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Phone-maintenance.md (3138B)

    

  1. ---
  2. date: 2017-11-24
  3. layout: post
  4. title: On taking good care of your phone
  5. tags: [mobile]
  6. ---
  8. I just finished [replacing the micro-USB
  9. daughterboard](https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/s5/27077) on my Samsung Galaxy S5,
  10. which involved taking the phone most of the way apart, doing the replacement,
  11. and putting it back together. This inspired me to write about my approach to
  12. maintaining my cell phone. I've had this phone for a while and I have no plans
  13. to upgrade - I backed the upcoming Purism phone, but I expect to spend
  14. months/years on the software before I'll be using that as my daily driver.
  16. I don't want to be buying a new phone every year. That's a lot of money! Though
  17. the technophile in me finds the latest and greatest technology appealing, the
  18. thought of doing my own repairs and upkeep on a battle-tested phone is equally
  19. interesting. Here are the four things I've found most important in phone upkeep.
  21. ### Install LineageOS or Replicant
  23. Before I installed CyanogenMod when I bought this phone, I did some prying into
  24. the stock ROM to see just how bad it was. It was even worse than I expected!
  25. There were literally hundreds of apps and services with scary permissions
  26. running in the background that could not be removed. These spy on you, wear down
  27. your battery, and slow down your phone over time - another form of planned
  28. obsolescence.
  30. My phone is still as fast as the day I got it. It does a great job with
  31. everything I ask it to do. The first thing you should do with every new phone is
  32. install a third-party ROM - ideally, without Google apps. Stock ROMs suck, get
  33. rid of it.
  35. ### Insist on a user-replacable battery
  37. Non-user-replacable batteries are an obvious form of planned obsolescence.
  38. Batteries don't last forever and you should *never* buy a phone that you
  39. cannot replace the battery of. A new battery for my S5 costs 10 bucks. 4 years
  40. in, I've replaced mine once and I can hold a charge fine for a couple of days.
  42. ### Get a case
  44. This one is pretty obvious, but I didn't follow this advice at first. I've never
  45. broken a screen, so I didn't bother with a case. When I decided I was going to
  46. keep this phone for a long time, I went ahead and bought one. It doubles the
  47. thickness of my phone but at least I can be sure I'm not going to bust it up
  48. when I drop it. It still fits in my pocket comfortably so it's no big deal.
  50. ### Attempt repairs before you buy a new phone
  52. The past couple of months, my phone's micro-USB3 port started to act up a bit. I
  53. would have to wiggle the cable a bit to get it to take, and it could stop
  54. charging if I rustled my desk the wrong way. I got a replacement USB
  55. daughterboard on Amazon for 6 bucks. Replacing it took an hour, but when
  56. removing the screen I broke the connection between my home button and my
  57. motherboard - which was only 10 bucks for the replacement, including same day
  58. shipping. The whole process was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
  60. ---
  62. Be a smart consumer when you're buying a phone. Insist on the replacable battery
  63. and maybe read the iFixit teardown. Take good care of it and it'll last a long
  64. time. Don't let consumerism get the better of you!