Apple I-Device information and repair

GSM vs CDMA iPhone 4

2012-12-01T18:36:00.001-08:00

Well, I know that this will come as a surprise to most of you, but today I just learned of another difference between the gsm and cdma iPhones. See I had just recently done my first repair on a gsm model. Lo and behold, the back cover from a cdma model did not fit the gsm model. So, I ordered up one specifically for a gsm model and guess what-- it fit.

Like I have said all along, even though no one believes me, to date the only thing I can find out which will interchange between gsm and cdma models of an iPhone 4 is the battery. There appears to be nothing else in common between these two models. And if anyone has any experience with this, I would greatly welcome their comments here.

Apple iPhone 3GS

2012-11-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

Well, a friend of mine recently brought me an iPhone 3GS to attempt a repair on. The first thing I noticed was how Apple used to make the digitizer and LCD separately. For this reason, I find that this phone is considerably easier to replace the digitizer than the iPhone 4. Of course, the iPhone 3GS that I am working on is an AT&T model, remember Verizon did not have an iPhone until the iPhone 4. At any rate the easiness with the iPhone 3G ends right there.

I am having great difficulty getting the connectors back in their place. You can see what I am speaking of if you go directly to about six minutes in that video.

iPod Touch Screen repair

2012-09-10T19:31:00.000-07:00

Well I had a friend of mine who wanted their iPod touch screen repaired. Well, long story short I preformed said repair, but now it is not recognized by itunes anymore. It goes without saying that everything in an iPod touch is tiny and near impossible to work with anyway.

Here is a video by direct fix which details the process used in order to do a screen replacement.

iPhone 4 CDMA screen replacement

2012-08-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

As was promised in my post from yesterday, here is the CMDA screen replacement.

Please note the things I was trying to warn you about-- the different vibrator and shields that can be seen to be different.

iPhone 4 GSM screen replacement

2012-08-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

You know what gets me the most about iPhones? Most people mistakenly believe that there is no difference between the GSM and CDMA versions. Well, nothing could be father from the truth. To exemplify the differences I will feature the screen replacement of a GSM phone here first, to be followed by a CDMA phone in the future.

Of importance to note here is the difference in the vibrator as well as the ribbon cables. They are nothing like what is featured in the CDMA version. As well, there are different shield configurations and different screws as well.

Another WARNING for you all about the grounding clip

2012-08-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

While some of you may not know what I am referring to about the grounding clip, but it is a little golden clip which grounds the camera. And unfortunately I have not been able to find a source for such. So, my advice to you is be very very careful not to destroy or otherwise lose this clip. If you do, the camera will not function properly. So this is just a little warning to you not to lose this clip for your phones.

iPhone 4 screws-- WARNING

2012-08-13T08:13:00.001-07:00

I would like to warn everyone of something-- do not be fooled by sellers claiming to sell you a full set of screws for the iPhone 4. I have as of yet to find one that is in fact a full set. See every single one I have encountered in all of my searches and purchases have not included the two smaller standoff screws. They did however include the one larger standoff screw, but if you are like me, this is not a full set and does not include the two smaller standoff screws. So, my search continues, but it does not at all look very promising!

How to jailbreak your iPhone

2012-08-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well I just thought I would take a moment to tell you how to Jailbreak your iPhone, or as I like to say ANY iDevice.

First of all you will need to get the latest edition of Absinthe, yes it is spelled and sounds like that rather nefarious intoxicant. I will provide links for you here, Macintosh OS X, Windows (XP, Vista, and Win 7), and Linux x86&x86_64 respectively.

Now after you have gotten the correct program for whatever OS you have you need to:
1) Back up your phone with iTunes
2)Run the Absinthe program while your phone is still plugged into your machine
3)Reboot your device after Absinthe tells you it is done and you have chosen to go back to Cydia

Now for a little cautionary note; this is version of Absinthe is current as of the writing of this article. It will work with everything up to iOS 5.1.1. I will do my best to inform you of any further changes as iOS is updated.

Now for those of you who may be unfamiliar with the jailbreak process I will now try to explain to you what it does to your phone and what Cydia is. If you have already completed the steps above you should see a new app show up on your home screen. This app should be named Cydia. And you can think of Cydia as an alternative to the app store. You can buy things from Cydia just as you can from the Apple app store. But more importantly running Absinthe on your iDevice, it opens up the OS so that you can make major changes to it. After successfully jailbreaking your particular device-- iPhone, iPad, iPod etc you can now see the operating system exactly as it appears. Just like the Unix derived device which it is.

Of course something may go wrong during the jailbreaking process. If it does simply reinstall your backup that you made in step 1 and start the jailbreaking process all over again. Of course I may offer you any suggestions to questions you might have-- just be sure to leave me a comment on what it is and I will respond as soon as possible. So have fun with your jailbroken device, enjoy and have fun with it.

This is a Jailbroken iPhone which I made and installed the coveted Siri on. Watch and enjoy.

iPhone repair

2012-08-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have now successfully fully repaired two iPhones that were given to my niece; both times she managed to destroy them though.

So, it is because of this fact that I can say I am rather intimately familiar with an iPhone and all of its internal parts. I should offer a cautionary note though. For anyone wanting to try said repair them selves, please be sure that you get all of the screws out. Otherwise you will be just like I was on my first attempt, and breaking a piece off the logic board-- something which cost yours truly 'mucho deniro and some American dollars too' (to quote Chevy Chase in Caddy Shack).

I am currently without any videos of this process to show you. But I am rather proud to say I just recently finished one, which I installed Siri on an original iPhone 4, note I said iPhone 4, not 4s. Here is a video which shows Siri working on said phone.