Dan East

I recently evaluated the HTC Touch Vogue (US Cellular branded CDMA phone) for a few weeks. I tried my best to get this phone to a state so I could use it as my primary phone, and I just about succeeded. However, in the end, the hardware simply had too many handicaps conspiring against it.

As with all devices, there are two distinct components that combine to produce the overall functionality and user experience of the device: hardware and software. As far as the software goes, I tried pretty much everything available. I experimented with Google’s Android, but eventually ended up with the most cutting edge version of Windows Mobile available – 6.5 running HTC’s TouchFlo shell in place of the default Windows home screen. Of course Windows 6.5 isn’t officially available for this device (nor is Android for that matter), but obviously it can be done. I found a good commercial 3rd party SIP (onscreen keyboard) that worked really well, and if it weren’t for that the device would have been a complete non-starter. Typing with a stylus is a ridiculous notion in this day and age.

So as I’ve already mentioned, the hardware was the ultimate reason for doing away with the device. In some ways it was simply inadequate, while in others it was poorly designed. Here are the specific hardware deficiencies I encountered.

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Unfortunately I’m becoming something of an expert on repairing or reviving electronic devices that have been submerged in liquids.  Here’s a short list of what me, my wife, my 4 kids and our cats have been able to soak:

• Kyocera Phenom – Ranch Dressing
• Nintendo DS – Sprite
• Motorola Razr – Cat pee
• iPod Touch – Washing machine
• Motorola Razr – Dr. Pepper
• Samsung Cell Phone – Washing machine
• FRS radio – Toilet
• Blackberry Curve -Toilet

And those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head.  And yes, all those devices lived to tell the tale.

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Well, a matter of minutes ago, while sitting here reading the news at my desk on my computer, I heard a loud “POP” sound, like a firecracker going off.  It was pretty loud – enough to make me jump.  A foot away from my arm was a Duracell 9V battery, and apparently one of the cells in it exploded.  It warped the top where the connectors are, and popped the bottom loose.  I felt it immediately and it was room temperature.  It was not connected to anything or touching anything – it was simply laying on its side on my desk.  Then less than two minutes later another cell exploded.  I’ve got my Blackberry sitting here video recording the battery in case a third cell explodes.  So far its up to 11 minutes and no third POP.

This is really disconcerting.  I could understand if the terminals were shorted, and the battery got really hot causing it to rupture.  But this thing was just sitting there, disconnected, not touching anything.  It’s been on my desk like that for weeks – I don’t even know if it has been used or not.  The fact that two different cells exploded within minutes of each other is very odd.  I wonder if the barometric pressure is falling, causing pressure inside the battery to stress the sealed cell and pop it open.  Right now the pressure is 29.88.  I just consulted a history chart.  The pressure was 30.18 24 hours ago, and it has been dropping steadily.  However that can’t be the cause, because the barometric pressure was even lower than that 5 days ago on December the 1st.

This  reminds me that a couple months ago I found another 9V battery on my desk (I don’t remember the brand) that also had also spontaneously exploded at some point, without being connected to anything.

Well, my Blackberry has been recording for 30 minutes now and no third explosion.  So maybe the fireworks are over for tonight.

My son and daughter both got new DS Lites for Christmas. We purchased Nerf Armor for them both, knowing that they would be heavily used and dropped often. Well, around two months ago, my son dropped his DS, while it was open, onto solid concrete. One quick glance at it was all it took to get that sinking feeling in my stomach – the top LCD panel was toast. A crack ran diagonally from one corner to the other, and only a sliver of screen at the bottom actually rendered pixels. The Nerf Armor didn’t save it, but the fact that the screen was open when it was dropped was probably the main reason it was damaged.

So I began searching for replacement LCD panels. Having done quite a bit of electronic repairs in the past, I decided I would try swapping out the panels myself. I found some at various online retailers for $40-$50, but most were out of stock, and all were priced too high. By the time I would pay shipping and buy the special screwdriver required to open a NDS Lite, I would have had $70 in parts just to attempt a repair on a $129 product. So my son made due with only the bottom screen for a few weeks (hopefully that served as a good lesson in being extra careful with expensive electronic devices). I eventually started looking for LCD panels again, and found one for sale on eBay for $4.98. Yes, you read right. $4.98 USD, with $10 shipping from Hong Kong. I read through the user’s feedback, and it was good, however I learned the shipping would take around two weeks, and that buyers received no communication from the seller at all. So a couple clicks of the mouse, and less than 10 days later the new LCD panel arrived (didn’t receive one single email from the seller as expected).

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For those of you looking for the actual R7000 repair, I get to that at the very bottom of this blog. No, the power cord was not the repair.

I am the proud owner of a KLH R7000 tuner / receiver. It is a 600 watt receiver with Dolby Digital / DTS / Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound decoding, and a plethora of video and audio inputs and outputs. It has composite, super and even component video inputs and outputs, to allow easy switching of various video sources without having to resort to an A/B switch.

The reason I’m a proud owner of this receiver isn’t because I am in possession of this low-end, budget piece of hardware. It’s because it didn’t cost me a cent. Well, actually, it cost me $1.95, but I’ll get to that later. This receiver gets good reviews – when it works. It sold for as low as $99 at Best Buy (based on my googling), and has very good audio qualities for the price. The problem is they seem to die pretty quickly – usually in a matter of several months. So how did I happen across one of these receivers? Well, one day I was hauling off the trash (around here we have refuse centers where we take our trash and recyclables) and happened to notice a pristine-looking tuner / receiver in one of the trash bins. The power cord had been cut off, but besides that, it looked brand new. I snagged it up and took it home, where it sat for a good month before I finally decided to check the thing out.

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