[Q] Should I change the housing myself?

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Thug_4_Life

Thug_4_Life

Senior Member
Apr 30, 2013
207
73
Burnaby
Hi fellas,

I'm in dilemma of whether to have a go at changing my One's housing myself or go to a local repair shop and change it for $60? $60 is the price if I have the parts.

Strictly cosmetic reasons :)

Sent from my HTC One
 
N

nateboi81

Senior Member
Jul 25, 2010
601
97
Melbourne
They are a bit of a ***** if you haven't done it before. For 60 bucks I'd get it done by an expert ;)

Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
 
N

n1234d

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2013
1,375
483
Mumbai
Google Pixel 6a
Thug_4_Life said:
Hi fellas,

I'm in dilemma of whether to have a go at changing my One's housing myself or go to a local repair shop and change it for $60? $60 is the price if I have the parts.

Strictly cosmetic reasons :)

Sent from my HTC One
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Has your phone ever been repaired by HTC before? I've done a housing swap, and it's not difficult at all, if done slowly and carefully ;)
 
N

n1234d

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2013
1,375
483
Mumbai
Google Pixel 6a
Thug_4_Life said:
Looks. Front and back, but I don't have any tools. Do I have to buy the LCD digitizer as well?

Sent from my HTC One
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Nope, you don't need an LCD and digitiser assembly unless you damage your current one. You have 3 options:
1. Replace the back only (safest procedure, absolutely 0% risk of damaging components.. This is what I'd strongly recommend you to do)

2. Replace back + front speaker grilles (again, low risk method, involves the above and prying off your current grilles and replacing them with new ones, without a full disassembly)

3. Replace complete housing. This involves by far the most risk you can ever take on your phone. You can break any of the tiny flex cables/connectors, LCD, and kill other parts of the phone.

I have tried all the steps in order, and I must say, just a word of caution, it really isn't worth the mess that can be made of it.

I was happy with the 1st method (putting a black back on my silver One, but when I saw the original black one, I really wanted my speakers to be black too.. So I did the second method, and in the process, although I was extremely careful, I poked a dent in the bottom speaker, which makes it crackle. I fixed it with tape, but it'll never sound as good as it was.. Then, there were also huge gaps on the top and bottom, between the grilles and the back, which was because I hadn't managed to get all the adhesive off. In short, to any other person, it was a perfect phone, but by now, my OCD was killing me.. So I did a full disassembly. Everything went perfect, except the screen. Now I have a One with a crackly bottom speaker and two small spots on my LCD :(
Now that you know what can happen (even after being extremely slow and cautious), what method do you plan to follow? Btw, are you gonna be changing colors??
 
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Thug_4_Life

Thug_4_Life

Senior Member
Apr 30, 2013
207
73
Burnaby
n1234d said:
Nope, you don't need an LCD and digitiser assembly unless you damage your current one. You have 3 options:
1. Replace the back only (safest procedure, absolutely 0% risk of damaging components.. This is what I'd strongly recommend you to do)

2. Replace back + front speaker grilles (again, low risk method, involves the above and prying off your current grilles and replacing them with new ones, without a full disassembly)

3. Replace complete housing. This involves by far the most risk you can ever take on your phone. You can break any of the tiny flex cables/connectors, LCD, and kill other parts of the phone.

I have tried all the steps in order, and I must say, just a word of caution, it really isn't worth the mess that can be made of it.

I was happy with the 1st method (putting a black back on my silver One, but when I saw the original black one, I really wanted my speakers to be black too.. So I did the second method, and in the process, although I was extremely careful, I poked a dent in the bottom speaker, which makes it crackle. I fixed it with tape, but it'll never sound as good as it was.. Then, there were also huge gaps on the top and bottom, between the grilles and the back, which was because I hadn't managed to get all the adhesive off. In short, to any other person, it was a perfect phone, but by now, my OCD was killing me.. So I did a full disassembly. Everything went perfect, except the screen. Now I have a One with a crackly bottom speaker and two small spots on my LCD :(
Now that you know what can happen (even after being extremely slow and cautious), what method do you plan to follow? Btw, are you gonna be changing colors??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Silver to black :) I'm still in dilemma haha!

Sent from my HTC One
 
N

n1234d

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2013
1,375
483
Mumbai
Google Pixel 6a
Thug_4_Life said:
Silver to black :) I'm still in dilemma haha!

Sent from my HTC One
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Nice! Even I did a silver to black conversion. So, which method do you want to go through with? Depending on that I'll give you instructions on what to do. Method 3 is gonna look the neatest of all, 2 will be good if you manage to take off every single last bit of glue, and method 1 will give you a cool 2-tone look.
 
Thug_4_Life

Thug_4_Life

Senior Member
Apr 30, 2013
207
73
Burnaby
n1234d said:
Nice! Even I did a silver to black conversion. So, which method do you want to go through with? Depending on that I'll give you instructions on what to do. Method 3 is gonna look the neatest of all, 2 will be good if you manage to take off every single last bit of glue, and method 1 will give you a cool 2-tone look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Method 3 :)

Sent from my HTC One
 
N

n1234d

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2013
1,375
483
Mumbai
Google Pixel 6a
Thug_4_Life said:
Method 3 :)

Sent from my HTC One
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Okay, let's begin!
Stuff you'll need:

1x HTC One M7 Full housing (front + back), search on ebay.. Like this
Black sim tray (ebay)
A very small sized phillips screwdriver, and tweezers (or rather get a whole kit of that mini sized stuff :p)
Something like 5mm double sided sticky tape
Glue that melts on heating (not sure what exactly it is called), or superglue. I'd reommend the heat one though.
A hair dryer/heat gun
Old credit cards/guitar picks etc
A razor blade

If you think that you're gonna break your display anywhere along the process, even those are available on ebay for a decent amount.

Now, I watched these videos for reference:
Disassembly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZFAsgjCunc
Reassembly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5KNmDeJ4Ww

Since your phone has been opened before, it's not gonna be as difficult as it looks in the video. What I did was pull out the volume button with my nail (the top of the button, in the middle), and once that is out, just inserted a card into the gap inside and pryed at the back, and eventually, it got off. Remove your sim tray before you start. Also, see the positions of the clips holding the housing, it'll make removing it much easier. For taking off the display, I'd say, use heat for a decent minute and half, or two, and use a suction cup. This is the only part which isn't made clear on any youtube video that I've seen, so be careful. You could also get your technician to just transplant the display to the new housing.
Any way, ask away if you have any questions, and good luck! :)
 
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    n1234d
    Thug_4_Life said:
    Looks. Front and back, but I don't have any tools. Do I have to buy the LCD digitizer as well?

    Sent from my HTC One
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Nope, you don't need an LCD and digitiser assembly unless you damage your current one. You have 3 options:
    1. Replace the back only (safest procedure, absolutely 0% risk of damaging components.. This is what I'd strongly recommend you to do)

    2. Replace back + front speaker grilles (again, low risk method, involves the above and prying off your current grilles and replacing them with new ones, without a full disassembly)

    3. Replace complete housing. This involves by far the most risk you can ever take on your phone. You can break any of the tiny flex cables/connectors, LCD, and kill other parts of the phone.

    I have tried all the steps in order, and I must say, just a word of caution, it really isn't worth the mess that can be made of it.

    I was happy with the 1st method (putting a black back on my silver One, but when I saw the original black one, I really wanted my speakers to be black too.. So I did the second method, and in the process, although I was extremely careful, I poked a dent in the bottom speaker, which makes it crackle. I fixed it with tape, but it'll never sound as good as it was.. Then, there were also huge gaps on the top and bottom, between the grilles and the back, which was because I hadn't managed to get all the adhesive off. In short, to any other person, it was a perfect phone, but by now, my OCD was killing me.. So I did a full disassembly. Everything went perfect, except the screen. Now I have a One with a crackly bottom speaker and two small spots on my LCD :(
    Now that you know what can happen (even after being extremely slow and cautious), what method do you plan to follow? Btw, are you gonna be changing colors??
    View
    1
    N
    n1234d
    Thug_4_Life said:
    Method 3 :)

    Sent from my HTC One
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Okay, let's begin!
    Stuff you'll need:

    1x HTC One M7 Full housing (front + back), search on ebay.. Like this
    Black sim tray (ebay)
    A very small sized phillips screwdriver, and tweezers (or rather get a whole kit of that mini sized stuff :p)
    Something like 5mm double sided sticky tape
    Glue that melts on heating (not sure what exactly it is called), or superglue. I'd reommend the heat one though.
    A hair dryer/heat gun
    Old credit cards/guitar picks etc
    A razor blade

    If you think that you're gonna break your display anywhere along the process, even those are available on ebay for a decent amount.

    Now, I watched these videos for reference:
    Disassembly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZFAsgjCunc
    Reassembly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5KNmDeJ4Ww

    Since your phone has been opened before, it's not gonna be as difficult as it looks in the video. What I did was pull out the volume button with my nail (the top of the button, in the middle), and once that is out, just inserted a card into the gap inside and pryed at the back, and eventually, it got off. Remove your sim tray before you start. Also, see the positions of the clips holding the housing, it'll make removing it much easier. For taking off the display, I'd say, use heat for a decent minute and half, or two, and use a suction cup. This is the only part which isn't made clear on any youtube video that I've seen, so be careful. You could also get your technician to just transplant the display to the new housing.
    Any way, ask away if you have any questions, and good luck! :)
    View

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