Repairing my own phone for the first time made me capable of doing it myself

My first DIY smartphone repair project got off to a bad start.

I successfully removed the back of my HMD Skyline, but the next step required a T3 driver bit. I had a T4 bit and it worked well enough to turn the screws that take off the corners of the back panel of the phone. However, the T4 was too large for the small screws that hold the battery connector cover in place. I needed T3.

Skyline is one of HMD’s newest user-serviceable phones. It’s a mid-range phone, one of the first Android phones with Qi2 wireless charging, and comes with a 6.55-inch OLED panel, three rear cameras, and a large 4,600mAh battery for $449 . In my limited use, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 seems to be prone to lag, and the 1080p screen resolution isn’t really enough for that large panel.

But most notably, Skyline represents a continuation of our partnership with iFixit. Buy Skyline spare parts on the iFixit website, follow detailed repair instructions, and get the tools you need to get the job done. My review unit arrived from HMD. Basic iFixit toolkitwhich includes a nice starter tool set, but didn’t have the T3 bits I needed.

Did you know you can go to your local hardware store and buy something called a “smartphone repair kit”? I didn’t, but I wish I could. I bought this kit as a kind of insurance. I had contacted iFixit to get a replacement part for my test Skyline, but I wasn’t sure if the T3 would be shipped. After all, it was included along with additional tools, a replacement battery, a replacement back cover, and some nice iFixit stickers. Very thoughtful!

I spend a lot of time using the phone, holding the phone, being near the phone, and thinking about the phone, but I almost never look inside the phone. The main reason for this is that it’s generally considered rude to take apart a $1,000 device loaned to you by your company. Mobile phone manufacturers also prefer to go through official channels instead of self-repair. But I’m a bit of a devil. I’m not very handy, so I’m worried about messing up something, but as a homeowner I’m slowly learning to overcome this trait.

I’ll be honest, prying the battery out of the HMD Skyline was a little nerve-wracking, especially when the disposable tab I was pulling to release it from the adhesive snapped right off. But as with any home project, I’m learning that if you have the right tools at hand and take the time to consult a professional, you can do much more than you think. . iFixit’s guide suggests that the adhesive may be strong enough to require constant, steady pressure. I carefully pulled on the remaining two tabs to finally free the battery from the adhesive.

You have successfully removed the back cover of your phone, removed the battery, and performed the steps to remove the battery from your phone. All I needed to do before installing the new battery was peel off a few patches of adhesive. I used a spudger and tweezers to get most of it off, but I also had to remove the sticky residue. Working one drop at a time, I applied about 90 percent isopropyl alcohol and rubbed off the residue with a microfiber towel. It was the most boring and unsatisfying part of the job.

By the way, I had to perform the same operation on a housing project last week, but on a slightly larger scale. Apparently there is a small crack where the conduit meets the outdoor breaker box. When it rains, a little water drips onto the walls. I’ve had a contractor work on this several times, but the fix doesn’t seem to be sticking. They wear big clothes and “a little crack in the drywall where a little rain gets in” is a small potato to them anyway, so I took it upon myself.

That’s how you get on a ladder outside your house and peel the weatherproof tape off the metal box, inch by inch. But I followed the advice of a nice person at the hardware store and used rubbing alcohol and a microfiber towel to remove the tape and the residue underneath. The cracks were just sealed and they withstood the heavy rains a few days later. I will never shut up about how I fixed the leak in the wall myself.

Return to Skyline. I installed a new battery, replaced it with a new case back, and resealed the whole thing. It takes a worrying amount of force and click to get the cover back in place, but I got it done. The phone powers on fine and is still charging as I write this. iFixit recommends charging it to 100% and leaving it connected for an additional 2 hours to calibrate.

The entire process of replacing the battery and cover took several hours, including a 30-minute run to the store to buy about 90 percent isopropyl alcohol. But after looking through iFixit’s other cell phone repair guides, I realized that this ease of repair was no fluke. If you want to replace the battery on your Google Pixel 8, you’ll need to do the following: Complete 42 steps Just take out the original battery. With HMD Skyline, the entire procedure is just 21 steps.

To be fair, the Pixel 8 is fully dust and water resistant with an IP68 rating, which makes it even harder to come by. The Skyline is IP54, which is honestly better than I expected considering the possibility of repair. And unsurprisingly, the Skyline doesn’t feel as well-built as Pixel or Samsung phones, which are harder to repair. Maybe you can’t have everything.

Most of all, the effort to expose Skyline has made me even more of a supporter of repairable phones. California’s Right to Repair law, which took effect over the summer, certainly helped cell phone manufacturers make parts and manuals available to more consumers. But even companies that strictly abide by the law don’t seem to fully embrace the principle. Perhaps those companies need to trust their customers a little more. After fixing a leak in a wall and replacing a cell phone battery, my confidence in my own repair skills has never been higher.