The other day when I had to be at a stupid training session off site very early in the morning, I stepped on my iphone in the dark. It apparently slid out of my purse.
Sigh. It turned on, but the glass was shattered on the front. So I looked around and you could get the screen and the digitizer with a couple of tools for about $25. I carefully watched a bunch of YouTube videos and decided to give it a try. After all, pieces of glass were falling out and it didn't seem like a good idea to get many of these in my ear.
I sat down last Saturday morning to fix it. The videos I watched showed prying the screen off. Well, maybe for them, mine didn't work that way. Other videos showed a suction cup, so I tried that. Success.
I easily took out the cables (1,2,3). Then it was time to take out the lcd. I followed the instructions in a bunch of videos that said to pry and... CRAP! My lcd was in there really tightly and I busted it. Grrr. DO follow this video instead - that's how I finally got it out.
After a lot of blow drying and scraping and cleaning, I put the screen in and I started to put the ^&*( back together. I couldn't get 3 in, so luckily my husband, M, did that for me. Got it together and it wouldn't boot. CRAP!
Hard reset: hold home and the top button for a while (>10s) and then let go of the home.
So that worked, and now it can receive calls, but I can't answer them because the lcd is messed up (I hope). Next, to buy a new lcd and install that. It's amazing how much I miss this stupid thing.
Update 1/3/10: epilogue. Installed new LCD and then the digitizer was unresponsive. Luckily, it was just a very loose connector. All fixed now and for $60.
Or just take it to an Apple store, pay for the repair and learn your lesson.
I've got a Touch with a broken headphone jack. It's a crappy setup to begin with and not tolerant of plug/unplug cycles. It's $45 for Apple to repair it. But luckily I have the iPhone 3 software and bluetooth is enabled so I just got a pair of Motorola S9's for $33. Problem solved. Added benefit, no more cords!
I was very stupid one day and dropped my phone glass first on to a gravel path. Needless to say the glass shattered. Apple wanted to much and being close to phone renewal I decided to have someone else repair it for much cheaper. These guys http://www.repairmyiphonescreen.com are local in Austin, TX and fixed me right up. I will just give this phone to one of my kids when I am done with it.