As a repair tech, this can happen really easily. There are sometimes like 2 dozen cables that need to be disconnected and perfectly reconnected for every function to work. Additionally if they don’t have a proper testing software it’s fairly labour intensive to test and it can eat deeply in your margins. Some cheap businesses won’t bother testing beyond turning it on and just letting the customer figure it out and deal with it then.
For example at my work we barely test sub 100$ computers. The amount of time to , refurbish, wipe the drive, put it into stock, keep track of it in accounting and shipping it already makes it barely profitable, having to throw in another and hour to half an hour of additional testing can easily make the computer a loss for the company assuming it sells at all.
TurboDiesel@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I absolutely understand; I used to be a repair tech for Sprint. That said, screen repair for the Pixel 6a doesn’t even require the back to be removed, so I think it was more an education issue than anything else. I don’t think it was malicious at all, but shortly after I noticed the NFC issues, the back fell off and I saw they’d cracked it pretty severely and stuck it back on with double-stick tape. It was less the crime and more the cover-up that pissed me off.
weeeeum@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I see. I recently had to repair an iPhone 13 with super bent frame and back glass. Apple wouldn’t touch it because of the damage but the phone was still alive. Once I got it back together the wifi didn’t work and unfortunately we couldn’t really do anything about it even if it was looking new
user224@lemmy.sdf.org 8 months ago
Sorry for asking, if you don’t mind, but do you have any tips on opening and gluing back these devices? I have a 6 year old Moto G5s Plus with 1 hour battery life (surprisingly, not bloated) and I’d like to try replacing that. The USB port also needs replacement, but that seems impossible. It’s soldered on and surrounded by multiple tiny SMD components.
I’ve seen someone on Reddit mention that they recommend waiting a bit before putting on the screen when using the B7000 glue, otherwise it will seep under the screen and you’ll probably never remove it without screen damage.
I may pay additional €9 for the OEM adhesive instead, but I’ll still need to use glue for fingerprint scanner, which unfortunately needs to be removed due to how the phone is constructed.
Also, how do I know I am not heating it up too much?
Thanks for any answer.
weeeeum@lemmy.world 8 months ago
The glue will depend on the internal bezels, sometimes they are wide enough for us to use some specialized (very strong) 1mm double sided tape but other times they are ridiculously tiny and almost impossible to glue well. In the latter situation most would tell you to buy the OEM adhesive but frankly it’s not any better.
If you do go with the tape method heat the phone up after assembly and press on it firmly. The heat softens the glue up and when you press down on it, it’ll “flow” into all the gaps, providing stronger adhesion.
I find that a phone is too cold if I could hold it indefinitely (without my hands burning) and too hot if your hand immediately starts burning. Usually I aim to get it hot enough to comfortably hold for a few seconds while I get it apart. If you want exact numbers the temperature I use on my heating pad is 70c.
To glue the fingerprint sensor (and many other small parts) I use liquid super glue . Sure some technicians may not approve of it but it has some very useful properties for small parts. It is strong and unlikely for fail in normal use, it is very easy to apply and easy to cure and its still weak and brittle enough that you can still remove the component later.
Put a drop of super glue on a piece of plastic (to discard later) and use a toothpick to apply a tiny amount. Look closely to see if the liquid has wetted all mating surfaces and let it cure.
To repair the chargeport you will likely need to go to a more specialized repair shop to solder it. SMD components should not be handled by beginners and it takes a lot of time to get good at it (professionally we use microscopes, precision soldering irons and hot air rework stations for them).