2013/03/14

Nokia 808 glass and touch digitizer replacement

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This is my damaged Nokia 808. Bella dropped it from 1m height, on a wooden floor. Glass broke, but sceen and touch were intact. I glued screen protection sticker on it, to re-inforce screen a bit and prevent cuts while using it for couple of weeks, while figuring out my repair options.

Authorized repair quoted me 200 EUR for the job of replacing both glass and display together and said, that, according to Nokia manual, it is impossible (or prohibited) to dismantle lcd/glass assembly. There is however a separate glass part available from ebay seller “easyworldwidetrading” (also ewwt-au, ewwtnet, ewwt-oz), for mere 20 EUR (price delivered to Europe). I ordered slightly more expensive kit (25 EUR), which included 2 plastic separation tools, and 2 smallish screwdrivers (one of the Torx T5). In my case, those tools weren’t much help. Moreover, one needs Torx T6 instead, to disassemble Nokia 808. I had to buy it separately at the last moment at the local DIY hypermarket. So, if I had to do it again, I would buy a cheaper kit, without tools. NB! Screen is identical to Nokia’s orginial part, but there is small mark on the upper front lip saying “proto.nokia.com”. This will give away that you tempered with device, and will most probably void warranty.

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There are 2 videos available on youtube, from LE55ONS. First, explains how to take out LCD+glass assembly out.

2nd video explains how to separate LCD from glass/digitizer.

After this, you still need to separate glass from the carrying plastic frame, and there is no video on youtube to guide you. This operation is quite messy and time consuming, but you can do it too, just don’t rush and give yourself plenty of time. I never repaired phones before, and doing this first time took about 2 hours for disassebmly and 1 hour to glue parts and put everything back together.

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LAST REMINDER, this is messy, fragile, risky. You may damage underlying AMOLED display and of course, even if successful, it voids manufacturer’s warranty.

This is how I thought I would proceed.

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But despite continuosly heating the screen and frame, I could not separate it from the frame. The problem was when trying to separate glass from frame, separation tools would go in-between glass and digitizer (both glued to each other as well).

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After half and hour of trying around edges, I went for more aggressive approach and ran separator between glass and digitizer. (continue heating).

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Notice, how this credit card goes between 2 glass surfaces. By the way, sharpened edge of the old credit card, is all the tool you will need. Well, maybe 2 cards. Be careful with the frame. Breaking glass is ok at this point, breaking the frame is not.

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This is what I had after separating the upper glass from the frame. Digitizer screen is very fragile, broken easily. However, new replacement part comes with the new digitizer.

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Now, I cleaned the frame from the remaining glass and glue.

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Result. Frame (backside) separated from front glass, digitizer in pieces.

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Frame (front).

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I used simple rubbery adhesive glue, the one that needs to dry for couple of minutes before pressing both surfaces. You could use a superfast and super strong glue too, but if you ever need to repeat this procedure, only rubber glue would allow it. I had to work quickly and carefully, with a narrow screwdriver, to apply very thin layer of glue around the digitizer’s position on the frame, to avoid any glue going between glass and AMOLED display, when parts are pressed strongly to each other. Did not have time to make photos, as glue was drying rapidly. Keep protective pads on both sides of the glass.

Then, I connected all electrical parts and powered the phone up. It worked. (including touch)

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Went back to AMOLED and glass. Used dry cloth on amoled, then used vacuum cleaner to suck all dust from amoled, (repeat couple of times) then removed protective film from digitizer and clicked amoled and glass together. Powered all electronics on again, checked that there is no dust between glass and display, no traces of glue, etc. Finally, assembled the phone.

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Before and After. Good luck if you try this yourself.

25 comments:

  1. I just tried this yesterday and it all went very well, screen looked great etc .. that was, until I realised I'd forgotten to put back the speaker, so I opened it up added the speaker and put it back together to find the screen not working in two parts. One across the bottom and one about the middle of the phone. Very frustrating since I can't see any cracks on the AMOLED or glass. It had all gone so well too. Your steps were still very useful, I must've just done something wrong, oh well.

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    1. Hi, Matthew, sad to hear about those problems. I would try again to disconnect the flexible connector from digitizer to the main board. Reseat it, make sure it clicks when connected. Also, not sure if it helps, but did you notice that plastic frame has small metal pins (I see 5 of them on the photo). They need to touch metal underneath during assembly.

      Finally, did you buy from ewwt? I have seen comments that someone bought from other source (without proto.nokia.com label), digitizer did not work, then bought from ewwt and it worked ok.

      If all else fails, I'd ask for free or heavily discounted replacement part from ewwt. Maybe $10-15 should be fair to cover additional shipping costs and cost of that part. Otherwise, I'd put up youtube video mentioning ebay seller's name and "faulty Nokia 808 touchscreen digitizer".

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  2. Ja os videos li sua pagina uma dez vezes e eu continuo sem entender, por que as tecla de voltar e menu não estão funcionado, o rapaz que trocou disse que o vidro toch que comprei esta com defeito, mais eu desmontei como no video, e não vi nada de errado, eu acho que meu celular dançou, estou muito triste. Essa pagina é muito util para quem não sabe trocar, se eu tivesse visto antes eu mesma teria feito. Um abraço.

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  3. Hey there,
    Thanks for this, i just replace mine.
    One question though:
    I bought the digitiser from another seller, which has a white bird instead of the nokia icon (!).now i can see very tiny lines along the screen, which are in straight line, although one or two in the center seem a bit more concentrated. This is not normal right? It is annoying, just want to make sure its not supposed to be like this.
    Thank you in advance.

    George

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    Replies
    1. Hi, George. Can you upload a photo of this problem?? e.g. to imgur.com?

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    2. Not able to do that now. But i think i found the answer. It is the digitiser grid that is appearing, although i am not sure that was there before.Imagine dots like that : http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/3367/cimg5198.jpg that are actually more visible on white background (phone on).
      If i remember correctly, these were not there with the original screen. Can you take a look to yours and let me know if you also have them? If that is the case i should get a refund because the screen is advertised same quality...

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    3. I checked my phone, I do not see those digitizer dots. (I know what you mean, I have seen those on other LCD screens)

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  4. Perfect cause i already ordered it.Wouldnt want a second screen with the same issue. I also ordered some double sided tape to glue the digitiser. Glue was a mess for me :) Thanks for your reply.Appreciate it.
    Cheers!

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  5. My god..The screen has little dots too. Only minor. Are you certain it is not the same with you? You have to look closely by moving the phone left and right. I seriously cannot understand.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, George, I tried. I cannot reproduce it my phone. I tried different lamps and lighting conditions.

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  6. Hello:
    I have a broken screen, bougth from Ebay a new one , but...didn´t know that it would not include the rubber frame. I will follow these steps today. I just like the nokia pictures...Otherwise I buy the comming 41 megapixels with windows OS..

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  7. Your steps were usefull. i already done it with my nokia phone . screen looked great Appreciate it

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  8. Thanks for these instructions, I just fixed my 808 in the same way with the same ewwt parts. Removing the old one from the frame was indeed the trickiest part, but your steps were very helpful. Next time, I'd definitely try and find a part already in the frame, as LE55ONS suggests.

    Some photos:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugovk/sets/72157634678358750/

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    Replies
    1. White PureView is a real beauty!!! Glad this post was useful for you.

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  9. hello
    please i need u to tell me which glue u used! plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz de name of the glue and where can i buy it? coz all da glues i found are da strong onces...those who stick forever and if i brake da screen...i wont be able to separate it from the frame. thx

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    1. Hi, I am using a brand which is sold only in Europe/Russia, it is rubbery semi-flexible adhesive, produced by large international company Henkel. In other countries it is sold under Loctite brand. As I did not open this product myself, I cannot guarantee 100%, but this one looks very similar http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/6/31/cntct_usns/overview/Loctite-Stikn-Seal-Extreme-Conditions.htm In any case, you can ask at DIY store some semi-flexible glue, usually used for rubber.

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    2. use scotch brand tape

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  10. Привет.
    Столкнулся с той же проблемой на своей 808 Нокии и 820 Люмии. Цена на ремонт - за пределами здравого смысла. Заказал тачскрин, а он оказался без рамки. Самому ее отклеивать страшно, боюсь сломать. Купил даже двусторонний скотч, чтобы приклеить. С Люмией проще, экран с рамкой продавался на радиорынке. Заменил за 5 минут.
    Не подскажете, существуют ли в природе тачскрины для 808 Нокии с рамками? Видел блоки с дисплеями в сборе, но цена в 200$ кажется запредельной.

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    1. Все так, отдельно новые не продаются, разве что на ибее появится от донора

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  11. Hi,

    thanks a lot for post! was helpful.

    few comments - start from buttons area - less sticky, and separate frame from screen from inner side, the one which facing LCD.

    haven't used any glue - just new glass was with sticky layer.

    works fine!


    Спасибо автору за пост!
    несколько моментов - отдирать рамку проще со стороны кнопок.
    второе - удобнее изнутри с помощью лезвия или очень тонкого ножа.

    клей не использовал, поставил стекло на липкий слой...

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  12. Oh shit. Take care with a plastic cover all over the back side, dont remove that... It's the CBD layer, the one that provides that super sun protection. Without that the screen reflects just as the average Samsung. Also, packs (frame+digitizer) sold on internet lacks that layer.

    I started by the pack only to notoce the CBD thing as soon as I went to street, and then I also reminded the Gorilla glass that for sure it's not in the chinese pack. Now for the whole afternoon I'm following this post, but somehow I removed the wrong plastic layer and imagined that was the CBD. Tested with two pairs of polarized glasses and as I expected, the glass without that plastic doesn't obscure when put on 45degrees.

    Shit

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  13. Dear Solnyshok, thank you very much for your guide. It was very kind of you to share your experience. I was able to replace my broken glass and digitizer with one sold by ewwt closely following your guide.

    Just a warning for future readers - unfortunately my replacement part was one with the bird icon and, besides lacking the ClearBlack layer (sigh), it is terribly inaccurate and its multitouch ability is severely limited. I cannot write fast with the on screen keyboard anymore because the digitizer can only distinguish between multiple touches on the vertical axis. If I press W then immediately O on the onscreen keyboard in portrait mode it just writes T or Y.
    I wonder who the heck took the time to design and produce a fake digitizer for such a rare smartphone. The auction text said "original", but that's not original at all. Probably they have run out of the old, working proto.nokia.com parts... I'm immediately going to write and complain to ewwt.

    Anyway thank you for this post and best regards. :)

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