Cell Phone Screen Repairs: Do-It-Yourself or Hire a 3rd Party?

The proliferation of large glass touchscreens on cell phones has caused an epidemic of broken screens. Replacing a high-end cell phone can cost $400 or more. We examine two much less expensive options: Repair it yourself or hire a 3rd party.
By: Matt McCormick
 
May 3, 2011 - PRLog -- Starting in 2007, Apple changed the cell phone industry forever by releasing the iPhone. While it's big, beautiful glass screen allowed users to do a lot more than just talk and text, it had one major enemy: Gravity. This new glass screen did not survive well when dropped. SquareTrade did a study in 2009 showing that 1 in 5 iPhones were broken by users through an accident.

The thing is, as long as the iPhone didn't break, everyone loved it! This meant that all of Apple's competitors had to start putting big, beautiful, glass touchscreens on their phones. The result has been many amazing new cell phones arriving to market the past few years. But along with all the great features, comes the drawback of much more fragile phones.

Matt McCormick, owner of Jet City Device Repair ( http://www.jcdrepair.com ), knows this first-hand because he and his team have fixed thousands of broken cell phone screens. If his experience is any indication, it's not just an iPhone problem. "We see the entire line of Verizon Droid phones," he says, "as well the Samsung Galaxy S devices, the MyTouch 4G, Motorola Atrix, and many more. It really doesn't matter who makes it, if it has a big glass touchscreen on it, it'll break."

The question is, what to do if your cell phone screen breaks? A lot of people's initial reaction is to go back to the store they bought it in and try to get it fixed or replaced. Unfortunately, all cell phone carriers consider a broken screen to be a non-warranty issue so they won't replace your phone for free. If you're lucky, they'll at least tell you how to get your phone fixed through the manufacturer. Apple, HTC, and Motorola all offer non-warranty repairs that range from $75-$200 (plus shipping) depending on the phone. This option can be good but it tends to be expensive and can take 2-4 weeks.

Another option is buying a new phone. This is a horrible option. That iPhone 4 you just bought for $199 is going to cost you $499 or more to replace now that you're under a two-year contract. So that brings us to the last two options: Try to fix the phone yourself or have a 3rd party fix it for you.

Do-It-Yourself Cell Phone Repair

If done right, this will be your least expensive option. If done wrong, this option can have you pulling your hair apart and then spending even more money than simply buying a new phone. If you're confident you can do it, the necessary parts and tools can usually be found on Ebay and often there will be a video showing how to take the phone apart.

A quick warning about the repair videos. Most of them are done by companies trying to sell you parts. Because of this, they have an incentive to make the repair look simple. They often take the phone apart before hand, loosen the necessary adhesives, put the phone back together, and then redo the "repair" for the camera. It's almost certain that your phone will not pull apart as easily as they make it look. Also, you'll notice that many of these videos stop as soon as the phone is taken apart and don't show you how to put it back together again. The reassembly is often the hardest part.

That said, if you're familiar with small electronics repair or just have a knack for fixing things, this can not only be an inexpensive route to go but even a little bit of fun. The big catch is that if you don't do it right, you might go from a phone that still worked, but had an ugly crack in the glass, to a phone that doesn't work at all anymore.

Hiring a 3rd Party Repair Shop

For the vast majority of people, this is very likely the best repair option. It's a lot less expensive than a new phone, often less expensive and almost always a lot faster than a manufacturer repair, and, if it's a reputable company doing the work, they will guarantee the repair will be done right.

"I have personally fixed thousands of cell phones," again, Matt McCormick with Jet CIty Device Repair, "I can tell you that every single smartphone has something that makes the repair difficult. Our policy is to buy a broken phone and fix it before we start fixing that particular phone for customers. I do this personally and my business partner Tom, loves it when I call him with the verdict on a repair. It goes like this: 'This repair isn't too bad. It's a lot like the Droid. There's just this one thing that's tricky...' It cracks him up every time."

You see, every phone seems to have some small thing that makes it hard to fix. Take the iPhone 3GS as an example. There's a little connector (labeled #3) that's a real pain the first time you try to fix the phone. If you're not careful, you can snap the connector off the motherboard and then the phone won't power up anymore.

Then there's the iPhone 4 screen repair which requires 26 tiny screws be removed. If that wasn't enough, most of them are different kinds of screws and you have to remember exactly where each of them goes. If you don't have a system for this, you won't remember.

According to Mr. McCormick, one of the trickiest repairs they do is the HTC Evo. The glass touchscreen is actually taped directly to the LCD. Removing the touchscreen without breaking the LCD requires the use of a heat gun, a very small flathead screwdriver, and an extreme amount of care. If you don't do it right, you'll be shelling out another $70 for a new LCD.

This list can go on and on but you get the picture. Every phone has something that makes it hard to fix and, if you don't do it right, you could end up leaving your phone in a much worse state. In addition, you'll have to do the research on where to get the part, buy it, wait for it, and then spend a good part of an evening trying to figure out how to fix your phone.

Going with a reputable 3rd party repair shop, like Jet City Device Repair, might cost you a bit more cash up front, but in the end, you may very likely find it to be a much better value than trying to figure it out yourself.

# # #

Jet City Device repair is a Seattle based cell phone repair company offering repairs for the iPhone, Android Phones, and more. In-person repairs available in Chicago and Seattle. Mail-in services nationwide. For details see: http://www.jcdrepair.com
End
Source:Matt McCormick
Email:***@jetcitydevices.com Email Verified
Zip:98103
Tags:Cracked Cell Phone Repair
Industry:Electronics, Technology, Telecom
Location:Seattle - Washington - United States
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