DIY Android Repair

About to try to fix a busted phone

You can only cheat fate so many times, and my luck had just run out.  I've been carrying smartphones since 2008 and never put one in a protective case.  The holster is more my style.  The nature of my job as a Telecommunications Manager has me carrying a host of different phones.  All my Blackberry's have tasted tarmac and iPhones have taken a tumble.  My favorite is the unplanned swim that a Blackberry 9180 took with me in Lake Cumberland.  After drying out the 9810 for a week and a installing new battery, he kept chugging along until the Z10 was born.  Unfortunately, the latest fad, a new Galaxy S4 jumped out of my hand after riding go-carts and faceplanted directly on the pavement.  Imagine the horror on my face as I turned the phone over, only to see a web that any spider would love to call home.

At this point, the choices were limited. 

1. Bleed to death while swiping through Facebook.
2. Buy a box of Band-Aids to use after typing a text.
3. Apply packing tape and hope the sensor can detect my fingers.
4. Put the phone in a ziplock bag and order some parts off the web.

#4 was my choice.  The usual suspects (YouTube, Amazon, etc.) were employed to look at alternatives.  A new S4 runs about $650, sensor plus new glass $200, tools needed for replacement glass $45, and replacement glass $5.  That's right, the part that breaks all the time is only $5.  I opted for the $45 solution and worst case was spending another $200 to get a new sensor.

The glass on your phone only has one special property.  It conducts bio-electricity from your finger to the sensor on the phone.  The sensor has all the smarts to know if you clicked, pinched, or zoomed.  Under the sensor is the display, which was my downfall in this repair.  The glass is simply glued onto the sensor.  Warning: YouTube make this look easy, but it's not.

Here are all the tools necessary for a glass repair.

• Heat gun:  About $25.  Don't use a hairdryer, or you'll be trying to get your glass off until this time next week.  A heat gun is hotter, and more powerful.  Mine was just fine on the low setting.  I already had one of these for the unwritten "boat blog".
• New glass:  $5.  If you already have the tools.
• New glass kit:  The $15 kit on Amazon had glass, guitar picks, a suction cup, and screwdrivers.  Go ahead and throw away the screwdrivers, because you'll tear up your phone with them.  Since I only used the guitar pick out of the kit, it would be cheaper next time to just buy the glass and pick up a handful of guitar picks at a music store.
• UV Glue:  $10.  Also called LOCA.  The glue doesn't harden until you hit it with UV light.  The best ranked glue on Amazon had enough glue to fix about 5 phones (10ml).
• UV Flashlight:  $10.  Used to set the glue.  This one had plenty of power.
• Sunglasses:  $20 at Wal-Mart.  UV light is not good to get in your eyes.  Put these babies on when setting the glue.

Heat Gun

 

Use guitar pick to push between
glass and sensor.  Don't pry!!! 

Carrying a Galaxy G4 in a ziplock bag is totally uncool.  After all the parts arrived, I jumped all over it.  To start, remove the back cover and take out the battery, SIM card, and any memory cards.   Hit the glass with a heat gun about 3 inches away, low setting, for 3-5 minutes.  Hairdryers will work, but take much longer.  Heat guns are much faster, and all the patience you can muster is necessary for the job.  The next step was my worst mistake on this repair.  I used a tiny screwdriver to get under the glass to start pulling it up.  Don't do this.  The best way to start is in a corner of the phone.  If the glass doesn't come up, keep hitting it with the heat gun.  Also, never pry the glass out.  Go in with a guitar pick flat against the glass.  If the glass is badly shattered, put a strip of packing tape on it to keep the glass in one piece.  You'll need to hit the phone with the heat gun several more times and go sloooooooooooooooooooooooow.  Don't pry, just keep working the pick between the glass and sensor and peel it off like a sticker that you don't want to tear.  Some phones have buttons that are attached to the glass via a small ribbon, so be careful to pop them off the glass to avoid breaking the ribbon.

Old glass.  What a mess.

Once the glass comes off, use Windex or alcohol to clean the sensor.  This was the longest part of the journey.  I kept rubbing the glue into a ball and wiping it off with a paper towell.  When the sensor is clear of glue, it's time to get LOCA. 

The old glue was a big mess and time consuming to remove

Watch a couple of YouTube videos before applying the glue.  The good guys take about 30 minutes, lowering the glass onto the phone an pressing all the bubbles out.  Apply way more glue that what you think is enough.  I put on 2ml with a big blob in the middle and used an X pattern going out to the edges of the phone.  Probably 2.5ml would have worked better.  Be careful not to get any glue on the buttons on the bottom of the phone.  They're real buttons that need movement and contact, so don't glue them down.  Once you work out all the bubbles, wipe off the glue from around the phone, and use some Windex to clean any glue off the top of the glass.  Mine was a big mess and took a long time to get the glass clean.  The "pro's" make it look simple, and it's really not.

New Glass

Now put on some sunglasses and fire up the UV flashlight.  The kids and I had some fun in the basement shining the UV light on their toys to make them light up funny colors.  The Nerf bullets and my shoelaces were the coolest, because they glowed really bright.  This flashlight can damage your eyes just like the sun, so be careful.  Mine is kept high up on the shelf, so the kids won't play with it.  Hit the glass for 3-5 minutes, and the  UV rays harden the glue before you know it. 


So how did the phone turn out?  Not so great.  The job was about 2 hours and $45.  The initial place where I pried up the glass with a screwdriver now glows with a pinkish hue.  The ping blob runs 3/4" into the phone, which totally sucks.  The touch screen functions perfectly, but there are a few air bubbles in the glue.  The bubbles aren't so bad, but the phone looks a little less than professional.  What about fixing broken phones for all my buddies and charging a bottle of bourbon?  Not going to happen.  The next repair would only need a $5 piece of glass, but my dreams of opening up a phone repair shop in the basement are about as cracked as the glass that came off the phone.  The pink blob could probably be avoided on the next one, but the job is tedious, time consuming, and more skill is needed to do a good job than the average person possesses.  I just don't have the experience or patience for the job, so my recommendation would be to pay an expert $100 and ship off the phone.

Am I bummed?  More than a little, but the phone is functional with minimal spend, and the ziplock bag is in the trash.  Is a new sensor on order yet?  No.  Pink is my new favorite color.

Not my best work

I don't recommend this job for DIY