Of course they panic!

[arlo]

I get this guy calling me. Needs urgent help. He broke the screen on his Verizon Galaxy S8.
Decided to upgrade to a new Samsung 5G phone. Heads off to Best Buy and does the deal.
They setup his phone and supposedly restore his contacts and data. Gets home to find it only partially is restored. No app data like his Samsung Notes, messages, tons of contacts missing.
Panic!. Goes back to the store and finds out they restored from his Google account. Different storage cards in the phones. And not much on his original internal SD.
Without a screen they can't do the deed to restore with the share app.
Without a couple of dongles he's not able to get a screen on a monitor, TV. And needs a USB adapter for a mouse.
Well that aint-a-gonna' work. Get's home and finds out is true.

So. I get the job. Told him to bring me what he's got. A dongle for HDMI, one for USB. And a phone with a pale blue screen and no touch. And a 64 gig stick.
Replace the screen? $90-140 for that plus labor. Too much he says! I say leave it. Head out to Staples.
Perfect. Grab a USB C hub with HDMI and USB's, a few ports for an SD card. Power port.

Plug a kb, mouse, the memory stick into the hub. He gave me his phone code. Attach the phone. I got a picture. And kb and mouse control. Cool.
And an amazing full screen that looks like a 'Droid tablet. Niceeee.
Before I did much I disconnected the phone and plugged it into the hub again because I wanted to try a micro SD with an adapter.
What? Now I have a stinkin' screen that looks like a phone. Cropped, app shortcuts. Slide to different desktops.
What happened to that glorious 1080 HD screen?
So on to Google. Mi Padre'. Lol!!
"Samsung DeX mode" is my search result. After a few minutes I find out all of the secrets and get a full screen again.
Start backing up what I can to memory cards and sticks. His Google account was maxed. Never switched his stuff to store on the external SD.
Now. I need to get him back at the shop to do the Easy Transfer thing and give him (what is going to be a confusing mess-of-everything file system backup).
I didn't root the phone, btw. And bill him. Fairly, but well. Maybe a bit more. I need gas in the Kubota.

Which brings me to my rapid learning curve of Samsung DeX.
I got thinking (upstairs). "Samsung DeX"???? How does that relate to anything that makes sense....
I get it!!!
Samsung DeX. Samsung Desk!
Like Ask. And Ax. The famous hood word,
And Axe. The deodorant. You don't have to ax me if I used deodorant today.

Right?

......my daily rant.

Kirk, out!

 

[arlo]

Project done. And paid.
Took the guy a few days to get back for the data transfer. He thought it was going to be a 100% clone of apps also. Which is not so in most cases.
A big issue in repairs is personal information concerns. My standard reply and practice is that my only interest is getting your stuff to work again. HDD locks and screen locks requiring a pass or pin code. All that stuff.

After a few days I told the guy the transfer takes time. How long? Who knows. Then file verification.
If you can't leave your working phone. Then you need to be here and wait. So that finally happened.
Chatty, friendly. While the process was taking place. Showing him the file structure of the USB backup.
Transfer complete. He looks at his phone and asks where a few paid apps were that didn't show.
Again. Writing down a dummy sheet I showed him where the downloaded ones were for reinstallation.
Fairly satisfied, I assured him I was available for any assistance needed.

My standard practice is to wave the diagnostic fee if I get the repair. Unless the repair can be taken care if quickly.
It works out pretty well. Wrote and printed the invoice.
The guy starts to pick up and check his cables and puts them in the box he brought it in.
I had to be fast. Asked him to let me check something and grabbed it from him. Then gave him the bill.
He paid me cash. Then all of a sudden got short and not so chatty.
I knew the dude. The charge could have been more. Data recovery alone is hit or miss.

Anyway. I'm not a high volume shop and don't advertise. Don't look at the Tek DSO. Or the hot air rework station. Service monitor, signal generators, And all it takes to do stuff like this. I prefer PC's and audio equipment.
But certainly not scared to tackle any task. As long as it doesn't involve eating liver and drinking Bud.
Tools you need to be in business don't necessarily pay for themselves fast. Some never.
But at least with them "New every two" isn't a big thing.

With Right to repair making headway. Guys like me will have it a bit easier.
Shame on Apple, John Deere, and all those who followed suit. And that One Wheel dude at Future Motion.

Support Right to repair.