Tech Talk is a series highlighting a member of the Gophermods Family. We presented each of our technicians, managers and employees with 10 questions. These are their answers.
Our next guest is Video Game Repair Guru and St. Anthony Assistant Manager, Benjamin K.
1. Where are you from?
I am fron Keshena, WI, a small town about an hour north of Green Bay.
2. What do you do at Gophermods?
I am a repair technician that specializes in video game console repair and I dabble in phone/tablet repair.
3. What is your favorite phone to repair and why?
My favorite phone to repair is the iPhone because the repair is pretty straightforward and I can crank them out like nobody’s business.
4. What is the biggest repair challenge you’ve faced?
Reflows to fix the Yellow Light of Death (YLOD) on PS3s are definitely the biggest challenge. You can put a good deal of time into trying to repair a console with little to no success. That doesn’t happen to the majority of consoles, but it does happen to a small percentage and I would rather fix everybody’s consoles for them than have a few that I can’t fix.
5. What motivated you to be a part of Gophermods?
The hands-on approach to repairs. I get to experience new technology weeks, sometimes days after it comes out. We had a few Xbox Ones and PS4s that came in shortly after the launch of the new system and we also get the latest model phones in for repair.
6. What is your favorite piece of technology that you own?
It would be a toss-up between my PS3 and my iPhone 7 Plus. My PS3 is one of the original backwards compatible models, so I get to enjoy playing PS1, PS2, and PS3 games on it, in addition to watching Netflix and Blu-Ray movies on the unit. Nobody can live without their mobiles these days and my iPhone 7 Plus is perfect for everything I need it to do, including giving me directions when I’m lost, keeping in touch with friends and family, watching videos on the large display, and taking walks while playing Pokemon Go!
7. What is your current phone?
My current phone is the iPhone 7 Plus. I was an Android user for years and I had the first Android phone (T-Mobile G1) along with a Galaxy S2 and Galaxy S4, but when it was time to upgrade, I went to the dark side and chose an Apple product. The differences are as people say, with the Android based phones being very open to customization whereas the iPhone is more user-friendly.
8. What do you like about your phone?
I like the large display on the iPhone 6+, the thin structure of the phone, and the metallic gold color. The camera is also really nice and I have some great concert footage along with perfect pictures.
9. After repairing a wide variety of phones, is there one you would consider switching from your current one for?
The Galaxy S7 series is very stunning from an aesthetic standpoint and I would consider switching, but Samsung likes to load up their phones with bloatware (although Apple does this as well, the stock Apple apps are a bit more intuitive with the rest of the phone). If Samsung were to take off their apps and overlay so that the phone is stock Android, then I might switch. That would be enough to get me to take on an S7.
10. What is the most bizarre or unusual repair you have ever encountered?
The most bizarre repair I’ve ever encountered was overheating on an Xbox One. It’s the only overheating on a console I’ve seen or heard of out of the new generation consoles (including the Wii U). I didn’t expect to see overheating on the next gen consoles for at least a few years, but this one overheated within the first year and a half. Must have been some series gaming going on with this unit.