Hello,
I might have the possibility to start working in a smartphones repair shop.
I expect to fix a lot (mostly) broken screens and digitizers. Also water damage and charging ports for sure.
I'm writing this thread so perhaps people who already have experience with hardware can provides extra tips, so I could be more ready. I'm quite skilled with software repair, while I'm not a developper, I've unbricked, rooted, flashed a lot of phones. Software is generally easy and I'm not worried.
But since I expect mostly to do hardware repairs, mostly screens/digitizers, my concern is that I've never actually opened up a phone to try. All my phones are working, no experience with hardware repair, and thus not much budget to buy a new phone. I own a Galaxy S4 and LG P500. Considered opening up my LG P500 to give it a try (Device fully working).
I did watched a bunch of YouTube videos already, with several devices, mostly flagship phones, from different manufacturers. I also took quick notes on the dissasembly process, which could maybe help me remember the process faster.
Obviously every phone is a bit different, so the process has to be figured out on my own. Some tasks are also obviously harder than others. Was it the iPhone 6 (For instance) that has the glass glued really tight, and is really difficult to change just the glass?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9d...O-bGY_1dM&annotation_id=annotation_2906560193
Once again, not sure, maybe people usually don't bother with the glass replacement for this one, maybe some would change the screen and digitizer at the same time? Not sure.
If you have any tips to share, please let me know. I keep reading to use a lot of patience opening the device with a guitar pick/playing card, and don't apply excessive force, keep using a heat gun if needed - don't apply too much heat and stuff.
Obviously, training is offered, but I still don't know what kind of training it will be. Might know really soon.
Thanks for the advices, working with hardware. Trying to learn more and more at the moment.
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Hey all, I know this is a weird question, but I'm looking at using smartphones as sensor packages on unmanned aircraft, particularly balloons and dirigibles. The problem, as I'm sure you've guessed, is cost- ideally we'd like to use something like a G1 or that sort of thing, but we're a long ways short of the cost of a new one, and since we don't need a fully functional phone, we're trying to get ones that only partly work. I've tried calling htc america and got literally nowhere, and was told that the only way that t-mobile might be able to do anything is if we were through a non-profit, which we could do but seems somewhat less than honest to me, as this is a personal project. Anybody have experience getting broken/partially functional devices on the cheap? Any advice on other avenues?
Ebay look for phones with a bad ESN or needing repair
Why does it seem as though only high end Android devices get any attention on this forum? Everything Android is virtually identical, save for the select readers sold by large retailers. There's the Android SDK to back that up; the differences being internally (memory, processors, etc.). I'm looking to try and enroll in Android App Dev in school next semester, and if someone needs to fill in that gap, I'll try since I have taken a peek and wrote a few small programs as well.
(And yes, I am almost expecting to get bruised for this question...this forum is severely misrepresented by, I'd say, 75% a-holes who think they are awesome because they have over ten posts and can root a phone with software rather than by hand or flash their rom with a rom manager! Do keep it easy, and do NOT take my honesty for granted. To assume will make an ass of you before me.)
The low end android devices suck !
Its the simple fact that the high end device users are more likely to be enthusiasts who want to tinker with their phones, whereas those who buy a lower end device are probably less likely to be rooting and ROMing (unless they're buying low end devices as secondary "tinker" phones for fun).
So that alone leads to a smaller user base of the low end phones. Not to mention that for an individual device, the low end phones don't push the number of sales as the superphones. You're not seeing a $49 on contract Android device selling 20 million units like the SGSII.
Also keep in mind that not all high end devices are well supported on XDA. There are a lot of phones that just don't get big developer uptake on them. Whether its because of the niche carrier its on, or a locked bootloader, or whatever -- just because its "high end" doesn't guarantee a big development base.
Hope that can put some perspective on it.
That may be true, that low end devices suck. But history has taught us that low end devices will prove something useful in the future or that something will come along and breathe new life into the "suck" devices. There is such thing as too powerful for a particular task.
Even if it is just to show someone the workings of an Android device is beneficial to someone who hasn't used an Android device.
Anything else, other than "Because they suck"?
martonikaj thanks for the reply, i had to have been writing my reply as you typed yours, lol.
It seems logical that someone would want to buy a small cheap device to test on a get a feel for. This way if something breaks, it's not a huge loss, as opposed to buying an expensive device and running the risk on bricking it. Should it happen to be bricked, most companies won't replace it once they find out it's been tampered with.
trym1234 said:
martonikaj thanks for the reply, i had to have been writing my reply as you typed yours, lol.
It seems logical that someone would want to buy a small cheap device to test on a get a feel for. This way if something breaks, it's not a huge loss, as opposed to buying an expensive device and running the risk on bricking it. Should it happen to be bricked, most companies won't replace it once they find out it's been tampered with.
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I'd say that's probably true, but you don't see it happen that often. Many people are rooting and ROMing their daily driver devices, and don't have 2 phones w/ one being the dedicated "hacking" device.
Truth be told its pretty hard to brick a device if you know what you're doing.
True but let's be honest...how many post have you seen where someone bought that trillion dollar phone only to try and root it, and guess what; they're here asking for help to get it off that boot loop (lol)
trym1234 said:
True but let's be honest...how many post have you seen where someone bought that trillion dollar phone only to try and root it, and guess what; they're here asking for help to get it off that boot loop (lol)
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Lots of people for sure. They need to learn how to read before starting their root process lol. But that's just a boot loop, at worst a soft brick. I very rarely see a hard brick of a device.
well, low ends do get some attention in here, i mean im owning a lg p500 , witch in my opinion is pretty low end ... the low ends arent completley without attention, just less atentionn, the reason is as some1 said before, the owners of low end devices dont usually try to root, change roms etc
Hello
Just thinking that i started with a Nokia N95. one of my favourite phones ever, then an iPhone2G (wich sucks), and then, an Xperia X8 (wich I loved)... Now i am on great words (LT15i), an Arc, and thinking of buying an Xperia S when it will be released on my country
If you're an enthusiast you're probably gonna get a high end phone. Also, higher-end phones are more visible in popularity; that is to say there's a higher number of people coming here saying "i own the Samsung Galaxy SII" than "I own some $49 phone no one's ever heard of", which in turn drives devs who are looking for an audience.
Although the subject is rather troll like I hope I can do it in a non troll way.
There's a number of things that are really hacking me off about phones these days. I thought I'd have a major slam out to let off steam with the off-chance that someone might say "Ah but if you try X you can avoid that".
...some of the challenges in the mobile phone area these days...
1) Battery capacities aren't good enough as we all know. Getting through a single day is really the basics for me. Why not have hot swappable batteries? For me I expect to be able to go for 3-4 days. I don't know why... I just kind of expect that kind of efficiency.
2) Samsung Galaxy series... seems amazing but the batteries overheat, no?
3) So many people are ignorant of security to the point that most people are walking around with devices and apps that can just completely own you. Yeah there's sandboxing but it doesn't really work, it's been sidestepped. The iPhone just hides what's going on, rarely fixing the issues.
4) Licensing, all that stuff. Companies reinventing the wheel, fighting, all the rest. You can't buy a phone that does X and Y because company X won't license tech X to company Y
5) Trying to get everything perfect in one device... it's a bit of an ask but needed for portability. If things were separate we could have the better of most worlds, but that doesn't seem possible
6) Closed source. Just a bit irritating to see the inefficiency of it all in general. Bit of a hash moan but for those who can imagine better it seems like the dark ages in some areas still.
7) Closed source binary blobs. See Replicant on Samsung phones as the best we can do... the modem is arranged such messily and it's just not true a solution because of that. Kind of irritates me that there is no phone that can really guarantee it's not recording my phone numbers, conversations and credit cards because it's fully open source. Certainly an issue for companies. Companies in general are happy to rely on the word of Blackberry for thier integrity but for those of us who can imagine a solution that is secure by design it's not the best.
8) App whitelisting. Similar to the reactive rather than proactive security we tend to see as the trend in general. Manually checking all apps in the app store, trying to block and check them all.... doesn't seem the best. We've also had censorship. There are alternative stores, that's good.
9) Wakelocks. The Dalvik VM not managing or helping us track them down. Further, it's hard to tell if the app that you want to use is going to shaft your battery... once installed it's hard to tell if the app is ruining your battery too. It's messy.
10) IMEI security is a pain in the butt. It slows down the criminals but it also slows down everyone more so. In the case of Turkey it's another way to screw people with tax. Again, imperfect design.
11) As a man, if you have a phone at waist level that reduces your sperm count. Almost nobody notices or cares.
12) Just the usual society things... people looking at phones rather than each other. Can't really complain about that... the interface of looking at a screen is a bit basic. I've had speech recognition available to me... but I don't use it because there's always people around me and I'd rather be quiet... just one of those funny inventions
13) Screen don't work in bright sunlight still. We've got Motheye coming though which is great but we've had eink for ages and still no eink phone. Further, it can't be hacked onto an existing phone. Some of us aren't interested in games and movies and are focussed on getting stuff done. I feel Mirasol & PixelQi are being blocked or delayed as they try to slow things down until the point we've run out of ideas to make things better so only then does that tech get deployed.
14) Networks interfering with phones. I always go prepay because it's cheaper if you do the maths in many countries and also it allows for freer trade. Networks are always trying to get thier fingers into the mobile phone pies. Thank you Samsung for helping get against that, and also custom ROMs.
15) Apple are great but it's not clear what's going on behind the scenes.
16) eink displays would help battery life. A NookTouch can last for a month. How much would that help a phone on standby? Yet no eink display or anything like that.
17) Great to see the back of proprietary connectors but they still come back sometimes.
18) I hate the way things are made to break. Watch out for this. There's usually one thing on a phone that is designed to break. Sometimes it's a moveable part, like a ribbon cable in a slide phone. Sometimes its the USB connector. You can't buy port savers. When they fail you're screwed. Mitigate against this if you can. Try to figure out what the weak spot on your phone is.
19) Lock in software. I have an old backup phone... but I still have to keep the sync software... bit annoying. One day it probably won't work on Windows9 or whatever. People say throw it away but that's just it, throw away society. No, fix it, get it to work and be in control.
All of these things can be mitigated against. But you have to think about these things when you select your new phone.
If the commercialisation of the industry, cut throat tactics and so on aren't good enough as they are for me one thing you can do is buy a slightly older, but popular phone. In my case I never buy a new phone and instead go for something that I already know is popular with the hacking community. I know you guys can give me an insight into what I'm really looking for in life. As an example my last phone was a Galaxy S i9000. Way out of date in a sense. That's the way I find the best way to go. Go with something popular. That way you have some real support like a real man able to handle things yourself, not AppleCare and a 1 year limit. A philosophy for life. You can't have it all but with a bit of thought you can do a lot to get a bit closer to it all.
So Ive had a few Xperia phones. I wanted Z3 but reading in these forums makes me scared of getting a defective phone -.- how likely is it that I will get a phone that is leaking light or with waterproof issues? Is the phone worth it?
It's a superb phone, but a minority do have build issues which may be inevitable given the volume that are manufactured. The compromise would be to test the phone thoroughly upon purchase with a witness present, particularly if you choose to submerge the handset directly. As far as I'm aware water ingress is subject to sony's own investigation, whilst liability for thermal cracks or a loose magnetic port, over time, is generally denied, at least on the forums. If I run into issues and amazon and sony are keeping their heads down, I'd consider an independent report as a means of pushing the ball into their court, even though the onus is initially on them to prove I'm responsible. Don't be disheartened as the phone is astonishing. Just be ready to defend your position if and when you need to. Clearly, no manufacturers can produce a flawless stock line, and forums tend to exaggerate the issues given those without a complaint have less reason to speak. The test I use is to reverse the position. If the product was discontinued for financial reasons on sony's part, and you found you'd missed the boat, would you be disappointed? There's your answer.......
We're planning to add glass-only cracked screen repair capability to our shop. We've got ~$20k to invest in this project, and we'd like to do it properly. What are some good resources to get started? How did you learn to do it? Most importantly, how long did it take to learn?
There're many youtube videos on the topic, but people's methods are inconsistent. Some repair screens in-frame, some take the whole phone apart. Some use freezers for curved screens, some swear by heat + wire.
At the moment, I'm trying to put together a list of machines/gear to get started
Welcome to XDA
I hope you appreciate the difference between science and art.
Example; while modern medicine is based on science, effectively practicing medicine is an art.
You use what works best for each particular case based on your acquired wisdom learned while practicing medicine.
Knowledge plus practice equals wisdom (hopefully).
Hands on is the only way to learn a trade and it's tricks. Learn the assembly technologies and techniques. Use cheap or trash phone to practice on. As you progress if you're persistent eventually you will go from novice to skilled to expert. A novice or skilled practitioner can't do what someone at the expert level can. It takes experience to learn the material properties, signs, variables, techniques and to develop skillset to effectively execute the proper actions.
You have to learn which tools, then brand of tools fit each operation best for yourself. In time you will become quit particular about this if you make to the top. I go for tools with the best ergonomics and usability. The right tools become an extension of yourself, but first you need to have the depth of understanding and skillset to choose and use the tools effectively.
An expert has a whole bag of tricks that they have learned over the years, decades to use for the situations they encounter.
There may be more money in fulfillment work or contact assembly. You're own business is as good as it gets but it's hard at first.
Thanks, for the warm welcome, and for the insightful reply.
Of course it's only possible to learn these things by doing, but, from my experience, you can accelerate the process by having good guidance and quality learning materials. That's what I'm looking for myself and for my technicians.
Do you know of any good courses/classes that one could take to learn about display refurbishment?
rebeltechlabs said:
Thanks, for the warm welcome, and for the insightful reply.
Of course it's only possible to learn these things by doing, but, from my experience, you can accelerate the process by having good guidance and quality learning materials. That's what I'm looking for myself and for my technicians.
Do you know of any good courses/classes that one could take to learn about display refurbishment?
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You're welcome.
Nothing takes the place of experience for doing precision assembly. Looking at Grey's Anatomy isn't the same as doing surgery, it's a beginning.
Some techniques work better than others depending on the situation. You need experience to decide which is best. You learn the feel for it only by doing.
I saw guides and vids of the Note 10+ battery replacement. They intimidated me. Then I watched someone actually do it and quickly realized I could do it better myself
Of course that's not the end to my battery replacement learning curve, but it's a good start.
The biggest concern is breakage and then cosmetics. Doing it professionally means doing it right each time or at least most of the time.
Failures cost you more time and money. As for employees they will be one of or you're biggest headaches. Getting someone to do what you want, even the simplest of tasks can be challenging to say the leas
To access most displays requires a partial/full teardown. This is challenging to do on many phones. You need adapt ESD protocols and get ESD mats, wristbands, hydrometer* and such to avoid damage to the displays and especially the mobos. Out of circuit they become much more susceptible to ESD damage. Many don't do this; not doing so is unprofessional and can get very expensive.
If you find white papers and good documentation on this please share it if you can. This fascinates me.
*Humidity control is essential in dissipating static electricity ie a minimum of 40-60%. I like to see about 47-53% A temp controlled heat pot/fan works well to raise it.
rebeltechlabs said:
We're planning to add glass-only cracked screen repair capability to our shop. We've got ~$20k to invest in this project, and we'd like to do it properly. What are some good resources to get started? How did you learn to do it? Most importantly, how long did it take to learn?
There're many youtube videos on the topic, but people's methods are inconsistent. Some repair screens in-frame, some take the whole phone apart. Some use freezers for curved screens, some swear by heat + wire.
At the moment, I'm trying to put together a list of machines/gear to get started
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I guess you live in America, it's very important for any new shop to understand what is the chance to survive in the first 1-2 year of operations so be ready to invest money even if you don't see that money coming back.
Dealing with mobile phones it's somewhat like dealing with computers, a customer's phone has a broken screen but the phone also doesn't start up so you need to know a bit more than just replacing screens.
Dealing with Apple phones will be more complicated due to the distributor's (in fact Apple don't make phones) tricks like the latest one secret codes stored in the CPU that must match with the replaced part's embed code.
You might want to make a partnership with a specific brand so that you can get better support and deals and even workshop manuals but there are always pro and con because they will want to be the only brand in your shop.
Regarding courses, it depends on where you're (on site courses) and there are online courses like those from Udemy which is a popular site: How to repair mobile cell phones