This morning my son decided that my iPhone should take a nice sub-orbital trip around the office and consequently the re-entry and landing was not as smooth as Houston would have wanted it; the phone landed on the office tile floor and the glass screen was smashed in about 20 places. Interestingly enough the phone still worked and the touchscreen managed to work while the glass was shattered.

I called around to various cell phone shops but most of them are simply dealers that push a particular carrier’s phones. One problem I found is that since AT&T is the only official carrier of the iPhone in the USA at this time, there really are not that many places that service iPhones. Most of the small shops that push T-Mobile phones (HTCs, etc) don’t officially have any iPhone repair capabilities.

I found a great shop in East Brunswick, New Jersey ( http://www.iphonebandaid.com/ ) that I really need to give a good plug for; these guys rock! It’s a small shop off Route 18 South that has some tech wizards that understand a lot about repairing the iPhone. My repair was performed in under an hour (I was told about 1 1/2 hrs, but they had it done sooner), and the price is perfect: screen repair is $50. You really can’t beat it. AT&T will have the phone repaired for about $200 and you need to mail it in to a service center. iphonebandaid.com will do the repair on the spot. I chatted with the owners and they really knew the details of their trade; I was amazed that they also service phones that have been soaked in water. One of the tricks to getting all moisture out of the phone is to open it up and put it in a bowl of dry rice. Seriously. They showed me how they open the phones, the parts inside, and I was really impressed with how genuinely interested the company was in their business. If you are in NJ or NY and you need an iPhone or HTC repair, I highly recommend these guys.

Tomorrow I catch a flight to Hong Kong.