Cell Phone Repair Tips
When you invest several hundred dollars in a cell phone and then drop it on the sidewalk while snapping selfies or it slips out of your hand during a rainstorm, it can be costly to have it repaired, even when you file an insurance claim.
If it’s going to take you a little time to get your phone to a pro to repair the damage, you might be able to mend it on your own at least enough to stretch its use out enough to last until you can have it professionally repaired.
Here are some cell phone repair tips that may help keep it running at least for a bit of time until you can have it shipped off for repair or taken into a local cell phone repair shop.

Cracked Screen
No matter how careful you may be with your phone, it never fails that the one time you accidentally set it down in an empty chair or leave it sitting on a countertop, someone is either going to sit on it or knock it down. In situations like these, your phone is either going to withstand the weight or the shock of the fall or it is going to get scuffed up a little or, worse case, the screen is going to crack.
As soon as the incident occurs, be sure to check the phone immediately to see if all the functions still work correctly. As a precaution, try to put on a pair of nitrile gloves to avoid touching a possible damaged, and leaking battery during your inspection.
If severe damage and leaking are found, it is best to close the phone up and seal it in a thick plastic bag and take it to a repair shop or contact the manufacturer immediately.
Developers at the University of Washington have been working on new cell phone technology that requires no batteries at all and works from Wi-Fi. This could be a major step to help put a stop to damage to cell phone batteries and could also extend the lifespan of individual cell phones.
Scroll through your screens, try to snap a picture, and see if you can send messages without the letters sticking or not functioning correctly. If everything works and the screen is not cracked badly, you might have quite some time to get more use out of the phone. Many people use their cracked cell phones for months with no issues whatsoever.
If your screen is slightly cracked but the phone still works well, it’s a good idea to buy a screen protector and install it so the crack won’t spread, and the phone will continue working for as long as possible. Screen protectors are adhesive and can be found on eBay, Amazon, and other websites for very little money.
While a screen protector can help you continue to use your phone, don’t be fooled. You are still going to eventually either need to buy a new phone, ship the damaged phone off for an insurance replacement or take it in to be repaired professionally.
You may even be able to find the screen replacement on a sales website and replace it on your own. To do this, however, you need to study the repair guide for your phone and take time to learn how to do it correctly so you won’t have a damaged phone as well as a new replacement screen that doesn’t work right.
Water, Water Everywhere
A trip to the beach sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Sunny days, soft white sand squishing between your toes and the warm ocean water is very enticing indeed. Dropping your phone in the water as you step back to take a picture of the kids splashing around is not the best way to have fun at the beach. It happens all the time, and when we least expect it.
We have our phone out to make a call or take a picture and suddenly, it’s sitting in a pool, or even just a small puddle of water and irreparably damaged. You’ve probably heard many a tale of people shoving their water-logged cell phones into a bag of rice to dry out and miraculously work perfectly again, haven’t you?
You may have already tried to repair a water-damaged cell phone with rice yourself only to find that it really isn’t a great option to repair a water-soaked phone at all. Sure, there is no doubt that the old rice trick has worked for some, but if it has, they were lucky people indeed!
If you drop your phone in a puddle or it happens to get drenched during a downpour, grab a dry towel and immediately do what you can to get the phone dried quickly. Don’t just dry the outside but be sure to remove the back cover as well as the battery and sim card and make sure the entire phone is nice and dry.
If there was little water, you might get lucky and find that there was no real damage at all. If the phone is wet, even a little, shut it off immediately and do not attempt to turn it back on until you know it is completely dry. The tiniest speck of water can wreak havoc on the inner workings of a cell phone.
Instead of rice as a drying agent, try some cat litter as it is designed to absorb liquids, and it does a decent job of absorbing wetness from a phone. It most likely will not fix a water-damaged phone, however, so don’t expect your phone to start working correctly when it is dry and finally turned back on. It can happen though if the water did not affect the internal area of the phone and work its way through the wiring and circuitry.
If water has damaged the phone to the point that it won’t turn on or won’t work right when it is on, be sure to contact a repair shop for a repair. Chances are that if you call your mobile phone insurance carrier and they find that the phone has been submerged in water, they won’t make the repair, or they will charge you the full price.
Before You Purchase
Look, the best way to protect your phone from damage is to take care of things before you even buy the phone. Check for phones that are water resistant, especially if you spend a lot of time near the water or if you might be a little clumsy when it comes to dropping things.
A good thing to check is the phone’s IP rating. The higher the rating, the better the chance the phone won’t have issues and may even be waterproof, dustproof, or shock resistant. You also need to check the insurance coverage and check to see what it covers and what you will be responsible to pay if something happens to the phone.
For best phone endurance, keep the phone out of your back pocket (or any pocket for that matter), keep it away from rain and other water, and never leave it in a hot car. Heat can fry the circuitry of a phone and while it may look perfect, it can stop working due to heat alone.
Keep the phone dry, at room temperature, and in your hand or a protective case at all times and it should last you for a very long time.
We use our cell phones for many things and they have become a vital part of daily life as we know it. Taking the proper steps to keep your phone safe can be a great way of keeping stress at bay and preventing damage from occurring that can cause you to dip a little far into your bank account to have repairs handled.