Having problem with the micro-usb port of my phone - probably due to a poor connection - that is out of warranty.
Thinking of getting it fixed and wonder if anyone can recommend a good mobile phone repairer in Sydney, preferably in the city or along the train line from the City up to, say, Chatswood.
Would also appreciate if someone has had a similar problem and can share how much it costed to have it fixed (so that I know whether I'm being ripped off).
Galaxy S3. Any thought? How did you find out how to repair it and where did you get the part from?
Check the Ifixit link below for general advice and videos. Parts you can source from eBay or Aliexpress for fairly cheap.
But you'll need a soldering iron and possibly a heat gun to reflow the solder, and these bits add up to the cost of repair.
Easier to just go with wireless charging or some sort of external battery charging kit.. you will need to take the battery out every time you want to charge.
Thanks. Ummm… soldering iron? It seems a bit too complicated/ risky for a novice with no prior experience to practice on a phone. Think I'll give this option a miss.
if it is a charging issue then why get a wireless charger? the charger and the wireless dongle for in the phone can be had for <$15 from aliexpress.
That's a good point. Although the micro-usb port is also used for data transfer and it's the only way to connect a Galaxy S3 with a computer (say, to backup). Personally, I found backing up onto computer to be simpler/ preferable than backing things up to cloud.
P.s. This might be a dumn question but how do I know if my phone supports wireless charging or not?
it's the only way to connect a Galaxy S3 with a computer
No it's not, you also have Bluetooth, and Wifi file transfer…. Have you tried AirDroid? It's a wonderful piece of software.
Connecting to Kies through Wifi is no longer supported after an OS upgrade about a year ago. That use to be very handy.
Also tried BT. I can pair the computer with the phone but can't transfer any files. Computer only sees it as a headset.
Will certainly look into AirDriod. From a quick glance, it seems to only allow you to operate the phone and transfer files from the computer but not actually performing a "backup" per se.
back up to SD card then? If you have root, then Titanium Backup is a very powerful tool.
What is it that you need to backup anyway? If it's stuff like contacts and email, this is automatically backed up to your google account. SMS and call logs can be backed up using free apps like this.
Photos and music can be backed up using various cloud clients like Dropbox, Google Photos, Helium etc.
DoubleTwist is pretty good for managing media on your phone and it's obviously inspired by iTunes.
App backups usually best done via Titanium Backup but there are lots of other non-root options as well, but it is generally not advised to backup apps with a non-root software (it only backs up APK and not the data files).
Kies is a terrible piece of software, nobody should be using Kies unless you're lazy and cannot be bothered to find much better 3rd party methods of backing up your phone.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely look into them tmr.
Not too fuss about pictures and videos because they're saved onto the memory card and are also backed up to cloud.
But, yes, contacts, call logs, messages, S notes, calendar, etc and data files of the many apps I use are the main concerns.
I know Kies is not the best piece of software but using it means that I know I've definitely got everything covered at the push of a button (& it's also handy when I'm at places where I don't have wifi/ need to watch my data usage).
p.s. my phone is not rooted
What phone is it? Depending on model it may be possible to self repair.
I fixed my own LG Optimus 4x HD's SIM card slot when one of the SIM contact pins snapped off — the parts I simply sourced from a Chinese website.