I kept mine on my keychain for the longest time until it got me right under one of my finger nails. The amount of times I've had to use it does not justify that trauma.
Yeah, I urgently need a new one but I keep postponing and forgetting. 😅
It used to be a cheap fake leather one which looked cool, has a crocodile head on the outside in it, and just plainly looked cool.
Now, 5 years later, all the leather, except for the crocodile head, has proven to be a thin layer that has come off over time and what remains is a completely exposed (again, except for the crocodile head) black rubbery underlayer. 😅
Oh, well, it cost me €5 or something, I guess 5 years was a good service at that price...
I noticed my phone battery bulging just yesterday. So I went and dug up the documentation that came with it to see if I could take advantage of the manufacturer's warranty. No dice, but the sim card tray ejector thing was in with the user's manual. So at least I have that. :/
Yeah, I've done some research about fixing it myself on YouTube. A kit to fix it is only about $25. But I was a little intimidated by the "heat the phone to soften the adhesive so the screen will come off" step and decided to look into how much it'd cost just to get it fixed professionally.
I walked into the "Authorized Google Repair" shop with my bulging Pixel and the guy told me there was a "99.9% chance" that the screen would break in the process of replacing the battery and if he had to replace the screen too, the total cost would be more than I paid for the phone and more than I would pay to get an identical model on Amazon now.
So, I'm evaluating my options. I could get a replacement battery and a replacement screen and do a lot of research and fix it myself, which is a little risky. Or I could just contribute to the e-waste problem and get a new phone (or a refurb; this whole ordeal makes me want to not spend much on phones in the future) that has a consumer-replaceable battery.
Oh, also, I've had this phone for less than three years.
Also, an unlocked bootloader and a mature LineageOS or GrapheneOS or whatever other Open-Source no-Google-apps distribution is basically an absolute deal breaker must have for me. (I suppose if I do end up getting a different phone, I could look into Linux phones too, but I'm a little wary of that. I got burned with the Openmoko Neo Freerunner back in the day.) I bought this Pixel direct from the manufacturer (not through a carrier or anything) because that was the only way to get it with an unlocked bootloader so I could go LineageOS. But going that route, I only get the one-year manufacturer's warranty. No carrier warranty or anything.
So I guess I'll go go pray to Saint Louis Rossmann now and hope for divine inspiration. Lol.
(Ha! Sorry for the rant. I was an extremely late adopter of smartphones at all because I don't trust them. This is the first smartphone I've ever had and it didn't last me three years! Clearly I should have remained staunchly Amish for QWERTY. Lol.)
I don't know what in the hell I did, I have one of the solid circular round ones with a small hole in the back for the keychain. It's been on my keys for ages. One morning I went to put my seat belt on and got a sharp stab. I pulled my keys out and it was bent 90° and I just the tiniest little bit of blood on it.
I used to keep one on my keys back when I worked at a carrier store selling phones. Made life so much easier then.
In fact, the actual inserted part broke off years ago (and I haven't done phone sales in over a decade), but the main part of the body is actually still attached to my keyring. I haven't even thought about that until this post, actually.
The dude who sold me my latest smartphone this year had one long fingernail. I kinda thought it was a coke nail until he applied my screen protector and used the nail to separate the plastic backing from it. Aha!
I studied classical guitar in high school and since I could never keep my real fingernails intact I always had three plastic nails going on my right hand. That was a tough one to explain to the local bullies.
I have a Moonlander split keyboard that is programmable and uses one of these little things for its reset button. My only gripe with it is that they could have designed a place for it to slot into the keyboard itself since it's very easy to lose it if it isn't otherwise attached to something.
The reset button is used to apply firmware changes. For this keyboard you can customize the keys to pretty much however you like. I have one of the thumb cluster buttons set to Ctrl-C / Ctrl-V for efficiency. It's great for making changes to personalize your mechanical keyboard experience... but it requires that pin to make changes lol.
I like it since I can assign Enter to one of the left thumb cluster buttons, you normally can't hit enter with your left hand on a standard keyboard layout.
These little ejector tools are useful for more than just SIM cards. CD/DVD ROM drives have force eject buttons inside tiny little holes that these can reach and push. Many hardware reset buttons are also hidden inside tiny holes.
You could use an unfolded paperclip in a pinch. One of my air purifiers has a reset button inside a hole that is slightly too thin for the paper lips I have on hand. But the SIM ejector tool I keep around fits perfectly.
I have a screwdriver bit set that just includes one of those, very tightly secured. Whoever was responsible for ensuring this was neccessary: You are a hero.
Same. I have tow phones, one personal and one business. Kept it in my personal one, between phone and case. You never know when you or someone else might need it.
I assume you just leave the keyring on your desk/in some drawer? I had handcuff keys on my normal ring and the pointy thing on the keys (for double-locking) made holes in my jeans, so you'd be crazy to go around with those for opening SIMs in your pocket.
I am not responsible for most of the random stuff I own, but at least for that thing I found a good place.
I keep it between the back of my phone and my phone case. I have to remove the case anyway to access the slot, and then it is just right there available.
That's good, I've usually found the flat ones made with sheet metal are weaker and more bendable than ones made from steel wire, or just using the small sized paper clips. Which is problematic because I like to keep them in my bag in case I need to use them and if they end up bent up it's not great.
I think the reason the ones I've gotten fared so poorly is because they're aluminium as opposed to steel like the paper clips. Which always fair better in my bag than the flat stamped ones do.
Mine are all still in their boxes which I still save for no reason as I never ever will use them. Whenever I need a pin, I can't find a single box, but the boxes are always in the way when I try to find something else. It's a weird world we live in.
Wallet, coin part with a zip to keep it safe. It sits next to a random quarter i was given as change (im from the uk and it was given in place of a similar looking uk coin) a silver 1 pence coin (apparently they are rare and worth about £60 but as if my lazy arse is gon a sell it (and who actually buys these things anyway?) Some guitar picks and a franc (defunct french currency)
Same, I'll unpack any electrical item and keep all the packaging including the wire tiers on cords, plastic bags with the tape carefully folded back and pack all of that back up in the box and storage the empty box in my garage incase. I then use the item until it breaks and then 6 years later see the box on a shelf while walking passed, realise I no longer own said item and throw the box away.
Sure, but I don't carry a sewing needle with either. Probably should, actually. The reason toothpicks are there is because it's the only thing at hand in those rare case when you need it, mostly middle of fuck nowhere and far away from home, when only one of the phones has charge but the other has reception.
Tool cabinets are a marvelous thing. I have a little thing squirreled away in a drawer of other tools, just the top of a box that a screen protector came in, that is just full of tiny specialized precision tools that I very seldom need.
Have mine sitting in a dish on my desk right in front of me. It's what I use to pop off our Arlo doorbell to bring inside to charge it back up when the batteries are low.
I can't wait until more manufacturers adopt this standard and then force us to help every damn person in the family (or even more!) transfer stuff to a new phone, like my mom doesn't even understand how Google accounts work and that they exist to >!steal your data cough cough!< help you transfer stuff to a new phone, she just makes a new one every time, and yes she does everything by hand, transfering photos, contacts, every damn thing
And best thing that everyone has a different upgrade standards, so you could deal with this the newest phone that has this launches or you could too 8 years in the future