Another screen broken advice needed - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello all,
I bought a Galaxy S4 for my partner, and stupidly didn't get it insured.
The screen got cracked quite badly, so fr £120 a local lad put a new screen on. Later that week it got dropped onto mud on the way to nursery and smashed entirely.
I now have a predicament, either give up the phone and go back to my sluggish s3, or ask you guys this question:
Where is the best and most value for money place to get a smashed screen fixed (you can't see anything just a rim of light) somewhere reputable that will use genuine parts and guarantee their work? I really don't want to just leave it on the shelf and am worried that without good advice I will end up with another shabby repair.
Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks and Happy Christmas,
Ric

If you only break the front glass like what happened to mine, you can get new glass for £5 and DIY. (If you're confident working on things like that - it is a bit of a nightmare of a job to separate the glass from the touch sensor)
But if there's no picture on the screen at all then you've killed it completely. A new full screen assembly is about £90 on eBay I think, so £120 is about the right price for someone to do it for you.
BTW, the first time you broke your screen, if you could still see the picture on the screen was fine, then the guy probably charged you £120 to change the £5 front glass. I've heard of people getting ripped off like that.
Most of the time it is just the front glass that is broken. Unfortunately this latest time, it sounds like you've been unlucky.
You could always take out phone insurance, leave it a couple of months, and then the screen breaks.

knuckles1978 said:
If you only break the front glass like what happened to mine, you can get new glass for £5 and DIY. (If you're confident working on things like that - it is a bit of a nightmare of a job to separate the glass from the touch sensor)
But if there's no picture on the screen at all then you've killed it completely. A new full screen assembly is about £90 on eBay I think, so £120 is about the right price for someone to do it for you.
BTW, the first time you broke your screen, if you could still see the picture on the screen was fine, then the guy probably charged you £120 to change the £5 front glass. I've heard of people getting ripped off like that.
Most of the time it is just the front glass that is broken. Unfortunately this latest time, it sounds like you've been unlucky.
You could always take out phone insurance, leave it a couple of months, and then the screen breaks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ha, the first time the phone broke, my misses threw it against a metal door obliterating the top and matrix thingy so an extensive repair was required. I'm well aware of the £5 DIY jobby hairdryer thing but this second breaking is again both screens, and I don't want a shabby repair I want the original screen part so that it is as strong as it can possibly be. I paid this guy £120, but the screen was so weak it broke dropping on mud! SO I still need to know, where can I get it fixed with genuine Samsung parts? Samsung only? Are the any reputable companies members would use to have their £500 phones repaired?
Thanks to the guy that replied I can't see your name now I'm replying somehow...

In pretty sure there aren't any fake AMOLED screens, not like phones that use LCD - there are hundreds of fake LCD's for those phones. But there are fake front glass panels.
If I wanted to make sure that genuine parts were used I'd order the screen assembly up from eBay myself. You can order it up as a complete front assembly from eBay, and it's a very easy job to change the whole thing over yourself, if you're reasonably confident about tackling things like that. Just make sure it's described as 'Genuine Samsung', and not 'Samsung panel genuine for i9505' or suchlike. If it's described as 'Genuine Samsung', then you have comeback of its not.
I've fixed a good few phones though, and all the times I've ordered parts as I've described above, it has been the real deal. It's pretty easy to tell the fake front glass panels.
Changing the front glass only with hairdryer etc is a sh!tty job, but changing a whole front panel which has the chrome effect plastic trim piece, AMOLED, touch sensor, and front glass already assembled is a piece of p!ss...

I would totally recommend just getting it fixed... plenty of tutorials online to follow. Watch a few of them and see if it is something you are comfortable doing yourself. I've done it and found it to be quite simple. But, it all depends on your comfort level with repairing things...

I think getting it fixed is the idea, yes lol
I was saying though that since it's the whole thing that is broken and needs changed, and not just the front glass, the job is much easier. It's just a case of taking a few screws out and swapping the whole front assembly. On a difficulty rating out of 10 I give it a 4
If you watch a couple of videos on YouTube first, and you take it nice and carefully, I'd say this is a job that most people could handle.

Related

Busted Outer Glass of LCD

Well I dropped my G1 the other day and it busted the outer glass part. The LCD is fine and it still works perfect. I have looked everywhere,with no luck of finding any parts for them. So I called HTC and they told me 150-250 to replace the glass!! So I was wondering if any one know anyone that does G1 Repair or if anyone know of another phone that has more ava. parts for it with a 3.17" Screen? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Nope, I got AT&T. Was thinking of taking apart the phone and getting the glass measurements and having a custom cut piece of glass.
i believe its a special type of glass
Pretty much stuck buying the glass from HTC on this one ...sorry
PS... it is glass
iphone 3g - Dream lcd
I read that the same screen is in use on the iphone 3g, I doubt its true they probably meant type or sumthin, maybe worth a check...
on the old palm pdas you could replace just the glass if the layer under it isn't damaged, this may no longer be possible with these screens, once the bigtime flashing begins there will be lots of bricks available pretty cheap, maybe you should keep an eye out for somebody who pooched the dev bootloader install then after you convince them they killed it you could buy it maybe for less than the HTC price...
gotta say, that sucks if you were a tmob customer you'd have a few options...
bhang
Hello. Don't you think It's weird that it happened to me too today?
I've never had a broke phone since my Nokia 8210.
Well, some idiot had placed out one of those kinds of plastic bands you use to seal packages with, a black one.
It was pitch dark and I fell as the plastic ring got snared around my feet. Obviously my Jabra bt3030 got pushed against the screen and it got severely cracked.
My insurance company seems to be covering the whole phone except a small sum. This was from the phone part, but I got to see if I can get something from the health insurance as I hit my head and scratched my hand (though not likely but I can always try)
The touch seems to work most of the time, though it reacts slowly but some times It's just dead.
This really sucks.
I'm dead serious when I'm talking that there was no way that the band could be seen when walking.
http://www.allshadow.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4226&view=unread
Some info there.
aad4321 said:
yeah i dont think it is really even "glass" mabye its a type of plexiglass?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is glass. But you can not simply cut a piece of glass to the same dimension as the touchscreen is integrated into the glass cover. So yes you will need to get a htc or aftermarket replacement part.
The interesting thing is that the repair cost you quoted is identical to the cost of the copay if you go with the Asurion device insurance T-mo offers. So device insurance would just be a waste of money at $5 a month if you end up with broken glass.
Looks like I will just have to hold onto it until aftermarket parts come out. I busted mine by letting it slip out of my hand while talking on it....then it took a 6ft fall to eventually land face first on concrete.....I didnt even wanna pick it up cause i new it was messed up and if it wasnt I was gonna call HTC and give them props! I have a ava. upgrade from AT&T Maybe get a Iphone until this one gets fixed then sale iphone on ebay for 5x wuts its worth.
The iphone's screen seems to crack pretty nice as well.
I hope changing the glass on the G1 isn't as frustrating as on the Iphone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT7wRXeYsyg
edit:
Not directing this to the message above, just saying.
Cracked screen replacement with compatible HW from third party --when?
I cracked the LCD of my G1 after about three weeks and have noted that neither PPCTechs nor MobileKangaroo have yet acquired a source for the replacement screen.
My understanding is that HTC currently charges what one thread in another forum (http://www.allshadow.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4226) quoted as "a minimum of $238.00" to make this repair.
I expect this repair to be offered soon by third parties for about $150, likely using a non-HTC screen product to replace the damaged one.
Has anyone heard any reports about forthcoming availability of such hardware? If so, then are there any non-HTC services to make the replacement?
yeah im looking for this too...i dropped mine and then proceeded to step on it day two with the phone.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=280303279632
WooHoo 2 items left as of this copy paste. $80, not bad price.
Shaggy
They have on Ebay now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=280303279632
2 items left, $80 cost, get them b4 they gone
Shaggy
This waht i found out
so have the same issue and this is what I found out
so from my understanding there are 2 part to the lcd the outer glass touch sensor and the inner lcd. if the the screen is just cracked and you can see the image the u have to replace both. attached are the part descriptions fromt he g1 service manual. and below is a link of a site that sells them, but for some reason they sell the touch scrren with the outer bezel making it cost more. i called htc to order just the touch sensor glass but they said the dont sell replacements, they just fix em
link
Shagman68 said:
They have on Ebay now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=280303279632
2 items left, $80 cost, get them b4 they gone
Shaggy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I contacted the seller of the screen and he/she told me that It's only the screen. If the G1 cracks It's the digitizer glass that cracks first. Then if you are unlucky the screen cracks as well. I managed to only crack the digitizer glass. The screen beneath is totally fine. Unfortunately removing the glass from the digitizer plastic was very painful and I managed to wreck the flat cable of the digitizer so that's beyond repair. Now I tried to disassemble the whole phone but I got stuck at removing the housing. First I had problems with the Torx bits. I have some Torx bits in my sets but the lowest I got was T8. I had to buy a cellphone bits set with a lot of different types of bits. It had Torx all the way down to T4. The T5 and T6 was what I needed. There are 4 T5 to remove and one T6. I have inserted the sharp plastic between the housing and the top case and released all hooks but it seems the front and back part of the housing of the phone is dead stuck.
You have to open the whole damn phone from the back to get to the inside of the screen. Why the screen housing uses standard Philips is also beyond me. I have lots of bad experience with standard Philips screws. The heads always get bad after a while of screwing. I have yet to have a problem with Torx.

Cracked screen - screen protector

Hi all, I cracked the screen on my HD2 a few days ago and have been eagerly reading the reports of how to replace the digitiser, etc. I'm working up the courage (and getting the tools) to do it, but in the meantime the digitiser and screen are perfectly functional, if a little bit unsightly. I thought I'd get hold of a screen protector in the meantime so I don't end up with bits of glass in my fngers, etc. Any recommendations of a form fitting protector (or form fitting case) that would fit the bill? Ideally it would cover the bezel around the buttons too, because one corner of it is quite chipped. The pics on ebay are kind of hard to tell from. Any advice much appreciated!
I might be too late as you mentioned that you already getting the tools to fix it yourself. There are specialty repair shops that fix screens, I heard they are not too expensive. I don't know the exact price, but someone with a broken nexus one got his phone fixed this way. Do you mind telling how you cracked your screen, was it your negligence or is it too fragile?
I'm not looking for info about how to repair - I've read those threads. I'm interested in the best temporary fix for the meantime.
The cracked screen is largely due to negligence... dropped it outside. Woulda been nice if the phone was a little more sturdy, but can't expect much better. And thank God it still works just fine as far as I can tell. Gonna be more careful now...

[Q] LCD replacement

SO, my brother dropped the phone and slammed the car door shut. the phone still works and the glass (yay gorilla glass, lol) is fine. but the inside lcd screen is cracked. so i need a new screen and digitizer. i looked at the the steps and the replacement seems fairly simple.
the problem is finding the right vendor. all the replacement parts say "LCD" screen. but isn't ours super amoled.
the 2 places that have replacement parts are
http://www.repairsuniverse.com/samsung-fascinate-i500-lcd-touch-screen-replacement.html
but i read some reviews and they are quite sketchy.
and the other is ebay.
i know these both of these aren't OEM but i guess i just need the phone to work.
does anyone recommend where to buy the screen. price and reliability wise.
I would definitely stick with an amoled screen replacement...even if you have to get samsung to do it because I wouldn't think that you can just replace the amoled screen with an LCD one willy nilly and it work as intended... especially considering the amoled is a completely different screen type... im in no way an expert on this though its just my 2 cents on what i would personally do.
the problem is that i dont know where i can buy the oem part from samsung. and the screen on repairs universe says super amoled (LCD).
i looked on craigslist and the cheapest fascinate was 260 dollars.
i guess i will try the repairs universe product.
Things like this make me glad I have insurance.
Sent from my Super Clean Voodoo Fascinate
replacing the screen
So I was in the same boat until about 2 hours ago. Last Saturday I dropped my phone on the ground when I was getting out of my car and did not notice it. I was visiting my friend and noticed i did not have my phone so I thought i left it at home. Long story short, either i or the person who parked in the spot i was parked in afterward ran over my phone when it was screen down on the pavement. to make things worse by the time i backtracked far enough and found the phone it had snowed about a quarter inch. I thought everything was okay until i noticed that the top left hand corner was extremely cracked. Surprisingly enough though the phone still worked. Heart broken because one of the things i love to do is to put my friends quality of screens to shame with the quality of the fascinates screen.
The link you posted to repairsuniverse.com is the same place I ordered my screen from on Saturday night. I was worried that I would not get the screen I needed or just the glass and not the LCD.... yada yada yada... In my hasty research i did before I bought the replacement screen, I seen somewhere that it was the super-amoled touch screen that came originally with the phone. So after looking for any competitive pricing and finding none, i bought it.
I got the replacement screen today and it took me about 2 hours to replace it. It feels like the same screen, the touch response is the same and the amazing clarity is there as well. I don't know if you can order the glass of the screen separate or not. It took me 2 hours to replace the screen because it was a pain in the arse getting the old cracked screen all out. It came out in like 100 pieces. Not like the you tube video that was essential to my successful transplant. When I was examining the new screen, I did notice some samsung markings on some of the hardware on the back of it. I do think the screen that I got from them is an OEM part. Not only because of the samsung markings but of how the screen was matching up color wise everywhere with the old screen. But I did not see how it could be sold as 2 different items. Everything matched up great when installing as well. And it does have the verizon and samsung logos just like my original screen.
The price was worth it to me since i scored the phone off amazon for a penny. I am very impressed that the damn thing was even usable after being ran over by car. My htc touch pro would have never survived
Needless to say that I have working almost like it as good as new. The bottom buttons are all persnickity now, I might have missed taking off the back plastic on the screen in that area. I don't know. the buttons were more responsive on the cracked screen than they are now, so i don't think that it is the side effect of being run over by car. So I might have to take it off and check that out, the rest of the screen is just like new with looks and response. I may just be blowing the buttons out of proportion because i am looking for anything that I may have done wrong with the install.
I would go with this screen if i was in your shoes. Good luck I hope it works out.
and
I guess they are separate parts, I just looked at the sight and noticed this
Full Screen Assembly. Both super AMOLED (LCD) and Glass touch screen digitizer pre-installed.
after switching them out I know i don't have the expertise to put them together, unless another handy you tube how to video was done!
thanks turtle, your post encouraged me to buy the part from repair universe.
i was worried because i read reviews and they were really shady (screen comes broken in shoddy packaging and they refuse to give you a refund.)
how in the world did you get the screen to stick to the phone. did you use your own adhesive glue or use the stuff already on the phone. i kind of ripped it all off when i was taking off the screen.
wow thanks for the very informative post, I'm not in this issue right now but I have had friends crack a screen. Good to know its pretty straightforward.

Anyone gone through front glass replacement?

Recently got a GS5 and my mom doesn't have a phone right now so I'm handing my N4 down to her. The front glass is cracked and I wanted to get that fixed before I do. The digitizer and lcd are not broken, just the glass, everything else looks and functions fine. I guess what my question is, if I take it to a repair shop can they just replace the front glass or am I looking at around 100ish to replace it all? I'll be going in and getting quoted but just wanted to see if I got any input from here first, it will likely be a week or so before I take it anywhere due to this damn weather.
wareju said:
Recently got a GS5 and my mom doesn't have a phone right now so I'm handing my N4 down to her. The front glass is cracked and I wanted to get that fixed before I do. The digitizer and lcd are not broken, just the glass, everything else looks and functions fine. I guess what my question is, if I take it to a repair shop can they just replace the front glass or am I looking at around 100ish to replace it all? I'll be going in and getting quoted but just wanted to see if I got any input from here first, it will likely be a week or so before I take it anywhere due to this damn weather.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The same thing happened with my friends N4. The glass, digitizer and LCD all had to be replaced as they all come as one unit. Cannot get them separately.
Amazon/ebay has parts where you can just order the LCD/Digitizer etc, but then to separate them you have to have a heat gun etc. if you touch any part by mistake you will get finger prints or smudges permanently. So not a good idea unless you are one of those super careful person. http://www.ebay.com/itm/LG-Nexus-4-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
if you are handy, you can order the whole assembly online (amazon) for about 60 bucks or so) http://www.amazon.com/Touch-Screen-...r=8-1&keywords=nexus+4+lcd+screen+replacement
I personally got it replaced in So Flo for about 95 dollars + tax. I have been quoted about 140 at a chain fix up places.
bluesteve3 said:
The same thing happened with my friends N4. The glass, digitizer and LCD all had to be replaced as they all come as one unit. Cannot get them separately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure they do. FYI, the "glass" is[ the digitizer. If "everything works", then technically all that needs replacing is the digitizer.
However, digitizer replacement is far from an easy thing to do. Not only does it require some specialist equipment (suction cups, heat gun, glue), you're probably going to screw it up unless you've done it before.
wareju said:
Recently got a GS5 and my mom doesn't have a phone right now so I'm handing my N4 down to her. The front glass is cracked and I wanted to get that fixed before I do. The digitizer and lcd are not broken, just the glass, everything else looks and functions fine. I guess what my question is, if I take it to a repair shop can they just replace the front glass or am I looking at around 100ish to replace it all? I'll be going in and getting quoted but just wanted to see if I got any input from here first, it will likely be a week or so before I take it anywhere due to this damn weather.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can buy just the screen assembly off eBay for about $45, which has the digitizer already mated with the LCD. However, this requires removal from the bezel (again, a heat gun is recommended), then gluing the new one back in. For $60 you can get the entire front assembly (hey, brand new phone!), which is the easiest way to go about things. I'd also recommend buying a new battery ($20) and replacing the old, tired one while you've got the phone apart.
It's not all that difficult to do it yourself. You'll need a T5 TORX driver, something thin, sturdy and plastic to pry the phone halves apart (you can buy screen assemblies that come with all these tools), and some patience. Do everything on a fluffy white towel so the little screws don't get lost. The tricky part is the little rubber gasket thingy that goes over the proximity/light sensor module. Most people who have done a screen replacement have found that reassembly screws up the prox sensor, causing it to always read "near" (meaning during a call the screen will stay off and you can't hang up or use the dialer). The common fix is to put the gasket in backwards.
There are a number of threads here, some youtube videos, and a good teardown tutorial on ifixit.com.
I thought the digitizer was what recognized touch input? Either way I don't think I'll be doing any of this work myself, I'll just take it up somewhere for her for the repairs.
wareju said:
I thought the digitizer was what recognized touch input?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is. It's built into the front panel of glass (which is made up of a bunch of different layers of stuff). Don't ask me how it works, it's all magic to me. But when you break the front glass, yet everything still works, that's the digitizer. If you look up digitizers on eBay you'll see that it's the front glass panel, with a cable and other electronic stuff attatched.
Either way I don't think I'll be doing any of this work myself, I'll just take it up somewhere for her for the repairs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's honestly not all that difficult to do yourself. Hell, send me the phone and screen assembly, and I'll do it for free. Seriously. I'll even through in a couple TPU cases I'm not using.
If you do take it somewhere for repairs, make sure you ask what they're doing. Replacing the screen assembly, or replacing the digitizer. For a $100 fee, it could be either. They could buy a $20 digitizer and the remaining $80 is in labor, but it'll take them a lot of time and effort, or it could be a $45/$60 screen assembly that takes far less time and effort to do. Personally, it costing the same, I'd rather have the screen assembly replaced, since replacing only the digitizer can lead to complications. Since it has to be reglued onto the LCD, you might get bubbles, dust/lint, dead spots, and that rainbow affect when you hold it in the light at the right angle.

[Q] Replace digitizer or whole screen?

Long story short, I have a LG G2 VS980W with a busted digitizer and glass. The LCD screen is fine, as there is no discoloration or dead pixels.
If I get it working, it will be used as a toy. I don't want to make a huge investment in it, hence not getting it done by someone else, but I would like it to be as easy as possible. I have no issue going into the components and swapping things within the phone itself, and I have looked up a number of dissemble replacement guides and videos and deal comfortable doing it myself.I have no issue opening the phone, but I never swapped out a digitizer or screen.
Would it be better for me to try and swap out just the digitizer, or get an already assembled screen, digitizer, and glass to replace it all at once?
I'd say you should get a new screen. I got one for pretty cheap Ebay and it's working great.
The screen is pretty easy to break/crack while removing the digitizer.
I bought a Z3 to do this but the screen was shattered (my father, who did this fixes phones/laptops)
Even for experienced people, it is a tough job.
There's a high chance of cracking the glass and ending up wasting your time and money.
I am typing this as I wait for a whole LCD + digitizer assembly for the Z3 lol
Changing this kind of digitizers takes a LOT of patience, a good heater, and the correct tools.
I personally opened like 10 phones already and always perfect, thoug I know my limits and know that I don't have what it takes. ( the phone whould end up smashing the wall for sure )
Seems like spending a little more for the set is easier and safer in terms of me damaging something with this little repair.
Just ordered a replacement LCD, digitizer, glass, and frame off E-Bay for the LG G2!
It was $55, $5 more then without the frame. Having the frame not only makes installing it easier & I don't need to worry about the cracks that are on the current one!
It's coming from China, so hopefully in about two or three weeks I'll have a brand new toy!
Thanks for the input sjk971005 and Chonwey!

Categories

Resources