How to repair broken digitizer in Samsung Galaxy S4

GingerWarrior

OK, so I managed to drop my phone yesterday at work at it appears to have broken the display underneath the touchscreen glass.

I've looked online, and it appears to be a lot of DIY options to fix it, but I am definitely not that way inclined - as I know I'll break it further.

I'm going to guess this could be a £100-150 job via Samsung - but any guidance would be welcomed.

May have to get myself a cheap-ish Android phone in meantime for email and Twitter - any opinions on a good cheap phone would be welcomed too.

Rusty!

Moto E for the temp phone.

The digitiser is the layer that translates touches into commands, it sounds like you have broken the AMOLED panel.

GingerWarrior

Rusty! wrote: »

Moto E for the temp phone.

The digitiser is the layer that translates touches into commands, it sounds like you have broken the AMOLED panel.

That sounds like more likely! I am rubbish with some of the techie jargon.

Any idea how I get this fixed? I'll try Samsung again but understand it's expensive

Quiet_Spark

GingerWarrior wrote: »

That sounds like more likely! I am rubbish with some of the techie jargon.

Any idea how I get this fixed? I'll try Samsung again but understand it's expensive

A friend had his S4 repaired last week when he broke the screen, he paid £70 from a shop called MobileBitz in Aldershot.

Although his digitizer still worked they replaced the whole assembly, and we know this because the outer frame had a dent/scratch from where he had dropped it on a previous occasion and this previous damage was not present when he picked it back up.

I still don't know how they did it for that price as the cheapest assembly on fleabay was £70 on it's own, but it works perfectly and looks like new again so that's all that matters.

ste_wilko

ifixit.com is a really good resource that will show you how to replace the whole screen assembly. It will cost around £125 for the screen mind, but the expensive ones are proper Samsung, don't go for the cheap nasty ones as they'll probably break. Also, don't just try to replace the outer glass either. I tried that and it didn't work

MataNui

It will be the screen\frame assembly that you need to replace. It is possible to replace the screen section only but its pretty brutal and not any cheaper. It is a pretty easy diy. It simply involves taking the internals out of the old one and putting them into the new one.

Expect to pay anything from 70 to 150 for a new screen/frame assembly from ebay. I had a chat with samsung support when my wife broke hers. They said that NONE of the ones on ebay or from mobile repair companies are genuine parts as they dont supply any third parties or authorize any third parties to conduct repairs. No doubt some nock-offs are better than others but they are all nock-offs if samsung are to be believed.

ste_wilko

MataNui wrote: »

It will be the screen\frame assembly that you need to replace. It is possible to replace the screen section only but its pretty brutal and not any cheaper. It is a pretty easy diy. It simply involves taking the internals out of the old one and putting them into the new one.

Expect to pay anything from 70 to 150 for a new screen/frame assembly from ebay. I had a chat with samsung support when my wife broke hers. They said that NONE of the ones on ebay or from mobile repair companies are genuine parts as they dont supply any third parties or authorize any third parties to conduct repairs. No doubt some nock-offs are better than others but they are all nock-offs if samsung are to be believed.

Samsung aren't to be believed, I'm afraid. I had to replace mine and it was a genuine Samsung replacement. It is identical in every way, including part numbers being stamped on the inside. The box was a Samsung box, also taped up with Samsung anti-tamper tape and it had Samsung parts labels on the box too.

If it is a knock-off they went to far too much trouble to make it look real when there are hundreds of 3rd party screens going for a lot less.

I do agree that it's easy though. Did mine in about 10 mins.

I'd suggest buying a new bezel/midframe (the silver bit around the edge) as unclipping them can break them due to being really, really thin and flimsy. They're only about £3 odd on eBay too

GingerWarrior

Thank you for all your suggestions. I took it back to the EE store, and they sent it off to their repair centre. £134 to get it fixed - hoping to get it back today or tomorrow.

Will be putting it back in it's protective casing from now!!