It happens every day. The thud of an iPhone 3G slipping through my fingers and crashing to the ground. But this time, it was different. The thud sound was more of a cracking of glass on the pavement. Uh oh. I looked in horror at the result: shards of my iPhone touch screen sticking out of the entirely smashed surface, on top of a perfectly working electronic LCD display. I had always pitied people with this condition, still scratching out a text on a cracked screen that seemed to be beyond repair. I was not prepared to give up that easily. But what to do? I could not go a day without my mobile office, or part with all of my personal information stored on it. But I also did not want to spend a fortune…

I sat down, regrouped and called Apple. Gingerly holding the broken glass away from my face, I listened as the Apple customer service agent provided me with generous amounts of information. Option #1: get an “out-of-warranty” refurbished replacement 3G iPhone for $199. The deal is that once the phone is broken, the warranty is void, so this is the best bet if you don’t want to sign a new ATT contract and pay retail for a new device. This option is widely known, and most people have told me they’ve shied away from it. It’s a good choice if your iPhone is broken beyond repair, but you have send yours in and wait for the replacement in the mail.

But my phone still worked. I asked for other options. Option #2: find an authorized reseller who will do the screen repair, charging well over $100.  No thanks. I’d rather get a whole new phone for twice the price! At this point, going to an authorized reseller was moot since the warranty was void anyway. If you want to go this way, Tekserve in NYC charges $129 for the 3G glass replacement, and $159 for the 3Gs glass replacement.

Adding up the costs in my head, I weighed the price of shipping, waiting time, and shame at totaling my year-old iPhone. I paid upwards of $400 for my phone in the first place, and I wanted to spend as little time and money as I could figure out to repair it.  I was looking for an option that would allow me to keep possession of my device and require the least amount of time input for the cheapest cash outlay. Realizing this, I continued to ask for further options, even though I was now feeling the sharpness of the glass shards on my skin.

Option #3 Maybe BestBuy? The customer service rep thought that BestBuy might be open for immediate repairs. It turns out they are, but only if you have a plan with them, and they send it out. Still not for me. “Isn’t there anything else I can do?” I asked in desperation, and the eager to please phone rep hit the jackpot. “Well, there are some people out there who sell do-it-yourself repair kits, you might try to find one on amazon.com and fix it that way.” Thank you. All was not lost. Option #4 to the rescue. I had a lead, and not one I would have figured out otherwise.

DirectFix.com came up on a quick search selling 3G touch panel replacement parts and toolkit for $32.99. The how-to video they provide involves a hair dryer, facility with tiny tools, steady hands and a lot of patience at http://www.youtube.com/pdaparts. The video recommended at least an hour to learn the process and try it out in a dust-free environment. The value of an hour of my time plus the cost of parts was looking like a deal breaker, on par with the price of Tekserve. And while I might be able to repair cracked iPhone screens myself if I really focused on it, I did not desire to make a career out of it. Luckily, some smart entrepreneurs have, so you don’t have to.

Zeetron.com is a Brooklyn-based online repair service and do-it-yourself repair kit seller. For $50 plus shipping, they will do the full repair. Wow, I was amazed that this was so much cheaper than the other options. It didn’t satisfy my “don’t part with my phone” requirement but was certainly the best deal so far. I called up the contact number 718-975-0260 and Mike answered. In response to my wanting same-day service, he offered to meet me in Sheeps Head Bay to do the repair on the spot, or sell me the repair kit for $14.99. If I had the time to take the Q train towards Coney Island, or order online, this was going to be my top choice. I am still considering keeping the $12.99 replacement glass on hand for any future mishaps. Still I felt the solution was still out there, and now that I had the baseline of $50, I was looking for the price closest to that in Manhattan.

I searched around for “iPhone repair Manhattan” and found places charging $80 until I hit upon Quick FIX Inc., my savior. Quick FIX has a convenient location at 34th Street and on the spot service for the cheapest price I found – about $70. In 20 minutes for $69.99 plus tax, I had a better-than-new 3G touch screen. This was the best balance of cost and time input that I was looking for. Others thought so too. While I waited, another customer came and went with a replaced LCD screen for $99. It turned out that they took the credit card payment via paypal, so I could have even paid for it with my fixed iPhone. The added bonus was meeting someone running an iPhone-based business who gave me lots of tips and tricks while I was there. Quick FIX also offers pick up service, and I’m sure a courier or a Solvate Timesmith would be happy to take care of it!

The Solution:

QuickFIX Inc.

www.quickfixny.com

iPhone 3G Touch Screen Repair services for $69.99

347 5th Ave

Suite 310 (3rd floor)

(between 33rd St & 34th St)

New York, NY 10016

(877) 884-6349

(212) 810-6432