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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Fix-A-Phone The App By HookUp Cellular

Fix-A-Phone, brought to you by Hookup Cellular, LLC

Tired of trying to remember what you need to do, what screws go where, or how a phone goes back together? That's all a thing of the past with Fix-A-Phone! This app shows you step-by-step exactly where everything goes, what to take apart, and what to avoid while fixing a phone. Along with pictures for each step of the repair, you also get a full description, from beginning to end, on exactly what to fix/replace/repair.

This guide also comes with an evergrowing troubleshooting section, so you can quickly identify the issue and determine whether it is replaceable or not.

Each phone guide is updated over time with better information, better features, and higher quality pictures, so you will always have the most up to date instructions. Why spend time searching the internet for a guide that may or may not show you what you need?

Here is just a few screenshots of different phone guides we have available...




Training employees is a thing of the past! No more hassles over whether a repair was done properly or if something is missing. Forget exatcly where to cut/pry/lift? This shows you it all!

Or, maybe your phone is broken. Maybe you dropped it, maybe your dog got a hold or it, or the daily standard, the girl/boy friend saw something on there they didnt quite like. As it stands, you've narrowed it down to 3 options:
- shell out $500 for a new phone,
- pay a repair shop an arm and a leg to get it repaired,
- or buy the parts yourself at a very low price and attempt the repair.

Android Market Link


HookUpCellular(dotcom)

Friday, November 18, 2011

ZT-180 v2, Android Tablets - Who needs the iPad?


These tablets are pretty slick. The Zenithink ZT180 v2 (version 2) sports a 10.1” screen, 1Ghz processor, and 3GB of internal storage, not to mention a HDMI port for connecting it to your T.V. The solid Android 2.2 operating system pushes a lot of the games out there, without the high cost of most of the other tablets on the market these days.

One of the other neat things about them is our Android expert spent a bit of time updating and optimizing them, making them more capable, compatible, smooth, and over usable. One of the things updating was the Wifi strength and range. Most tablets on the market require you to be within the same room as your router in order to use your device smoothly. Our technician has found a way to increase the overall useable distance, up to 50 feet away from your router! The graphics support has been upgraded to support many newer games, the device interface supports 3D launchers and graphics, and all this with increased battery life, and operating system stability.

Heres the spec sheet for the device:

  • Android 2.2 Froyo Operating System
  • 4GB Flash Storage, Expandable Storage via Micro SD Card up to 32GB
  • 1GHz CPU, 512MB DDR2 RAM,
  • 10" Touch screen
  • 3G Capable via external devices, E-Book capable, 
  • Word and spread sheet processing capability via Documents to Go
  • Access the Real Google ANDROID Market
  • Built in Microphone, speakers and camera, 1/8" Audio output,
  • Supports Flash 10.1


Stop on by today to check one out!!
  ZT-180 v2, Android Tablets - Who needs the iPad?

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Price Wars in the Wireless Industry - Competition Helps Consumers Save

Given the recent buyout attempt by AT&T and the growth of more affordable cellphone providers there have been alot of changes in the wireless industry.  What does this mean to the average consumer? Competition helps keep firms honest about pricing because it stops the big boys from jacking up rates every couple of months.  Providing cellphone coverage only gets cheaper as time goes on, the systems are already in place and the money keeps coming in.  The problems arise when you need to upgrade to a newer system for your customers (like 4G vs 3G) In this case, T-Mobile is considering death over 5G installations and here is why...

T-Mobile is owned by a German Company and does not wish to spend the money to upgrade T-Mobile to the next 5G network that is on the horizon.  The threat of a sale has scared people away and now Tmobile has to enter a price war to keep customers faithful. So what are the plans to keep Tmobile a top tier cellular provider?  Price Wars.

Tmobile has reconstructed their prepaid plans and renamed them "Monthly 4G", with Monthly 4G there is no contract, deposit or credit check involved, all you do is pay for 30 days of service and all you get is 30 days of service.  You are not making payments on any "free" phones and you are not obligated to stick around if you feel like changing carriers.  Pretty Simple eh?

Q: If T-Mobile dropped their prices, how will Simple Mobile respond to this?

A: Simple Mobile is an MVNO of T-Mobile and offers prepaid services on the same network towers.  Simple Mobile now has the most competitive price plans on the market offering Unlimited Talk, Text and 3G Data for $40 a Month.  There are no sneaky taxes or fees hidden anywhere, all you pay is $40.

H2o Wireless (an AT&T MVNO) also offers Unlimited Talk Text and 3G data for a flat $60.  The benefit of using H2o is the abaility to get 3G iPhone data that you could not otherwise get with a prepaid carrier on the T-Mobile network.

If you have any questions about how to get hooked up with any of these services feel free to give us a call, we have cellphone technicians and professionals available 9:30 to 9:00 Arizona Mountain Time and we are able to provide services to anybody within the great US of A.


6113 N 7th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85014
(480)331-8598

Sunday, September 4, 2011

In this article we are analyzing the ups and downs of using Prepaid Cellphone Coverage.  The benefits far exceed the pitfalls but they are still important to note.



Prepaid Coverage VS Contracted Coverage
In the past prepaid cellphone coverage was always somewhat socially taboo, you always had to worry about where you could pay your bill and what kinds of coverage your cutrate plan would provide you, not to mention the horrible store hours and lack of payment stations.  This created an atmosphere where only four carriers were able to compete and cellphone prices began to rise.

Let me tell you people, thanks have changed! A few years back there was a court ruling against these big four carriers for Anti Trust concerns.  Each company had to dedicate a certain percentage of its infrastructure to companies known as MVNO's (Mobile Virtual Network Providers)  These newly created MVNO companies began selling "prepaid airtime" to combat the two year contract strategy of the big guys.  Here are the top dogs in the MVNO market...
  • Simple Mobile - Tmobile MVNO
  • Page Plus - Verizon MVNO
  • H20 - AT&T MVNO
These companies offer nationwide cellphone coverage on networks that are the exact same size as the big boys and at a fraction of the inflated price most of us still pay each month.  When you are purchasing prepaid cellular airtime you are not making any payments towards a cellphone you may have been given when you signed up.  You just pay for the airtime and skip all the bells and whistles.  This all seems to good to be true and it almost is but there are some downsides to using a prepaid cellphone carrier.


Locating a store when you need a new phone

Most cellphones come with some sort of carrier restriction applied to them.  You need an unlocked or "flashed" cellphone to connect to these providers.  Locating a cellphone professional can be expensive and time consuming if you aren't prepared for it.  Many shops only specialize in one or two carriers and the skill levels of the people employed widely vary.  The internet has several tutorials for the various handsets that are out there, each phone differs in what is required to make it open to other carriers.  Youtube can very helpful if you have the time and technical knowhow.


Solution
Look to Backpage.com or the better business directory for the creme of the crop in the cellphone repair category.  It takes alot of work to get established and that shows that there is going to be a good level of experience under the roof as well.


Spotty Service in Rural Areas
When you are getting charged for roaming on a contract plan you are incurring debt on your bill.  When you are prepaid there is no way to incur any debt and many prepaid carriers do not offer service in the areas that require any roaming charges.


Solution
If you are living in an area that sees alot of roaming charges you may want to test drive a "backup phone" for the first month of service.  This way you can compare the two lines and feel confident you will have the signal when and where you need it most.  If you live in a large metropolitan area you most likely wont have to do this.


The best part of it all is that you can keep your phone as well as your phone number when you make a switch to a prepaid carrier.  You get cheaper rates, identical coverage areas and the freedom to change phones, plans or carriers whenever you wish! Do you want to learn more?  Check out this website, we could write a book about how you can save money  on your cell bill.


www.HookUpCellular.com

Saturday, September 3, 2011

The iPhone 4 Digitizer Scam (a must read for first time iPhone 4 repair)

The Digitizer SCAM
Can the digitizer be separated from the LCD in the iPhone 4 like the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3Gs?

The straight answer is no, the digitizer cannot be separated from the LCD with the iPhone 4 due to Apple fusing them together at the factory. Gone are the days of cheap iPhone screen repair. Apple decided to seal the glass and LCD together to stop the issue they were having with dust getting between the digitizer and the LCD. Yes it makes sense, but it also makes the iPhone 4 repair more expensive because you have to replace the LCD with the digitizer as one part even if you have a fully functional LCD. Which brings me to my issue I have been seeing with sellers on Ebay and Amazon.  There are people on the internet that are selling the iPhone 4 digitizers without the LCD. This is a OUTRIGHT SCAM! With just a quick search in google for iphone 4 digitzer replacement this is what I came up with:


I am not sure how Ebay is allowing these defective products to even be sold. My only guess is not enough people know that the digitizer/screen cannot be separated from the LCD. Performing a screen replacement on an iPhone 4 is not an easy task as it is. These days I can understand why an iPhone owner would resort to repairing their broken iPhone by themselves to try an save money. As a iPhone repair specialist I run into people that have been scammed by this product more then I would like to see. HookUp Cellular has had to put back together what many iPhone owners have attempted to fix themselves.

I have even had mechanics and electrical engineers call me because they bought the digitizer alone thinking they could replace the screen just like they did on the iPhone 3G or 3Gs. This is not the case! If you are to attempt doing this repair yourself please look for the iPhone 4 front assembly. It should include the screen, digitizer, AND LCD. Most likely it will run you anywhere from $60 to $120 with shipping. There repair takes about an hour and a half if you follow the videos carefully. So far I have yet to find a precise and accurate video on youtube of a iPhone 4 screen repair. Most of them give you a general idea of what to expect but I have not seen any iPhone repair videos that are not missing something. With that said I implore you not to attempt the repair yourself. Have a professional perform the repair. HookUp Cellular have been replacing iPhone 4 screens in Phoenix, Arizona since the iPhone 4 first came out.  our website is http://www.HookUpCellular.com for more information on pricing and services. Good luck with whatever you choose but if you find yourself in over your head give us a ring.


At HookUp Cellular we only use OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts and we personally GUARANTEE every job we do.  We have repaired 7500+ iPhones here in our Phoenix Arizona Repair Shop so your device will be in good hands.  We also offer several different custom color options for your device like Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, or Orange for both CDMA (Verizon) and GSM (AT&T) iPhone 4 models.  If you would like a custom colored iPhone 4 please contact us to see what colors we currently have in stock.

HookUp Cellular
6113 N 7th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85014
(480) 331-8598

Monday, August 8, 2011

The HTC Sensation - The Beginning of Something New


HTC’s new phone, “Sensation” (Released through T-Mobile) seems more like a laptop you can fit in your pocket than a smart phone. A 1.2Ghz dual-core processor provides more than enough speed for anything you could ever dream of doing with your phone. Add to that the 4.3in screen for wider, cleaner images, and data speeds up to 6Mbit/s and you have yourself a pretty complete little package you can take around with you.
                This phone really is a sensation. No lag time with anything you do, and a clean crisp picture on highly scratch resistant glass. The camera sported by this phone is an 8MP with a dual-LED flash, making pictures taken always clean and smooth. Mix all of that with a rooted Rom and you have yourself a phone that rivals most laptops of 3 years ago. The things you can possibly do with this device are literally endless.
                On top of all of this, HTC has started unlocking the boot loaders of all phones they make, allowing for faster development for all angles of the phone, even possibly opening the doors for a Desktop Linux Operating system (Ubuntu, fedora, Gentoo) to be installed onto the device. Why carry around a clunky laptop or netbook, when you can just keep it in your pocket, with the added bonus of being able to communicate in any way, either phone, text, or over the web, all with ease.
     Here’s just a few cool things you can do with this phone
  • The CPU is originally set to 1.2Ghz, but with a few different custom ROMs, you can set it upwards of 1.8Ghz! Literally a 50% improvement over the normal settings.
  • The camera has a “instant-capture” quality, which allows for seamless picture taking, with near to no lag in between shoots.
  • Using a ROM without the “Sense” ui will GEATLY increase the speed of the phone. It may even be faster than the computer you use at work or home.
  • 1gb internal storage, 700+ apps can be installed at once (300+ on original ROM) this is contrary to the “Space is waste” motto.
  • 768MB flash RAM, youll phone will never crash again.
So what are you waiting for?  Go and buy a Sensation today! http://hookupcellular.com


Monday, July 25, 2011

Reboot your tethered iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch Easy Peazy


Is your iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 stuck on the Apple logo with the spinning wheel? Does it just keep rebooting?  Well let me tell you something...  DO NOT UPDATE IT IN iTUNES! If you plug your iPhone into iTunes and update your device you may loose your jailbreak and unlock abilities PERMANENTLY (and possibly brick your phone) Follow this simple steps and you can have your iPhone (and your data) all back to normal.   

Maybe you were playing around in Cydia alittle too much...

Maybe your battery died after a long road trip...

Maybe you flat out forgot and just turned the dang thing off...

Regardless, if you are here right now we are assuming that you need some help getting your phone turned back on.  This particular tutorial will cover instructions on how to reboot your iDevice on a Windows Computer.  Dont worry your data is still safe (as long as you haven't tried to do any restoring in iTunes) all we need to do is download ONE program and ONE file.  The program is called RedSn0w and the  file you need is known as an IPSW and it is basically the entire operating system for your device.  Currently these files are alittle over half a gig in size.  Links provided below.

RedSnow 0.9.8b3
iOS Device IPSW's (download iOS 4.3.4 even if you are on 4.3.5)

Extract RedSn0w into a file on your desktop named "iPhone Tether Fix" and make sure that the IPSW file that you download has a file extension of .ipsw NOT .zip.  If you continue to get a .zip file while trying to download the IPSW or you do not see the Apple Building Block insignia try switching browsers
(firefox works well)

Make sure iTunes, Winamp, iFunbox, Media Monkey or any other program you may have running in the background is closed and open your "iPhone Tether Fix" folder. 

Run Redsn0w.exe by double clicking on it

Select the iOS 4.3.4 IPSW that corresponds to your device (even if you are on 4.3.5)

Select "Just Boot Tethered" and nothing else

Follow the on screen DFU instructions 
*its really easy, just plug in your device and hold down on the home button and the power button for 10 seconds then release the power button (the top one) while still holding down the home button for another 30 seconds.

Once Redsn0w picks up the device your computer will do the rest of the work

Sit back and wait for your phone to come back to life

Hope this helps! Check out our other essential iPhone tips and tricks on our website

http://www.HookupCellular.com