Avoid the Wet Stuff

It is the time of year to get out and enjoy the warm weather. It is time to hit the lake, the pool or at least use the garden hose to splash some water around. However, it is not the time to get your phone wet and sustain liquid damage. Unfortunately, that happens quite a bit this time of year in Central Arkansas as people come back from Hot Springs on the weekend with a phone that is dead - or close to it.

So, just a reminder on some helpful tips to get you through if your iPhone or Droid gets wet:

1) Turn it off and remove the battery if you can;
2) If you cannot bring the phone directly to a repair center, then place it under a fan during the interim;
3) Do NOT bother placing the phone in dry rice because it does not stop the corrosion and the rice might get stuck in some of the opening areas;
4) Do NOT place the phone under heat such as a hair dryer, oven or in the sunlight - you will only do more damage;
5) Get the phone to a repair center for a professional treatment.

These are the best steps you can take to save all the data and pictures you have on your phone that might not be backed up. (Of course, we hope you backed them up before the phone got wet). We have three convenient locations in Central Arkansas: Little Rock, Conway and North Little Rock. We'll help you out but you first need to help yourself out and follow the steps above. If you get a liquid-damaged device to us within 72 hours we have an 85% recovery rate.

Enjoy this time of year but be armed with the knowledge that can keep your phone safe.

New North Little Rock Repair Store Open

Our North Little Rock location of First Class Cellular Repair officially opened for business today! We are located at 2607 McCain Blvd. in the same strip center as Pier 1 Imports. Our store manager is Clay Rattenbury. Clay has been fixing iPhones, iPads and all types of smart devices for years. Our store hours are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. We are closed on Sundays.

This is our third repair store in Central Arkansas. Over the last couple of years we have become the premier place to get your iPhone, Droid and other products fixed in a quick and affordable way. We can fix liquid damage, cracked screens, charge ports, etc. If your device is broken, we have a solution. And we are always professional.

Finally, we will be giving away an iPad mini on May 17th. All you have to is drop by our North Little Rock store and fill out an entry form. If you live in Sherwood, Jacksonville, Cabot or Lonoke then we are probably on your way to work in Little Rock so just drop by and sign up. We are so grateful to all our customers in Central Arkansas that have fueled our success. We hope that this new North Little Rock store will be even more convenient for you.

Off Topic, But Kind of Related

A telephone book arrived in my mailbox today. It got me to thinking: Do people still use telephone books? I don't. I just throw them in the trash (or the recycle bin to be more accurate). So, I decided to look inside one. To my astonishment, it contained basically the same information that it has always contained. Most interesting to me, it still contained paid advertisements. Seriously, people are paying to be included inside the paper phone book....in 2013.

I know this is off topic from my usual posts about iPhone repair and fixing liquid damage, but I have a question to ask: Am I missing something? Are there still enough people that read the telephone book to justify buying an ad inside of one? I doubt it. In fact, our business is not even in the yellow pages of the paper telephone book. We just assume people will do a Google search and find us. I hope we're not missing the boat.

I am thinking now that it would be helpful to be in the yellow pages. They would have to create a whole new category for us. Maybe it can be called "Smart Device Repair Centers" or "Cell Phone Problem Solvers". We could think of something (though it's a lot harder to describe than just saying "Pizza"). So, we apologize if you looked in the paper phone book six months ago trying to find us and you came up empty. We just assumed that everyone looks for phone numbers online these days. Therefore, this post is still kind of related and on topic because if you can't find us we can't fix your phone. Sorry. Maybe we'll make the 2014 edition.

When is New Technology Too Much?

Before the end of 2013, Google Glass headgear will be available for purchase at retail outlets. This futuristic product consists of a small display situated on a frame that resembles eyeglasses. Google Glass, though, is much more than eyeglasses. You will be able to videotape, audiotape, conduct Google searches and do other cool things.  In short, it is going to rock.

The question that Google Glass poses is for the people that don't use it. Will it be too much? Should you be allowed to film and record people without their knowledge or consent? Will this tool be used by creepy people for bad things? Probably.

What limits should we place on technology? Maybe x-ray vision is the point of no return. We're way beyond iPhones that record rock concerts and children's birthdays. We are talking about Matrix-like technology that will be in wide use before we know it. Our opinion is that Google Glass will not cross any new boundaries. It is basically just a more sly way to do things that are already legal and mostly acceptable. There is already a process to handle people that tape things they are not allowed to tape. We can handle this new product but it will require people to pay more attention to what they say and do around people that they don't know well. That is a good practice regardless.

Google Glass is not a bridge too far - yet. But someday there will be a technology that is going to raise some serious ethical and legal concerns. And that day might be sooner than you think.

New North Little Rock Location

We can now announce that First Class Cellular Repair will be opening its third location in Central Arkansas. The new smart device repair store is located on McCain Boulevard in North Little Rock just around the corner from McCain Mall in Lakewood Village.  The Grand Opening will be in April and will be announced on our Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/FirstClassCellularRepair.  We will also be giving away an iPad mini to one of our first customers.

First Class Cellular Repair is the premier place in Central Arkansas to fix a broken iPhone, Droid or any brand of cell phone.  We also specialize in fixing iPads and tablets.  Because of our loyal customers, our business is growing and we want to make it easier for customers in Sherwood, Jacksonville, Cabot and other  cities to have a convenient place to fix their devices.

Follow us on Facebook to find out the opening day for the new North Little Rock store.

Expanding in Central Arkansas

Three years ago when we started First Class Cellular Repair in Conway, Arkansas we had a dream.  The dream was to become the premier iPhone and smart device repair center in Central Arkansas.  After serving thousand of customers, we believe that this dream is coming true.  Because of this, we have decided to open up a third location.

We will be announcing our new location in the coming weeks.  We can tell you that this repair store will be much more convenient for our customers that live in places like Lonoke, Jacksonville, Cabot and Searcy.  You won't have to drive "all the way out to West Little Rock" any more.  We can assure you that our new location will have the same high standards of professionalism that our stores in Chenal and Conway have.  We believe is satisfying one customer at a time.

And, we'll have another store doing Facebook Fridays!  Stay tuned.

Where Did I Leave My iPhone?

Unfortunately, this post is inspired by a friend that recently lost her iPhone. She did not have the "Find My iPhone" setting turned on in her phone. She left the iPhone in a cab and no one responded when she called her number. At this point, the iPhone is lost.  It did not have to be this way. Turning on the iPhone locator function is pretty easy. Here are the steps:

First, click on the "Settings" icon on the home screen;

Second, click on the "iCloud" bar;

Third, scroll down to the "Find My iPhone" bar.  Switch it "on".

Those three steps turn the app on.  If you lose your iPhone somewhere, this will work as long as the device is powered on and in an area with cellular service or WiFi.  It won't work if the battery has died or if a thief turns it off - so act fast.

Now, go to the website www.icloud.com and sign in to the site with your Apple ID and password. Click on "Find My iPhone" and a map will appear showing where your device is currently located. The rest is easy. Just track down your device from here.

The key is making sure that the "Find My iPhone" setting is turned on. Everything flows from that. If you have problems locating the iPhone later please feel free to call us at (501) 420-2273. It's a horrible feeling to know that someone else is in possession of all your data, pictures, contacts, etc.  Please don't be a victim.  Check your settings right now.