OPINION > Plein Tok The Horror of Mobile Phone Repairs in Sierra Leone Posted by Dr. Foday M. Kallon on Apr 23, 2008, 15:49

Technology in this dynamic world is getting powerful with each generation, so with mobile phones.  The secret lies in new compact Microsystems which combine a wide range of functions in a tiny space.  Their high electronic integration density and complexity, however, makes it difficult to locate or diagnose faults.  Our so-called Sierra Leonean technicians who claim to possess expertise in finding and repairing mobile phones should first of all equip themselves with failure analysis techniques in a digital system or they can only perform this function by way of trial-and-error.

Mobile phones can do a whole lot more than just phoning.  They can retrieve electronic information, manage appointment, play music, take photographs and shoot movies.  A mobile solution has now been even devised that could help detectives to quickly identify stolen works of art.  Aided by the mobile analysis system, the art detective can carry out a database search directly for a stolen work. 

However, it must be pointed out that an automatic image recognition system can only ever be as good as the database to which it is linked.  This system could be used to expose counterfeits, for example.  An airport customs official with a mobile scanner can arrest someone carrying fake designer goods on the basis of distinct features of the packaging.  The system can also facilitate the search for missing vehicles and the examination of forged immigration papers. Just think about the recent case of the dog-mean-seller who was apprehended, thanks to the simple application of the mobile system.  The mobile phone is evolving into electronic jack-of-all trades, incorporating numerous functions in a decreasing space.

In order to integrate the many and varied applications, the semi-conductor industry uses system-in-package and system-on-chip techniques.  Those with basic electronic background would agree with me that sensors, logic circuits, memory modules and actuators are all combined to create a micro system in a single housing.

However, the greater the number of individuals functions and different materials that are integrated in these components of the mobile phone, the more numerous are the potential sources of faults.  Do our so-called mobile technicians have the required and systematic know-how, workshop or laboratory to check whether all the individual parts in a mobile are okay?  Is there something wrong with the interconnection system?  Just few days ago, the mobile phone of my wife went off for no known reason, even though it was fully charged.  We quickly agreed to remove the SIM-Card and then replace it again.  It worked! Imagine what the technician would have charged for this, on approach.  Has a gold wire been damaged?  Or did the soldering fail to produce the necessary contact?  Or was the contact in the sim-card compartment okay?

The optimal solution to find defects and analyze the causes would therefore be preferably during the development phase at the factory and fortifying the system with substantial default values in the like of a Windows NT operating system.  Factory and research institutes should therefore concentrate their working on speedy and effective ways of identifying defects in the complex microelectronic and non-electric systems.

But if one wants to analyze a fault one has to isolate it first.  And how can defects be localized when one has to contend with complex chips and sensors inside a shell?  To some of our so called mobile technicians, the micro-chip is a “blanch box”.  On approach, either they damage your mobile phone permanently or by luck it continues to function temporarily.

A further step is the systematic and methodical fault analysis process.  Here again, one is left to the mercy of “FATHER GUESS”.  When a fault occurs, a professional is expected to gather in the first place all the possible causes.  By analytical elimination, one finally identifies the correct fault(s) and applies standard remedies.  The procedure of guessing in technology has a managing character, and ends up most times with damages and unwarranted costs in both physical and monetary terms.

The mobile dealer companies in Sierra Leone would themselves not welcome the establishment of a standard mobile maintenance and repair laboratory, even if they were to directly implement this, considering the market implications and the ensuing comparative opportunity costs and losses.