OMG I smashed the screen on my iPhone!

David Traver

Yep, it happened. I was at the Y for my toddlers' swimming lesson and my iPhone 3g slipped out of my pocket as I was getting dressed. It fell on the floor and ZAP the screen glass was broken into a zillion little spider webs. Surprise, the iPhone is exactly as fragile as an egg.

A call to Apple verified that they would not repair it, but they would be happy to sell me a refurbished iPhone for only $249. Review of prices on E-Bay revealed that is about the going market rate for a suitable used iPhone. No help there.

I searched the web for information about fixing the screen myself. How hard can it be? I build computers for a hobby, I can take apart a tractor and put back together. I can wire an entire house. I can change a diaper without taking off the snow suit! I can do this! From an hour's research on Google and Youtube I learned that the broken glass screen is inexorably welded by glue to a "digitizer." (The digitizer translates the finger motions and taps on the screen.) So, the digitizer and glass have to be replaced as a unit. Happily, I had not smashed the actual LED display (which shows the text and pictures). Good news! The glass and digitizer could be had for about $30.00!

However, further research showed that only Jesus could replace the glass and digitizer without screwing up the whole iPhone forever or cutting off a finger or two with a razor knife. It is the mother of all computer repair jobs. Good outcomes are highly unlikely, etc.

Happily, Jesus happens to work at http://missionrepair.com For $120 Mission Repair had the screen replaced as good as new and back to me within two business days. Yippie!

Moral one: Don't take off your pants with the iPhone in the pocket while standing on a concrete tile floor. Moral two: If it breaks, send it to Mission Repair.

Not my phone, damage may vary based upon the speed at which it hits the floor! Force equals the mass of the object times the speed squared. Two feet at 32 feet per second squared should get it going fast enough to do the trick

Olan Barnes · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1910 Location: Michigan

My son and daughter in law each have one - have to tell them to be careful.

My son however has a summer home where he can not use it and swears by the Magic Jack.

http://www.magicjack.com/2/?mid=304185

EdJohnson · Joined: 14 May 2004 Posts: 160

David Traver · Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 03:02 am Post subject:

The case did squat. Try this simple test. Drop a box of eggs on a concrete floor from waist high. Bingo! Broken eggs, in a case!

Olan Barnes · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1910 Location: Michigan

My son told me today that the screen is glass and not plastic and I suppose shit does happen?

David Traver · Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 03:29 pm Post subject:

iPhone 3g is an absolutely fabulous gadget and I felt like a homeless waif without it for a few days. The newest operating system, version 2.2.1 takes care of all of the operating problems that many people first experienced. The most common problem was that the Safari web browser kept crashing. It does not do that anymore. Also, the GPS was spotty at first and now it is right on the mark.

Be careful, however, not to upgrade to operating system version 2.2.1 if you ever want to unlock the phone so it will work with other sim cards at the end of your contract with AT&T. At this time it is possible to jailbreak the iPhone to work with Cydia and other sources of non-Apple software in ver. 2.2.1, but the unlock to make the iPhone work anywhere in the world with any sim card has not yet been developed for Ver. 2.2.1. It only works with Ver. 2.2.0. and it is not possible to get back to 2.2.0 from 2.2.1 in a way that will allow an unlock at this time. I have no intention of unlocking my iPhone, so I upgraded to 2.2.1 to get better function out of the gadget.

For more about this see: http://blog.iphone-dev.org/ and
http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/67797811/dont-eat-yellowsn0w (unlock the baseband with the yellowsn0w hack) and http://tinyurl.com/d3yq6p (more about yellowsn0w)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subscriber_Identity_Module (what is a sim card)

Olan Barnes · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1910 Location: Michigan

Being retired my gadget of choice is the:

http://www.roku.com/default.aspx

Olan Barnes · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1910 Location: Michigan

BTW how is your AT & T coverage doing for you?

David Traver · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 05:11 am Post subject:

At first the AT&T coverage out here in the sticks was pretty poor. So I added a WI-FI router to my home computer system and ran the data off of my DSL line. That's faster than 3G data over the air. After a few months AT&T added some cellular power out here and now I can use the 3G data just fine anywhere. So, I'll give AT&T a belated two thumbs up on voice and data service way out here in the boonies.

I'll stay with the company that bizarrely continues to use the Star Wars Death Star as its logo.

David Traver · Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 04:32 pm Post subject:

Update. I noticed that after the repair there was some tiny spots of dust inside the glass that I could not remove without opening the phone. I don't open iPhones. At first it was no big deal, but after a month of looking at it I decided it was time to ask Mission Repair to clean it up. It was an error in the repair, I figured they should fix it.

So, yesterday morning I called Mission Repair and explained the problem. They promptly e-mailed a FedEx return label to me. I put the phone in a box and dropped it off at my local FedEx shop last night about 6:00 p.m. This morning I received an E-mail from Mission Repair saying that the received the phone, replaced the glass, and that it has shipped. This is in the morning after I dropped it off at FedEx.

Nice service, eh?

The bottom line is that if you have a broken apple product, such as an iPhone, iPod, or laptop, they are the folks to fix it. Big thumbs up!

David Traver · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 02:45 am Post subject:

Somehow more dust got in under the glass screen. I called Mission Repair, they put me right through to the technician who had worked on my phone. He said send the phone in, and he would fix it for free.

It's on the way back from Mission Repair now. I can hardly wait.

That company has ridiculously good customer service. If you have a "busticated" Apple gadget, I suggest sending it to them for repair.

Olan Barnes · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1910 Location: Michigan

Is this not the second time? I think there is a charge?

David Traver · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 05:54 am Post subject:

Nope, free. I paid the postage.

David Traver · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 07:41 pm Post subject:

I found a local company (local to me) that does iPhone repair for about half the cost, and it's just as good. Also, they say that they are the goto folks for all of the iPhone work for AT&T stores in southeast Wisconsin.

So, if you smash you iPhone, check them out at http://midwestiphonerepair.com Ask for Patrick.