Cracked my phone last night - ugggg

Tech Talk Android
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I love my Samsung S8. I have had it 18 months. It is in an Otterbox, and it has survived all previous drops. Last night, it slipped out my hand and landed screen down on the ceramic tile. When I picked it up… Cracked glass… Uggg…

The S8 was the most expensive phone I’ve ever bought - The model had already been out 1 year by the time I got it, so I paid $450 + tax, and paid it off with zero interest at $50 per month. I love the phone… Nicest phone I’ve ever had. I like the Samsung Health app that tracks my walking everyday. Even has a built in O2 meter.

It does still work, but I have to have a phone for work, and I do a LOT of driving. If the glass starts to flake off later, or if it totally breaks on the next drop, I can’t afford that. I’ve already been stuck in the middle of no where with a flat tire a couple of times in the past 12 months…

So, last night, I ordered another phone on the Best Buy website. I will have it shipped to me, and I should have it on Monday.

Despite it being a bit older, I ordered a Samsung S9. One, it’s a little cheaper. But, I don’t like the screen finger print reader on the S10s, and the S20s no longer have a headphone jack. I walk several miles a day and listen to my phone. I like wired headphones.

The S9 can still upgrade to the newest Android - so, that’s not too bad. After the S9, I guess I’ll have to go with something besides Samsung, because of the loss of the headphone jack.

But, this whole thing sucks. I did not plan having to pay for another phone :frowning:

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Bummer, sorry for your loss :frowning_face:

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I’ve witnessed many phone drops both like yours and minor dents. This is not even recoverable. :disappointed:

Sorry for your loss.

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Thanks.

Every other drop has been on a corner. First time it ever landed like this.

I put a pop socket on the back of mine. My drops went down from 4-5x per day to maybe 1x a month. But, this was the fatal drop…

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Too much resistance most likely. The flaw is definitely related to the phone because of the glass body/enclosure. This is what I saw with Apple phones.

I would also use a lighter case funny enough because added weight does have an impact with how the phone handles drops. (Glass is not durable)

Best Buy sells a wide selection of cases, they’ll point out some good plastic cases that fit around the entire phone just like the Otterbox and typically won’t run you much extra. Surprisingly they work about the same as the heavier variety.

I would also say depending how popular the S8 actually is, you may be able to get a local shop to repair and replace the screen and enclosure for you at a low cost with parts on hand. Often times if they’re good enough they may be able to patch up minor bumps as well.

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S10e still has a headphone jack - but going from S9 to S10e will not make much sense anyway, I guess.

I used to feel the same way, thinking of Bluetooth headphones as simply another thing I need to charge, a hassle. Briefly after feeling a little adventurous, I really started to like my Bluetooth headphones. I originally did not mind cables either, but wow - not having cables is even more comfortable than not minding cables.

Especially when I am cooking in the kitchen, moving about the place while wanting to listen to a show that runs on my tablet someplace else without having it shout at everyone else in the room. I know, specific use-case, but it’s excellent if you want to hear something from a device you cannot necessarily put into your pocket.

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Samsung wants $219 to do the repair. But, the closest OFFICIAL service center is like 85 minutes away in Houston. They want $10 more for shipping (if I don’t want to go there). Plus, I’d have to ship it there. So, it would be like $250 to fix. And, I’d have to go stand in a line at the post office to ship it…

There ARE some local places that will do it. But, my son broke the glass on his Samsung S7 Edge last year. I called all the local places for that. It was close to $250 to get that S7 Edge fixed. So, it would be about the same, unfortunately.

For $250, on a phone with a battery that has been used for 18 months, I’d rather just pay $450 for a new phone.

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Yea, I saw the S10e still has the headphone jack. I considered it. It was $50 more than the S9. I don’t know how I feel about the fingerprint reader being on the side, though. It is actually on the power button. I ALWAYS unlock my phone with the fingerprint reader. I really like it on the back, near the camera.

The S8 and S9 were the same price at BestBuy, believe it or not… I went back and forth on the models, but decided to just get the S9. Hopefully I have it longer than 18 montsh this time.

I’ll keep the S8 that is cracked as my emergency fallback phone.

I also had to order a case for it. What sucks is that WalMarts are closing out the S9 otterbox. They are like $10, but ya gotta go into the store to get em. They are not listed like that on the walmart website. And, I don’t want to go venturing into a store right now. That’s why I am getting the phone delivered next week instead of just going to the local store to get it.

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One person locally to me did get lucky enough with the local repair route and ended up with a cheaper replacement (under $50) for the screen so it is possible if you see another around town.

Having said what I said above, I would also take the same route, buy a new one.

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:frowning: sorry but glad you found something you like to replace it

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I gave up on wired earphones - I keep destroying them. One way was cutting through the cord while pruning a rose bush :pleading_face:

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That’s real bad luck. Never a good feeling.

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I once almost won myself a darwin award wearing cable headphones: I was getting ready to go out, set myself up, had my headphones in my hand but was looking for my phone. For some reason I needed both hands, so I put in the earplugs but left the plug dangling. For some reason, I needed to awkwardly reach behind some piece of furniture (suppose the phone was plugged in and I wanted to get the power plug). I remember distinctly finding it interesting, looking down, that a headphone plug would fit quite well into a hole in European power sockets since the plug of my worn headphones lowered towards to a multi-plug sitting on the floor. Did not make the connection that this would be inadvisable, just found it interesting. Realised afterwards that with a bit of bad luck, I may have shocked my brain pretty badly.

It took me another five years to go to Bluetooth, but yeah, the experience stuck with me.

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I cringed reading that. Ouch!

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To be honest, I don’t miss the headphone jack. My last 2 phones didn’t have one. I use the USB-C to jack adapter that came with my Huawei and that also works with my Galaxy S20+. I’ve never noticed any difference in sound quality.

Given that the battery in both lasted for at least 2 days of average use, there was never an issue of having to charge and listen through the headphones at the same time. That said, I use BT headphones most of the time. I had some wired buds (i.e. BT to the buds, the 2 buds connected to each other by a short wire) and, with the S20+, I received the Galaxy Buds +. The quality of the cheap buds was good enough for podcasts and audio books at the gym - nearly everybody at the gym uses BT, there is usually a stack of phones on the tables in the middle of the room and people just wander from device to device, they don’t have to find somewhere to rest the phone or put it in a sweaty pocket.

I do feel that you made the right choice, however, regarding the fingerprint reader. I got my wife an S10 in January and I got the S20+ in March (she dropped her old phone and cracked the screen, told me she didn’t need a replacement, then dropped it a week later and broke the other side of the screen, so that small chips were falling out of the screen).

The fingerprint reader on the S10 has a 99% failure rate with my wife. We have registered both thumbs twice (i.e. the 4 available slots are used for 2 digits), that did bring a bit better recognition (about 80% failure). With my fingers on the S20+, it is about 60% failure rate - I usually have to press my finger against the screen 2 - 3 times, before it unlocks, sometime I will get a run, where it just opens. It is also very slow, compared to my old Huawei Mate 10 Pro - that opened in milliseconds, the S20+ can take over a second to unlock.

I dropped a Galaxy S3 from the top of our fridge (~2M) onto a marble floor. It landed screen down. It was my company phone and the provider offered free repairs, if the screen wasn’t broken. I had luck, the screen was intact, but the wi-fi, bluetooth and cell antennas failed!

Couldn’t you get the screen repaired? A colleague of mine has a side business repairing phones, something like the Galaxy S8 would be around 50€ to replace the screen.

Edit: I see you have looked at that, but it is expensive in your area. My colleague would replace the battery at the same time as repairing the screen for under 100€ - and that using official parts. It seems the prices in the US are extortionate.

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Yes, with the Mate 10 Pro, I used the supplied silicon case for the 2.5 years I had it. I think I dropped it maybe twice in that time and it was fine.

With the S20+, I bought a Spigen Air, which is a lightweight case and a leather “wallet” case that closes over the screen when not in use. That offers more protection when the phone isn’t in use (the S20+ already has a scratch in the protective film from using the Spigen and sticking it in my jeans pocket, something that doesn’t happen with the leather fold-over case).

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Yes, I have read that the finger print reader on the S10 and S20 doesn’t work as well as it did on the S8 and S9. I tried the face unlock for a while, but removed it when I realized someone could force me to unlock my phone just by making me look at it while they held it. But, I"ve kept the finger print reader unlock (I suppose one could argue the same thing about that, but it’s a little harder to make someone cooperate in that way).

And yes - At $250, I don’t think it’s worth repairing an 18 month old phone. Under a year, I might repair it…

The new phone is actually at the local UPS hub, but UPS doesn’t deliver on weekends. So< I have to wait until Monday…

The more I think about it - I have dropped the phone 1-2x a month on average, for 18 months. I guess I can’t complain too much, even if it does suck…

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Since I’ve dropped many tips this week…

If you ever really need a shipment on the weekend, as a workaround, you can use UPS My Choice (even before transit), have it diverted to a local access point (UPS store) and pick it up. Turnaround time is much quicker.

You’d only have to worry about their procedures at the store.

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Well, I got my Samsung S9 in today, and it is all set up and in the new case. Woohoo!

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O.O The Samsung S9. Still a good phone and much better designed than the previous models.

Running stock or maybe another ROM (LineageOS)?

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