Customer Reviews

Apple Iphone 3g Digitizer Touch Screen Replacement LCD with Video Instructions + 7 Piece Tool Kit + Adhesive Strip (3m) + Mirror Screen Protector+ Zeetron Microfiber Cloth (10 Piece Kit)

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(38)

 

 

***I purchased my kit from zeetron, one of three amazon sellers offering this product since it's soldout.

All you need to repair your cracked glass is shipped with this order as shown in the image. I like the various tools they provide, such as the screwdrivers, suction cup, etc. The video instructions are very clear and helpful, it is totally possible to repair your own glass instead of spending a whole fortune on it. I want to say it is a breeze, although there were moments when I was really afraid I'd wreck something. This task probably feels more comfortable to the handy sort out there.

A couple warnings...
(1) If your glass is anywhere as cracked as mine, it will take some effort to remove it from the frame. Lots of heat application and patience is key. Also, please take care in handling the glass. Although I was lucky, I could easily see someone slip and cut themselves pretty deeply. A tweezer would come in handy.
(2) It is not mentioned in the video, but some parts of your iphone are taped over by a sticky black film. I suppose this is to prevent tampering. You'll have to remove it to fix the glass, but doing so voids your warranty.
(3) Before you snap the lcd back onto the new glass, be super careful about letting any dust trap between the two... otherwise you'll end up with annoying lint like I did.
(4) The screen protector they offer has this mirror finish... which I find a little irritating. I also have a hunch it desensitizes the sensor that detects whether you've got the phone held up to your ear.
(5) It took a couple tries for me to put the phone back together. The first time, my earpiece wasn't working. The second time, my LCD wouldn't turn on. Third time was a charm, I made sure everything was securely plugged in.


***7/21/2010****
Guess what! I cracked my phone again, so I purchased this same kit again. I was a little cocky from fixing it the first time, so I was a little rough on the frame. So a couple more tips...

(1) There's a thin rubber lining the frame that holds the glass. It's extremely fragile and the more you pry to get the glass loose, the more likely you will be ripping off this lining. One of the many functions of the rubber is to act as a buffer to prevent dust from collecting in the phone. I noticed how dusty my phone was getting from the last time I replaced the glass on my phone.

(2) I made the huge mistake of prying and accidentally piercing my LCD while removing it from the glass/frame. Make sure you have all your screws out, and pry between the two metal pieces, not underneath the lcd... otherwise you'll regret it.

(3) A tweezer really helps in getting the tiny tab inserted firmly into the circuit board.

My daughter accidentally knocked my wife's iPhone 3G from the kitchen counter onto the tile floor. The glass digitizer was immediately shattered. I did some research on the web and found many replacement digitizer kits (as well as several generally more expensive replacement services). I really didn't know what to expect from these replacement services, so I was a bit reluctant to spend the extra money (not to mention mailing away an expensive piece of electronics to an unknown destination). So I started looking more seriously at buying a kit and doing the replacement myself. This digitizer replacement kit from Zeetron was one of the most reasonably priced kits I could find, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Overall, I had a very good experience with this product. The shipping was prompt and the supplied tools were more than enough to complete the task of opening up the iPhone, removing the digitizer and LCD, disconnecting the digitizer from the LCD and eventually replacing the digitizer. Having the included tools was very helpful! I have a lot of tools at my house, but I wouldn't have had the necessary tools on hand if they had not been included in the kit.

Many of the reviewers of this product commented on the difficulty of the task. Don't let them scare you off. Sure, it's not as simple as changing a lightbulb or replacing the batteries in a toy, but it's not that difficult either. If you're at all handy and have some time and patience, this is a good way to replace a cracked digitizer while saving some money.

I followed along with the instructional video on Zeetron's site. It's adequate to guide you through the essentials of performing the replacement, but their video has some shortcomings. There are many such videos on YouTube and other sites. I actually watched a couple of others to fill in some of the gaps inherent in Zeetron's video. Here are a couple of tips:

1) First off, make sure you have the time to sit down and get all the way through the process without disruption. Even though most of the instructional videos on the web are 10 minutes or so in length, it took me almost 2 hours when all was said and done. If you have kids, wait until they go to bed (if your kids are anything like mine, they'll be fascinated by the guts of an iPhone, but trust me this is not a place for peanut butter and jelly covered fingers).

2) Watch the video(s) all the way through before doing anything. It's worth 10-15 minutes of your time to get an idea of the entire process end-to-end before you jump in.

3) Make sure you're in a well-lit area and that you have enough space to lay out all your tools and various parts of the phone as you take it apart. I'd recommend a small dish or shallow cup that you can use to hold the almost microscopic screws as you remove them from the phone.

4) The Zeetron video does a pretty good job getting you to the point where you're able to pull the digitizer/LCD assembly out of the case (using the included suction cup), but it doesn't really show you up close the connections between the digitizer/LCD assembly and the board in the case. There are 3 numbered wire connections that you'll need to successfully disconnect before you can completely remove the digitizer/LCD assembly from the phone case. I looked elsewhere on the web and found other videos that detail these 3 connections up close. If you've never opened up an iPhone before (as I never had), a little research to familiarize yourself with these connections is well worth your time.

5) There is a step that requires you to separate the (damaged) digitizer from the frame that holds it to the LCD. Keep in mind that you need to reuse your phone's existing frame (a replacement frame is not included in the kit). The video shows the use of a hair dryer to heat up the glass on the damaged digitizer, thus melting the adhesive and allowing for the forced separation of the digitizer from the frame. This process took me MUCH longer than is shown in the video and was definitely the most difficult part of the process. Be patient. Just keep heating and reheating. Eventually you will be able to separate the glass and the frame. Be careful not to burn your fingers - the glass and metal get very hot! The plastic on my frame was pretty seriously curved from the heat by the time I completely separated it from the glass. I thought I may have botched it. Don't worry if this happens to you. You'll be able to bend it back. You many need to heat up the plastic portion of the frame again before adhering it to the new digitizer in order to get it malleable enough to lay flat against the new digitizer. This worked for me.

6) When you go to attach the new replacement digitizer to the existing frame, you'll need to remove all 3 pieces of plastic film from the underside of the digitizer. The guy in the Zeetron video just mentions removing the 2 at the top and bottom. If you watch the video closely you'll notice there is a note that mentions you need to remove the 3rd film from the underside of the glass before attaching it to the frame. (You can leave the film on the top of the glass on there until you're completely done and have the phone put back together).

7) If your experience is anything like mine, your frame will likely be a little beat up from the process of removing the damaged digitizer. It will likely require some effort (and possibly more heat) to get it to adhere properly to the replacement digitizer. It's not incredibly difficult, but you're certain to get fingerprints on the underside of the new glass digitizer in the process. This is critical: once you've attached the new digitizer to the frame, make sure you thoroughly clean the underside of the glass digitizer before attaching the digitizer/frame to the LCD. If you don't, you're fingerprints will show up under the glass and you won't be able to clean them.

8) Be careful when handling the frame. It contains the phone's "home button". It's very fragile and (from what I understand) is one of the most common gotchas of doing this replacement yourself. You're going to be bummed out if you go through this whole process and get your phone put back together only to find out that the home button no longer works.

If you can be patient and attentive to details, just about anyone can complete this replacement themselves. The quality of the replacement digitizer is on par with the original - once I was all done and got the phone put back together the new digitizer was indistinguishable from the original (prior to being shatter, of course). I told my wife to be careful with the phone because I'm not looking forward to doing this replacement again anytime soon, but I'm glad I went this route and saved the money. Good luck!

I ordered this product from Zeetron, and at $20 shipped to my door in less than a week, it's hard to complain. However, this isn't the perfect product. The screen when installed sticks out slightly further than the OEM part, which makes the home button feel a little more sunk in and removes some of the smoothness of the design of the iPhone. Additionally, the tool kit they provided contained an awful screwdriver. While it might be the "right size" to remove screws on the iPhone, it was of such poor manufacturing quality that attempting to remove the screws you have a very high chance of stripping one of them. I compared the one they sent me with a $5 dollar 8-in-1 mini screwdriver set I bought from a home store and could clearly see the major issue was simply too sharp a point on the crappy screwdriver.
Overall, it's not a bad way to go if you need to replace your outer screen, but the installation isn't easy and requires quite a bit of finesse to avoid breaking any of the connections or the LCD. If you're confident and competent, go ahead and save yourself some money by replacing the screen yourself, but don't expect to be able to do it in less than an hour and watch multiple youtube instructional videos before starting.

After seeing many screens for sale on Amazon, it is confusing to know which will be as close to OEM Apple as possible. This screen kit is perfect. It comes with everything you need to replace your own glass screen on your iPhone. The process is tedious and challenging, so unless you have a good knowledge of electronics, it might be very hard for you. The seller's shipping is quick, and screen comes with screwdrivers, pry handles, suction cup, new screen cover, and perfectly-cut adhesives.

I was an electrical technician and a design engineer. Not only have I built printed circuit boards, I've designed them. Moreover, I know how to relate technical information to non-technical people.

I'll keep this review short and sweet. If your iPhone 3gs screen is cracked and you want to fix it yourself I have the solution for you:

1. Don't purchase this kit. Purchase the entire new 3gs screen/frame/homebutton combo kit instead. Instead of meticulously taking the iphone apart piece by intricate piece, removing every minuscule piece of broken glass still glued to the frame with a heat gun and tweezers, and then putting it back together with the same painstaking precision, you can simply remove the top half of your iphone and slap the new one on quickly and easily. It will take 1/10 the time and 1/100 the frustration. This is the option I recommend to anyone regardless of skill level, as the ease of it is well worth the extra cash. The link for it is listed below:

http://www.amazon.com/iPhone-3gS-Screen-Repair-Kit/dp/B002XT355S/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1274575545&sr=8-25

2. OR - If you're a glutton for punishment, have the patience and time to do the research before even beginning (watch multiple youtube videos on how to replace the screen) and can dedicate a couple hours to doing this task (and have some familiarity with electronic components), then this is a worthwhile solution. The most difficult part is removing all the glass and ensuring you don't damage the LCD screen. You MUST do the research in watching multiple videos as the instructions included with are non-existent, literally. All they do is include a link to a youtube video which you must manually type into your browser only to find that the link does not exist. Depending on which video you then watch on youtube, you can easily damage your LCD screen in the process following their instructions. In my haste and blind faith in the instructional video I found, that's what happened to me. The Zeetron video does happen to be the best one, which is not listed under Zeetron but Zeetronic however.

Bottom line - this is a tedious procedure with chance for error on many steps. Detailed instructions, or even a proper link to their video would benefit this product tremendously. Why they haven't taken this minor effort, I don't know. Even then, the ease of slapping on an entire new assembly far outweighs this headaches this method will cause.

The merchant responded to all my questions, and was willing to refund my money or send a new one when it got lost in the mail for weeks, but when I finally got this product it was incomplete. In the description it said "1 of Apple Iphone 3g Digitizer Touch Screen Replacement LCD with Video Instructions + 7 Piece Tool Kit + Adhesive Strip (3m) + Mirror Screen Protector+ Zeetron Microfiber Cloth (10 Piece Kit) [ASIN: B002WA506K]" ... There was NO instructions at all not to even mention video instructions, NO mirror screen protector, and NO Zeetron Microfiber Cloth. When I informed the OEM shop of this issue this is the response I got "Thank you for contacting me regarding this matter. The item you are requesting is not available with this item." and that was it, no refund, no parts to be sent later, no I am sorry for the false advertisement! I did keep the screen because I had waited so long for it and needed it, but will never deal with company again.

As all of the other reviewers suggested, this is not as easy as the video makes it look. Keep in mind the guy in the video is a pro (undoubtedly the Michael Jordan of iphone repair) and fixes these things all day. However i was able to do it in just over an hour and I'm not the most tech savvy person ever (only mildly retarded when it comes to tinkering).

For unknown reasons the kit comes with a ton of tools that are not even used in the video and I'm not sure of their purpose, but extra stuff isn't a bad thing. I like the mirrored screen protector they threw in. And a guitar pick? Sure, why not?

Glad I bought it instead of paying someone to fix it for me (more expensive than the cost of a new iphone 3g).

The connection labeled #2 didn't fit on the appropriate spot on the chip set inside the phone. The cable kept on popping right off and thereby rendered the touch screen worthless. I've replace several iPhone screens before so I know what needs to be done and how they typically connect. This didn't connect correctly.

I try to fix my own things, i'm pretty industrious, and usually succeed, but there is no way to succeed with defective parts!
I installed the replacement "digitizer" successfully but the screen is not recognizing where i swipe my finger. The set I bought was missing the cloth, and the instructions was merely a small piece of paper that only helped as a parts tray. The suction cup was a flaccid piece of plastic. I got great instructions from youtube however.

When my wife dropped her iPhone 3G and shattered the screen in a million pieces, I figured I was going to have to buy a new phone. Instead, I decided to purchase this replacement screen first. Great move! I ordered overnight shipping and that's what I got. I went on Youtube and watched the video a few times, and then got to work.

The magnetic tip Phillips screwdriver that Zeetron includes is totally worthless, but I have an electronics scredriver set at home, so no worries. Everything else they included worked like a charm. It took me a while to scrape all the tiny peices of glass out of the frame- the phone was actually dropped twice, once on the bottom left corner and one on the top right corner, so there was a LOT of tiny fragments of glass to get out- but the blowdryer helped a lot.

The only criticism other that the terrible screwdriver was that it was a bit difficult to tell from the video exactly where to plug the three wires into, and I couldn't understand why the earpiece wasn't working. Perhaps Zeetron could include an illustration of the inside of the phone?

In all, it took me about an hour to change the screen, because I had to keep opening and closing the phone to figure out why the earpice wasn't working. If I had plugged the earpiece speaker wire into the correct place the first time, it would have taken me about 45 minutes.

Bottom line: this is a terrific product and I completely recommend it to anyone with a shattered screen. My next move will be to buy a new battery for my own 3G.