Chosen Solution
I am new at mobile phone repair, but have been a tinkerer all my life, and repaired my phone twice Optimus S, bad USB port, and volume rocker). The evo 3d came to me in pieces with a broken glass. The owner had bought a new digitizer, disassembled the phone, did not have a heat gun, and got stuck. I removed the old digitizer, and installed, including new two sided tape the digitizer he had purchased from someone on ebay over a month prior. Upon booting the phone, I noticed it was hard to unlock. I turned the screen test mode on, and there was a horizontal dead zone in the digitizer, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch high about an eighth of the way up the screen. So, after checking cables and connections, I ordered another digitizer from a different vendor. It has a similar issue. I have tested this one on the side without instaling it. Looking close you can see a scratched/divoted spot on the reverse of the glass where the circuits come down. This digitizer was packed as new, with plastic protectors on both sides, in a bubble wrap sleeve, in a bubble wrap envelope in another bubble pack that contained the free tools the vendor shipped, so I doubt it is shipping damage. The damage also was not on the plastic protector covering that side. Looking closely, the item appears new. No scratches, no removal marks, and no adhesive remnants. I am linking a pic of the damaged area here:http://i.imgur.com/lFGh8.jpg So I guess my question is, is this common when ordering parts on ebay (it was a top rated vendor, I am emailing them now), and if so, what are tips to avoid it?
This is a pure fault of the vendor, I would ask for a replacement from that vendor.
I’ve replaced the digitizer on my GSM Evo 3D 6 times now. All of them came from eBay, from several different vendors. I’ve tried the $50 digitizers and the $10. Each of them “brand new”, each of them “OEM”, each of them “tested” and each of them packaged beautifully. Yet not one has worked 100%. I’ve seen indents/divets on the circuit side, had dead zones, frozen screens, phantom touches etc. I agree with the op, at least for eBay screens. Unfortunately, with so much crap out there on eBay, there’s simply no way to tell if it’s the genuine article. Returning them is always a nightmare and a time delay, so I just stick with the cheapo $10 ones and try to buy from my own country.
Ive replaced digitizers on at least 10-15 HTC EVO 3D’s and every digitizer ive ever installed worked 100%. So it’s not a common thing
I have a small home biz repairing HTC phones. Buying Digitizers from Ebay has not been too bad but it does happen once in a while. I’m talking maybe 2% I would say that its rather amazing that any work what with how some are shipped. *No padding. I just found this site and am glad there are other people who hate throwing away great stuff like the HTC phones. BTW That gap where you get 1/4 of screwieness is how I see these fail. Don’t give up. *Or if you do send me the broken phone! I’m always looking for more of these to fix.
I have repaired the same HTC Evo 3D for someone four times now because of phantom touches or other issues with the digitizer. The last time it worked for 6 months before happening again. The device does not make it easy to get everything exactly where it goes but thankfully now you can get another device for $50-$80 if you feel like throwing the one you are working on across the room.
