The Trouble with iPad Repair

The iPad is a beautiful device. When a new iPad is taken out of the box it is Christmas no matter what day the calendar reads. But unlike the iPhone, when you crack the screen on an iPad it will never look quite the same. Oh, it might be really close to the same, just not quite. When you break the iPhone screen and get it repaired the part fits perfectly unto the old casing. Your cell phone looks brand new again. The iPad, though, has a much bigger casing that surrounds the screen and that is where the trouble starts.

When we fix an iPad we tell the customer that we have to use a hammer to "shape" the iPad casing back to its original dimensions. It is not a science. We usually come very close to getting it back to the original spacing but it might be off a millimeter or so. And, that can lead to the new screen "popping off" after a week or two. No worries, though. We cover that under warranty. In fact, we expect it to happen from time to time. Whether you are at our Little Rock or Conway store all of our techs are highly trained in fixing iPad screens. We will get it looking almost as good as new no matter how many attempts it takes.

You see, the iPad is a beautiful device but once broken it will never...quite...be...the...same.

Rice...is not the final answer

Our First Class Cellular Repair stores in Little Rock, Conway and North Little Rock see about 10 water/liquid damaged phones per day during the Summer months. We have a success rate of around 80% on liquid damage when we get them within a few days of the initial damage. But, we don't get all of the phones right after they have sustained damaged. Often, the customer has already tried to place the phone in a bag of rice first. This delay in time is very dangerous because the phone is undergoing corrosion. And rice does nothing to fix corrosion.

Let's assume for a moment that rice will suck the moisture out of phone (and this is a big assumption). It will definitely not suck corrosion out of the device. We're talking about the kind of corrosion you see on top of a car battery when acid has formed on it. Drying corrosion will not solve the issue. And, it's possible that the rice will introduce dust inside the phone for the first time.

Why I am writing about this today? Because a close friend tried using rice as a solution about two weeks ago and it did nothing to save their phone. By the time we got the device the corrosion had already eaten away the microprocessor. The phone is now dead and nothing can be done to fix it. If we had received the phone within a couple of days we probably could have fixed the liquid damage.

Rice is not the final answer. Corrosion is the issue. If you feel compelled to treat your water logged phone with rice, please consider letting us look at the device and show you whether there is any corrosion. If there is no corrosion then of course the phone will work when it dries out. But, if there is corrosion it will only get worse. And, we will know within minutes of examining the phone if this is the case.

If you live in Central Arkansas, whether in Jacksonville, Bryant, Cabot or wherever, you are within 30 minutes of one of our stores. Let our professional techs take a look at your water/liquid damaged phone. If there is really no problem (rice or no rice) we won't even charge you for the visit. We just want to help.