Broken iPhone? Call iCracked (YC W12), the aspiring AAA of smartphones | Hacker News Reader

Broken iPhone? Call iCracked (YC W12), the aspiring AAA of smartphones

xconomy.com

35 pointswaderoush36 comments

It turns out that 30 percent of all iPhone owners manage to break their phones within 12 months of purchasing them. For people under 35, the rate is closer to 50 percent.

I find this stunning, especially the second part. With rates like that I'm kind of surprised that Apple doesn't offer this service at a premium.

I wonder how they gathered the data for this, and how they define "break". (Aside: I remember reading somewhere that the most frequent usage of "it turns out" is for presenting outrageous statistics that have no data behind them).

Apple does offer this service, essentially. The $99 AppleCare+ offering will replace the phone or repair it (for $49/incident) within two years of purchase.

Here's some links to smartphone warranty provider, SquareTrade

http://blog.squaretrade.com/2012/09/americans-have-spent-59-...

http://blog.squaretrade.com/2012/10/iphone-and-home-squaretr...

It really makes me wonder why more time isn't spent in making smartphones more durable. People tend to buy them at $100-$200 on contract, not realizing that if they break the phone, they won't get another one for $100-$200. It's more like $600-$800.

Sure, having the thinnest phone made entirely of glass is a really nice selling point in marketing material, but having a phone that lasts the entire term of your contract without needing to be coddled and have the form factor ruined by a bulky case just to protect it is even nicer. For comparison, the Lumia 920 is not incredibly thick or heavy and still looks quite nice, but it can handle an impressive amount of abuse before it breaks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=E3c8il_Q6SU

There are plenty of durable phones out there, but the tech media constantly label them "cheap plastic".

"It feels like a premium device" kind of grates on me. In most cases, it's code for "it's made of expensive materials that are really quite fragile". Like glass surrounding a rigid metal frame that guarantees it will shatter on impact with no room to absorb a blow.

Yes "feels like a premium device" is code for "made of expensive materials" or, more specifically, "made of expensive materials [assembled to a high degree of precision]." Talking about fragility is misleading: if I want a phone that doesn't get scratched, surely I'd prefer it be made out of glass rather than plastic? since one is much harder than the other. So, of the two, which is the more fragile? Answer: it depends what you're worried about.

>Answer: it depends what you're worried about.

True. But what's better, a phone with a plastic outside and a gorrila glass screen that might scratch on the back but the screen won't scratch and the phone won't shatter if you accidentally hit it with a baseball bar across a paves parking lot? Or a phone with a rigid metal exterior covered in gorrila glass that won't scratch but shatters if you drop it from waist height?

Sorry, that was typed on my phone. That should be baseball bat and paved parking lot.

There's a huge case industry out there, of which durability is an important aspect.

There's a curve of cost vs durability out there, and many phones fall all along it.

A lot of that data comes from SquareTrade.

> Key your ZIP code into iCracked’s desktop or mobile site, and you’ll hear back within minutes from one of 310 “iTechs” around the world

Zip codes are not universal, something many people developing web apps with obligatory zip fields seem to forget.

You can click to select your location on the map if you don't have a zip.

Empty page after following their wizard to replace the screen on my AT&T iPhone 4 http://www.icracked.com/fix-my-iphone/iphone-4-gsm-att-repai...

yeah me too. chrome 16... fedora.

Thanks everyone - We've fixed the bug now and it should be working perfectly

Same here.

Same. Very annoying that it makes me go through all these steps before I can even see if they have anyone near me, too.

Key your ZIP code into iCracked’s desktop or mobile site, and you’ll hear back within minutes from one of 310 “iTechs” around the world who will schedule a repair visit, usually for around $100. (The exact charges are up to the technicians, who are self-employed and pay iCracked only for parts.) If there’s no iTech in your region, you can order a DIY iPhone screen replacement kit from iCracked for $65 to $75.

So this is more like a 1-800-dentists, where they connect iPhone users with iPhone repair businesses.

I've used one of the technicians for a broken iPhone and it was awesome. Does anyone know if they can fix iPad screens and iPad mini screens?

How do you manage to break so many devices? Take care of your shit, people!

Life. Small children. Accidents. "Sexting."

You think you're careful and that it'll never happen to you, till it does. . .

I was with you until "Sexting". I'm not sure I want to know the kind of sexting technique that results in a broken phone.

Website shows they fix all the iDevices. (icracked.com)

We sure do! We can also buy it from you so you can get the new mini!

What about iPhone 5s? Referred someone to you guys the other day and they came back that you couldn't fix it.

https://twitter.com/amuse/status/273143021653069824

I ordered a DIY kit from iCracked to repair the broken screen on my iPhone, and it worked out really well.

If you are handy with tools, and not afraid to disassemble electronics, the DIY kit is totally awesome. If not, get it done by an iTech.

I successfully did the same for my wife, but I have some gripes about it:

1) The instructions were not complete! It only walked me through disassembly and attaching the new screen. I had to walk backwards through the instructions to get the phone assembled, and I felt the instructions left enough ambiguities that I'm surprised her phone doesn't show any side effects.

2) The pictures on the instructions were WAY too small to be of much use. In one case the circle designating where the screw to remove resides was not over the real location.

3) The instructions implied that the manual was magnetic for holding screws - it was plain printer paper.

Overall I got the job done cheaper (and faster) with iCracked than sending it away, but I'd like to see my gripes addressed before doing it again. This was for the 4s if anyone cares.

Instead of RTFM, I used the video on the site. The one time not RTFM worked out, I guess.

I tried to use iCracked a couple weeks ago and they didn't have the supplies in place to fix an iPhone 5. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed.

When I called iCracked about the same thing, they (very honestly) told me iPhone 5 screens are uber expensive and they currently cost more than it would to get a replacement iPhone 5 from Apple, which is currently $229. The way the markets work though, iCracked said they will be swapping those screens out at half the price pretty soon. I'm assuming it's the in-cell technology in the new screens that makes them so expensive.

This seems kind of expensive, since I found a guy in Houston who put a new front on my broken iPhone 4 for $75.

Yeah, there are definitely people doing it way cheaper, but the quality is terrible and there is no warranty!

How did their founder's iPhone have a collision with a ceiling fan?

AJ Forsythe explains that in the story: "That was a function of being in college. It was an underhand toss to a roommate—‘Hey, the phone’s for you’—and the ceiling fan intercepted it."

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