Picture this...it's Friday afternoon, the weather is perfect and it's the end of the day. I see my neighbor's kids across the street playing on their playscape. So I look to Lauren and ask "Do you wanna go play with the kids?" Of course she says "YES!" with so much excitement. So I pour myself a drink (vodka and diet coke) and we head out across the street.
The kids are playing, I am enjoying my beverage and I am sitting in a lawn chair in my neighbor's backyard. I am wearing these shorts and sitting in a low chair, both of which keep making my phone fall out of my pocket. So I set the phone in my lap after the 3rd fall. My neighbor's adorable little daughter, who would be turning 2 that Sunday, spots my phone and says "Phone?" and I say, "Yes! That is my phone. Good girl!" So it drops out of my lap again and she proceeds to pick it up to give it to me.
I reach out my hand to accept the phone from her...and we somehow just don't make the hand-off...instantly flashbacks of the U.S. Olympic relay runners dropping the baton flash in my head (okay, not really...just thought that would make the story more interesting) and in slow motion....I see the phone dropping out of our hands and headed straight for my drink.
The phone doesn't clip the rim of the glass, it doesn't land flat on top of the cup, it doesn't just barely miss the cup. Instead it falls so perfectly into my small plastic cup and becomes totally submerged in Vodka and Diet Coke. So perfectly that I couldn't have even dropped it that perfectly if I tried!
I immediately push the cup over to save my phone, run inside my neighbor's house to try and dry my phone. I gather up my things and Lauren and we run back to the house where I proceed to rip the phone open. I only see a few drops of liquid inside the phone. As I am doing this, I see the screen turn white and there are streaks running down the LCD. HORROR!!!!!
I do everything I possibly can to save this phone. I dry every bit of moisture I can find, I put the hair dryer to the electronic components, and I drop it into a bag of rice the entire weekend.
Slowly, the phone comes back to life on Saturday morning. I am able to get the screen to come back up (even tho it still has streaks) and I am able to get a connection to the wireless box. But it still acting funny...rebooting itself and flashing on and off.
I get the fantastic idea to take it to the Apple store to see if they can do something about it. Of course, the iPhone has a submersion tab inside the iPhone that turns pink when it has been touched by liquid. So I remove that tab and replace it with a brand new white sticker that looks exactly like the last one. I put all the pieces back together and I have to say it takes a VERY steady hand to put all those tiny screws back in place. I take it down to the Apple Store and proceed to tell them this story about how it got really hot and overheated..killing my screen and not recognizing the SIM card. I asked for them to replace it, but lo...it was 2 months past the 1-year warranty and I had not gotten the apple care extended warranty. DRATS!!!!
------- Warning: iPhone Rant about to begin. -------
If you don't want to hear my whining move onto the next section
So what could I do??? They said I could send it in for Apple to repair or replace, but that was going to cost me $199. OR I could get the new iPhone 3G for...you guessed it! $199. First of all, it completely upset me that the Apple store would not fix my phone even tho it was not my fault (let's just assume my phone really didn't get dropped in a diet coke and start thinking if the phone really truly blew up on it's own). I pay $600 the day it comes out and the phone blows up 2 months after the limited warranty and they are not going to replace it or even repair it for a minimal cost...they are going to charge the EXACT same price as the new phone. Does anyone feel like this is extortion???
On top of that....I cannot just put my old SIM card into the new phone. I have to actually sign up for ANOTHER 2 year agreement with AT&T. Is this sounding like more extortion??????
They wouldn't even let him walk out of the building without activating it right there in the store. Also, not only do I have to start a new plan with AT&T, but it's going to start costing me $30 MORE a month for my new plan...because of the new 3G service. I feel like I am being raped here!
You know what's going on here don't you??? Apple is not letting anyone take the phones without activating them because it's so easy to unlock the iPhone now. Everyone is doing it. Heck, I saw a guy on Craigslist offering to unlock phones for $25. The unlocked phone will allow you to use your iphone on any network besides AT&T. So in order to stop the madness, AT&T and Apple have devised this foolproof plan. Well, here's what upsets me the most. So I buy the phone, I start my plan over, and I even pay more for it....a month from now (you wait and see) they are going to start selling iPhones for every cell carrier because they can't control people getting these phones and unlocking them.
--------- RANT COMPLETE ----------
Okay...so that's my rant about Apple and AT&T and how they are completely extorting their customers....let's get back to my story.
So I walk out of the Apple store, refusing to buy into the new iPhone because I don't like the whole scam and frankly I am not sure I would want another iPhone. I do some research about what other phones I could get...possibly thinking about a blackberry or some other smart phone. After tons of research and pricing I found that any other phone is going to cost more than $200. I could get a deal on the phone for $130, but then I have to start my contract all over with them again...which is what I was trying to avoid.
I looked on Craigslist and tried to find a used one, but people were still selling them for $170 and $200. So I figured I might as well just get the dang iPhone.
So I broke down and got a new Phone on Tuesday. I miss my old phone and wished that this had never happened. I would be completely happy with my phone and still be on my original contract. I took the phone to my work and the guys in manufacturing cooked it in the component oven for a while to see if any moisture was being extracted from the board. It was completely dry, which means I did a great job of saving the phone. It still seems a little quirky to me tho...so I am going to wait and see if there is a full recovery.
If it happens that I can save old iPhone...then I am going to screw the system man! I am going to unlock the phone and sell it online for $400 and recoup the cost of what Apple and AT&T tried to stick me with!! Go me!!
Well, this was the worst week by far. I see a growing trend....it seems to be getting worse by the week. My realization is that it is impossible to not spend money.
