Google were to be sparked in some unseen manner, sales of the G1 could leapfrog over all the berries, whether sweet or not.

More likely will be a resurgence of Apple's iPhone during the summer, despite but not because of their single-offering business model. A new less expensive iPhone introduced with a big league marketing push would mean not only a return to #1, but if the platform finally gets stretched beyond the captive AT&T, RIM might be pulling a Satchel Paige before long – Don't look back, something might be gaining on you! That something might be a more ubiquitous iPhone that might even threaten to lap the field. But these ranking games can prove fickle.

Many U.S. rural areas are without AT&T service because networks are yet to be built. Many consumers really want iPhones, but feel obliged to settle for BlackBerries. When that happens, even the currently exalted Curve is less than sweet.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

The Sale: CPR Offers Refurbished and Unlocked Phones

CPR has in stock a surprising variety of so-called "recycled cell phones." Besides taking advantage of some excellent deals, it's the environmentally-conscious way to go.

CPR announces "The Sale." Cell phones that some might refer to as "used," or "pre-owned," others might call "refurbished." CPR's trained technicians are experts at performing the precise unlocking modifications necessary to make a cell phone work for you in the same way that it once worked for its previous owner, with every one of its touted features intact. Refurbishing a cell phone is not a whole lot different from refurbishing anything else of value, and it can often be considered a little more time consuming or involved as an extensive repair. A phone might have been on its last leg. Instead of being on the way to the nearest landfill, it lives again to become your communicator. What could be sweeter than that?

But it gets better. CPR offers a 90-day warranty on any unlocked or refurbished cell phone. If it were to fail within that 90-day interim, you are not out of luck as you would likely be when dealing with a manufacturer. We'd fix it, as if it were a brand new unit.

In a word, another sweetening agent for CPR customers interested in purchasing refurbished or unlocked phones is price. We do have set prices for previously owned models, but we like to think that any reasonable offer will be considered. Imagine all the features you'd come to expect and that would be available for you during the unit's "second run," what could be more thrifty than that?

It gets still better. We live in an age when our landfills are filling up, often with gadgets like cell phones. An environmental catastrophe beckons like the Grim Reaper high on the polluting fumes contributing to Global Warming. If you decide not to buy yet another new cell phone, and instead content yourself with a refurbished or unlocked model fresh from the trained technicians at CPR, you're helping the environment. Once again, what could be sweeter than that?

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR Offers Repair Service While You Wait

At its many convenient locations, CPR will often repair your cell phone or electronic device while you wait.

CPR's trained technicians hail from the four corners of the world. As children, they dreamt of nothing else except repairing cell phones and a myriad of electronic devices. Bobby's tale is typical. When Bobby BestRepairGuyEver was six years old, he found his first cell phone on the street outside his beige row house in an unspecified part of town. "It was blue," he says when asked or poked, "and I fell in love with it. But it didn't work at first." Little Bobby learned to use a screwdriver in ways unimagined by other little boys inhabiting his desolate environs. Other little boys brought home kittens or puppies and learned to pet them after much practice. Bobby BestRepairGuyEver, however, disdained animals that failed to beep or emit electronic sounds. "My blue cell phone was just like my pet," he says, "until there came a day when just staring at it for five or six hours wasn't enough." Acting on some impulse as yet unexplained, Bobby began poking and prodding with his screwdriver, also a beloved pet in his infantile mind. "I opened my blue cell up," he remembers, "like I was dissecting something alive. I heard it hum, and then beep." Soon his cell phone was working just fine. "I called Canada one day, and then a friend of mine in Chicago. Even the primitive LCD screen was working again."

Bobby fits in perfectly at CPR. "Like most of our trained technicians, he can fix anything," asserts an admiring colleague. "I've seen Bobby undo liquid damage, fix an iPhone that was stepped on by a radio celebrity, repair cracks in LCDs, even big ones, and repair broken phones that were shattered, dropped, or cruelly silenced like his beloved blue phone from boyhood once was. He can mend phones broken in halves or even thirds, and do this with a smile."

Another colleague is more direct. "Bobby, and most of our trained technicians at CPR, usually feel compelled to fix anything broken that comes into contact with their nimble fingers. Most amazing, they're so fast. Bobby prides himself on repairing cell phones and electronic devices while customers wait, and sometimes they don't even have to wait long."

Says Bobby, "Where's my blue cell phone? Did somebody hide it again? C'mon you guys. Where is it?"

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR Franchise Opportunities Beckon Entrepreneurs

For a minimum start-up of $75K, you can own a brand new concept supercharged with massive consumer demand.

In the days of the not-so-wild Midwest, when Chicago was first becoming a metro full of cell phones in need of a fix, once upon a time when the companies who made them still had maintenance plans but didn't always honor them, a little business that could and would, was born, not in a manger, but in a building that became known as the place to take your cell phone when it breaks. "I dropped my Nextel, and its LCD, primitive as it was, cracked like a tiny windshield," remembered Eighties Geezer, who still has memories these days but is no longer a fresh bright twenty-something. "I took it to CPR for its resuscitation," he pronounced slowly in articulate English during his informative interview, "their first and only shop existing at the time."

He recalls little else from those bygone days of Reaganomics and Seventh Heaven.

Pinky Pearl White recalls foggy days in winters now distant when getting your cell phone repaired was a little like snowshoeing through Halstead with no direction home, to put it in Dylanesque terms. "The first CPR shop was the little shop where they fixed horrors, and it was like an oasis shimmering in the faded light of a Cyclops car with a headlight missing. I fixed a cell phone there, I do believe, my purple one that was shaped like a grape, only it was crushed." Pinky is a prose writer, talented as a computer's mouse, given to long rhapsodies on his cell phone of choice in those bygone days, and he later took successive electronic devices to other CPR locations in the Chicagoland metro, as the business grew and grew, mushrooming throughout the nation called America, until more than 20 locations had sprouted in the garden that eventually became Obama's, as the city once had seemed his but a little while ago.

Now CPR is the best and brightest name in the industry, and their shops repair G1 phones & Blackberries and Playstation versions that some would covet, along with water damaged devices, a species that competing independent repair outlets recoil from in horror. With billions of these gadgets owned by almost anyone, an opportunity to become part of a competent authorized repair center for a $75K minimum means that time is of the essence before the entry window slams shut, perhaps on your cell phone, perhaps on your fingers. It's up to you.

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR Franchise Opportunities Still There for the Taking

CPR, the largest cell phone repair business in the nation, with 20+ locations, offers a stellar investment bargain for canny entrepreneurs.

CPR began when the cell phone repair industry was in its infancy, back when it was almost impossible to find an Indy place to repair an ailing cell phone. Dissatisfaction with cell phone manufacturers had yet to crest, or even surge, and if you couldn't cajole your manufacturer to fix your broken cell phone, you had no choice; it was time to buy a new one. If you'd grown attached to the one you had and even given it a name like "Perky," it was too bad. You'd kiss it twice with tears in your eyes and then toss it into the nearest bin.

Those days are gone, like Little Mouse on the Prairie or Stanford and Son. The good old days weren't really that good when it came to cell phones and similar electronic gadgetry that began springing up. Was that a Y-Pod I once owned that a dog peed on and I had to throw out because it was suddenly gross and sticky and incidentally, no longer worked? Memories can be hazy, like halcyon summer days. It was also expensive to keep throwing these things out and buying new ones.

But along came CPR, like a fresh breeze. Pretty soon they developed a rep, as they say on the streets of Chicago, for fixing cell phones that manufacturers loathed touching after they'd closed the sale when you bought the thing. CPR became the most widely known and respected brand name in the Cell Phone Repair industry. Even their logo was trademarked by USPTO, where patents come from, don't you know?

Eventually CPR started fixing every electronic whiz-i-mi-gig that could break, from IPods to Xboxes, and their business took off, like Wii.

Now for a start-up minimum of $75K you can get in on the ground floor. Like the tail of the tiger, you can grab the phenomenon of cell phone and electronic whiz-i-mi-gig repair. Think about it. It's an industry with massive demand. One in two human beings on the planet are estimated to own a cell phone, and it's rumored that other whiz-i-mi-gigs also sell in tremendous volume. Such electronic marvels have become ubiquitous, but they break. Manufacturers seldom fix them these days; in fact, in today's recession, fixing something old and borrowed or blue, is a whole lot better than buying something new.

To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Who Does Batteries?

It's rare as a chicken's foot in a potpie to find a cell phone repair shop that repairs batteries in electronic devices.

The machine was tiny enough. The "pod" preceded by some no-longer-mass-marketed universally popular letter contained an LCD screen that would be large enough for an ant's eye view if only it opened its compound peepers really wide. But inside the LCD was something more miniature still, something that couldn't be plucked out even with the most delicate of tweezers. It was my X-pod. I wondered why I had purchased it in the job lot store, a warehouse of all sorts of odds and ends. Why didn't my X-pod work? I wanted to dig out the microscopic battery with my clumsy fingers, but knew I wouldn't dare.

I knew there were independent shops that repaired electronic things such as my X-pod, and could dig out the batteries inside, while teaching them to hum. I made a dash for the nearest cell phone repair shop, and then another, and then another. I saw the heads of clerks and desk attendants shake back and forth like negative bobble heads; a supposed technician said that he wasn't "qualified" to open even a lowly X-pod's case. "I can't. It's internal," the guy with the dyed orange hair muttered, as if mouthing a pearl of wisdom from his foolish gob. I was beginning to grow weary of walking block after block, like a darn Quixote in search of a chicken's foot in a potpie. "You will need to find a trained and qualified technician to do that," said a cowardly technician with a lion-like mane who protested when I asserted that he was probably trained. "Do you want me to ruin your battery?" he finally said, "or maybe lose it on you?" This brought to mind a contact lens I'd once lost in a restroom at the airport, down one of those filthy sinks.

I kept walking, not daring to look back, as if somebody stupid might be gaining on me. Finally, I came to a storefront that gave me a tingle, and it wasn't Jimmy. My heart started pumping faster as if it had just been resuscitated in a cardio-pulmonary manner. I'd never been to Utah, but something told me, perhaps a tiny voice inside the battery, that this was indeed the place. I walked in, confident. "Do you do batteries?"

"I'm a trained and qualified technician," the dark-haired geeky guy said, "Let me see it. Yes I can."

"It's internal," I warned him.

"Duh," he said.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Few Cell Phone Repair Businesses Offer Franchising Opportunities

It's estimated that over half the people in the world own cell phones, and yet franchising opportunities are relatively rare.

Thirty years ago, a cell phone was something out of Jules Verne. Portable telephones were the newest thing. It was considered amazing when you could carry the entire phone with you to a different room, but if you dared bring it out of doors, weaker signals had a tendency to break up in the manner of transistor radios, another popular hand-held device that truly was portable.

By 1985, transistor radios were virtually obsolete. In the 1960s and early 1970s, these Marconi-spawned gadgets were ubiquitous as the children, often male baseball addicts, who carried them around everywhere except perhaps in the shower, which might have been shocking to some.

These days, cell phones along with their electronic contemporaries and offspring – IPods and IPhone, Blackberries and Xboxes, Playstation incarnations and the versatile Wii, along with their laptop computerized cousins -- although many of these devices possess LCD screens which resemble miniature desktop flat screen computer monitors – have become as ubiquitous as transistor radios once were, perhaps much more so. The irony is that on many of these devices, including cell phones, a user can not only watch an entire baseball game of their choice live, but bring up a variety of multimedia visual treats as they do so – baseball stats of their favorite players or teams, historical footage and documentaries, you name it, and baseball is only the tip of the interactive Wii. As for the ubiquitous cell phone, in some cases people too impoverished to own a pair of shoes own a cheap cell phone, and yet the logical entrepreneurial step of franchising cell phone repair businesses is not ubiquitous. But one gets the impression it will be soon. One company with more than 20 locations around the U.S. has already established a presence, initiated when they were merely a cell phone repair business. Their name, like a catchy tagline, implies an urgency that appears synonymous with cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, which is precisely what they do with your ailing cell phone, or any of the other electronic wizardries previously mentioned. Their franchises can be had for a modest investment of under $100,000. A German cell phone repair company and one in Australia appear to be following suit along similar lines. A smaller American company also offers cell phone repair franchises at less than $50,000, but sans an established presence in the industry, perhaps you get what you pay for. Still, in an industry with massive demand largely due to manufacturers shirking any maintenance responsibilities to those minions of communications gadgetry that they've spawned, cell phone repair franchising opportunities aren't yet ubiquitous, and that is surprising, akin to a transistor radio cradled to a boy's ear in the shower a generation or more ago, perhaps even shocking.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about Cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services, visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Microsoft's Xbox Will No Longer Be Supported

Microsoft has announced that service repairs for its original Xbox video game systems with expired warranties will no longer be available. So if yours breaks, what happens now?

On March 2, 2009, Microsoft announced tersely and without compassion that service repairs for its original Xbox video game systems with expired warranties will no longer be available. While still offering "other" technical support; documents and content; maintaining an "upgrade" program; and support for consoles still under warranty, Xbox owners with expired warranties are heretofore out of luck. What, me worry? What can go wrong with an Xbox?

A veritable Murphy's Law of wrong can go wrong and probably will. Lurking just around the corner of continued use is the dreaded DRE, or disc reading errors, when you learn in a moment of panic that your "games are not reading." Other "issues" that your once coveted console might have include freezing or overheating, a sudden and inexplicable loss of sound, power, or video (how did that happen?), you keep getting a litany of error messages, you keep getting a "call customer service" message every few seconds (it's taunting you as if it KNOWS that its warranty has expired), your controller won't respond, you can't modify; or, if it's the Xbox360 you're pitifully holding in your hand, you're getting three red lights, also known as the "Three Rings of Death" and this is real, you're NOT standing in a Tolkein-like mythical land of Mordar.

When one or more of these symptoms of despair begin turning your Xbox into something diseased, a real poxbox, and your warranty has expired, it's time to start hunting – for an independent repair shop either in close proximity or else a shop with a reliable mailing address. You'll be pleasantly surprised that many of these shops have access to the parts they need and are staffed by expert technicians, so that maybe, just maybe, your treasured Xbox can be fixed. Goodbye dreaded DRE. Hey, now you've got sound -- power is back -- video has returned -- your controller is responding. Once again, all is right with your world, or at least your Xbox.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

Independent Repair Shops Can Fix Those Tricky Game Consoles

Game system repairs are increasingly being performed by independent repair shops, as manufacturers grow reluctant to repair consoles, even ones under warranty.

Microsoft's recent decision to discontinue repairs for original Xboxes no longer under warranty is merely a continuation of a trend. In fact, many customers owning Xbox consoles had already taken their business elsewhere, preferring to seek out independent repair shops when their consoles began to fail – even while their units remained under warranty. There are several reasons for this. In the case of the Xbox, customers often ended up dissatisfied with manufacturer repairs, service, or combinations thereof that were performed. This unfortunate situation has become emblematic of an industry that is willing to sacrifice long term customer satisfaction in favor of short term high volume sales of their premium ticket consoles. In fact, many industry insiders argue that game system repairs should properly be delegated to independent repair shops, because maintenance, service, and repair is certain to dangle over a manufacturer's profits like the proverbial Damocles sword.

If so, then independent repair shops seem ready and able to fill any "fix-my-game-please" void. Sooner or later, most of these games, intricate circuitry and quality control or not, break. As for Xboxes, these contraptions can become booby trapped with DREs, can suddenly freeze up or overheat, begin incessant "call customer service" warnings even prior to any trouble, or suddenly light up with "red light syndrome" – a techno-plague laden with signal error that can mean anything from general hardware failure (one red light) to the cancer of overheating (two red lights) to the cursed "red ring of death" (three red lights) to the flashing of four red lights – which ironically has the simplest solution – tightening or replacing a loose cable. Sony PSP game consoles and Playstation 2 and 3 repairs are somewhat similar symptomatically, but can show their own quirkiness; such as the mournful grinding wail sometimes heard with a sick Playstation 2 – a sound more agonizing than a toenail being pulled out. "Fix my game please, it's broken" is becoming a more common refrain, but fortunately certified independent repair shops are there to keep those game consoles working. When your Nintendo Wii won't let you load or eject that tricky disc, at least there's somewhere your game can be taken to -- if it's to become "good as new" again – at least for a while.

Jeff Gasner is with CPR-Cell Phone repair. The leader in Cell Phone Repair and iPod repair offering cell phone repair services nationwide. To learn more about cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services visit Chicagocellrepair.com.

CPR's Game System Repairs Are Fast and Reliable

CPR expert technicians are now specializing in repair of game consoles – and not just Xboxes.

It was only a matter of time before CPR moved into the game system repair niche. Like any electronic contrivance these days, manufacturers are growing increasingly reluctant to repair these expensive "toys" – especially once their warranties expire. Microsoft has recently (as of March 2nd) discontinued repair service for original Xboxes whose warranties have expired. In the cases of such consoles as the popular Nintendo Wii, or Sony products such as their PSP or their Playstation 2 & 3, the moans of distressed and frustrated customers grow ever louder. What can go wrong with these games touted by shrill marketing voices as the "next generation" of intricate video games? The variety of complaints is like a cornucopia. The Xboxes often pain their owners with DREs, an inability to read a game or games within the assembled configuration. Xboxes, whether the original models or the Xbox 360, can freeze or overheat, or suddenly lose sound, power, or video. Error messages and non-responsive controllers are common complaints, as are colorful troubles with the red lights – depending on which is flashing possibly indicating whether or not your unit's destination should be the nearest landfill. Sony PSP consoles sometimes need a full shell replacement. A Playstation 2 can make a clicking or grinding noise that mimics the mating call of the giant earwig. The disc on your Playstation 3 might not load or eject. Your Nintendo DS Lite might have broken hinges.

Whatever the problem that your game system might be having, a friendly & certified expert CPR technician can provide a solution that you won't have to wait an eternity for. Chances are your game can be fixed, no matter what the issue might be. CPR provides warranty on all game system repairs. If the problem is simple enough, a technician might even be able to fix the contrivance while you wait. Try asking a manufacturer to do that.

To learn more about cell phone repair, ipod repair, cell repair services visit Chicagocellrepair.com.