Friday, July 13, 2012

Breaking Stuff

It is no secret that I have very little fear when it comes to taking things apart.  There is never a guarantee that they will go back together with the desired result, but I will dismantle things!

My smart phone device recently experienced an impact with the ground, touch screen first and as one would assume, the glass cracked.  I did some calling around to see what it would cost to repair and the standard charge seems to be $120 these days, but nobody stocks the parts.  Based on my experience paying somebody else to replace the power supply on my iMac, I decided to check on parts costs and the repair process.

Thanks to the powers of the internet, finding the required information wasn't all that tough.  Parts are readily available thanks to eBay and instructional videos populate youtube, some good, some horrifying.



I think my favorite video is the one where they remove the broken touchscreen from the front side of the phone by breaking it thoroughly!  I followed the steps in the above, but didn't use a heat gun to separate the LCD/digitizer.  As a result, I managed to crack the LCD in the process.  That is now on order and the process will be repeated.

Fortunately I have some backup options if I completely destroy the phone and . . . I'm up for a phone upgrade in December . . .