iSmash Bristol / Samsung Shop Bristol

Julian Shovlin is the founder of the first iSmash store. He was only a university student when he saw a need in the market and decided to meet it with the creation of the iSmash shops. The idea struck him when his smartphone needed repair services, but the available cheap market could not serve him satisfactorily.
Julian needed help understanding why the market had so little to offer, yet smartphones were increasingly becoming popular. In 2013, Julian launched iSmash as a perfect brand for excellent services and a fast turnaround on all repairs. Since its establishment in 2013, the company has made a name for itself as a leading repair service provider and opened over 32 repair shops in the UK.  I know there is an iSmash USA, but they don’t seem affialated. Some of the main competitors to iSmash are companies like Timpsons. Don’t forget, you should always check out iSmash reviews before you make a final decision

iSmash has gained popularity and has become a leading service provider for all device repairs. At the time of this article being published, the company has over 32 fully-equipped shops in places all over the UK, in places like Oxford Circus, Canary Wharf Brighton, iSmash Bath and iSmash Bristol which have been opened recently. If there is no iSmash shop within your area, iSmash may establish one next year.  If you are looking for a local store close by, just google iSmash near me try iSmash locations

Yes, there is a Samsung shop Bristol / Samsung store Bristol, look for Samsung Cabot Circus.  At the time of these FAQ being published, Samsung did not have a Samsung Cribbs Causeway or Samsung Bath.  Not much coverage to be fair.  If you have a Samsung mobile phone that needs to be repaired, you could come to us or even consider iCrack, but at this time there is still no iCrack Bristol.  iSmash have many more shops about as do Timpsons, but they send many repairs away, check out some of my other FAQ’s for details, search google for Timpsons Near Me.

As you would expect Samsung Cabot Circus they only repairs Samsung devices.  Their website claims to repair mobile phone screens in 30 minutes.  This is frankly laughable.  Everyone I have had come to me has reported that they take days to do a Samsung mobile phone screen repair.  I did a quick search of some forums and found Samsung representatives quoting 7 – 14 days.  What most people do not realise is that Samsung expects all your data to be backed up before the repair as they will return your device with no personal data on it at all.  Backing up your data is of course a good practise to get in the habit of doing and we recommend it before any repairs, but here at DrFixit, we have never lost any data or returned a Samsung mobile phone to a customer with the data deleted when doing a Samsung screen repair or Samsung battery replacement.

A search of iCrack History on Google, literally delivers no results what so ever. When I looked at their company at companies house, it appears that they were established in 2020. I went to their website and checked out their About Us page, which is also devoid of any detail of how the company came in to being. I also checked out iCrack.com and that domain is for sale, so its a mystery.

Unlike iSmash, if you want to find iSmash shops, you can search on their website.  This is currently not the case with iCrack, I looked for a facility or menu on their website where I could search fro iCrack near me or iCrack locations, but no luck.  I do know they have an iCrack Bath and I do not think it will be long before they open iCrack Bristol.  You only hope is to go to google and search iCrack near me until they make their website more user friendly.

The other big high street mobile phone repair shop is Timpsons.  This Timpsons group is well established and have been trading for many years. Their primary business is Timpsons key cutting and Timpsons shoe repairs  At the top of their website is a menu called store finder, where you can search for a Timpsons shop.  There’s also a menu where you can select the services which you want, which means to me that they do not provide all services at all of their Timpsons locations.  As I am sure you are aware, they have located themselves at most supermarkets and they are on many high streets.  They literally have hundreds of stores.  I far as I am aware there are Timpsons shop at:

• Timpsons Long Ashton
• Timpsons Ashton Gate
• Timpsons Barrs Court
• Timpsons Bedminster
• Timpsons Bishopsworth
• Timpsons Brislington
• Timpsons Broadmead Shopping Centre
• Timpsons Crew’s Hole
• Timpsons Gallagher Retail Park
• Timpsons Hanham
• Timpsons Hengrove
• Timpsons Imperial Retail Park
• Timpsons Keynsham
• Timpsons Kingswood
• Timpsons Knowle
• Timpsons Longwell Green
• Timpsons Oldland Common
• Timpsons Redfield
• Timpsons Southville
• Timpsons Winterstoke

iSmash seem to fix most brands.  I know they fix Samsung Mobile phone, iPhones, iPads, Nokia mobile phones, HTC and Sony. If you need your device fixed, you can book an appointment, just go to their website, walk into any store near you (search iSmash near me or iSmash store near me), or send the device through courier or post, check out their website once again for more info. Most repairs at iSmash take one day to complete.

As I mentioned before, the Samsung shop Bristol only repairs Samsung devices, but Samsung screen repairs and Samsung battery replacements.  They also repair TV’s, sound systems, laptops what ever Samsung produces.

iCrack according to their website surprisingly only fix iPhones, iPads and iPods.  This is some what surprising as they have high street shops. I would have thought that it would be difficult for a high street store like say iCrack Bristol or iCrack Bath to make any money only repairing such a small range of devices.

What about Timpsons shop then?  The last I checked, Timpsons stock iPhone screens and that is it.  This means that the majority of the repairs which Timpsons does are sent away.  That of course means you will have to wait several days if not a week to get your precious phone back.  I know all to well how much people rely on their phones.  Being without a phone for more than a week, well it would be unheard of these days.  Seems like  they could do better with all those Timpsons locations.

To summarise,  iSmash locations are less than Timpsons locations, but more than iCrack locations.  iSmash repairers more devices than both Timpsons and iCrack.

Bear in mind that there are many other brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Poco and Google.  We repair all mobile phone brands and most repairs take around 60 – 90 minutes.

The most common repairs are iPhone screens repairs, Samsung screen repairs, iPhone battery replacements followed by Samsung battery replacements.  As mentioned before, we are literally held hostage by our mobile phones these days, so when your device starts playing up, you need to fixed fast for a fair price.  I know that iSmash & iCrack store offer most repairs such as screen repairs, battery replacements, Charging Ports Repairs, Water / Liquid Damage Repairs, Power Button Repairs, Earpiece Repairs, Microphone Repairs, Loudspeaker Repairs, Rear Camera Repairs, Front Camera Repairs, Headphone Jack Repairs, Vibration Repairs, Software Fixes or Data Recovery.  To the best of my knowledge, Timpsons only do screen repairs & battery replacement.

Although we repair most brands, we do not do Micro-Soldering.  This is a specialised skill.  We are very aware of our limitations and work in partnership with another mobile phone repair shop in Bristol, not iSmash Bristol or iSmash Bath, which we can refer you to.  If you are unsure what’s wrong with your device or you have a more complicated repair, I would not worry because we can help you. Our highly skilled technicians will test your device, diagnose the issue, and advise on the next steps.

According to iSmash website, not iSmash Bristol specifically, their popular repairs can be completed in 30 minutes.  This is just not true at all, the reason is simple.  The common iPhone repairs and Samsung repairs are iPhone screen repairs, Samsung screen repairs, iPhone battery replacements and Samsung battery replacements.  iPhone screens are glued in to the frame of the phone, so first the phone needs to be heated, then the screws holding the screen in place need to be removed.  Next the screen will needs to be removed.  In the case of a battery replacement, the screen would be intact and more care is needed as it is easy to break. an iPhone screen.  Next the securing plate screws need to be removed and the battery disconnected.  Now the screen can be disconnected.  Now the new screen needs to be tested before any work starts transferring the components from the old screen to the new screen.  Now in the case of the older iPhones, many more components as well as a backing plate need to be transferred.  On the newer iPhones, the speaker and proximity assembly needs to be heated and then carefully removed.  It is crucial that this assembly is not damaged as it is married to that specific iPhone and if damaged, only Apple can effect this repair at a some what considerable cost.  I think you get the picture, no matter which one of the iSmash locations,  iCrack locations or Timpsons locations you take your phone to 30 minutes is just wish for thinking.  What would save you time is searching for a mobile phone repair shop close by.  Use search terms like iSmash near me, iSmash store near me, Timpsons near me, iCrack near me or be more specific and include the name of the area, city or town, like iCrack Bath or iSmash Bath

The the best of my knowledge, neither iSmash Bristol, iSmash Bath, any iSmash store, iCrack Bath, iCrack Bristol or any of the Timpsons locations offer call outs where you can have your mobile phone repaired at your location.  Surprisingly Samsung offer repairs at your location and will even collect your device.  I do not know if this is handled by their local Samsung store Bristol or Samsung Cabot Circus, I suspect they have a national service handling these requests.  I would not imagine the prices are that cheap though.

We can come to you.  We offer a full mobile mobile repair service, which is done in our fully equipped van.  We charge a nominal fee for call out, which you can see if you head over to the We Come To You page if you do not want to pay for the call out charge certainly your best bet would be to search for a Timpsons near me, to find a Timpsons shop.  There are more and more iSmash shops about, so searching iSmash near me for a local iSmash store may be a better option as they provide more Mobile phone repair services. If you are looking for a local mobile phone repair shop you can just search for iPhone repairs near me for example. Remember to read their reviews before committing

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the official Samsung Shop Bristol does Samsung screen repairs and Samsung battery replacements for a fair price.  Now, when I say fair, I mean they are not charging several times the price we charge.  Unlike the Official Apple store, Samsung prices are much more reasonable.  Do bear in mind though that they may delete your data and take 7 – 14 days to repair your device.  You do not need to use the Samsung shop Bristol, there are many good independent mobile phone shops about.  If you do decide to try an independent mobile phone repair shop instead of say the Samsung Store Bristol or Samsung Cabot Circus, make sure you check their reviews.  The best way to do that is to search for a mobile phone repair shop near me or phone shop near me in google maps.