Let me tell you a story. Right now I have a poorly Honor View20. It’s a fantastic phone and I wanted to enjoy the rather cool rear panel. It reflects and bends the light as it hits, displaying a “V-shaped” shimmer which looks incredibly cool. To enjoy this properly I didn’t bother with the case. That, right there, is where I made a mistake.
I figured, as a fairly sedentary office worker, that a cover wouldn’t be needed. That I wouldn’t need a great deal of protection. But I was proven wrong pretty much immediately.
A small crack appeared on the back. It wasn’t overly concerning and didn’t really cause much of a problem, but somehow it joined the front and a crack appeared there too. I then, rather too late, put a case on. It stopped me scratching my fingers on the rear panel for a bit but it didn’t stop the cracks getting worse.
Finally I had to admit defeat, and I stopped using it. This, though, is where I started to hit a bit of a problem. Getting the thing repaired.
Do a search online and it’s really incredibly difficult to find a company that will repair it. The Honor phones don’t appear to have grabbed enough custom to have lots of repair centres, and I quickly ended up on mobile phone insurance websites instead. Sure, they would fix the phone, but I’d have to have insurance first.
One thing I did find though, was that any search for “Honor View20 repair” resulted in a raft of DIY kits so that you could repair the phone at home. Given the right parts and the right tools, you should be able to do it. It’s just having the confidence to start taking it apart, and that’s perhaps isn’t something I’ve got. I recently found that a study from iParts4U has shown that home phone repairs have now become quite popular, and the endless supply of screens, screwdrivers and batteries on eBay seems to bear that out. If you’ve got a well-lit and clean area, plus if you have a chunk of patience and determination, you can repair the phone yourself.
In addition to it being the only way with some handsets (as there’s no widespread repair knowledge for absolutely every phone on the market), you can also…
- Save money
If the warranty period has lapsed and you don’t have insurance, repairing it yourself and getting some more “life” out of the phone will mean that you’re not spending a whole load of extra cash. Sure, you’ll need to buy the parts and perhaps a few tools to do the job, but it’ll definitely be cheaper than taking it into a mobile repair shop and having someone else do it. You can perhaps also make yourself a bit of cash by repairing other handsets for friends and relatives if you get familiar with doing it!
Some jobs are easier to do than others. A screen repair on some phones is fairly quick. A battery swap on others can be relatively painless. Provided you take care and remove separate the front and back of the phone without damage then you should be fine. Ensure that you get a good “pry tool” to do this bit. It is cheap and is ideal when separating any two parts that are pressed together.
- You can do it again if you need to
Even if you change your phone, once you’ve repaired a phone yourself, you’ll have the confidence and the knowledge of how to do it. You can maybe even advertise your services on eBay if you’ve got a unique phone. Oh, and if you do – I’d be particularly interested if you can repair my Honor View20 because I can’t find anyone who seems to be able to!
With all the parts readily available on eBay or Chinese Import sites, you can easily get the kit you need. To learn how to do the repair, YouTube is a great place to learn how to do the various repairs and take the phone apart. Also, perhaps more importantly, how to put the whole thing together again.
If you’ve tried it, and if you’ve succeeded, do let me know. I’d be genuinely quite interested to hear your experiences.