So after telling a friend how I don’t need a phone case, of course I drop my smartphone (HTC One X) on the pavement, cracking the screen pretty bad. Everything still works but it’s hard to see past the cracks on some parts of the screen.
I called a couple of places that fix phones and they’re charging more than I paid for the phone so, I don’t really want to do that.
So I look online and it looks like they sell the screen and there’s a few places with instructions, and it actually looks a bit more complicated than I was expecting. Pretty much the only experience I have with electronics is adding a graphics card to a computer but this looks significantly more sophisticated than that.
So should I just get the parts and tools and try to replace it myself or is that a great way to completely destroy my phone?
Anybody have experience fixing their phone?
My daughter busted the screen on the Motorola Droid A955 (original Droid) I gave her. I ordered an inexpensive screen before viewing the video thinking I had a lot of experience in notebook repair so how tough can it be? Then I watched the video. Then I tried to follow the video.
A few issues.
Everything on modern phones is completely glued down. The video I had does not show this adequately. In the video everything “pops” off with some pressure. IRL the pieces are held on with powerful glue templates and the glue layer fights you tenaciously, and you can easily damage (and I did) the very thin plastic coverings removing them. NOTHING “pops off”, it has to be slowly pried off.
Then this incredibly sticky gummy glue template sheet has to be picked and peeled off before you can get at the little screws. This is not shown in the videos and I can see why. No one would buy these kits.
The video then began getting into the use of a heat gun to delaminate the glue holding the main cover screen in place to get at the LCD without melting the plastic. At that point I put the project way for another day. This is nothing like dealing with a notebook. How the crap am I supposed to re-assemble this? Superglue? It’s going to be a mess geting this pig back together.
Maybe the iPhone screen replacements are easier, but this thing is a project beyond my immediate ambitions at this point.
Phones are one of those things where you are best off hanging your head and eating the cost of a new phone. This is why you buy insurance, people! A few dollars a month and no worries. If I trashed my smartphone tomorrow, it’s $60 and a new phone for me. Without insurance, it would be pay hundreds or use an old, inferior phone for months until I qualify for a new phone. I have US Cellular if anyone is curious.
Also, your thread title and user name combo amuses me greatly.
I also asked a buddy of mine that’s good with electronics and his advice was similar to astro’s. So attempting to fix this myself is probably a can of worms that I don’t want to open. Meh. Stupid phone…
