Need to get my tablet's cracked glass fixed without paying much.
March 1, 2015 6:19 PM Subscribe
The screen is "cracked" but actually only the glass in front is cracked. Asus won't fix it without replacing the LCD as well and they'll charge me like $200. Help me find someone who will only do what I want, and charge reasonably.
I have an enormous tablet computer, the Asus Transformer AiO p1801.
Actually it's two computers. The base station still works fine, I'm posting from it in fact; it's the tablet half I'm having trouble with.
The screen is "cracked" in the sense that the plate of glass in front has cracks in it. The LCD underneath is just fine, I can use it as a monitor if I don't mind having this big ol crack in the middle. I can't use it as a tablet because, while it technically still detects touches, they're never, ever in the right place anymore.
I need someone to replace the plate of glass, and not replace the LCD. I'd prefer if they were in the New York City area but am willing to mail the tablet if I need too. I already mailed it to Asus, who gave me a quote so high I might as well buy a new device.
I have an enormous tablet computer, the Asus Transformer AiO p1801.
Actually it's two computers. The base station still works fine, I'm posting from it in fact; it's the tablet half I'm having trouble with.
The screen is "cracked" in the sense that the plate of glass in front has cracks in it. The LCD underneath is just fine, I can use it as a monitor if I don't mind having this big ol crack in the middle. I can't use it as a tablet because, while it technically still detects touches, they're never, ever in the right place anymore.
I need someone to replace the plate of glass, and not replace the LCD. I'd prefer if they were in the New York City area but am willing to mail the tablet if I need too. I already mailed it to Asus, who gave me a quote so high I might as well buy a new device.
For the Asus, this is going to be difficult. Apparently, they use an adhesive between the glass and the LCD screen that is much more sticky and abundant than normal. I have done this on a Galaxy tablet and an S4. It requires the use of a hair blower or a heat gun to separate the glass from the LCD unit. Normally, I would suggest you buy the part and do it yourself, but after watching this video, I suggest replacing the LCD and the glass. I have found videos for these sort of repairs on youtube. For the most part they are great; instructive and simple to follow.
If I were you, I would buy the already paired LCD and digitizer with the bracket and install that yourself. Otherwise, I think Asus is correct. I think they know their own product and know it will never be quite right if you do one without the other. Maybe you can find a local guy to do it $20 or $30 bucks cheaper, but you will likely regret it.
posted by 724A at 7:57 PM on March 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
If I were you, I would buy the already paired LCD and digitizer with the bracket and install that yourself. Otherwise, I think Asus is correct. I think they know their own product and know it will never be quite right if you do one without the other. Maybe you can find a local guy to do it $20 or $30 bucks cheaper, but you will likely regret it.
posted by 724A at 7:57 PM on March 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'd find your local phone repair shoo t and ask them. My guess is that it won't be much cheaper, I think going rate for a modern cell phone is circa $120..
posted by straw at 8:38 PM on March 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by straw at 8:38 PM on March 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Have you even found the glass+digitizer(which is whats damaged, that's the touch sensor) as a unit? Have you gotten confirmation as to whether the glass is actually laminated to the LCD? That's actually unusual. Samsung does it on some devices, but even apple didn't start doing it on tablets until late last year. The nexus tablets, and many others do not have a laminated screen.
The transformer tablet listed above is a much smaller and more compact model. Full lamination on an 18in screen would be extremely unusual barring stuff like imacs.
This is such an oddball unit that i had serious trouble finding any real info on it. I also ran in to a brick wall trying to find replacement parts, dead ending on some aliexpress and other weird marketplace site links that were now toast.
Personally, i suspect that you are correct that if you could find the digitizer + glass unit somewhere, you would be able to swap it out and keep using your existing functional display. The trick is finding one, and i can't help you there.
I'm sure most mobile device repair shops could handle this, the trick is getting the part. I'd honestly ask them. But i've never had trouble getting parts for stuff either on ebay(usually shipped very slowly from china) or a few other places i checked. The fact that there's so little about this device out there, and a seeming dearth of parts doesn't bode well.
Asus may very well be the only ones who actually stock parts for these things. And they might be charging $200 because their solution is "throw this tablet in the garbage and mail you a new one" like apple does sometimes. They might also do that, but refurb your old unit. That may very well involve crappy adhesive. Either way, they might be the only ones who have the parts though.
This is the situation with a lot of oddball devices, like OQOs and weird tablets. It wouldn't be a first at all for the OEM to be the only one who has parts.
posted by emptythought at 12:38 AM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
The transformer tablet listed above is a much smaller and more compact model. Full lamination on an 18in screen would be extremely unusual barring stuff like imacs.
This is such an oddball unit that i had serious trouble finding any real info on it. I also ran in to a brick wall trying to find replacement parts, dead ending on some aliexpress and other weird marketplace site links that were now toast.
Personally, i suspect that you are correct that if you could find the digitizer + glass unit somewhere, you would be able to swap it out and keep using your existing functional display. The trick is finding one, and i can't help you there.
I'm sure most mobile device repair shops could handle this, the trick is getting the part. I'd honestly ask them. But i've never had trouble getting parts for stuff either on ebay(usually shipped very slowly from china) or a few other places i checked. The fact that there's so little about this device out there, and a seeming dearth of parts doesn't bode well.
Asus may very well be the only ones who actually stock parts for these things. And they might be charging $200 because their solution is "throw this tablet in the garbage and mail you a new one" like apple does sometimes. They might also do that, but refurb your old unit. That may very well involve crappy adhesive. Either way, they might be the only ones who have the parts though.
This is the situation with a lot of oddball devices, like OQOs and weird tablets. It wouldn't be a first at all for the OEM to be the only one who has parts.
posted by emptythought at 12:38 AM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:07 PM on March 1, 2015