Matt F operates his HTC Vive VR Headset

I grew up in Plymouth, MN. I spent most of my formative years in the city, So upon graduating from high school I decided to attend college down in Mankato for a Bachelors in Media Arts. It was an interesting phase of my life as I went from the excitement of the Twin Cities to a more low key rural atmosphere. During my time in college I made some excellent friends and started to gain a greater understanding of technology through hobbies. Upon getting my degree I moved back up to the Twin Cities. I’d come to miss the beautiful Minneapolis skyline.

2. What do you do at Gophermods?

I am a Assistant Store Manager for our Woodbury location

3.What is your favorite phone to repair and why?

When it comes to screen repairs the Galaxy S5 is my favorite. If it’s anything other repair, then I’d have to give it to the iPhone 6.

4. What is the biggest repair challenge you’ve faced?

You could write a Greek Epic centered around my struggles with the nefarious Samsung Galaxy Core Prime.

5. What motivated you to be a part of Gophermods?

While in college I befriended Michael Harting. He taught me a ton about building custom gaming PC’s. Since then I’ve fallen in love with taking apart every piece of tech that I could get my hands on! When I graduated college and heard that my friend Mike did that for a living. I knew I had to get involved in some way!s

6. What is your favorite piece of technology that you own?

Hardware wise it’s a no brainer, my custom built gaming PC and HTC Vive VR Headset. I’ve always got to have the cutting edge when it comes to gaming. When it comes to software I’ve really enjoyed tinkering with Unreal Engine 4, which is a game engine that is used in a lot of modern interactive media.

Matthew F volunteering at Free Geek Twin Cities

7. What is your current phone?

I own the HTC One M8.

8. What do you like about your phone?

As my daily driver the HTC One M8 has been a good phone for me. It has great build design, efficient software, adequate battery life and wonderful speakers. That being said, the hardware architecture of the phone is terrifying to me as a technician.

9. After repairing a wide variety of phones, is there one you would consider switching from your current one for?

As of right now I’d pick either the Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P, although recently, Google’s Pixel Phone has stolen my heart.

10. What is the most bizarre or unusual repair you have ever encountered?

I fixed an iPad 2 that had a jerry rigged iPad 3 screen on it. Also there were SD cards stacked under the LCD causing it to bend. To this day I am amazed that the bend didn’t break that iPad’s LCD.