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Shwonx

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 31, 2009
95
0
Hey guys. So today the thing I've been dreading since I got my phone 2 years ago happened. I dropped my iPhone 3gs and shattered the screen. I still have a year left in my contract, and would like to fix this on my own, but there are so many different products online that claim to fix my issue that I don't know what to get!

What parts do I need? I live in Canada. Is this what I need, or do I need the LCD front cover as well as the back digitizer?

http://www.amazon.ca/Replacement-iP...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1316821278&sr=1-2
 
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The digitizer is the front glass you touch. The LDC is separate and mounted to the back of the digitizer. They are independently replaceable. Digitizer is likely the only thing you broke and runs likely under $30 with the mid frame, prox sensor, new home button, earpiece speaker.

I got my parts off ebay, but the quality wasn't as good as apples. Glass anti-reflective coating wasn't as good. Otherwise a fairly easy and cheap fix.
 
I'm not overly concerned about the quality, as it will be better than my current (And previous) conditions.

The link i provided has everything I need?
 
Something like this is going to be so much easier IMO.

http://www.amazon.ca/iPhone-3gS-Scr...6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1316822372&sr=1-6
I don't endorse these guys, just that is the part count you are looking for, pre-assembled.

All those components mount to the mid frame which is mounted to the back of the digitizer via a foamy sticker which is going to be rather hard to remove, clean up and re-stick to the new digitizer.

You should take your phone screen out and check the LCD just to make sure it isn't broken too.

It helps to have a small and very strong suction cup to pull the screen out of the phone. You can try to pry it with that plastic tool but it just broke on mine and I resorted to a screwdriver which left some very small marks on the metal bezel.
 
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While I appreciate the help and suggestions, do you mean to say that the first option will not get the job done for me? I'm on a students budget here, so 8 dollars is a lot more desirable than 40. I don't mind taking a bit more time to make it work.
 
The glass is removed by removing the 2 screws on the bottom of the iphone, using a suction cup to pull out the LCD (SLOWLY from the bottom). Unclip the 2 FPC connectors using a small flat head screwdriver, and unlatch the clip connector by picking at the little flap (located at the part of the connector facing you), and pushing it up, then pull the cable directly back & out of the connector. Once that's done you'll have the logic board and screen assembly in 2 separate pieces.

There are 6 screws on that assembly. 2 or 3 are covered by black tape (along the edge of the assembly, and the 6th screw is located on the top right corner of the lcd. Remove them, and pull your old LCD out from the bottom, where the black circle is. Stick that in your new assembly, and blow off any dust first. Reassemble, and you're done!

For the replacement glass, I usually go with eBay for the midframe + glass assemblies, they're usually $20 used, or a few bucks more for new. Make sure you're ordering from a USA seller, since the shipping times for packages from china are long.
 
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