cracked screen on iphone

wijcc

wijcc

wijcc

Soldato
Joined
10 Aug 2003
Posts
2,696
Location
London
My sister last night dropped her cherished iphone, it landed face down on the pavement. The glass covering the screen has cracked,the screen itself still works fine. But the cracks on the glass infront of it obscures the view quite a bit. See pics below for the damage. She does not have insurance on the phone, can I get a replacement casing for the iphone and replace it, if so anyone have an idea as to the cost?

iphone1.jpg


iphone2.jpg


iphone3.jpg


Thanks in advance guys :)
 
Yes they are available and I've seen one website selling it for £35.

There are plenty of videos on youtube showing how to change it.
 
ElliorR said:
Yes they are available and I've seen one website selling it for £35.

There are plenty of videos on youtube showing how to change it.
Click to expand...

You can get replacements much cheaper than that, around £10. Search for 'digitiser glass' on ebay (make sure you get the correct version, the 3G and 3Gs digitisers are incompatible). It's a relatively simple job to replace the glass, I've done loads so can do it in a matter of minutes now :)
 
Don't forget to order the adhesive aswell, try to find 3M ones as they are far and away the best.
 
Just watching a video on how to do this and it looks straight forward enough, but have to say the ribbon connectors look fiddly to reconnect if you've got big hands :D

 
ElliorR said:
but have to say the ribbon connectors look fiddly to reconnect if you've got big hands :D
Click to expand...

They can be a little fiddly, but not too bad :)

The 3G/3Gs isn't too bad to work on to be fair, the 2G on the other hand is an absolute fiddly PITA :mad:
 
I prefer this video. A friend of mine has broken her 3GS screen and I'm half tempted to offer to replace it.

 
I really wouldn't bother trying to do the glass on it's own, it's a right pain, takes an absolute age and requires the patience of a saint (which after 2 hours of melting you soon lose). Then you have issues of snagging a ribbon cable, not aligning the new glass 100%, screwing the home button up and dust behind the glass on the LCD.

Get yourself a full display assembly. Two screws and three ribbon cables, done. I bought one of these last week, quick delivery and the front of the phone now looks like new.

ElliorR said:
Just watching a video on how to do this and it looks straight forward enough, but have to say the ribbon connectors look fiddly to reconnect if you've got big hands :D
Click to expand...

The ribbon cables are the easy bit :P
 
Last edited:
JonB said:
I really wouldn't bother trying to do the glass on it's own, it's a right pain, takes an absolute age and requires the patience of a saint (which after 2 hours of melting you soon lose). Then you have issues of snagging a ribbon cable, not aligning the new glass 100%, screwing the home button up and dust behind the glass on the LCD.
Click to expand...

Lol, you must have sausage fingers and the fine motor skills of somebody with parkinsons ;)

It really is quite straight forward if you take your time and are methodical. Like I said, I've done loads and I can now do one from start to finish in about 20 mins, max.

Melting the adhesive is easy, just a few mins with a hairdryer, slide a small flat bladed screwdriver underneath and off the glass comes.

And it's pretty much impossible to mis-align the glass because the plastic frame has a lip around the edge and the glass fits snugly against it.

I can't understand how anybody can find it that difficult :confused:
 
Last edited:
I did the wifes a few months ago. Took me just over an hour as the glass was shattered all over the screen. This resulted in not getting any suction to pull the glass up. Luckily I took my time and everything came good.

TOP TIP!!!

be VERY VERY careful with the connector 3 cable. LOADS of people try and pull it out like connectors 1 and 2 resulting in the cable breaking.

There's a tiny clip which flips up from the bottom letting you pull the cable from the top.

Take your time :D

p.s. Don't pull the glass from the silver surround either. The glass itself lifts out on its own with a suction cup.
 
DreXeL said:
Lol, you must have sausage fingers and the fine motor skills of somebody with parkinsons ;)
Click to expand...

I had a screen that was far more shattered than the one above. I ended up with triangles of glass to take off and I cut my fingers a couple of times. :(

DreXeL said:
It really is quite straight forward if you take your time and are methodical. Like I said, I've done loads and I can now do one from start to finish in about 20 mins, max.

Melting the adhesive is easy, just a few mins with a hairdryer, slide a small flat bladed screwdriver underneath and off the glass comes.

And it's pretty much impossible to mis-align the glass because the plastic frame has a lip around the edge and the glass fits snugly against it.

I can't understand how anybody can find it that difficult :confused:
Click to expand...

20mins? What kind of super hair dryer were you using. The adhesive just seemed to refuse to melt on my 3G. It's easier to mis-align than you think. The problem I had that if you use the doublesided sticky tape (as provided by iFixit) then you can't just pick it up and re-adjust. I got mine out by 1 mm and it stuck tight almost instantly. Coudn't get it re-adjusted to save my life. I also managed to accidentally take off the ruber seal, probably partly the hair dryers fault.

Look my point was for all the little tiny things that could go wrong, why not pay the extra and have a phone that acts/looks/works like new? It's certainly far less effort. Less than 2 mins from start to finish.

Drexel, on a side note do you have any experience with being able to bring seemingly bricked iPhones back to life?
 
Last edited:
JonB said:
20mins? What kind of super hair dryer were you using. The adhesive just seemed to refuse to melt on my 3G. It's easier to mis-align than you think. The problem I had that if you use the doublesided sticky tape (as provided by iFixit) then you can't just pick it up and re-adjust. I got mine out by 1 mm and it stuck tight almost instantly. Coudn't get it re-adjusted to save my life. I also managed to accidentally take off the ruber seal, probably partly the hair dryers fault.

Look my point was for all the little tiny things that could go wrong, why not pay the extra and have a phone that acts/looks/works like new? It's certainly far less effort. Less than 2 mins from start to finish.

Drexel, on a side note do you have any experience with being able to bring seemingly bricked iPhones back to life?
Click to expand...

^ This

I'm not 100% sure that these cheap £10 screens are of the same quality as Apple. You can also get it slightly out and once the sticky stuff grabs hold it isn't letting go. If it's not on 100% then the home button can sometimes stick. It's a cheap fix, not easy and your phone will never been as good as it once was.

Sell it as faulty and buy an iphone 4 :D
 
glen8 said:
^ This

I'm not 100% sure that these cheap £10 screens are of the same quality as Apple. You can also get it slightly out and once the sticky stuff grabs hold it isn't letting go. If it's not on 100% then the home button can sometimes stick. It's a cheap fix, not easy and your phone will never been as good as it once was.

Sell it as faulty and buy an iphone 4 :D
Click to expand...

Or buy an iPhone 3G display assembly (like I linked to above) which is a prebuilt LCD/Digitiser/Glass/Home button and earpiece and is super easy to replace (about 2 mins). No point getting rid of a perfectly good piece of kit.
 
Last edited:
JonB said:
Or buy an iPhone 3G display assembly (like I linked to above) which is a prebuilt LCD/Digitiser/Glass/Home button and earpiece and is super easy to replace (about 2 mins). No point getting rid of a perfectly good piece of kit.
Click to expand...

:eek: THAT is what I have been looking for. Jon, I'm really pleased you posted that as although the wifes phone is now in a working state the LCD does have a small light area at the top so Ideally needs replacing. Didn't fancy going through the pain of replacing the glass again.

I shall be buying this right now :D

Cheers mate
 
JonB said:
I had a screen that was far more shattered than the one above. I ended up with triangles of glass to take off and I cut my fingers a couple of times. :(
Click to expand...

I've done a fair few in similar states, you just have to keep putting the hairdryer on them then get underneath the small pieces with a tiny flat bladed screwdriver. It does get a little messy, but its really not that difficult.

JonB said:
20mins? What kind of super hair dryer were you using. The adhesive just seemed to refuse to melt on my 3G
Click to expand...

Just a standard hairdryer, I've never had one thats taken more than a couple of mins to soften the adhesive enough to slide a screwdriver between the glass and plastic frame.

JonB said:
It's easier to mis-align than you think. The problem I had that if you use the doublesided sticky tape (as provided by iFixit) then you can't just pick it up and re-adjust. I got mine out by 1 mm and it stuck tight almost instantly. Coudn't get it re-adjusted to save my life.
Click to expand...

You just have to put the edge of the glass up against the lip at an angle before 'lying' it on the frame. Do this and its perfectly aligned every time.

JonB said:
Drexel, on a side note do you have any experience with being able to bring seemingly bricked iPhones back to life?
Click to expand...

I assume you've tried a hard reset? Is it being detected in iTunes?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom