the-milliamp-wireless-network-advantage

More and more units that we repair these days have wireless capabilities built right in. iPod touch, iPhones, even iPads. With this increased functionality comes increased responsibility to make sure that the units we receive from our customers are properly repaired and tested.

For more than a year now, we have been using a great tool in the war on perfect iPod repairs: a dedicated in-house wireless network for the sole purpose of testing devices.

See, when we un-box and receive a device that has wireless capability, we search for our dedicated network on that unit, connect to it, and then pull up a browser to surf to our favorite site (milliamp.com, of course) to make sure everything is working. We repeat this process at least once more after the repair has been completed to make sure everything is still working great.

We are not aware of any other iPad | iPod | iPhone repair facility that has gone to this level of effort to make sure that your wireless back is covered.

Now, with the number of units we get in each day, this can be a pretty mundane test; while I was leaning towards calling the network ‘milliamp.com-wireless-network-for-testing-purposes-only’, my hard-working technicians convinced me to call it ‘m’ – much less typing. And for all you geeks out there, not to worry: this wireless network is completely separate from our corporate wireless network and server that our employees use on a daily basis.

This network has another purpose: it’s great to jump on if you happen to be hanging out in our lobby while we complete your repair. We might even let you borrow one of our shop iPads while you sit and relax.

Come on by and see for yourself.

Best regards,

Anthony Magnabosco, Owner
milliamp.com

Inside the iPad holding the digitizer screen and LCD are several metal clips that secure the innards of the iPad to the silver backplate. When you open up the iPad, the clips can break, as the metal is somewhat brittle. Fortunately, the clips are screwed down to the frame, so if you happen to break one or two, you can easily replace them.

iPad Clips Part I

(BTW, this post might mean more if you have had a chance to review our iPad Tear-Down Video)

We have been doing a bit of research over the past couple of weeks on the iPad clips, and we have learned a few interesting tidbits of information about them:

~ The clips are held in place by T4 Torx screws, so if you break an iPad clip, they can be swapped out with new ones.

~ The metal used in the iPad clips appears to be made out of Beryllium Copper (BeCu), a copper alloy that can be heat treated to convert the material so that it can be easily formed into hard springs. It is usually used on electrical contacts, and is fairly expensive, so we are surprised to it is used in this application.

~ The thickness of the material and hardness are most likely used to create the desired “springy” properties.

~ It may be possible to replace the beryllium copper clips with Stainless Steel, but the problem with stainless steel in this application is that piercing the small screw holes could compromise the functionality of the iPad clip.

- Using another metal like aluminum in the clips is probably not feasible.

~ There are only three materials that you can use to create a “springy” metal clip for the iPad: Beryllium Copper, Spring Steel, and Stainless Steel. Both Beryllium Copper and Spring Steel are formed in a annealed state and then heat treated to get the required spring properties. Spring Steel needs a coating to prevent rusting. Stainless Steel is formed from it hard state and therefore is more difficult to form.

~ To further complicate matters, the small radius at the base of the clip would be hard to make and probably would not match that on the original part.

The title of this post was marked at ‘Part I’ because this is an on-going story, so check in again for more information about these fascinating metal clips inside that are inside the iPad!

Have a great weekend!

Anthony Magnabosco, Owner
milliamp.com

First Looks: iPad's Internal Metal Frame

www.ipad-repair.com

Photographs of the iPad’s Internal Frame have been widely circulated on the internet, but no one has really taken the time to closely examine these pictures…until now.

Follow the musings of our iPod and iPhone (and soon to be iPad) -fixing technicians as we pour over every photographic-inch of the internal frame that will allegedly be inside Apple’s iPad. We will give you our thoughts on iPad design and functionality at our new IPAD Repair website. This website will eventually contain everything related to this amazing new device, as well as photographs of the new iPad parts that surface between now and iPad Launch Day.

When you are done reading about our conclusions on the internal iPad frame, head back to this specific blog entry to post your comments.

Best regards,

Anthony Magnabosco, Owner
milliamp.com

http://twitter.com/milliamp

It takes a lot of effort to develop a great brand and reputation for your iPod repair business. Sometimes, it takes years. But we try to do lots of things to help get the milliamp.com name in front of people who suddenly need Apple iPod repairs and Apple iPhone repairs. We tweet, our pages show up when someone “bings” or “googles’ us, and we get a lot of referrals from the AT&T shops and Apple stores.

One other way we plan to help promote our business is to include a removable sticker or pad with our milliamp.com logo on the back of every iPod and iPhone we repair. The idea here is that people with iPods and iPhones know other people with iPods and iPhones, and we can use their assistance in getting our name out there.

We are still beta testing the designs and materials and sizes, but we have it narrowed down to either a vinyl sticker that can get removed easily and a small patch that magically adheres to the surface of an iPod or iPhone with a front face that is perfect for cleaning the smudges from the front of the device. I particularly like the latter since design since its’ functionality (cleaning the screen) should give it longer life and thus, help promote the brand for a longer period of time.

Little Sticker Could Make Big Impact

What other clever ways can we use to promote the milliamp.com brand name? Shoot me an email to owner@milliamp.com or give me a telephone call and let’s discuss!

Anthony Magnabosco, Owner
milliamp.com

Shiny New Placards Arrive for Camera Testing

Well, we just got in our shiny new signs that will help us test out the cameras inside iPhones that come in for repairs. You may remember me talking about this earlier in another post. This new signage has been placed at our receiving bench and testing bench, so we can now effectively demonstrate the functionality of the camera during these two phases. Their placement is un-obtrusive as well, and fit nicely into our processes without slowing anything down.

Have some pictures that you DON’T want us to see? Don’t worry. It is company policy to never view anyone’s pictures, text messages, videos, or contact lists. Aside from checking the quality of the images we take with the camera inside a customers device, and launching a browser to test out wifi, sound, and video, your privacy is assured with us.

Please keep checking this blog and our website, milliamp.com, for more exciting innovations and announcements!

- Anthony Magnabosco, Owner

Placards for Picture Taking Tests Getting Made

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the internal testing of devices that come in to us for repairs, we are in the midst of implementing another test for iPhones and iPhone 3G: taking a picture right after the device is received, and then again during the post-repair/assembly testing stage.

It is this extra level of attention to detail, I believe, that sets us apart from our competitors in the iPhone and iPod repair arena.

And don’t worry – we are not going to start taking photos of ourselves! That might just scare a few people!!

(You might even remember a picture that some apparently took of an assembly line worker from an iPhone as it was getting manufactured – it caused a brief stir and even a glimpse of internet stardom for the young woman. No, we are not after that kind of fame – just want to test out the camera and get the phone moved quickly onto the next step.)

Getting printed right now are placards that will be placed in the most-appropriate locations throughout our shop (as shown in this image here) so that we can check the functionality of the camera inside every iPhone and iPhone 3G that we repair or touch without slowing down the process.

Some people say that the 3rd Generation iPod touch might even have a camera (something the first and second generation iPod touch do not have), and if that is the case, we will be able to use these same placards for that device , and any other new creations Apple comes out with that has a built-in camer, as well.

-Anthony Magnabosco, Owner