iPhone 6 Plus bricked in foreign country. Whats the best alternative?

[MyMcMac]

There's no apple repair store and I will stay here for some more months. I currently use a 20 USD phone for calls, and now I am planning to get another device for internet access.

I don't want to invest so much money as the new models come out in a few month, and once I am back in the US i will exchange my dead iPhone 6 into a new one.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I'd go with the least expensive option since you will only need it for a relatively short period of time.

 

[MyMcMac]

I thought about the 80 USD Windows 435 phone, or the 400 USD iphone 4S, or just buy the iPhone 6 (without the plus). With the iPhones I could just get a backup restore which makes life easier, but they are rather expensive here. There's also the 200 USD Moto E, but I tried Android once and don't like it.

Is it possible to get an iPad and restore my iPhone 6 Plus restore on it?

 

[bhayes444]

I thought about the 80 USD Windows 435 phone, or the 400 USD iphone 4S, or just buy the iPhone 6 (without the plus). With the iPhones I could just get a backup restore which makes life easier, but they are rather expensive here. There's also the 200 USD Moto E, but I tried Android once and don't like it.

Is it possible to get an iPad and restore my iPhone 6 Plus restore on it?

In all honesty the Moto E is the best for your money if you go Android, but picking up a cheap Windows phone would work too. If you absolutely had to have an iOS device you could always resell whatever you buy and hope you don't lose too much. I'm not sure about your restore question. Best left for more experienced people to answer.

 

[Applejuiced]

What do you mean by "bricked"?
Is it a hardware issue, physically broken, screen, liquid damage?
Or software issues that just needs an itunes restore?
Why not get it checked out at an iphone repair place? There's plenty of iphone repair shops in every country.

 

[vseera]

I had the same thing happen to me (iPhone 6 got liquid damaged while traveling in China) and I tried using a backup Windows Phone I had with me. After a week of it, I was ready to throw that phone against the wall. No useful apps, the keyboard is nice with swipe but gets annoying fast.

But the main thing for me was my phone was my gateway to booking trains, hotels, translation services, etc.

So I broke down and got a 6 plus and did an iCloud restore. I am happy now even if the iCloud restore didn't completely restore my phone properly.

 

[yjchua95]

I thought about the 80 USD Windows 435 phone, or the 400 USD iphone 4S, or just buy the iPhone 6 (without the plus). With the iPhones I could just get a backup restore which makes life easier, but they are rather expensive here. There's also the 200 USD Moto E, but I tried Android once and don't like it.

Is it possible to get an iPad and restore my iPhone 6 Plus restore on it?

Yes you can. Might be a bit wonky though.

 

[rui no onna]

As far as utility, Android is way ahead of Windows phone. I can easily imagine being frustrated with the app selection on Windows phone but while Android may have performance issues, app selection is more or less on par with iOS making it a very viable alternative.

If my iPhone stopped working while on vacation, an inexpensive Moto E or G would be my next choice. Mind, I use Gmail and I've got all my important contacts on a Google account so the transition from iPhone to Android for communication purposes is fairly easy for me.

 

[MyMcMac]

Thanks for your very helpful replies!

Bricked means the battery does not work. After a few seconds the phone turns itself off, even when I charge it for hours (I tried different charging solutions). There's only one repair store available in this country and the exchange takes 4-5 weeks (the exchange of the product itself takes place in California). I have visited some inofficial repair stores here, unfortunatley my warranty is gone when they open the phone without permission.

With restoring I mean that I have a some-months-old itunes backup that I could easily restore on any iphone / ipad (thanks for the great information !).

One more update: I clicked on https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-6-plus-bricked.1796297/ which is shown on Similar Threads on this page and used the external page for the DFU mode explanation. The trick here is to connect the phone to iTunes when you "enable" DFU mode. iTunes recognized the phone with "Serial Number: n/a" and currently downloads the latest iOS. I hope it will work out. I'll keep you updated.

 

[MyMcMac]

The restore is not working with the bricked phone. Buying just another apple phone is very convenient for using the backup, not sure what I will do.

 

[rui no onna]

The restore is not working with the bricked phone. Buying just another apple phone is very convenient for using the backup, not sure what I will do.

This is why I don't trade in or sell my old iPhones. Last trip we took, we used our out of contract, out of warranty iPhones as our travel phones. Cheaper than buying low to mid-level smartphones just for travel and if it breaks, I could bring it to a 3rd party repair shop without worrying about voiding the warranty.

In your shoes, I'd just pony up and buy an iPhone 6. If it's just a few weeks to a month, I can live with a cheapie Android. More than one month and I'm gonna miss all my iOS-only apps.

 

[MyMcMac]

My options for the iPhones here are

iPhone 4s 320 USD
iPhone 6 770 USD
iPhone 6 plus 900 USD

I already got the leather case for the 6 plus. The new iPhone 6s is coming out soon, so what would be the best choice for a phone over the next month(s)?

 

[MyMcMac]

In the end I bought a new 6 plus and after some weeks I am very comfortable with my decision.