Tech Talk is a series highlighting a member of the Gophermods Family. Today we have Michael H. from Gophermods Woodbury

1. Where are you from?
I live in St. Paul Minnesota

2. What is do you do at Gophermods?
I am  the Assistant Store manager at St. Anthony and Woodbury. I also assist in managing the blog and social media aspects of Gophermods.

3. What is your favorite phone to repair and why?
iPhone 5S has to be my favorite. The design is well thought out(with the exception of Touch ID). The majority of repairs are easy to do, and replacing a screen is the easiest of any smart phone that I’ve done.

4. What is the biggest repair challenge you’ve faced?
Biggest challenge. That’s tough. I would have to say the 2 most difficult repairs I’ve done have been the HTC One E8, a plastic lesser known version of the HTC One. The other is my first iPad Mini 3rd Generation. Took me probably close to 4 hours to do over a couple of days. It was rough.

5. What motivated you to be a part of Gophermods?
I was looking for a technology based job working directly with my hands. I previously worked in the wireless industry as a sales representative for a couple of the carriers. Having to refer the customer to someone else for a solution just made my stomach turn. Being part of a small company like Gophermods, I feel like my decisions, and my input matters. That is something I have not felt at almost any job.

6. What is your favorite piece of technology that you own?
My Desktop Computer. I built it originally in 2011. I’ve upgraded the Graphics Processor, added more ram. It’s a computer that is directly unique to me. It’s a personal item that I’ve sunk countless hours into.

7. What is your current phone?
I own iPhone SE 64 gb.

8. What do you like about your phone?
I like the small screen(contrary to the world it seems). The smaller screen makes it easy to use with one hand. The Battery life is awesome, and the camera gets an A+ for quality.

9. After repairing a wide variety of phones, is there one you would consider switching from your current one for?
I actually just switched to the iPhone SE(I’ve had it only 3-4 weeks) from an iPhone 6 Plus. I was convinced to switch after repairing iPhone SE, seeing how similar it was to an iPhone 5S and just re-evaluating how I was using my phone.

10. What is the most bizarre or unusual repair you have ever encountered?
I was working on an iPhone 5C battery which came in and was swollen. I took the screen off and was preparing to remove the battery when it burst into flames! I ran outside and let it burn. Fortunately it ended up burning out only part of the side casing and none of the logic board was damaged! We replaced the customer’s side casing and it worked at 100%. We also did the battery repair for free. The store smelled awful for a while too so we invested in some Febreeze.

Look for more Tech Talk with the Gophermods Team at Gophermods.com/blog