Repairing my busted ass S10e

About two weeks ago I obliterated the back of my phone. And not just the back glass, but the camera lens, and the camera itself. I decided instead of buying a new one right away, which my phone is integral to running and managing my contracting business, I would order the repair parts and attempt to fix it before rushing in a new device.

It worked.

How it broke

If you’ve read this blog or follow me on Mastodon, you know I’m a landscape contractor. While I work I wear a hip/fanny pack to hold my phone, headphones, and anything else I need to carry with me. I hate having these things in my pockets while working, especially since I am constantly getting up and down from my knees while working on the plumbing for sprinkler systems.

Our last project was a nightmare. The customer was (and still is) a huge pain the ass and the project itself was hard. It just flat sucked. One of the challenges is the project is for a master gardeners group and the grounds are in a high traffic public park. The park collects all kinds of people, including many unhoused folk, plus a lot of drug deals.

During the project my business partner and I were concerned about things being stolen out of our trucks. Normally, we leave our vehicles open and even the keys still in, because we always work right next to them. For this project I had to lock the doors and carry my keys with me.

On the second to last day of the project I had to lean way down into a hole and laid ontop of my hip bag with my keys and phone. It must have caught my keys at just the right angle and they destroyed the back of my phone and punched a hole through the camera.

Here’s a pic of the damage.

The aftermath and my options

It didn’t just damage the back, it also destroyed the primary camera. The phone still worked, but I couldn’t take pictures any more. This was devestating for me. Not only do I have 4 kids and take a lot of pictures, but I need to use the camera for our business banking and depositing checks. It meant I would have to go to the bank every day to make deposits, which again, is a huge pain in the ass.

Luckily, I could still use the phone for doing everything else. But, I needed to figure out a solution sooner than later. I could either repair it or buy a new phone.

Buying new

To be honest, I didn’t (and still don’t) want to buy a new phone. I will need to in the next year since my phone is no longer receiving security updates. But, I want to hold onto this device for as long as possible. The main reason is how terrible new phones have become.

When I started researching new phones (primarily recent used phones) I was extremely disappointed. I wanted to have these features:

• Samsung Dex mode or equivalent (which also means DisplayPort or alt-mode video output).
• SD card slot.
• At least 3 years of security updates.

My phone is also my laptop and I love, love, love Samsung Dex mode. I have built a workflow around using it (and is literally what I’m using to write this blog post at my desk) and I have several hardware devices for using Dex mode outside the house. It is a critical feature. All recent Samsung S-series phones have this feature, so no biggie.

The trouble is the SD card support. Since I work outside in a lot of rural areas, I am an offline first person. I need all my files, notes, passwords, business info, and media offline since I can’t count on having any data signal or access to wifi. I am currently using 240 GB of a 256 GB SD card.

Unfortunately, all the new flagship devices (like the Samsung S-series) do not have support for SD cards. Yes, I could get a phone with more storage. But, the ability to remove the card is a key feature for me.

I’ve had an Android phone since the very first Android device, the G1 (or Dream, depending on where you got it). One of the biggest differentiating features for Android was SD card support (That and, you know, working kinda like an actual computer. Not the Fisher Price version that some fruit company sells). The removal of the SD card slot is a move to force users to succumb to public cloud offerings, which locks you into an “ecosystem”. Being able to grow the storage as you use the device is a key feature for computing. Being locked a specific amount of storage is a way to force users to pay for cloud storage, while also encouraging more frequent device upgrades.

It is even worse on other manufacturers. For example, I looked at some Motorola devices and almost their entire line supports SD cards. But, not the devices with Ready For, their Dex-like desktop mode. These also happen to be their top tier devices, which makes even less sense. Why would I pay more for a device with less features?

This doesn’t include the pathetic support lifecycles most Android OEM’s offer.

Repairing it instead

After some quick research, I found I can easily get a new back (with camera cover) and a new camera array from a few different sellers on eBay. Originally I checked iFixIt for parts, but the back cover they sell doesn’t have the camera lens cover with it. Eventually I found a couple good sellers on eBay and ordered all the parts I needed for about $30 US.

Once they arrived I was able to swap everything out in about an hour. The hardest part was dealing with the broken glass on the back, which cut my hand a few times while I broke the adhesive around the back. The only regret I have is I should have changed the battery at the same time. The battery has been fine, but I know it is getting old and this was the perfect time to do it.

This is why phone repairability matters. Rather than spending hundreds (or even a thousand) dollars on a new device, I spent $30 on a few parts and kept this phone out of the landfill. It saved me money, it kept e-waste down, and let me keep a phone with all the features I want in a device.

Future phone options

I’m still happy I did all the new phone research as I didn’t know if the repair would work and then I would need to quickly order something new.

However, I’m not looking forward to that day. I wasn’t able to find any device that had the features I wanted. My best option is a S22 or newer with at least 512 GB of onboard storage and just give up on the SD card. Motorola, Pixel, and OnePlus devices are all huge letdowns. Other OEM’s, like Xiaomi, make devices with these features. But, they are north of $1,000 and I will never spend that amount of money on a phone. In fact, I would never spend that on any computing device.

But, I’m not sold on getting a new Samsung S-series device. With all the hype around A.I., I know whatever new phone I get A.I. will be crammed down my throat if I want it or not. Both Samsung and Google are integrating A.I. directly into Android and I doubt in the future I will be able to remove them. I don’t want any of this and there’s no way to opt-out.

I think my days with Samsung Dex are also numbered. I can’t see sticking with Samsung devices with the lack of hardware features and their A.I. baked into OneU.I. I also can’t see going with a Google Pixel device because of Gemini A.I. being baked into Android, plus not having anything like Dex mode. I also can’t see going with Motorola, Nokia, Xiaomi, or OnePlus due to their absolutely terrible security update lifecycle (plus not having Dex-like modes).

The more I think about it, the more likely I am to just give up on having the Dex lifestyle. Instead, I think my next phone will be something cheap and buying a dedicated laptop. There’s even a chance I just leave Android altogether.

Which makes me sad.

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