Cellphone Repair Gossip

Everything you got to know about cellphone repairing from market insider

[cellphoneage]

Beware of iPhone bricking when you replace the phone parts

Error 53 denotes a hardware issue that suspends the software update or restore from completion. Your iPhone device is bricked if anybody try to replace their Touch ID modules or Home buttons with authorised parts.

This is because every Home button is uniquely paired with a Touch ID sensor based on encoded serial numbers based on hardware. This check ensures your iPhone and iOS features remain secure and prevent any malicious Touch ID sensor can gaining access to any secure information. According to Apple, this security measure is necessary to protect your device and prevent any fraudulent sensor from being used.

However, law firm from Seattle may bring a class action suit against Apple over “Error 53”, said the British paper. “A person who without lawful excuse destroys or damages any property belonging to another intending to destroy or damage any such property or being reckless as to whether any such property would be destroyed or damaged should be guilty of an offence,” states the law.

Next time, when your iPhone is busted and you are going to change the LCD screen assembly, please pay attention not to replace your Home button or touch ID with any unauthorised components. For more information on iPhone 6 LCD screen assembly, click here. For information on iPhone 6 Plus screen assembly, click here.

If you are looking for any iPhone 6S LCD screen: click here

If you are looking for any iPhone 6S Plus LCD screen: click here

[cellphoneage]

How to distinguish a Genuine Original MXQ S805 (Amlogic S805) from the fake clone boxes?

MXQ S805 (aka. Amlogic S805) Android TV box is one of the most popular Full HD H.265 media player currently selling on eBay, Amazon and other shopping web stores. However, many of the existing boxes are not genuine and they are only clones produced by small scaled factories in China. I am happy that we have both genuine and clones on hand and have completed a complete review for the genuine and clones. From the appearance, motherboard design and chips, quality and performance, there are big difference.

Background

MXQ S805 Android TV box actually is firstly designed and put in production by Shenzhen JLD technologies Ltd.. Due to the vast popularity of MXQ tv box on eBay and Amazon, there are many small scaled manufacturers copy the dressing, the motherboard design and all the specification in order to fight for the big market. Price war as a result in order to stay competitive and meanwhile, the clones are using fake or refurbished flash chips and DDR RAM or their production line never has enough capacity to conduct thorough quality check. Since solution is not designed by them originally, they are not able to solve many software issues and that accounts for why some buyers complain that their MXQ boxes has many bug issues. Cellphoneage.com is currently the only B2C supplier of MXQ S805 TV box from the authorised trademark owner.

Comparison of Genuine S805 and Clones

From the appearance, it looks nearly same, but not exactly. Ethernet ports of Genuine S805 and clone ones are different.  See the picture below. Meanwhile, after we disassemble the genuine and clones, we can clearly distinguish the difference. MXQ S805 from cellphoneage has a clear design of motherboard and the design, according to the trademark owner, is best optimised with the Quad Core Amlogic S805 processor.

Genuine Box

Besides, genuine heatsink design is different from the clones and the clones DO NOT install the electro-static discharge prevention chips that is very important to protect the main board. That is why many buyers complain their boxes are not able to restart after a few plug or unplug of the HDMI cables or USB devices when the machine is turned on.

Genuine MXQ boxes from cellphoneage.com use original Samsung chipsets and their DDR RAM are brand new, while those flash and DDR adopted by clones are fake Samsung brand or sources from refurbish market in order to lower the production cost.

Both boxes equip with Google Play but our genuine MXQ box is the only one which passed through the Google Compatibility Test Suite. Latest KODI (XBMC) 15.2 version, which is the most stable version and KODI Free Plugin Update APP is pre-installed. That means buyers can download, update and install any latest KODI plugin anytime without any hassle.

Conclusion

It is hard to distinguish which MXQ boxes are genuine from appearance but it is already a open fact that only MXQ box from trademark owner is the best quality and all brand new components are being adopted. It is better not to shop from marketplace seller if their source is not clear. If you have any further question on MXQ products, you can contact www.cellphoneage.com

[cellphoneage]

How To Hide Unwanted Apps from Home Screen

Many iPhone users may know that some of the default APPs are not be able to get deleted from the screen. Now, somebody has discovered a iOS9 tricks which you can make these APPs disappear easily.

First, create a folder and group all the APPs. Drag an app to the last screen in the folder and place the app on that page. This will create a new page in this folder. Move the app to the new, last page and tap the home button. The app flies off top left and disappears. You can figure out this trick after a few tries.

[cellphoneage]

iPhone 5, 5S, 5C Touch Screen Price

Cracked iPhone 5, 5S, 5C screens are always encountered by phone users. As a result, many users many ask how much actually does it cost to repair a cracked iPhone 5 screens. Here is a brief cost summary of DIY and Apple Repairing Service.

If your LCD display doesn’t work, we recommend you to replace the whole assembly if your iPhone 5’s screen goes black or display the wrong colours after the damage. A replacement iPhone 5S LCD Screen with Digitiser Assembly and frame only cost you below $60 USD. However, it do requires some techniques and careful handling before you start your installation. We suggest you to go through a couple of youtube videos before you take action.  It is far cheaper than Apple shop repair service if you haven’t subscribed any AppleCare+ plan.

If you are still not confident on self installation, why not pick repair savvy to help you. You can google a good repair technician around your location or email us for recommendation.

[cellphoneage]

iPhone 6 Touch Screen Price

Cracked iPhone 6 screens are always encountered by phone users. As a result, many users many ask how much actually does it cost to repair a cracked iPhone 6 screen. Here is a brief cost summary of DIY and Apple Repairing Service.

If your LCD display doesn’t work, we recommend you to replace the whole assembly if your iPhone 6’s screen goes black or display the wrong colours after the damage. A replacement iPhone 6 LCD Screen with Digitiser Assembly and frame only cost you below $90 USD. However, it do requires some techniques and careful handling before you start your installation. We suggest you to go through a couple of youtube videos before you take action.  It is far cheaper than Apple shop repair service if you haven’t subscribed any AppleCare+ plan.

If you are still not confident on self installation, why not pick repair savvy to help you. You can google a good repair technician around your location or email us for recommendation.

[cellphoneage]

Unstable 3D touch function after installing non-OEM iPhone 6S and 6S plus screen assembly replacement

Before figure out why the 3D touch is unstable at iPhone 6S screen assembly, let’s learn about how the 3D touch works. 3D touch enables phone users to interact with the iPhone by applying vertical force. The vertical force strength is sensed, calculated using the strain sensor and taptic engine.

There is a strain sensor under the LCD backlight. When the finger press down the cover glass lens, there would be a slight deformation of the glass which will shorten the distance between the glass and the strain sensors. When one sensor receives the signal the the distance in between has been changed, the system will compare the signal received nearby to calculate where the touch happened and how much strength is applied.

Since those non-OEM assembly adhesive use liquid optical clear adhesive aka. LOCA instead of using Optical Clear Adhesive aka. OCA on OEM assembly, the LOCA glue behind the screen will be squeezed nearby which will affect the distance calculation. This will cause the malfunction of the 3D touch function.

 LOCA glue is cheap and not solid which will affect the 3D touch effect and hence, don’t choose any non-OEM 6S or 6S plus screen assembly at this moment unless the manufacturers are using the better glue.

[cellphoneage]

How to prevent iPhone 5 motherboard failures

It is easy to replace a iPhone 5 LCD screen assembly. It won’t be hard for a newbie to successfully replace the screen after watching a detail tutorial on youtube. However, problems not related to LCD screen may sometimes be a headache to technician, even experienced repair savvy. Here are some common issues we can summarise, which we should aware and prevent.

LCD screen assembly connector

When you remove the iPhone 5 LCD screen, you should pay extra attention to the tiny components next to the connector. if the small part is damaged, the LCD screen is not going to display anything. Meanwhile, a geomagnetic sensor at 2 o’clock director should be taken extreme care otherwise your device is not going to load the system and warning will be displayed on the screen.

Baseband Chip

Don’t crack the baseband chip when you remove the RF antenna connector to prevent mobile communication malfunctioning.

USB Control Chip

USB control chip need to be replaced if your iphone 5 device get charged too frequently or you dry joint the chip on CPU during the repair.

Wi-Fi issue related to Chip Short Circuit

Short circuit results when your iPhone 5 device drop into water.

Home Button Issue

It will be malfunctioned if the gold contact on home button are bad or the lightning port is damaged. Simply correct the gold contact or replace the lightning port.

[cellphoneage]

Troubleshooting the Samsung Galaxy S3 Touch Screen Digitiser and Replacement Assembly

Installing Samsung Galaxy S3 touch screen digitiser is not easy and even though a repair savvy would be 100% guarantee they can install without issues. However, our customer service specialists have summarised a few solutions for common problems:

If you encounter white or black display, let’s try to perform a soft reset on your device.

If soft reset dosen’t help, you can back to square one and plug the original to your main board again and see if it still works. If neither of your screen works, sorry that the problem may not be simply related the the screen.

If you find blotches on your screen, that may be due to too much pressure on the screen during installation. Open your device again and make sure none of your internal components are causing the pressure.

If you find lines down your display or only part of touch functions work, sorry that you may break your screen again during the installation.

[cellphoneage]

Why my iPhone has no touch response after the screen assembly is replaced?

First, make sure you haven’t ripped the digitiser connector. If the connector is in good condition, then you should check if the screen will send the touch if you plug your old screen back or you should at least try more than one new assembly. If there is no luck, try to clean the digitiser socket with 90 proof isopropyl alcohol. If all the tricks are failed to rescue back the touch, the issue most likely related to the touch IC.

There are two touch ICs on the logic board. They are the silver Broadcom chip and the black IC chip. See the picture below (highlighted with blue and pink border line). However, it is definitely not a DIY job and keep in mind that you have to reball the solder on this chip with special tools and skill. If you are not confident on this, send it out for micro-soldering service.

[cellphoneage]

Can I replace the iPhone 5 or 6 home button assembly with new Touch ID sensor?

The answer is: “Impossible!!!”. Apple iPhone touch ID sensor is designed to be secure and uniquely paired with each logic board already. You are not able to extract the cipher from the senior. If you replace the sensor or damage it already, you will lose your Touch ID forever.

[cellphoneage]

What should I do if vertical line appeared on my iPhone screen after the replacement is done?

Blue vertical lines or stripes may be encountered when you finish the screen replacement installation. It is common but it is not due to a defective parts. The reason and solution may be summarised as below:

1. Bad Connection

First thing you have to do is to check whether there is any dust or debris in between the flex cables and the motherboard. Try to clear them with a brush or cloth dipped with alcohol. Reconnect the cables to the logic board and make sure it is properly connected with a “click” sound. Do not force the connector together until they are properly lined up. If the flex cable is damaged, i.e. it is bent over 90 degrees, I am sorry to tell you that you have to buy a new replacement again.

2. Static Charge

Electro-static Discharge accounts for the vertical lines too. statics is produced by the human when you are conducting the installation. So, you can reduce any statics by wearing a anti-static bracelet and keeping an ion fan during the repair or if you don’t have the bracelet, you can wear a surgery glove and make sure you are touching the ground when you are performing the task.

3. If both 1 and 2 cannot solve your problem, then may be the IC on the display is damaged already. Check the top left and top right corners and see if there is any damage.

[cellphoneage]

Myths behind Apple iPhone Screen Replacement Assembly Parts

Many technicians wonder whether the screens they are sourcing for repairing are genuine or not. Here are some insiders information in this market:

You are impossible to get a 100% new and original screen assembly as they should all goes to Apple. All those so called 100% genuine screens are detached from original iPhone. Detaching from iPhone means they are genuine but not 100% brand new.

LCD panels actually are supplied by LG/Sharp/Toshiba and they are authorised LCD manufacturer but they actually are not allow to sell iPhone LCD panel directly to wholesalers in the market because it is a violation to their agreement with Apple. Apple QC teams has a very strict QC standard on LCD quality and those QC failed batch will be rejected by Apple but the question is whether these manufacturers will indeed destroy them? Surely they won’t. They will still produce those assembly and sell to the China parallel trader in Shenzhen China.

If you are not professional person, it is difficult for you to distinguish genuine and OEM by colour display, brightness and contrast.

Those good quality screen replacement are produced with these LCD panes from LG/Sharp/Toshiba, however, the glass panel, bezel and digitisers  are not 100% genuine.

Genuine or not can be distinguished by checking whether there is a Apple logos on the the flex cables attached to the digitiser. However, due to China legislation, manufacturers will choose to scribble out the logos to prevent any lawsuit.

Also, flex cables from genuine screens are often softer and more flexible in order to make sure it will not break during the installation.

Usually, the OEM LCD glass has a special coating on its surface so that any water drops should be rolling off easily on the surface.

For more questions, you can contact www.cellphoneage.com

[cellphoneage]

Black and white lines on iPhone after screen is replaced. What should I do?

If your screen display white and black line after a new assembly is installed, the last and only think you can try is to take the phone apart again and clean the connectors on the motherboard very carefully, meanwhile, make sure none of the pins are broken or no flex cable is bent. You should hear the ‘click’ sound when you plug the connector to the board. Last but not the least, you should do a soft reset by holding down the power button until you see the apple icon again.

If you didn’t break the assembly cable or connector, this method should work. If not, please buy a new screen again on eBay or here.

[cellphoneage]

Touch ID doesn’t work after the new iPhone 6 screen assembly is installed

If you buy the whole assembly with camera and home button attached, you may find out that the home button function normally while the touch ID doesn’t work. If the home button flex cable is fine, then you have to either use back the old home button or reset your old touch ID data. This is because your original touch ID is married to the iPhone device and you can’t replace with a new Touch ID

[cellphoneage]

Tutorial for disassemble and assemble iPhone 5S Screen

MAKE SURE YOU SHOULD POWER OFF YOUR IPHONE 5S BEFORE STARTING THE REPAIR WORK.

1. Use the provided screw driver from your purchased LCD screen assembly and unscrew the plum blossom screws at the bottom.

2. Lift the screen with sucker but remember to pay attention of the home button since the touch ID fingerprint sensor has a wire connected to the motherboard.

3. Remove the wire which connects the touch ID to the motherboard by the pry tool. Pry the metal cover on the outer of touch ID connector with the pointed part of the knife.

4. Pry the touch ID.

5. Screen flex cables are under the metal cover, we need to disassemble cover in order to detach the screen with a cross screw driver.

6. Pry the 2 flex cables shown in the picture with the flat head part of the knife.

7. Pay attention not to lose the screws after it was just dissembled.

8. Transfer the Touch ID sensor and home button to the new assembly

9. Unscrew the screws in the circle of the image with a cross screwdriver. You will find a small metal below it and pay attention to to which side the metal should face while the metal should press the wire.

Use your finger to hold the wire, you can uncover the small metal slowly with another hand. You can recognise a big metal piece protecting the home button.

10. Unscrew the 2 screws and uncover the large metal.

11. Pry the home button out carefully because the home button was secured with adhesive. Pay attention and special care to the flex cables which connect the touch ID.

You can separate the home button with Touch ID sensor from the damaged screen ,then install the home button to the new screen.

12. To transfer the receiver, a front-facing camera, heat sink to the new LCD screen, unscrew below 3 screws. 2 of them on the left are used to fix the earpiece speaker and bracket, while the one on the right is to fix the heat sink at the back of screen.

Take the receiver components out, please note that there is a mosaic fixed on both side. To lift the components, we need to bend the components outward slightly to void break off.

13. The assembly line of front-facing camera was folded up under the border, assemble the line carefully and pull it from the border slowly.

14. Under the receiver, pry the wires at the right of screen. Don't break the wires which close to sensor.

15. Then unscrew the 4 screws in the picture

16. Then you can take the heat sink and front-facing camera out together. There is a adhesive stuck the heat sink and wire of camera together.

Install the heat sink ,receiver components and front-facing camera to the new screen.

17. Put the new screen to the phone with force.

18. Screw the two screws.

[cellphoneage]

Black Screen After iPhone 6 Screen Replacement

Somebody may encounter black screen after iPhone 6 screen get replaced even the phone is connected to power. Everything fine, phone vibrates when connected to iTunes. There may be 2 reasons:

You bought a poor quality iPhone 6 screen assembly. You should carefully choose the assembly from experienced supplier. Browse here.

Your replacement assembly does work but you have trouble on the backlight. Check if you still be able to see the logo with enough light by holding your phone under a lamp. If so, check the back light filters FL2025, FL2024 and FL2026 and replace it if you find any sign of damage. you can find them out around display connector near BS2503

If you want to source those components, you can live chat with our fanatical CS at

www.cellphoneage.com

[cellphoneage]

Can I replace Samsung Note 3 front glass myself?

Yes, you can as long as you have a set of special tools as well as professional skill. Otherwise, it is better, easier and safe to replace with the complete Samsung Note 3 screen assembly rather than just the glass because the front glass, screen digitiser and LCD screen are bind together tightly by strong adhesive.