What to do about my cracked Moto X. :-(

[Johnez]

This might sound hilariously unmustachian to some of you, but my $200 phone (now with cracked screen) will cost me $200 to repair. I ain't paying that. Perhaps I should have stuck with the humble Defy XT, hindsight suggests I should have anyway.... Short of living with a cracked screen for the next 2 years, are there any other suggestions?

[wtjbatman]

There is likely a kit you can buy off Ebay to replace the screen for significantly less than $200. If you're comfortable replacing a cell phone screen yourself. If you're not, there are usually places you can send your phone in to get a new screen put on. Still cheaper than $200.

[Johnez]

There is likely a kit you can buy off Ebay to replace the screen for significantly less than $200. If you're comfortable replacing a cell phone screen yourself. If you're not, there are usually places you can send your phone in to get a new screen put on. Still cheaper than $200.

Thanks for your reply, but I have researched both avenues. Apparently the glass only repair is relatively cheap, but responsiveness suffers and is not recommended. Plus the process is easy to screw up. The complete digitizer/glass kit is $160 on eBay, not much savings versus having my local phone repair guy take care of it.

[wtjbatman]

Kinda limits your options then. I assume you are with RW? Then you only have the two phone options. Well, buy a used RW Moto X from someone. I've seen them for sale here and there.

[DarinC]

There are a couple used digitizers/glass on eh4y for ~$90. If you have a spare phone and enough time, I'd first try to just replace the glass yourself, and if that didn't go well, buy a used digitizer/glass. Otherwise, you'll probably need to shell out the ~$160-$200.

[Gimesalot]

Thanks for your reply, but I have researched both avenues. Apparently the glass only repair is relatively cheap, but responsiveness suffers and is not recommended. Plus the process is easy to screw up. The complete digitizer/glass kit is $160 on eBay, not much savings versus having my local phone repair guy take care of it.

I just watched the video to do this repair.  It's not that difficult.  It is really tedious.  I did it to 2 Samsung Galaxy S3's.  I was also worried about messing it up, but the LCD is a lot more rugged than the videos lead you to believe.  Each phone took me between 1 to 2 hours. 

I would just replace the glass.  Then make sure you get a good case so it won't happen again!

[2Optimists]

I had a different model smart phone and absolutely shattered the screen. I used packing tape until I decided how I wanted to replace it. Tape worked for more than six months. Amazingly enough, the touch functionality worked fine. It was tedious to read through the cracks though.

[Johnez]

Alright fellas I'll give it a shot with the repair. Will report back.

[HattyT]

Here's hoping you will have a badass report and YouTube video on how well your repair went. ! :)
Just in case, RW is reporting they have a Moto E coming out next month at $99.

[threelittlebirds]

I tried changing the glass and digitizer on a droid before and ruined it. It was extremely tedious and nerve wracking and then the phone was toast anyways.. I can't really recommend that. Maybe sell the broken phone as is on eBay and use the money to buy a refurbished one.

[stlbrah]

my friends just launched this site for phone repair. i helped with a very small amount of the work

needfixed.com

[guitar_stitch]

The reason most of these phones suffer touch responsiveness issues after the glass is changed out is because the glue is not replaced, which is what transfers pressure/touch to the digitizer.

Get a bottle of LOCA glue instead of the 2mm adhesive strips.