Cracked screen on iPhone

The problem

After looking up how much will it cost at repair shop I remembered that I'm kind of DYI person. So I turned to ebay and discovered that it will be much cheeper + I'll have some fun. Of course, no warranty. But as phone is out of warranty anyway - why not? Risk is minimal because I can do everything :D

My buying advice: choose wisely in ebay, look at sellers reputation and stats. Decide between price and quality considerations. Don't fall for free screwdrivers and the like, see my comments further here.

After a week I've got my package and after one more I found an evening for my fun. So, glass of wine plus this:

Next step is to find good instructions. There are lot of videos and step-by-step instructions out there. Video is just to get an impression, at least for me, because it is easier to follow step by step guide than slide back and forth in the video while actually doing the thing. I used ifixit.

Some first steps and I understood (was it the first time in my DIY life? you guess) that good tools are essential, because one of the plastic opening tools broke right away un first push. Good lightning is very important too.

Disassembly if fairly easy, you just be very careful, follow instructions (but don't forget to use common sense, there is no such thing as perfect instructions) and put down every part so you can find the right ones afterwards. In the final steps be careful about cleaning off all small pieces of glass. Not just from phone, but also from working place so you don't cut yourself. It took me ~ hour to disassemble. This is how did iPhone look then:

Assembly is a bit slower process. First of all, when guide says something like "Now do everything in reverse order", don't believe it. Read instructions in reverse order and apply your common DIY sense, then start. Some of my advice:

• Not all sticky surfaces are sticky enough for assembly, so you will need some glue most probably.
• I discovered that free screwdrivers included with package are not magnetic, so it is very hard to put screws this small back into places. Some may argue about what's impact on phone, I personally don't believe that minimal amount would interfere.
• Don't ignore cleaning instructions, both what to clean and what NOT to clean.
• Apply wine carefully ;)

This part of fun lasted ~1.5 hours for me. The result:

Cost: ~45 Eur + 2.5 h + some nerve, mainly around putting back very small screws (+ 1h to blog it)
Gain: savings (my guess is up to 100 Eur) + fun + thanks :)

Good luck with all your DIY projects, learn from others and don't forget to make a few mistakes of your own.