How To Replace the Screen and LCD on a Samsung Galaxy S3

My wife’s Galaxy S3 got dropped a couple of times and the outer screen glass was badly cracked but the phone still worked fine. We got a few quotes to fix it locally, all well over €100 so I wondered about the possibility of fixing it myself cheaply seeing as I used to work in mobile repair & electronics centers. I got hold of a replacement glass screen for about €10 on eBay and sourced a few YouTube videos outlining the replacement process. Seemingly you could use a hairdryer to loosen the glue under the glass and it would peel off easily, HOWEVER, this is not what happened when I finally got around to trying it!

As I was heating up the glass and trying to prise it off with the tools provided in the replacement glass kit, the LCD underneath also came up and cracked into hundreds of different pieces rendering the phone useless and getting me into a spot of bother with the Mrs! My advice is to avoid trying this yourself as I doubt it’s possible to remove the glass without breaking the LCD unless you are a full repair center with proper equipment etc.

The phone after I finished trying to remove the outer glass with a hairdryer!

I ended up having to buy a full LCD/Glass replacement part and managed to source one for €90 (RRP is about €130) off a guy on Adverts.ie. Here is the process involved in fitting it. Not too difficult if you like taking things apart and have ever messed with electronics:

Tools Required:

1. Small Magnetic Phillips Screwdriver,
2. Plastic lever – A guitar pick worked well for me,
3. A metallic knife or blade to remove LCD,
4. A Hairdryer to soften adhesive.

Step 1:

Remove Battery, SIM & Memory Card and loosen the screws holding the main protective back cover (in red). Both back cover parts need to be gently prised off after screws are removed as they are held in place with compression:

Step 2:

Remove the remaining back cover around the speaker and camera (in red):

Step 3:

Remove the Circuit Board connections show below. Use a plastic lever and be gentle! Lift off the circuit board when connections are free:

Step 4:

Flip the phone over and remove the entire LCD from the area shown in red and as much of the adhesive residue as possible so that the new LCD can fit in comfortably. This is hard work and very messy. A hair dryer to loosen the adhesive and goggles to protect your eyes from shards of glass is recommended:

Step 5:

Fit the new Screen/LCD assembly by passing the LCD Connector Ribbon through the slot in the casing (see pic above) and put the phone back together temporarily (minus screws) to test the new LCD. If all is well, disassemble once again and remove the green adhesive backing from the new LCD and fit in it’s place permanently:

Step 6:

Reassemble the phone by reversing the above processes making sure everything fits snugly paying special attention to the circuit board connectors making sure they are fully engaged.

Here’s how the final phone looks with a new pink case added for good measure. A far cry from the first pic!? Marriage possibly saved..

Leon