Saturday repair hours extended
Due to popular demand, we’ve extended our opening hours on Saturday. We’re now available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch repairs from 11am to 5pm! If you’d like to pop by for a repair, it’s easy to book a dedicated slot.
The amazing bloated battery
In the last few weeks we’ve had the pleasure of twice witnessing a bizarre phenomenon – iPhone battery bloat. Due to gas build-up, some old iPhone batteries can swell up to such an extent that they damage the phone. On this customer’s phone, the spectacularly bloated battery even pushed the screen assembly out from the back case. Fortunately, there was minimal damage and a battery replacement restored the iPhone to fully working order. It looks like it’s an issue that Apple is well aware of and is tackling through engineering changes.
Great customers
There are good businesses and, more importantly, there are great customers. Finding the right customers for your business – customers that you can satisfy successfully – is a challenge facing all service companies. You know you’ve found that perfect match when a customer goes far beyond the call of duty and does something great, completely unsolicited. That’s just what Michael Chung did this week, when he sent us this email below – including a very special Lovefone photo. We asked Michael if we could reproduce it on our blog.
Hello! Lovefone.
Thank you so much for fixing my wife’s iphone 4, yesterday.
She was so upset when she lost it and we found it in the middle of the major road as cars and lorries was driving over it.
I went to the apple store in Regent Street and they said they couldn’t help us as the unit was beyond repair.
Your team at Lovefone was so helpful, understanding and promise they could restore it back to life with a unbelievable turn around time of just 40 minutes.
The biggest Wow factor was the price of £109.00 including a new camera and all in white.
I have enclosed a BIG thank picture ibefore and iafter….Steve Jobs would be very proud of you guys saving one of his favourite products. From broken to new and I am in my wife’s good books.
Keep up the excellent service and your neighbours next door Saatchi & Saatchi…they are right nothing is impossible.
All the best for the future.
Hope to see you soon…but not too soon.
Michael Chung
Thanks so much for this Michael! This was completely unexpected. Here’s a few details about Michael, requested by us.
Michael Chung
Creative Director and Partner of The Chung Partnership advertising and Print. The Chung Partnership promotes positive brand development and communication using creative solutions. It offers a range of advertising, marketing and designservices. The Chung Partnership is located at 121d Cleveland Street, London.
Mobile unlocking: the giffgaff “unlockapedia”
Mobile phone unlocking is a hugely confusing grey area. Is it even fully legal? Does it void your warranty? Where should I go to get my phone unlocked? And what about blocked phones?
Fortunately, we just stumbled across this great guide by giffgaff, a popular new sim-only network. If you want to switch to a new network, check out the giffgaff unlockapedia for the complete lowdown.
Customising the iPhone 4
iPhone customisations, like buses, often come in twos. In just one day we were asked to do two virtually identical iPhone 4 customisations, using a gold mid-frame. See if you can spot the difference (OK, it’s not that difficult). As people’s iPhone 4 one-year Apple warranty expire over the coming months, we’re sure these requests will increase! They look pretty cool, even even we do say so ourselves…
iPhone 4S disassembly – what it looks like inside
We thought it might be nice to show people what the iPhone 4S looked like inside. Here are some images of it being taken to pieces and the screen removed.
As you might expect, there are some similarities with the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4S is all about improving what was already a remarkable smartphone. Apple have solved the signal issue that plagued the iPhone 4, and inserted the iPad 2 A5 chip, making the iPhone 4S over twice as fast as its predecessor. And with Siri, we can all get that Captain Kirk experience: “Beam me up Siri”. If you’ve a spare moment, why not try Siri’s Greatest Hits: 10 Witty Comebacks from the iPhone 4S.
The iPhone 4S in one piece.
The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S side by side. The 4S mid frame has been modified to solve the signal issue.
The beautiful new iPhone 4S 8-megapixel camera
With the logic board removed.
The iPhone 4S vibrator as found on the US Verizon iPhone 4.
And, finally, the screen is off.
If only I could remember how to put it back together again…
Next generation giant iPhone stolen – reward offered
Just six hours after its debut, a next generation iPhone has been stolen from a pavement in central London. The iPhone 60 was produced exclusively for Lovefone by leading designer Marius Istratescu (http://decoartist.co.uk). Specifically designed for the larger person (60-feet tall), its 3.5 foot retina display means that it has the largest touch screen ever produced.
On 4pm Thursday 29 September, only hours after its unveiling on the pavement outside 64 Charlotte Street in central London, it was gone. In an unfortunate oversight, the ‘Find My iPhone’ app hadn’t been installed. If anyone has any information leading to its safe return, Lovefone are offering a free repair or £80 worth of iTunes vouchers.
Four feet long, the iPhone is immediately recognisable, and so may be being hidden in the thief’s home. It’s now blocked from use on all networks. If you see anyone acting suspiciously with a giant iPhone, please get in touch with us at info@lovefone.co.uk.
Some iPhone 60 firsts
- Designed for use by by 60 foot giant – provided with 500kg metal case crafted in military grade titanium
- Largest touch screen on any Apple product – with a 130.4 million pixel retina display
- Two months in the making – design team scrapped two prototypes before selecting final design approach
- Engineered plexiglass – the same type of plastic used in high speed train urinals and helicopter staff canteens, more scratch resistant than polystyrene
- Necklace camera – lens and flash bulb ‘borrowed’ from wife’s jewellery makes the iPhone 60 the perfect fashion accessory
- Bike tube headphone jack – cut from a the designer’s own bicycle (which can now only to be used at extreme personal risk)
On a serious note, we really do miss our beloved iPhone sign so lovingly crafted by Marius – and we really do offer an £80 iTunes reward for information leading to its return! Thanks for your help.
Troubleshooting connection or call issues
Having trouble making or receiving calls, or sending or receiving text messages? Or having difficulty accessing the internet? This Apple troubleshooting assistant could help you isolate and fix the problem.
Prolonging your iPhone Battery life
Long battery life is very important to an avid iPhone user. You can view your battery statistics in settings but here are a few tips to get the most out of your battery life:
1) Turn off push data: Applications such as mail can be set to fetch new data manually. The more frequently the application fetches new data, the faster the battery will drain. Also, you can reduce the amount of email accounts that are checked automatically. Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Fetch New Data
2) Lower brightness: Lowering the brightness is a great way to extend battery life. Alternatively, enable auto-brightness so the brightness will adjust depending on your current lighting conditions. Settings -> Brightness
3) Turn off bluetooth: Bluetooth should only be on if you are using it for things such as a hands free headset or a wireless keyboard. Settings -> General -> Bluetooth
4) Turn off location services: Applications that use GPS, such as camera and Twitter, will rapidly drain the battery. You can turn this off in settings. Settings -> General -> Location Services
5) Quit background apps: According to Apple, background apps are not actually running and don’t use battery however, by quitting the 30 something apps you may not even know are running, you can extend the battery life slightly. This only affects iPhones with multi-tasking. Double Tap Home Button -> Hold on an app logo until they start to shake -> Tap the red circle in the top left
6) Turn off notifications for apps: This reduces the amount of apps needing to constantly monitor your iPhones status. Unless you like receiving Facebook notifications at 3am, this should be off anyway. Settings -> Notifications
7) Update with the latest iOS: Those Apple guys don’t release updates for their own benefit. Apple engineers may find new ways of optimising battery performance so it is important to keep up to date with new iOS updates. Check for updates on iTunes
8) Store as close to room temperature as possible: Heat rapidly degrades the iPhones battery lifespan and can damage the internal components themselves. Don’t store the phone in direct sunlight or even the glove compartment of a car. Heat will degrade the battery the most.
9) Use the iPhone regularly: It may seem stupid but to make full use of the lithium polymer batteries, it is important to keep the electrons moving frequently. Make sure to fully charge the phone at least once a month.
10) Use airplane mode in low or no-coverage areas: Airplane mode automatically turns off wi-fi and 3G and so extends battery life. Settings -> Airplane Mode And there you go. Ten tips for improving battery performance. Optimising your setting is very important and can help you get the most out of your iPhone. It is very hard to find high quality batteries for the iPhone 3G and 3GS so Lovefone don’t replace these. We do replace iPhone 4 batteries for £39.
Latest rumours on the iPhone 5
As an iPhone repair company, we need to keep up to date with new Apple technology. As the release of the iPad 2 is done and out of the way, everyone’s attention has turned to the possibility of a new iPhone 5 in September.
This new device could be a major opportunity for Apple to put themselves above the competition such as Windows Phone 7 and Android with features such as video chat (FaceTime) over a cellular network, a dual core processor, 4G network capabilities or even the fabled flash capability.
As well as new features, Apple would need to address some of the problems of the iPhone 4, to ensure they do not happen again. Loads of people complained that the location of the cellular network antenna meant that you couldn’t hold the phone normally when making a call. There was also the problem of the fragile glass back that broke whenever you dropped it and the poor quality of the cameras.
Various rumours have suggested that a new iPhone design will place the antenna directly behind the Apple logo on the back of the phone. You may think that this seems strange as surely your hand will block the signal and worsen the problem; you would be correct in thinking that. However, last August Apple announced an exclusive partnership with Liquidmetal Technologies who were to develop a new alloy for the phone casing. The new metal does not block the phone signal and is 2.5 times stronger than a titanium alloy and 1.5 times harder than stainless steel. This means that the back casing of the phone is less likely to break or scratch and won’t affect the phone’s antenna.
There is also the possibility of a new iOS 5. Rumours have suggested that the new iOS will be able to sync to iTunes and update without a wired connection, similar to Microsoft’s Zune.
There is also the possibility for a larger screen, A5 dualcore processor and even HD cameras. From previous experience, we have learnt that the name of the new iPhone reflects its new technology. The iPhone 3G was such called because it supported AT&T’s 3G technology, the iPhone 3GS reflects the device’s greater device “speed” (which is what the “S” stands for). The iPhone 4 was not called 4G because it did not have 4G capabilities.
A few weeks ago Peter Misek, a research analyst of Jefferies & Co., said that Apple’s supplier for the 4G LTE chipset, that was to be used in the iPhone 5, was not achieving the necessary yield needed to fulfil the estimated sales demand of the new iPhone. He said that the new device will probably be called the 4S and only include minor cosmetic changes and an improved camera and processor.
So what does this mean for the iPhone 5? Well from what we’ve gathered, the iPhone 5 probably won’t be released until next year. Instead, Apple will probably release an iPhone 4S in September, as a chance to test out new features and technology before the larger release of the iPhone 5. This may be a let-down to all you hardcore Apple fans but who knows what the next few years will bring. We’ll just have to wait and see.
