The relevant parts that make up the iPhone Display Assembly
People send me their iPhones from all over the world to be repaired. I understand these are a cardinal method of communication for them and I get the repair done and the iPhone back on it's way to them usually the same day, the next day at the latest ... unless it's a water exposure case
iPhones like iPods are as slippery as a wet bar of soap and people are damaging them all the time from dropping them.
When you break them, you have three choices.
1) live with the broken front assuming the LCD isn't broken, in many cases the digitizer and LCD still work, it's just the upper glass that is smashed and looks like hell.
2) Bring it to an AT & T store (because the Apple store doesn't deal with 'drop-ins' and you need an appointment) and pay $199 for a replacement iPhone. That one will be handed to you B-L-A-N-K, empty, no contacts. You will have to go home and re-sync it to your computer (hoping everything that was on the old iPhone was sync'd recently) and then it will have "your personality" again... so repeating... $199 and a trip home plus a silent prayer that you had backed up (sync'd) your iPhone recently
3) Bring it to me (or someone like me) and have the iPhone repaired for $90 It will take leaving your iPhone off with me for about 90 minutes. You will not have to hope that you sync'd back your information recently, it will all stay safely on your iPhone
I need to teach you about the relevant parts of the iPhone that may be broken on your iPhone. All the parts that make up the screen and finger touch experience are known as the "Display Assembly".
The "Display Assembly" is made up of four parts. the upper glass, the digitizer (both of those are laminated together to make one piece), the LCD and a steel reinforced plastic chassis or "bezel". The Display Assembly bezel with the other parts in it form a complete unit that presents information and receives input from your finger.
The Upper Glass and Digitizer are fused together using a clear liquid adhesive. The upper glass is what your finger actually touches and shields the iPhone from most of the 'outside world'. The digitizer is glued/fused to the bottom of the upper glass. The digitizer is what interprets finger movements relative to the color information presented below it by the LCD. The upper glass/digitizer are a single piece that is typically what breaks when the phone is dropped and the there is 'breakage' on the surface. When the upper glass is broken, you can usually still use the iPhone, and its Touch sensitive interface it just looks bad.
This is a bad case of broken upper glass:
The Liquid Crystal Display or LCD is beneath the digitizer. It is bolted into an exact position so it *and* the digitizer work perfectly together. The LCD shows the icons and your file information, (songs, photos video... games) and the digitizer positioned properly will allow your finger to find and work the screen. When an LCD is broken, you will notice hairline fractures in the color display, sometimes horizontal dark lines, or a "bleed" which is a big splotch in the screen. A bleed can look like a circle or a dark river. In some very rare cases an LCD will fail to an "all white" screen. On that case the backlight is on and no data is painting to the screen. In that "All White" case the LCD needs to be replaced, it will never work again.
This is what a cracked LCD might look like in your case,
The Upper Glass/Digitizer is a $30 part, the LCD is also a $30 part. Only rarely (when something has fallen onto and through the upper glass) do you need both.
I charge $60 for labor, so with the needed iPhone 3g or 3GS part at $30, it's a $90 repair.
Here is to bring your iPhone in for repair or battery replacement
Here is to send your iPhone in for repair or battery replacement
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