iPod, iPhone, Xbox 360 Repair Sharks

Android Smart Phone Repairs: Dude Where’s My Screen!?

So your Android smartphone screen has cracked or appears to be broken, and you’re looking for some tips on Android smartphone repairs that could possibly work for you. Today’s cell phones always seem to get broken, especially the screens. Screens are usually especially sensitive to damage and breakage.

Accidents Can Happen

Although your unit may have been dropped, stepped on or accidentally cracked, there is still a way to replace the screen with a brand new one. Replacing the LCD screen involves a complicated process, due to the size of the components. The good news is with enough time, patience and tools, this can be done easily.

How To Repair A Broken Screen

Android Smartphone Repair Tip 1: Power your phone off completely. You can do this by holding down the power button for about ten seconds. Then you’ll turn it over and take off the back plate. Next, you’ll need to use your fingernail to slide under the battery. This will pop it out of your phone.

Android Smartphone Repair Tip 2: If you have a GSM phone, then you’ll want to find your SIM card. Pull back the covering over your SIM card and take the card out. Set the card aside and go on the next tip.

Android Smartphone Repair Tip 3: Locate the plastic RF grommet. This is usually near the battery, at the bottom of your cell phone. You’ll need to take this grommet out by using some tweezers.

Android Smartphone Repair Tip 4: Tweezers should be inserted into the holes. These are located on the sides of your cell phone and are directly opposite from the area where you found RF grommet. You’ll utilize these tweezers in order to pull up the inside latch. This latch is located inside the hole. This will unlock the bottom plastic cover for the antenna. Lift off the cover and set it to the side.

Android Smartphone Repair Tip 5: You’ll pull out the screws that are located at the edges of the device. You’ll need to use a Torx screwdriver for this. Next, you’ll want to take the metal plate out, right off your cell phone.

Android Smartphone Repair Tip 6: Flip your cell phone over so that you can view the LCD. A flat head screw driver can be used to slide it between the bottom of the phone and the seam of the plastic cover. You’ll now want to wiggle the screwdriver up and down in a gentle manner so that you can release the catch under the cover. Next, you’ll pull the plastic cover off the device.

Android Smartphone Repair Tip 7: You’ll discover the latch on the side of the screen. You’ll want to unlock that. You can do that with your tweezers. You’ll pull the screen off of the handset and then remove the cable that is running from the phone to the screen. Lay your replacement screen into the phone. Then, attach all the necessary cables.

Android Smartphone Repair Tip 8: Place the plastic back cover back on to the phone, by flipping your phone over. Next, attach the metal plate back and put in all screws. Push the RF grommet into place. Then, place your SIM back. Put the battery back into the cell phone, and the put the plastic cover back on. Then you’ll power it on to make sure it’s working.

How To Repair Market Place Application

Who doesn’t love the Android marketplace? It enables you to download third party programs on your phone, but you must remember that the marketplace is an application in of itself. Just like the programs on your computer, the Android market application can end up running into problems sometimes.

These usually involve stalled downloads and incomplete downloads. The application can refuse to open up or it can just stop responding to you. By doing a hard reset, you can restore this Marketplace application. Although this can solve your problem, there are also less drastic measures you can take so you don’t have to worry about losing your information and settings.

  1. Press down and hold down the power button your phone. Your device options menu will display a few options. Touch “reboot” and power your phone off and then back on.
  2. Test your Android Marketplace application after your cell phone has turned back on.
  3. Open your application screen and see if the application is working properly.
  4. Press down the “menu” button on your cell phone. Next, you’ll touch “settings”.
  5. Touch the “applications” option and then choose “manage applications”.
  6. Touch the “all” tab and then choose “market”. Next, you’ll touch “clear data” and then follow  that with “clear cache”. For Download Manager, Google Talk, Google Mail, Google Apps, and IM you will need to have the process repeated.
  7. Repeat the first two steps. If your Android Marketplace is still experiencing issues, you’ll definitely have to do a factory hard reset. This will end up deleting everything on your phone. You’ll have to reload your phone’s operating system from scratch.      Your email contacts and email messages will need to be synced to your Gmail. They are then restored once you re-active your cell phone. Be sure that you back up your information. You can do this by moving it to a computer or to a memory card.
  8. Select “menu” button on your phone’s main screen and then go to “settings’.
  9. Select “privacy settings” and then follow it with “factory data reset”.

 

Should You Take It To A Repair Service?

The above information works well for most Android phones, including the HTC, LG, Samsung and Motorola. Of course there are many more technical issues involved that you may not be able to fix yourself.

Remember; if one step is not done right, no matter what you do, you may have to spend a lot of money in repairing the phone or buying a new phone altogether to be able to use it again.

This is where we come in. We can do glass replacements for almost all Android phones, as well as higher level repair work done on the popular models. We are New York’s finest Android Smartphone repairs service provider, and we pride ourselves on providing our customers with the best repairing services, at the lowest price you can think of. Click here to visit the Repair Sharks website.

August 5th, 2012

Category: Android Repair

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What to do when your iPhone or Android gets Water Damaged

We have seen just about everything at Repair Sharks. Since starting the iPod Repair Guys back in 2006 we have heard hundreds of stories about water damaged iPods, iPhones, iPads, and other devices.  Water isn’t always the case though; many times it’s another substance such as juice, soda, beer or even chocolate. IPhones in particular are very sleek, they are compact and easy to mishandle.  One of the most common places for an iPhone to end up is in the toilet. You can imagine the look on our face when we get those in! We do keep gloves handy in the shop.  Different liquids can cause different issues to the iPhone. Some substances such as salt water can corrode the internal components very quickly. In a matter of hours or a few short days corrosion from the salt can eat away at the vital and miniscule connections inside the iPhone. The iPhone’s logic board or motherboard is very delicate and liquid / water damage can in fact ruin components if not caught in time.

Many of you have probably heard the old rice trick. Well we wrote an article on that a few years back and it seemed to spread as a successful post liquid / water damage repair method. In case you want to read about it here it is; Water Removal with Rice . The article does outline a more drastic than normal process for repairing water damage. We originally I heard about the water trick from my grandfather who was a master jewelry designer. He used to repair high end watches and he would use this trick on water damaged watches before he repaired them. It makes perfect sense once you think about it. Rice absorbs water much like the silica packets you find with clothing and products we buy. The only problem with rice though is that it is slow acting and most people can get ahead of themselves and prematurely remove it from the rice in hopes of getting it working.  It could take days to remove all the moisture from a phone using the rice method alone.

Luckily for you we have better equipment these days and can do a more thorough job of repairing water and liquid damaged devices. We recommend taking a few steps that will help raise your success rate for getting the iPhone working again.

Step 1.

  • Xxx Do NOT turn on the iPhone!  Xxx
  • If the phone is on after the water damage takes place turn it OFF immediately!
  • Remove Battery if possible (not recommended for iPhone users, some batteries are difficult to remove without the proper tools)

Phones that are water damaged can still be working properly. The introduction of electricity into the mix of things will just make matters worse. The water can short circuit componentry, cause hot spots, chip cracking, or even accelerate the corrosion process. It is essential that the iPhone is dried and cleaned completely before ANY attempt at turning the phone on is made.

Step 2.

SHAKE IT OUT! Once removed from the soda, juice, coffee, tea, or whatever else it may have ended up in shake it out vigorously. Yes, shake it out. Get all the excess liquid substance away from the phone as quickly as possible.

Step 3.

There are a few things you can do here. If you have a hairdryer handy then we suggest drying it out with a hairdryer for 10-15 minutes. Specifically for such devices as the iPhone 4 and 4S there are a few points that you will want to focus on. The top and bottom of the device are susceptible to water penetration so we usually recommend these areas. Don’t worry about the heat just don’t stick your hairdryer on top of the phone, wave it around slowly like you are drying your hair in the areas on top and bottom of the phone. Do NOT turn on the phone!

While in Miami once I dropped my Motorola Timeport into a bucket of water. It was the only bucket around and my phones just happened to flip out of my hand and land in it. I am not even sure if it was water.  I used to sell Verizon phones back in the day and the Timeport was pretty sick when it came out for those that can remember that far. I was in a pinch and though hey I’m in a hotel and it’s hot and humid. Let me stick this thing by the Air Conditioner for the night. The next day the phone worked fine. My point of that story is to tell you that an AC can help you. It pulls a lot of moisture out of the air.

If you don’t have a hairdryer or AC one of the most tested methods is to use rice as we mentioned above. There are also silica based packs that act as a dehumidifier. These are the packets that come with clothing and inside boxes to keep them dry.  Both of these methods take time.  Don’t be in a rush to fix your phone after liquid damage. Some extra time drying won’t hurt. The components are very intricate and the device has a lot of cabling, water can seep into many areas. If you want to try the rice method check out our write-up linked above.

Step 4.

Step 4 is the most important step in the list. Have a professional look at your iPhone. There is no sense in risking a $600+ iPhone. For the cost of a professional to clean and treat your internal components it might save you a big headache down the line. It is not uncommon for liquid damaged phones to sustain more problems over time. You can never be certain what will happen until it gets professionally inspected. We have seen a lot of phones post water damage have other issues. It may look like it is working correctly but internally be degrading over time. A professional repair center can stop this from happening and extend the life of the iPhone for you.

By following these steps you can minimize the impact that water and liquid damage have on any device. Android phones are no different and similar processes can be followed for all model phones. None of these steps are guaranteed and water can and will cause severe damage if not taken care of properly. We do not recommend opening up your phone but if you have the correct tools and experience you might want to also open the back of your phone and remove the battery if accessible.

In the event that you do have water damage on your iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Android device Repair Sharks can help. We offer water damage repair services for almost all the models we service. Free Diagnostic services are available on our Repair Sharks website.

iPhone Water Damage Repair

March 1st, 2012

Category: Android Repair, iPhone Repair, Protecting your iPod, Uncategorized

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Android Smartphone Repair vs. iPhone Repair

Android Smartphone Repair

Android Smartphone Repair Sharks Services

For the last year and a half we have been repairing Android Smartphone Screens. We have been able to handle a wide variety of Android smartphones such including brands as HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and LG. Coming from the world of the iPod and iPhone repair the Android phone design has its ups and downs. Since there are so many flavors of Android phones on the market there are also many different designs used internally. Each manufacturer, and even from model to model in the same line, can have layout changes.  If you look at the iPhone 2G to 3G and 3G to 4G model upgrades this is also the case. The designs internally from generation to generation vary greatly.

Here are some of the major differences between the iPhone and Android design that we regularly see when repairing either device.

  1. The internal flex cabling is setup differently. Due to board and battery positioning cabling can vary from model to model. The iPhone 4 for example has an upside down L shaped layout that runs from top to bottom. This allows for a direct connection with minimal cabling for such parts as the LCD and Digitizer screen. Some of the Android models use longer flex cables to make these same connections.
  2. Some of the Android phones are available with slide-out keyboards. These keyboards make it tricky to disassemble at times. There are cables that slide with the keyboard and they are generally intertwined with the phones internal framing making it difficult to remove in some models.
  3. It looks like overall the entire design approach is different from the iPhone. Many of the connector types are similar but the way they are actually placed inside the casing is completely different. Some of the Android phones remind me of doing iPhone 2G repairs. If anyone has ever tried to repair a 2G iPhone then you are familiar with the difficulties of the design.
  4. The screen designs vary from model to model. Some have LCD and Digitizers that are separable newer models like the iPhone 4 and 4s have fused screen designs meaning they come as a single piece from the manufacturer. As a consideration, the screen design can impact the cost of repair in the future and even the cost of insurance.
  5. User replaceable battery in Android models vs. non user replaceable in the iPhone. A big difference especially if you plan on keeping your phone for a few years. We replace many iPhone batteries, although it is rather a straightforward repair it should still be performed by a qualified technician.

Overall both the Android and iPhone models are well performing products.  There is a host of other difference obviously and some are more profound than others. It seems like Android phone manufacturers are starting to adapt their design methods to include new innovations in cable and board manufacturing technology.

Android repair services for HTC, LG, Samsung, and Motorola are available in our repair center. Mail-in or walk-in repair services are available for your Android or Apple iPhone 3, 3gs, 4, or 4s. We are always adding new models to our lineup. Visit our website for more information at www.repairsharks.com.  You can also visit our Android Repair page for more information.

Android Repair Information

February 9th, 2012

Category: Android Repair

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