Collins, Michael G.

It was a brisk autumn day, not quite freezing yet, just cold enough to remind you that winter was only a few days away.  The subtlest of breezes was capable of stinging cheeks and numbing fingertips.  Dire conditions for a touch-screen wielding SMS-ophile.

The chill in the air was evident even before I exited the borrowed car that I had driven downtown to meet my friend for lunch.  People who were out completing their holiday shopping moved hurriedly between the shops, a stark contrast to the strolling summertime pace I recalled from the last time I was here.

My right hand moved subliminally toward the pocket that held my iPhone in response to the gentle rumble of a new message.  Even as its amiable chirp still rang in my ears, my hand propelled the iPhone up towards eye level with ever-increasing velocity.  The realization that my grip on the device was inadequate came only microseconds after the iPhone became airborne, but it was still too late to prevent the inevitable.  Forced in an instant to accept what I had previously considered inconceivable, I watched paralyzed as the iPhone plummeted towards unforgiving concrete.

The sound of the impact jolted me back to reality, and I rushed to where my iPhone lay shattered, hemorrhaging its life-blood of elegant design and graceful functionality all over the sidewalk.

Luckily though, the reality is not nearly as bad as all that melodrama.  The LCD and touch screen are still functional, and my aforementioned friend Ingrid lent me the screen protector film off of her iPhone at lunch so I could use the touch screen without slicing my finger.  I don’t think I missed a single call, text, or email, and I was able to drum up some sympathy on brightkite.  A little googling and I was able to find plenty of sites willing to sell me a new touch screen, which turns out to be cheaper than I expected if you don’t also need a new LCD.  Now I just have to put my geek skills to the test to find out if I can successfully perform a touch screen transplant.  If you are thinking of trying this yourself, you should be forewarned that the procedure is not a simple "pop out the old, drop in the new" kind of replacement.  From what I have seen and read, there are a lot of tricky steps involved and it will certainly void your warranty.  So if this has happened to you and you are reading this in hopes of saving a little dough, you should really think about getting it fixed professionally. 

But if you can’t wait to get a peek at your iPhone’s inner workings and could care less about warranties, I plan on posting the results of the transplant operation in part 2.  I purchased the screen and some helpful looking tools from here.  I don’t think I’ve used this company before but I can say that their customer service was good and the shipping was fast, and they have helpful videos for the brave but ignorant. Soon after this is posted I will perform one final sync before I power down my iPhone and open it up.  Hopefully this story will have a happy ending.