iPhone 5 Defects - Free Replacements from Apple!

I have a love hate relationship with my iPhone 5.

There, I've said it. Despite the bigger screen, clear photos, friendly interface and my love for anything from Apple - lately I have been hating my iPhone 5 due to the erratic battery life and the damaged power button. I could have sent my iPhone 5 in for the power button repair during its warranty period, but alas the last date of my warranty ended during my confinement and there was no way I could part with my phone back then. I needed the phone to capture precious photos and videos of Ian's first month!

And so I have been surviving the past year with power banks, spare power cables and using the home button and its shortcuts to lock my phone. Recently, during the first day of Eid - my phone touch screen crashed due to all the photos we were taking, and I couldn't use my home button shortcuts to restart the phone. I actually tried pleading with Siri *laugh out loud* to restart my phone but it kept saying:

Siri: Sorry Liz, I can't restart your iPhone. But you can do it yourself; press and hold the sleep/wake button for a few seconds until the "slide to power off" slider appears.
Liz: Oi, Siri! I can't use my power button lah!
Siri: I'm not sure I understand.
Liz: You are dumb!
Siri: After all I've done for you?
Liz: %(&(%(&^%&%($

Siri 1, Liz 0.

(In the end I waited for the power juice to die out - which meant that I could not use my phone the whole day, and then plugged in my charger to turn the phone back on.)

Anyway, I found out from a fellow blogger that Apple is now offering free replacement for batteries and power buttons, for affected selected units that were purchased between September 2012 and January 2013. You can check if your iPhone 5 is eligible for battery and power button replacement by clicking here and here (respectively). You will need to check if you qualify by entering your serial number. The serial number can be obtained under Settings > General > About.

Don't forget to back up your data to iTunes and erase all contents on your device before sending your phone to a participating Apple Authorized Service Provider.

Excerpt from SoyaCincau.

So when am I going to make the time to do this? *sigh* The last time I checked, it will take 2 weeks to repair the power button. How am I going to survive not having a phone during this period? Or maybe I should just wait for the launch of the iPhone 6 (to be announced on 9th September!), get the new phone, and then only send my iPhone 5 for repair before selling it off?

iPhone 6, nyum!