My 5X died in my pocket before a year of usage. Just died and wouldn't turn on. I called support and they said to ship it out, and I would have a new one in about a week. Never mind 1) phones shouldn't just randomly die, and 2) a week without a phone??? Switched to iPhone and never looked back.
I've considered a cheap backup phone just in case I ever have to have a repair on my phone that will either require leaving it at an Apple Store or Best Buy longer than I can wait in store or will require sending it away.
There are unlocked 4G phones such as the Nokia 225 for under $50 and the Nokia 6300 for under $70.
I could then either use the SIM from my iPhone, or if I didn't mind using a temporary number instead of my regular number while the iPhone is being repaired Mint Mobile has a "try before you buy" kit for $2 that includes a SIM and new number that is good for one week of service. It is meant to let people test out Mint Mobile before switching to make sure coverage and service are satisfactory, but seems like it would also work for someone who just wanted temporary service.
Hey, my 5X did the exact same thing. I couldn't find anything on the web about it happening to anyone else. I thought it was just me.
The thing died on my desk at work, wouldn't even turn on, just a few days before I was going on a long trip so after a few hours of looking for fixes and talking to support I just went to an Apple store and got an iPhone. Now I at least feel comfortable that if I have an issue I can go to a physical store and get help in a pinch.
I had the 5 as well that constantly boot loaded. A couple years later I really wanted the photos off it that hadn’t been synced and so I took it apart and found the issue to be a design flaw in the power button. I made a custom power button replacement and it booted right up. I have no idea who’s idea it was to have the entire phone’s functionality dependent on a thin, flimsy piece of plastic, but it made me never buy a google product again. I had a google pixel 2 at the time and it’s the last google phone I’ve had.
Does Apple give you a replacement before sending in your existing phone?
Maybe in the US, on Apple's homeland, but I doubt they do this in the EU. Would be cool if they did though.
Whenever I upgrade phones, I still keep my previous device around so that when I had to send my last gen to the service, I can always quickly switch to the previous one for a couple of weeks until it's back
In situations like this I've usually had the manufacturer provide an option to immediately ship a replacement and charge the full cost of the replacement if the device isn't received within 30 days.
That's what google did for my nexus 5x when it broke - and that was over 2 years after I purchased it and out of warranty. I did get it from the play store though, and so may change depending on where you purchased it from.
Still annoying, and phones shouldn't die like that, but it was probably the best thing they could have done by that point.
I can't speak to the EU, but living in the non-California US, yes. I've gotten next-day replacements accompanied by a box for returning the bricked phone. This is accompanied by the caveat that if they don't receive the bricked phone in something like 30 days, you're on the hook for the full purchase price of the replacement they sent you.
You can walk into an Apple store and walk out with a replacement.
If you had backups running to your Mac or PC (which can happen over WiFi automatically when both the phone and mac are on line power), you've got a whole-device backup that will have you up and running as fast as it takes the backup to restore.
What happens to somebody who doesn't have a computer whose phone dies spontaneously like this? I assume that an iPhone user would be able to show up at a store and buy a new phone/replacement, but if you're a Google user and you don't have a good way to 2FA to log into your email... what do you do?
