My wifes iPhone 4 dropped getting out of the car about a year ago and the screen broke. At the time, it was 150 bucks for a glass screen/display. You can't just do the glass like an iPhone 3G. So, I figured it was cheaper to wait and buy a phone when she can upgrade.
However, I saw at the office that you can now get the glass/screen for 35 bucks delivered on Amazon. So, I bought that. It came today and I sat down to do the job. I've done about 3 iPhone 3s before so I have a little experience. But, the iPhone 4 basically requires taking the phone apart. You have to remove the insides of it to remove the front screen assembly. Most of the screws are different sizes so you need to take a lot more care when disassembling if you want to put it back together.
The biggest problems I had were:
- Screw sizes being different and I didn't take enough care remember which ones were which.
- There are small fingers on the speaker assembly for EMI and 2 of the 4 broke off just by touching them. They are very fragile.
- The coaxial connection for the antenna is very tricky to reattach. There are two tiny clips on it that need to be lined up. You don't just push it on, you need to align it and then it clips on. I had no 3G signal when I reassembled the first time so until I got the antenna back on my phone wasn't a phone.
It's back together now. I have 4 screws left on the desk that are not in the phone. Everything seems to work though, the phone makes calls/receives them, sound works, screen works, all looks good except for the screws left over and the 2 metal fingers that broke off.
The rear glass is literally a 5 minute job. Very easy, the front glass is about an hour easy. The good news is that unlike the iPhone 3G, you don't need a heat gun and all the messing about with adhesive to move components from the old glass to the new one. But, there seems a lot more disassembly and more care needs to be taken. It's probably easier than a 3G but you need to remember which screws go where and be very careful with the antenna and metal clips around it.