DIY Phone and tablet repairs ?

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Was going to say teenagers and phones but wife now added to the picture.

What mobile phone repairs are you prepared to do yourself ?

I've built up a mobile device toolkit over the last 12 months, and (with the help of youtube), have progressed pretty well in my skills...50 year old eyes need help.

First was a samsung tablet screen
Daughter's Hawai Honor 5x has had
* two screens (stupid suction cup spinner that the teenagers were all sticking on them last year)
* charging port (that's why you don't wander around the house texting with a spare battery swining by the cord.
Wife's Galaxy J5, two weeks old, she dropped in a puddle while getting stung by bullants...did the screen the other day, thinking the phone was a brick, but $80 is cheaper than $400.

So any of you do your own mobile repairs ?

It's quite satisfying.
 
Yes I've done a bunch. Camera replacement, battery replacement, you name it.

Most annoying one was the loud speaker (the one used for speaker phone) wouldn't work. The module for it didn't just plug into a board. In order for them to save space and make the phone thinner, they just laid the flat loud speaker on top of the main board and the contacts between the two touch just because the phone is holding them together.

I replaced the speaker, still didn't work. Puzzled I pushed down on the speaker and it worked. Fix was just to put a little bit of folded scotchtape on top of speaker so that when the phone goes together, the speaker module is being pushed harder.
 
My Galaxy needs a new battery; it's 2 years old. I know the case comes apart with the help of a heat gun. The battery is $30 and I think shops charge $40 labor. I'm thinking it's worth $40 to pay someone to do it.
 
Do yourself a favor of putting a Tampered Glass screen protector on any phone to prevent screen break.
 
Originally Posted By: JMJNet
Do yourself a favor of putting a Tampered Glass screen protector on any phone to prevent screen break.


I do with all of them daughter's tempered screen cracked badly, so she took it off before dropping it. Wifes was into a puddle...don't know whether it was shock or water, but the screen worked, just the touch aspect was lost...making phone useless.
 
I Just Upgraded to a Pixel 2.
I've Since ordered a replacement Battery and replacement back panel for my old MotoX Pure(MotoX Style overseas), once it's back up and running, and wiped, pass it down to my nephew. He's Currently using my old 1st Gen MotoX.
I've never done this kind of phone Surgery, but i have watched a couple how two vids. it doesn't look TOO complex...
 
I swapped the screen on my wife's HTC evo 4g about 6 years ago. Went OK. Double sided tape? Lol
Knock on Wood haven't needed any other repairs since then.
 
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I’m reasonably adept and patient so I tried to replace the shattered screen on an iPhone with a screen replacement kit. It was an Epic Fail due to the tiny electricsl connectors that I didn’t get right. I ended up taking it to the Apple store and paying them a flat rate US $129 repair fee. So I ended up paying Apple, plus whatever the aftermarket screen cost. Tried to negotiate a lower price with Apple since I already had a replacement screen but of course they refused to use anything but their screen. They also ran some sort of diagnostic test on it.

I think next time I will just pay someone instead of trying it myself first.
 
I won't work on phones unless it's my own, but I will tear a laptop completely down to individual components without a second thought. I used to do it for a living.
 
I cracked a screen once - simple enough.

The time I drove over an iPhone? It still worked, but it was $269 well spent at apple.
 
Recently swapped out the broken USB jack in wife's KOBO arc 7

I'm a retired electronics tech but that was more like working with grains of salt & pepper
lol.gif


Replace keyboard on wife's ASUS laptop as well .....

I still have a box of 6GH8s in the basement but they don't work in a smartphone.
21.gif


(I wonder how many 12AX7s it would take to duplicate an new iPhone?)
 
at some point in time, it will be impossible to repair due to ever
smaller SMD (surface mount devices), glued layers to thin things out,
and hard to find replacement parts, assemblies, and subassemblies.

unless you are tied to a device/brand, there are phones that
are wireless chargeable, have screens that do not crack (film displays)
and great battery life.

had one for about 2.5 years with still strong battery (unlike Galaxy)
dropped lots of times with NO cracks (unlike iPhones). had lots
of others.

my bonus is that this is a true world phone, runs CDMA in the US,
and GSM elsewhere.

they are out there. just need to overcome brand loyalty.
 
Screen and battery only, I'm not touching any SMT PCB these days, many chips have no packaging on it (just bare silicon) due to size limitation, one press is enough to crack it.
 
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