I've spent this weekend grieving the death of a faithful servant - my Smartphone. It did not have to suffer long, but its last few hours seemed rather a struggle. Or at least they were to me! After having served me well for 8½ years or so, yesterday afternoon it suddenly refused to be woken up from its slumber, and was also obviously suffering from quickly rising temperature. (It was not connected to the charger at the time, so I have no idea what exactly it was struggling with.) I moved it to a safe place (the kitchen sink) and managed a quick operation to remove its SIM card and memory card. A few hours later the phone had cooled down - and when I tried pressing its button one more time it granted me one last "look" - just to inform me that its battery power was now 0%. And then it stopped breathing.,,
I did not dare try resuscitate it again, because in its last struggles with the overheated battery, it's backside seemed to have expanded and almost come loose.
So: Rest In Peace, old friend.
I then spent the next 24 hours (except a few hours sleep) trying to sort out various problems related to getting a replacement. Like: What do I want? What's available? Where? At what cost? And at how much trouble? (And in between also: Who do I need to inform about the number of the deceased phone being out of order for time being...)
At first the task did not seem impossible, as I had other devices for the internet, and for text messages an even older spare mobile (with a different number, on a different size sim card), and for phone calls also a "landline" phone (via my fiber optics cable).
The major difficulty arose today when I had got as far as having decided on a replacement - but it turned out impossible for me to order it online, because whatever company and payment method I tried, they required my "mobile bank ID" to confirm. (I don't know if you have the same hassle in other countries.) And my "mobile bank ID" was, of course, on my dead phone...
At long last, I thought to check yet another company. Turned out they did have a few of the desired object in stock locally, and would allow me to pre-order to pick it up myself and pay for it at the store. So a bus trip (+ a bit of walking) "across town" is on my agenda for tomorrow...