Affording an expensive smartphone comes with high maintenance costs although sometimes it is not put into consideration.
In June 2023, i purchased Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 4g for $75 and I'm still using it as of the time of writing this. The specifications are found here
Last night, i was on call with my girlfriend, the phone was connected to as ear pod so i do not have to carry my phone around the house or hold it to my ear. I was having a nice time gisting, laughing, and cracking jokes with my girlfriend. Just the moment i wanted to stand from my seat, something fell down, and i looked down, it was my phone. At first I did not bother to check if there was any damage or not because it did not drop from a height, it only fell from my lap. Besides the smartphone comes with a gorilla corning glass and a screen protector, which i place on it, along with a body case to protect it from scratches and drops. I was confident enough that these protective accessories would shield my phone from the impact of drops, and even to some extent from height.
Lo and behold, as I picked up the phone, i was shocked to see cracks on the screen. Initially i thought it was just a crack on the screen protector, so i quickly removed the protector to see that the cracks were actually on the main screen.
Oh my God, not again !!! I felt like crying at that moment. The phone is just 1 year and 6 months old. If only I could turn back the hands of the clock, i would prevent the phone from falling but i have to accept the reality. A feeling of regret, sadness and fear overwhelmed me, i couldn't keep the conversation with my girlfriend going much longer as I was thinking what could be the cost of repairing the screen. I sent messages to some of my contacts who deal in phone accessories but they couldn't reply back immediately, probably they might have gone to bed or so.
My girlfriend was also sad about the situation. She consoled me, and for a moment, there was silence before we bid eachother goodnight.
This morning, two of my contacts i reached out to last night responded with different prices for the screen replacement. The first said $39 while the other said $45. Neither price could be easily afforded by me at this moment. If only there were another way around it. I hate using phones with broken screens.
I have to be managing it as it is right now until I'm financially ready for screen replacement.