Cuban ingenuity in iPhone age [work around a 50-year embargo and an anemic, centrally planned eco]

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | September 13, 2012 | Elien Blue Becque

[Cincinatus' Wife]

When my iPhone slipped from the back of the tank and into the toilet,I snatched it out immediately. Though at first all seemed fine, it soon switched off and remained unresponsive.

"It's toast," was the verdict from Grant,an Apple store Genius. "We don't deem it really,like, worth it to replace the inner components of the shell of a broken phone. I'll throw that guy away and get you a brand new one."........I was about to leave on a trip to Cuba, where my phone wasn't going to work anyway. So I thanked him and left.

.....On my second day in Havana, .....A kid wearing white-framed Ray-Bans nodded when I knocked on the green plywood door at the destination. His name was Andy,and he was confident he could fix my problem. Removing the tiny screws that hold the glass cover in place,he began a rapid disassembly.......After 20 minutes of careful prodding and scrubbing,Andy miraculously resuscitated my phone, but the battery holds little charge.

.....Roberto asked me to wait and bounded up a set of concrete stairs. Minutes later,he returned with a new iPhone battery in its black plastic wrapper.

As payment, he accepted an 8-gigabyte flash drive I'd been carrying. Flash drives are valuable in Cuba, where Internet use is restricted and monitored. Roberto, an architecture student, explained that while "tuition here is free, you have to buy lesson books, paper, pens, your food, your transportation." All that costs money.

......Just as their fathers learned to fix obsolete Detroit cars, Andy and Roberto have learned to make a living with Palo Alto technology to which they have no official access. The healthy cell phone repair market here is the latest example of Cuban ingenuity that locals call sobreviviendo. It's small-scale capitalism working around a 50-year embargo and an anemic,centrally planned economy.

[catnipman]

In the U.S., to a large degree, when someone says something can’t be fixed, what they really mean is it’s not worth the labor cost to fix something compared to simply buying a new one.

I tell customers this all the time when they bring me old, broken or failing PCs or laptops. Sometimes newer, out-of-warranty devices are worth fixing. It’s kind of sad, really. But we live in a throw-away society, and the pace of electronics innovation is such that a failed or failing device is often a good excuse to buy the latest and greatest one.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

You’re right. Then too, when buying a device you always wonder when the next generation is coming out. It’s really a “racket.” Not to mention planned obsolescence, as well as the item that has a cash cow requirement (like ink for copy machines).

[Defiant]

Watches dont have a port for headsets, power adapter and speakers. Those allow water to get inside.

[muir_redwoods]

All those ports could be wireless. I currently(no pun intended) use a wireless charger and blue tooth technology could do away with the headset and speaker jacks

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

Cuba’s people are vastly better than their government.

I suspect more often than not that might be true, no mater where you roam...

Regards,
GtG

[Defiant]

I suggest you seek funding for your new phone that requires Bluetooth headphones for music or to listen to calls, a Bluetooth Mic, and a wireless charger that you have to carry with you wherever you go. I wish you all the best. In the meantime, those of us in the real world of consumer choices will have to risk water damage as a result of our inferior phones that expose the phones insides to water (when dropped in a toilet or pool).

[muir_redwoods]

I suggest you look into careful reading; I never suggested blue tooth for use of the phone as a phone. It’s a simple matter to put a waterproof membrane over both the speaker and the mouth piece. Wireless chargers were sold for the iPhone by Brookstones two or three years ago; it is well established technology. The only change I suggested would be Bluetooth to external speaker, again well established technology.

Careful reading is a valuable life skill, you might want to look into it

[Defiant]

Look, dude. I had a wireless charger 3 years ago, with my Palm Pre. I know all about them. They are nice to have, on a night stand in your bedroom, or in your office. They are not going to be carried around for charging on the go. It is not an option for anyone who is making phones to tell consumers to carry an adapter and a wireless charging brick around with them. But you are welcome to try it. Or, better yet, sell the idea to Apple. They need more humor over there.

Your other idea is more lamebrained than membraned. That won't hurt voice or speaker quality to place a waterproof membrane over the speaker ports, microphone and earpiece, now will it? Seriously? The people who fret over the risk of dropping their phone into the drink can go get one of those aftermarket solutions (I think they run over $100), but OEMs don't have time for such nonsense.

[nascarnation]

During the last hurricane, I saw a report that about 3% of Cubans have automobiles.

I think that’s Baraq’s model for the USA.

[muir_redwoods]

It’s fun sometimes talking to someone with absolutely no imagination but I find it quickly get boring. Gotta go, bye.

[Defiant]

When you get that patent, let me know. I’ll keep looking for that waterproof bluetooth membrane wireless charging phone, it’ll be here any day!

[Eepsy]

I’d be very interested in the title of those books, if you have them handy.

[muir_redwoods]

Yeah because technical design never changes.

[djone]

......”I’d be very interested in the title of those books, if you have them handy......-I’m sorry I don’t remember the titles; it’s been a year or two. But there are not a lot of books on Cuba so I’d suggest a search of Amazon and look for British authors. The one I remember the most the writer was sort of a diplomat or businessman and described day to day life and a few travels in and around the Island. The other was by a teenager who went to visit to meet for the first time his Grandparents and other relatives and when he was preparing to leave he discovers his relatives have stolen all his shoes. He asks why they say : ‘you are rich and can get more shoes but we are poor and no one here can ever get such leather shoes’. You can imagine his reaction.....Good Luck ———’D’