920 screen cracked but touch works fine - DIY repair or ?

[soloist_huaxin]

Never thought it was possible but managed to drop my 920 on the stairs and the round edge of glass made contact first. Result -> one cracked screen. AAARRRGGGHHH

The touch functionality works just fine. I can still use the phone with no problem, so I'm wondering if I can replace only the glass which costs $20, and not the glass+screen+digitizer which can cost ~$150+. Some say the glass is optically bonded to screen which means there's no way to separate glass from screen, while others say it's just peel&stick adhesive around the screen to hold the glass. If it's the latter case(which means I can DIY this) I'll just go ahead and change it myself. Anyone done this before or have information? Thanks in advance!

 

[Muessig]

On the 920 I don't think the glass is bonded to the digitizer - I think that happened later with the 928 or 925. How long have you had the phone and where did you buy it from? If you got it from a store where your warranty is still valid you could try to get a replacement device. Alternatively if you think you could go through Nokia to get the phone repaired that's always a more reliable repair than a DIY job, although it will be more expensive. I can't really tell from the description if it's just the glass itself that's the problem (it sounds like it might be) but remember this is Corning Guerilla Glass 2, which isn't cheap... I don't know if any replacements you get through Ebay will be up to the same standard unless it specifically says "Genuine", which will likely be more expensive anyway.

 

[garrymcd]

The glass CAN be separated, but it looks a little tricky. See here...

Nokia Lumia 920 Digitizer Glass & LCD (TFT) Display Replacement - YouTube

 

[AccentAE86]

I've done it. It is quite tricky, and you have to be really handy, and have the proper tools. It's easy to screw up, and very easy to get dust on your screen. It's also quite the job to apply the adhesive to the new glass... very time consuming. I think you can buy precut adhesive now, which I would DEFINITELY recommend if you are going to attempt this.

 

[soloist_huaxin]

Muessi: I'm not quite sure about that...from the video posted by Garry, it looks like the glass and digitizer are 1 piece, I agree it's possible to pull them apart but I have concern on what kind of impact would that have on the touch sensitivity/functionality if I do.

Garry: I've seen that video a dozen times, he didn't separate the glass and the digitizer, he separated the glass+digitizer(which is 1 piece) from the screen.

Accent: I read the same on the internet, and I think you're spot on. I don't consider myself "really handy" so I ended up getting the glass+digitizer(instead of just glass) and a set of tools from ebay. the glass should come with precut adhesive, which is a big bonus. I also have compressed air ready to deal with dust.

 

[soloist_huaxin]

I got it from ATT on day 1(waited about 3 weeks for them to ship my yellow version though). However, I don't think ATT is going to do anything since I didn't buy their "insurance"...Some online shop in Kansas is asking for $239, which is more than ripoff considering I don't have to replace screen. Tried contacting Nokia repair (the one in Alabama) but missed 5PM by 5 minutes and no one's picking up...Heard the price is somewhere along $180-$200.

Anyways, I decided to DIY and bought glass+digitizer and a set of torx drivers from ebay for around $50. I could buy just the glass and tools for $25 but I don't want to risk damaging the touch functionality.(this thing is sensitive to the touch) if I screwed up changing it myself I guess I'll just wait for the rumored 1520...

 

[dductran]

Hey guys, i had a similar problem where i cracked my screen as well. I was able to replace it myself however after replacing the screen and turning it on i tried using it by typing out a message. For some reason when i click on the letter 'e' it also registers the letter 't'. it would seem as if though the left side of my screen does not respond correctly or registers two touches instead of one?? have i damaged something???

 

[AccentAE86]

There are a lot of non-Nokia replicas of the digitizer+glass assemblies. They are especially notorious for 820 glass; its hard to actually find a genuine Nokia piece. I've had many of the knockoffs and they are either glitchy in touch sensitivity, missing the coatings, or missing clearblack polarization layers, or all of the above. Its pretty brutal how much variation there is in the digitizers. The best way to find a true Nokia piece is to find one with the ATT branding on it. I bought mine from an ebay seller called commercial-trading. But that was many many months ago. Maybe he still has them. But I've also seen some knockoffs in his store too, so just try to find one with the ATT logo on it.

 

[KidBoom]

I replaced my screen the other day, and not the digitizer. If your screen is cracked you will not need a new digitizer, but if there is some leaking under the screen you will need a new digitizer. Overall is was straightforward, I followed the video garrymcd posted. I bought the screen with the adhesive here Nokia Lumia 920 Digitizer|Touch Screen. You will need the right torx screw to properly take the phone apart, you can find some sets on Amazon. It took about an hour to replace, you need to be careful with the digitizer any fingerprints, dust, etc will show up on your display. Bending the digitizer might cause your the touchscreen to not respond correctly in certain spots. But definitely buy the screen with adhesive. Good luck.

 

[soloist_huaxin]

Bending the digitizer might cause your the touchscreen to not respond correctly in certain spots. But definitely buy the screen with adhesive

Exactly the reason I didn't by just the glass.

The glass+digitizer arrived yesterday. Looks good, but it MAY be some 3rd-party stuff like AccentAE86 mentioned: I tried my best to find one with ATT logo and this one doesn't have it. Guess I'll just use it, if it fails I'll wait for 1520? Nokia's "authorized" repair asks for $162+shipping and they change the LCD as well(which I don't need).

 

[AccentAE86]

Exactly the reason I didn't by just the glass.

The glass+digitizer arrived yesterday. Looks good, but it MAY be some 3rd-party stuff like AccentAE86 mentioned: I tried my best to find one with ATT logo and this one doesn't have it. Guess I'll just use it, if it fails I'll wait for 1520? Nokia's "authorized" repair asks for $162+shipping and they change the LCD as well(which I don't need).

Touch the glass and slide your finger on it. Does it feel really slippery like the factory 920 glass and it's oleophobic coating? Then, when you take the broken digitizer out, put both of them side by side on a piece of white paper. Is the factory glass darker than the one you just bought? If so, it might be missing the clearblack/polarization layers, which will make looking at your phone in the sun awful. The blacks will look more silverish and the glare will be brutal.

The lack of the ATT logo on it doesn't mean it is a knockoff, so you may very well have a genuine piece. But having it there makes it a very good possibility that it is genuine, because nobody would build a knockoff with carrier branding on it.

 

[AccentAE86]

Here are examples of the diff between genuine on knockoffs on my 820 units.

Here you can see the lack of clearblack layers makes a huge diff in glare, and keeping blacks black. Otherwise blacks look silverish.

And here you can see the diff with the glass off the phones. Quite a huge difference!

And one thing you cannot show in a picture is the lack of coatings. The fake glass feels AWFUL compared to the genuine glass. The genuine glass lets your fingers glide beautifully over the surface. The fake one does not... actually it feels more like a Lumia 520's glass surface.

 

[soloist_huaxin]

update: So I spent an hour to replace the glass+digitizer and, surprise, it does NOT work. Got it from this seller named Pmonmon from ebay. Followed the steps from LE55ONS on youtube(Garrymcd posted in this thread) to the letter. After install, the screen went all chromatic instead of the clear black&white, and touch functionality doesn't work at all. have to retreat to iphone 4s for a bit before deciding what to do - wait for 1520 or dump another $200 to the authorized repair shop...it's a sad day.

 

[Necroscope]

I live a mile or so from Palco in Huntsville, AL. Shattered my screen on Saturday. I dropped it off yesterday right at 8 AM and they called me at about 1 PM to to tell my they were done and I could pick up my phone. $162.00

I hated to pay it, but the phone was unusable after the drop.

Worth the money, really. When you consider the time saved, I did not have to do the work my self, authorized service center so my warranty is intact, and they warranty the work for 90 days.

 

[soloist_huaxin]

I live a mile or so from Palco in Huntsville, AL. Shattered my screen on Saturday. I dropped it off yesterday right at 8 AM and they called me at about 1 PM to to tell my they were done and I could pick up my phone. $162.00

I hated to pay it, but the phone was unusable after the drop.

Worth the money, really. When you consider the time saved, I did not have to do the work my self, authorized service center so my warranty is intact, and they warranty the work for 90 days.

good to know that the turnaround is quick. I guess after yesterday I'm left without warranty since I opened it...just didn't feel like $162 is the right price for a phone that retails for $439(ATT no contract) Maybe I'll eventually send it in but for now I'll wait till end of month and see if that rumored event brings some surprise(1520?)

 

[soloist_huaxin]

This is getting interesting...I contacted the seller and he asked me to send it back for inspection/refund. Just in case things go bad I took some photos of the screen/digitizer. Interestingly enough, I noticed that they may have mounted the digitizer control chip in a wrong direction. This should be the reason the touch doesn't work. guess I'll be getting free exchange from them. He did claim it's weird that the one I get doesn't have ATT logo on it. On the good side, the glass seems to be well coated, it looks almost identical if you put both on white paper. it's not as smooth as the original one in the front, and on the back of digitizer it feels more or less grainy, while on the original one it feels just as smooth as the frontside. I'll upload some pics shot by iphone 4 later. (ps, ip4s camera sucks, especially when it comes to close range)

 

[loveleo]

update: So I spent an hour to replace the glass+digitizer and, surprise, it does NOT work. Got it from this seller named Pmonmon from ebay. Followed the steps from LE55ONS on youtube(Garrymcd posted in this thread) to the letter. After install, the screen went all chromatic instead of the clear black&white, and touch functionality doesn't work at all. have to retreat to iphone 4s for a bit before deciding what to do - wait for 1520 or dump another $200 to the authorized repair shop...it's a sad day.

Do you mean chromatic like rainbows you see some times on glasses not bonded or do you mean the actual screen is displaying different colors as chromatic?

 

[soloist_huaxin]

ok some pics. First up is the original digitizer connector/control chip. you can see the marking on chip very clearly


Then it's this replacement digitizer connector/control chip. the marking on the chip is blurry and iphone can't focus on it. also the plastic thing behind 3 keys are missing, but that's mostly cosmetic IMO


Side-by-Side on a white paper. Looks like the polarization layer is done right. But it is not...


I have to ship the replacement back to seller, and I need a device for some app dev, so I put back the broken screen. After all these abuse, the original screen works just fine, color is right, touch works, only thing missing is a piece of glass shard and the dust cover for the earpiece(I lost it somehow, any ideas on where to get replacement/kludge something for it? busted headphones?). Talk about robustness...

 

[djburkes]

I've replaced two Lumia 920 glass+digitizers 2 HTC One X glass+digitizer+LCD and one Lumia 1020 glass+digitizer+LCD. I've only ordered my screens from one place ETrade Supply|iPhone Parts|Cell Phone Parts|iPhone 4S Parts|iphone 5 parts|Mobile Phone Parts. They ship out of China but I've had no problems with the parts. The only thing I would suggest when it comes to replacing the digitizer on the Lumia 920 is that you use black adhesive. If you don't, light may leak around the edges.

 

[soloist_huaxin]

Do you mean chromatic like rainbows you see some times on glasses not bonded or do you mean the actual screen is displaying different colors as chromatic?

It's chromatic like rainbows, and I suspect that it's due to glasses not bonding well to digitizer.