We've all been there. Dropped it while getting out of the car. Your child cracks the screen while trying to open an app. The charger connection is loose. Every one of us carries our smartphone like a second skin, and extensive daily use often leaves it battered, bruised and broken. In most cases, especially in wealthy Kuwait, users will simply buy a new model rather than seek out a repair shop. But for some people who are either attached to a particular handset or due to other reasons, repairing the phone is priority number one.

Souq Watiya is not a high-end mall. You won't see fashionistas parading or hordes of shoppers strolling with brand-name bags. It mostly caters to expat shoppers seeking bargains or a new gold bangle. The shops are small, usually with little more than room for one or two patrons at a time, and sell a variety of electronics, clothing, jewelry and other items. Along with a few money exchange shops and a supermarket, mobile phone repair shops can be found on the second floor in a spot called "mobile alley".

Most people also head to Ibn Khaldoun Street in Hawally whenever they have an electronics repair issue, but the shops in Watiya are cheaper and the smaller crowds mean quicker turnaround for repair jobs. This is where I took my busted mobile for a quick repair. Quoted a service charge of KD 10, I easily bargained it down to KD 3, a 70 percent discount, from a repairman named Kamal Uddin, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi from Chittagong.

"This is how it works more or less. The price we ask here in Watiya can be reduced down to 50 percent depending on how you convince the repairman," he laughed. "If you go to other places, it is more expensive, or you don't know if the repair they've done will last," Kamal said. "Better trust mobile repairs to people you've known for years. We are proud that we can repair mobiles the way some companies repair them at their service centers," he said.

Low Overheads

Cheaper rents help Watiya shops charge lower prices for services and products. "Probably we can do this because the rental of a shop here is a bit lower than those in Hawally," Kamal said. "We charge almost the same, but what is good here is that customers can bargain down the price - you can ask for discounts and we know the price limit," he explained. Kamal can count Kuwaiti customers on his fingers. "See, many of our customers here work in houses - they are on article 20 visas, so we know their capacity to pay. We don't charge much, especially when we know they are domestic workers."

Watiya is not as busy as Souq Muttahida in Kuwait City. "We only have customers here every Friday, while the rest of the week we see very few customers. We are lucky to have three to five customers per day. So one of the reasons why we don't charge much here is the fact that we are not frequented with customers," Kamal revealed.

Kamal has been a cellphone repairman since 2010. "I came from Bangladesh and I was hired to help in a shop owned by my uncle," he narrated. "When my uncle left, I was left without a visa, so I looked for a place to transfer. I knew something about electronics, so when a friend told me they were in need of people to run a repair shop, I jumped at the chance," he recalled. "I immediately applied and have been working here ever since. It's been five years and counting."

Crash Course

Kamal left Bangladesh to help his family. He has two boys aged 7 and 5. Before leaving Bangladesh, he attended a crash course on cellphone repair in Chittagong. "I studied the basics of smartphone repair. At first we were familiarized with the different types of smartphones, then all basic parts and functions were reviewed. We have to understand first the functions of every part. It was hard but I managed to learn something and this is why I am able to do the job well," he said.

At the crash course, Kamal learned the functions of the circuit board, motherboard and logic board. "We were told to check faulty parts and taught how to replace them - fault finding and troubleshooting follows," he said.

A smartphone repairman must also be familiarized with the tools and various kits needed in the repair business. "Whatever you do, you need to be dedicated and you must like it. The very basic tools we use are the three Ts - T4, T5 and T6 precision screwdrivers. These screwdrivers are sufficient to do most repair jobs. There are other tools too, but probably the most ideal thing is to be updated and learn about the latest smartphones from the Internet," he concluded.

By Ben Garcia