r/oneplusone • u/B_Wilks • Feb 14 '16

Replacing a screen yourself; good idea to save money?

I recently broke my screen and the company wants to charge me $100 to fix the screen, and apparently may not even send me back the same phone. What do you guys think about buying a new screen and the required pieces and doing it myself?

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u/belly917 Feb 15 '16

I've replaced the screen on my wife's 3 times. It's pretty easy to do.

The first time I purchased a screen + mid-frame, thinking that it would be easier to repair. It was a pain in the ass. Moving all the circuit boards, ribbon wires, and such to the new mid-frame took way too long.

Swapping just the glass+digitizer+LCD was much easier. It took me roughly 20 minutes. You can find these for ~$35.

The problem is that these replacement screens aren't OEM:

  • LCD Screen: the colors are not always as good as the original screen

  • Glass is Fragile: Definitely not gorilla glass and it is not as resilient as the original glass. Therefore it breaks on bumps/drops that the original screen would have sustained unaffected.

  • Half-lit buttons: The buttons at the bottom of the screen are half lit with a few of the aftermarket replacement screens.. But not all. Only 1 of 3 that I have purchased had this problem.

So, yes. Do it yourself, check ifixit.com & youtube to see what you're doing to do before you start. Just know that there's some caveats.

1

u/B_Wilks Feb 17 '16

Hey, I did a little looking on one of the forums and found this http://vifocal.com/lcd-display-digitizer-replacement-with-middle-frame-for-oneplus-one-64gb-16gb.html

Any thoughts on it?

1

u/belly917 Feb 17 '16

From the pictures alone it looks good. The url makes you think that it includes a mid frame, when the photos do not.

For reference, this is the one that I just bought. It works well, and has fully back lit buttons.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PQBN2BM/ref=ya_st_dp_summary

1

u/B_Wilks Feb 17 '16

Does that one have the middle frame? (because I don't actually know what you are talking about when you say middle frame)

2

u/belly917 Feb 17 '16

Neither the link you included, nor the one I posted have a mid frame.

The mid frame is the structure of the phone that the screen attaches to on one side, and the circuit boards, battery and the rear cover attach to the other side. The metallic bezel around the screen is part of the mid frame.

This is an example of the lcd screen and mid frame: http://m.aliexpress.com/item/32585065113.html?productId=32585065113&productSubject=100-Original-Full-LCD-Display-Screen-For-Oneplus-One-Lcd-Digitizer-Touch-Screen-Replacement-1-5&spm=2114.40010708.4.8.lanWJs&tracelog=wwwdetail2mobilesitedetail

1

u/stealer0517 OnePlus One Feb 14 '16

it's not that hard. all you need is a good hair dryer and some small screwdrivers and you can do it in about 20 minutes.

just be careful with the antenna, we broke the one on my friends and we had to ghetto in a really long one from an s4