Common cellphone problems

Recently my Motorola V400 had some problems, where it wouldn't recharge even if I kept it plugged in. A friend suggested that I use an compressed air can, or, failing that, to simply blow really hard into the connector area, cause dust sometimes builds up there. She said that her phone sometimes does that too, and the blowing air into it fixes it.

Having tried it, my phone seems to be recharging once again (kind of reminds me of the old Nintendo where you had to blow into the system and the game cause of dust settling in there).

I had another issue with it a long time ago where the "down" button wasn't working properly, but since I ordered it online, the customer service rep I called said I'd have to either ship it back to them to fix it, or take it to a local cingular store. Taking it to a local store (cause I didnt want to be without a phone for a few weeks), they said since I didn't buy the phone there, I'd have to ship it back. Upon asking them what might be wrong, he said that it was probably the board the phone was using, and something might be defective on it.

Anyway, I kind of let it blow over, cause it's not that terribly big of a deal (I can just press 8 for "down" when I needed it), and strangely enough, after a few months, the down button seems to be working now.

So, what other problems have you run into with your cellphones? Do you have any quickfix suggestions (that don't risk making the problem worse that is), or did you have to turn it in and buy a new phone?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Well, this isn't so much a problem as it is my own screw-up. I have recently misplaced my cell phone charger. So, I'm currently using a car lighter plug-in that we have left over from when my family members had Nokia phones.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

My cell phone has been dropped so many times. Ultimately, these drops impact the battery life, so that has been much shorter than it once was. So the cell phone dies more quickly. On top of that, these drops have also made the latch for the battery break, so I've used a many methods to keep it on. First, I kept the phone on the holster, all taped up using medical tape. But now the holster itself broke, and the tape has gotten lose over time. So I retaped it as well as used Krazy Glue on the battery pack. Now my phone is all pimped out/gay. It's ridiculous. I may need to post a pic in my journal.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

My most common problem with cell phones is other people using them. Other than that, I stick to an older, basic phone. You can do anything to that thing and it just doesn't die.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Arainach

My most common problem with cell phones is other people using them. Other than that, I stick to an older, basic phone. You can do anything to that thing and it just doesn't die.

Yeah, that's true. The new phones are all fancy and whatnot, with the camera, and video mode, and all that useless junk. It's worthless, I already have a camera and video recorder, I don't need a phone that takes pictures/video footage with lower quality results.

I have a Razr, and well, I'm not that satisfied with it. I got the phone, and the yearly plan for free, so, I shouldn't be complaining, but still. The signal is poor, the battery life is terrible, it can break at any time, I mean, technology is only good to a certain extent.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Neogin

Yeah, that's true. The new phones are all fancy and whatnot, with the camera, and video mode, and all that useless junk. It's worthless, I already have a camera and video recorder, I don't need a phone that takes pictures/video footage with lower quality results.

I have a Razr, and well, I'm not that satisfied with it. I got the phone, and the yearly plan for free, so, I shouldn't be complaining, but still. The signal is poor, the battery life is terrible, it can break at any time, I mean, technology is only good to a certain extent.

Who's your provider Neogin and where in the US do you live? I've had my Razr for almost a year and never have the problems you're talking about. My signal is almost always good (3~5 bars), the phone battery lasts about 3 days for me, and I've dropped it numerous times - the last time being on a brick walk way a week ago.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I haven't really had any serious problems with my phone. The only thing it does every once in awhile is the LCD screen will dim to the point as to where it's going to cut off. It'll stay that way for about five minutes until I actually turn the phone completely off and back on again.

FELIPE NO

When I first turned on my latest cell phone, I tried opening the gallery folder and the phone was unable to recognize any items even if there were pictures inside. This only occurred during the first hour though. It hasn't happened since then.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by silvervalkyrie

Who's your provider Neogin and where in the US do you live? I've had my Razr for almost a year and never have the problems you're talking about. My signal is almost always good (3~5 bars), the phone battery lasts about 3 days for me, and I've dropped it numerous times - the last time being on a brick walk way a week ago.

T-Mobile, and I live in New Jersey.

It has poor signal, and the talk time battery life is surprisingly only two hours. (To be honest, I used to get about six.)

Well, it's still not the worst phone in the world. I'm able to tweak the phone, and whatnot, so..it's not a total loss.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I have Verizon and so far, my signal has always been great. My problem is my battery life. Granted, my phone is almost two years old so I should expect the battery to be almost dead, but it can barely last a day now. I'll most likely get a new one when I go home for summer.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Using the calendar feature...I ran out of memory a couple of months ago. Just to be safe, I deleted every event that I have ever scheduled since the past year to make sure I don't run out of memory for a while. I think all those pictures I took and my list of phonebook contacts eat into the memory too.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I've dropped my cellphone on concrete multiple times. Nothing happened. Then my dad accidentally washed it when I brought my coat back home. It was in my coat pocket. uhh... it's partially survived. It surprisingly still works, screen is a bit shoddy now, but... I turned it on and it started going.

Fun times .

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My phone has a tendancy to turn itself off every now and then and when i go to turn it back on it decides that it has no sim card in it. It takes about 5 attempts to get it up and running again after taking my phone apart and making sure the sim card is still in place. It used to only do this when i dropped it (onto laminate flooring...ouch) but now i can just be using my phone and it decides it's had enough and powers down.

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Originally Posted by Neogin

Yeah, that's true. The new phones are all fancy and whatnot, with the camera, and video mode, and all that useless junk. It's worthless, I already have a camera and video recorder, I don't need a phone that takes pictures/video footage with lower quality results.

Sure. More and more features are being added to phones, though the quality of new phones is next to nothing - just after a year, phone buttons tend to fail...yet an oldschool fixed phone lasts for more than 10 years without a single failure.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

That's what companies don't understand: No, I don't want the James Bond of phones. I just want a service plan that doesn't rape me.

FELIPE NO

Quote:

Recently my Motorola V400 had some problems, where it wouldn't recharge even if I kept it plugged in. A friend suggested that I use an compressed air can, or, failing that, to simply blow really hard into the connector area, cause dust sometimes builds up there. She said that her phone sometimes does that too, and the blowing air into it fixes it.

My V710 had that same problem. As it turned out, the problem was with the charger. I went out and bought a replacement -- ever since then, no problems whatsoever.

I have to agree that the quality of most phones built these days is in the shitter. I absolutely hate cheap-looking and cheap-feeling phones that break apart with a good squeeze. At least my old Nokia 5190 looked and felt solid. My mother's new V210 looks like a cheap toy.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Sometimes my speakerphone gets too soft to be usable, even when hearing my own ring. Sigh. I use a Smartphone SMT5600.

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I'd say my good ol' Nokia 3310 is doing pretty well considering its age (got it about four years ago). It's only been dropped a few times and didn't seem to suffer much from it.

The main issue is battery life. I have to recharge it twice a day, if not more if I actually use it. Oddly enough, I replaced the battery with a new one some time ago and it didn't seem to fix it. Also the buttons are a little tired, which makes text messages a pain to type when you aren't used to it. But other than that, it looks as if it could last forever.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Neogin

It has poor signal, and the talk time battery life is surprisingly only two hours.

Who the fuck do you talk to for more than two hours a day?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.