iPhone 4 meet concrete:
Well, it happened...
The iPhone 4 is definitely a slipperier creature than my old iPhone 3.
I was still getting used to that fact, and hadn't gotten a case or bumpers, yet, despite Apple's offer of a free one in light of the antenna/reception issue. This was an issue for me, but, after a few days of dropped calls I used a discrete piece of gaff tape over the antenna gap and that solved that problem.
But, alas, gaff tape doesn't provide any shock protection.
So when I dropped it four feet or so, onto a concrete sidewalk, this was the result. I'd dropped once already, with out major effect, but something about the angle of impact this time must have been unfortunate.
Now I'm wondering what to do. It still works, but the back is now a web of iShards and was shedding little chips for a time. I'm worried that the web will spread or a big chunk will fall out initiating a domino effect or leaving sharp shards in my pocket or in my hand.
One person told me to use super glue and wick it into the cracks to stop them from spreading. This sounds reasonable, but I'm worried it'll make the back an ugly mess. Not to mention making further servicing of the innards by Apple or anyone else difficult, if not impossible.
I found a company online called DirectFix that sells a replacement back for $99, but they're currently sold out.
And you have to do the repair yourself.
They provide an instructional video on how to replace the screen that gives a fascinating glimpse inside the engineering marvel that is the iPhone 4.
Let's just say that I'm really glad it's the back cover that broke and not the front, if I have to do this repair myself.
Here's the teardown video if you're interested in what's inside an iPhone:
At least my front screen is still fine and everything seems perfectly functional.
Even the camera still works perfectly, just don't cut yourself framing up a picture!
All photos: ©Brad Kelly 2010
