Stepped on my iPhone...cracked screen

[wheresmybacon]

My first step out of bed yesterday was directly on top of the rounded side of my 3g iPhone, smashing it into the floor and cracking the screen. Apparently it had slid off the pillow I set it on next to my bed during the night.

Today I'm going to go to the AT&T store and see what my replacement options are. The split in the screen is extremely small and easy to miss unless you really look at it in the light at the correct angle. I'm prepared to pony up and pay whatever the cost is for a new phone; it's my own dumb fault, but maybe I'll get lucky and they'll replace it under warranty.

Anyone have any experience replacing a broken iPhone?

I'd go to the Apple store, but the closest one is an hour away, while the AT&T store where I bought my phone is about 5 minutes away.

 

[Tarrant64]

Did you purchase any kind of accidental warranty plans?

For example I have Sprint and the TEP. When I say "whoops my phone...broke somehow" I get a replacement one.

 

[Muadib]

AT&T doesn't fix the iPhone, Apple does. If you go to AT&T, they are going to tell you to take it to Apple. Make sure you make an appointment at Apple.com, or you could be there a while.

There were about 10 people waiting when I had my iPhone replaced back in the fall. The look on their faces when I walked up & said I had a 1:15 appointment when it was 1:13 was priceless.

 

[Rottie]

I hope apple store can replace it with new one not refurned (sp?) one like Tmobile does

 

[pm]

I broke the screen on my iPhone leaving it in the car while I went skiing (when I returned to the car and looked at the phone, the colors bled/blurred between pixels). I had hacked my phone over to T-Mobile and so rather than play games with Apple, I fixed it myself for $80 for the new screen. You can buy replacement screens on Ebay.

There are videos on YouTube about taking apart an iPhone to repair the screen.
1st gen: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=X1z0pw2VK7M
3G: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fF0DF-mbn4

(that bit in the first gen iPhone video where the guy pulls off that black backing using the green thing at 0:45s... it's a LOT harder than they make it look )

Also there are plenty of companies that will fix the screen for you as well.

My advice is to try Apple and AT&T, but if they won't fix it for free (they probably won't), then look at other options before agreeing to their ~$175 repair cost. Doing it yourself isn't particularly hard. It took me about 90 minutes from start to finish, with lots of pausing to make sure I wasn't going to screw anything up. When I was done, you would never have guessed that it had been taken apart. But if you don't want to do it yourself, there are still plenty of companies that will do it for you (check them with the BBB and with Google before you ship your phone to them though). And of course Apple will give you a perfect warrantied refurb unit... for a price.

 

[wheresmybacon]

I drove up to Tigard (Portland, OR suburb) and went to the Apple store there. They looked at my phone, saw the crack, then still said they'd replace it for free no problem. Wow. Totally stoked.

Apple service +++++

 

[pm]

Congrats!

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: Rottie
I hope apple store can replace it with new one not refurned (sp?) one like Tmobile does

Wow, do you mean REFURBISHED?