LG G2 cracked screen repair: The limits of DIY

Waaay back, several weeks ago, we started this blog to talk about chickens and homesteading, and random projects, and just keep people up to date on our lives in general. 

We also posted a picture of my cracked cell phone being controlled by a mouse, because it looked ridiculous and was therefore sort of funny, and we were going to have it fixed in no time anyhow...

Phone attached to mouse.  The glass was cracked on the bottom right and didn't respond to touch.

Three weeks, three parts, and some professional help later, my phone is finally fixed.

What I learned:
- The front of your phone consists of a digitizer (the glass part) and the LCD (underneath the digitizer).  If you drop your phone and it doesn't respond to touch anymore, you broke the digitizer.  You can get a connector to plug your phone into a USB mouse and continue using it that way.  This is fun and novel for awhile, but extremely ridiculous if you try to answer your phone in public. 

- If you drop your phone and there are problems with the image on the screen, you damaged your LCD.

- All of the major phone carriers sell slightly different models of the LG G2.  All of the models require slightly different parts.  This means that physical stores don't bother stocking the parts.  You can find out what model you have by taking off the back of your phone and looking at what is printed on the orange strip next to the battery.

- All LG G2 models are held together by an excessive amount of glue.  Said glue will not prevent your phone from breaking when you drop it.  It will make professional repairman extremely reluctant to help you when it does break.

- As much as I hate to say it, if you're a clumsy person in the market for a smart phone, consider a popular model, such as the iPhone or Galaxy.  It will make your life much easier when you inevitably have to repair it.

- If only your digitizer is broken, you can save $20 by buying only the digitizer (rather than a digitizer-LCD assembly) and try to pry the old broken digitizer off of your working LCD. You may succeed, or you may totally destroy your LCD and be back at square one.  Heed the warnings in the product review section of the part your are ordering.  If you have an LG G2, see above note about glue and consider carefully the fact that most professionals wont attempt this.

- Replacing the digitizer-LCD assembly (e.g., replacing both parts rather than trying to pry them apart to save one) is very easy, assuming you select the correct model and are sent a working part.  There are already tutorials for every possible phone model already online.  However, LCD screens are finicky and based on reading online product reviews, its quite common to get a defective part.

Tutorial for replacing the digitizer-LCD assembly on the LG G2
(Note: In the image here the ribbon cable connectors highlighted in orange go to the digitizer while the red one down by the usb port goes to the LCD.  The flap between the LCD and digitizer connections is empty and doesn't do anything.  If you get through the tutorial and you can see the screen, but touch doesn't work, check the digitizer connections.  If you can't see the screen at all, check the LCD connection)

40 minute youtube video of a guy separating the digitizer and LCD
Follow directions on previous tutorial to completely remove the digitizer-LCD assembly from the frame and other components before attempting.

What happened:

Day 2 of having chickens, everyone was very excited for us and requesting pictures.  I thought I would oblige...but I also needed to take the compost out...and chicken treats...and I think some other stuff...and as I tried to shut the back door, I dropped my phone on the cement patio.

The local Radioshack wouldn't repair my phone model and the only place that would was at the mall (which is far), and they were going to have to order the part anyhow.  Such is my hatred for the mall, I ordered the part and attempted the repair myself. 

As you might glean from the What I Learned section, I ordered only the digitizer.  The repair began with removing the broken digitizer-LCD assembly, and then trying to melt the glue holding the two parts together with a hair dryer while carefully prying them apart.  This went well for awhile, but I think my LCD was also slightly damaged and weak in one corner.  It ended up cracking.  I might have succeeded had the LCD not been damaged, but it turns out that trying to melt the glue and pry things apart turns what could be an easy 20 minute repair into a risky 1-hour project.  At least this was the case for the LG G2, I read elsewhere that other phone types use less glue.

I ordered an LCD-digitizer assembly.  It took longer than it should have to arrive.  I tried to install it, but for the life of me could not make one of the ribbon cables connect.  I was convinced I had the wrong part because the part I was sent had a different part number from what I was replacing.

For the record: P/N 6841L-0365A(ASS'Y) 6850L-1071A(Bare) can be used to replace P/N 6841L-0365B(ASS'Y) 6850L-1071B(Bare) on the LG G2 D800, D801, and D803 models.

The company sent a new part: the same part, only attached to a new front frame this time (making the repair more difficult).  In frustration, I went to the mall.  I even drove there in the snow.  The technician confirmed the first part was defective and then installed the second one for me.  I bought a case and was charged $15 for the repair (I was originally quoted $150), perhaps because I was the only one there as the store opened on a snowy weekday morning and came with the part and my phone already disassembled.  Perhaps because I looked like I was at my wit's end and  almost hugged the guy when he finished.

I didn't escape the mall unscathed though.  As I was leaving, I passed a kiosk handing out samples of lotion.  As I reached out to take one the saleswoman grabbed hold of my hand.  "My God! Look at your nails!" she cried, as she began to buff my right thumbnail with a fancy emery board she'd been hiding somewhere.  Then she told me about some Dead Sea salt products that fell in price from $60 to $20 before I managed to escape without buying anything.  Incidentally, my one fingernail looks awesome.