My first DIY phone fix made me a self-repair believer

3 weeks ago 8

My archetypal DIY smartphone repair task was disconnected to an inauspicious start.

I’d successfully removed the backmost of the HMD Skyline, but the adjacent acquisition called for a T3 screwdriver bit. I had a T4 bit, which worked good capable to crook the screw that popped the country of the phone’s backmost sheet up. But a T4 was conscionable excessively large for the tiny screws holding the artillery connector screen successful place. I needed that T3.

The Skyline is 1 of HMD’s latest user-repairable phones. It’s a midrange phone, 1 of the archetypal Android phones with Qi2 wireless charging, positive a 6.55-inch OLED panel, 3 rear cameras, and a large 4,600mAh artillery for $449. In my constricted use, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 seems prone to lagginess, and the 1080p surface solution truly isn’t capable for that large panel.

But astir notably, the Skyline represents the continuation of a concern with iFixit. You tin bargain spare parts for the Skyline connected iFixit’s website, travel on with elaborate repair instructions, and prime up the tools you’ll request for the job. My reappraisal portion arrived from HMD with a basic iFixit toolkit, which has a bully acceptable of starter tools — but not the T3 spot I needed.

Did you cognize you tin locomotion into your section hardware store and bargain thing called a “smartphone repair kit?” I didn’t, but I’m gladsome that you can. I bought the kit arsenic a benignant of insurance; I’d been successful interaction with iFixit to get immoderate replacement parts for the Skyline for testing, and wasn’t definite if a T3 was coming successful my shipment. It was, arsenic it turned out, on with other tools, a replacement battery, a replacement backmost cover, and immoderate rad iFixit stickers. So thoughtful!

I walk a batch of my clip utilizing phones, holding phones, being adjacent phones, and considering phones, but seldom looking wrong phones. That’s mostly due to the fact that dismantling a $1,000 instrumentality that a institution is loaning you is mostly considered rude. Phone manufacturers would besides similar you spell done their authoritative channels alternatively than self-repair. But also, I’m benignant of a weenie. I’m not precise useful and I’m tense astir screwing thing up — traits I’m dilatory learning to flooded arsenic a location owner.

HMD Skyline telephone  with backmost  sheet  removed.

The greenish tab is the 1 that snapped, but I managed to wiggle the artillery retired with the different two.

Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge

I’ll beryllium honest, prying the artillery retired of the HMD Skyline did marque maine a small nervous, particularly erstwhile the disposable tab I was pulling to merchandise it from its adhesive snapped close off. But arsenic with location projects, I’m learning that if you person the close tools connected hand, instrumentality your time, and consult experts on the way, past you tin bash a batch much than you think. iFixit’s usher suggested that the adhesive mightiness beardown capable to necessitate constant, dependable pressure. By cautiously pulling connected the remaining 2 tabs, I yet freed the artillery from the glue.

I’d successfully followed the steps to region the phone’s backmost cover, disconnect the battery, and region it from the phone. All I needed to bash earlier installing the caller artillery was to region a mates of patches of adhesive. I utilized a spudger and tweezers to peel up astir of it, but the sticky remnants needed to spell too. Working 1 driblet astatine a time, I applied immoderate 90 percent isopropyl intoxicant and scrubbed the residue disconnected with a microfiber towel. It was the astir tedious and satisfying portion of the job.

The astir tedious and satisfying portion of the job

Incidentally, I had to execute the aforesaid maneuver successful a location task past week, lone connected a somewhat bigger scale. There’s seemingly a tiny ace wherever the conduit meets our outdoor breaker box that lets a tiny trickle of h2o into the partition erstwhile it rains. It’s thing that we’ve had a contractor enactment connected a mates of times, but their hole hasn’t seemed to stick. They’re a large outfit and “tiny ace wherever a small rainfall gets into the drywall” is excessively tiny potatoes for them anyway, truthful I took it connected myself.

That’s however you extremity up connected a ladder extracurricular your location peeling all-weather portion disconnected of a metallic box, a fewer millimeters astatine a time. But I did arsenic the benignant radical astatine the hardware store told me, removing the portion and the residue underneath with immoderate rubbing intoxicant and a microfiber towel. The ace is freshly sealed and stood up to a downpour a fewer days later, and I program to ne'er unopen up astir however I fixed the leak successful the partition each by myself.

Back to the Skyline. I installed the caller battery, swapped successful the caller backmost cover, and sealed the full happening up again. There’s a worrying magnitude of unit and clicking required to get the screen clipped backmost into place, but I did it. The telephone powered up usually and is charging arsenic I constitute this; iFixit recommends charging it to 100 percent and past keeping it plugged successful for an other 2 hours to calibrate it.

The easiness of this repair wasn’t by accident

The full process to swap the artillery and screen took a mates of hours — including 30 minutes I spent moving to the store for immoderate 90 percent isopropyl alcohol. But aft taking a look done iFixit’s different telephone repair guides, I tin admit that the easiness of this repair wasn’t by accident. If you privation to swap retired a artillery connected your Google Pixel 8 you’ll request to complete 42 steps conscionable to get the archetypal artillery out; connected the HMD Skyline the full process is conscionable 21 steps.

To beryllium fair, the Pixel 8 is IP68 rated for afloat particulate and h2o resistance, truthful it’s conscionable going to beryllium harder to get into. The Skyline is IP54, which is honestly amended than I figured considering its repairability status. And unsurprisingly, the Skyline doesn’t consciousness rather arsenic good made arsenic a less-repairable Pixel oregon Samsung phone. Maybe you can’t person it all.

If thing else, the workout of opening up the Skyline has made maine an adjacent bigger proponent of repairable phones. California’s Right to Repair law, which went into effect implicit the summer, has surely helped propulsion telephone makers to marque parts and documentation disposable to much consumers. But adjacent those technically complying with the instrumentality don’t look to beryllium afloat embracing its principles. Maybe those companies should enactment a small much religion successful their customers. After fixing a leak successful the partition and replacing a telephone battery, my religion successful my ain self-repair skills is astatine an all-time high.

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