We have been kicking around the idea of getting iPhones next Spring when our deal with T-Mobile expires. However, buying two new phones, locking into a 2 year agreement and paying twice as much per month is not really desirable. Ok, I don’t mind the contract based rates on the phones, but I mind the contract and service costs.
I got this wild idea after my co-worker got a 2G iPhone from a friend. We are both on T-Mobile and he is working on unlocking his. I thought, maybe I should find a slighly beat up used 2G and unlock it and try it out. I know I want one, but I want to make sure the little lady is certain she wants one. I figure, we can play around with it, if it;s not for us, turn around and probably get our money right back.
I try to be pretty frugal, and I am always trying to pay the least amount I can for something that is nice. I mean who isn’t that way? I thought I would try eBay, the land of suckers. Once again, the cliche of “there’s a sucker born every minute” holds true. Except it’s measured in seconds on eBay.
Personally, I think a 2G 8Gig I phone that is in like new or new condition should be about 200 – 250 depending. I think if it’s brand new and you pay 200 you got a good deal, if you pay 250, not as good as you probably could have. I start with this because it all leads to insane ideas.
Now on eBay there are like almost 900 2G iPhones for sale, ranging from ~$0.99 – $800. Obviously some people are just trying to play on the dumb, others are just letting the preceived market speak for itself. I started looking at phones witch cracked glass to get the best value. I have full confidence I can replace the glass if we decide to keep it, but it was imperative the phone work even with the ugliness. A lot of these damaged phones start off around $50, I would expect based on the amount of damage that they fetch around $125 – $175 depending on extent and other factors. Being already unlocked bumps the price a little of course. On two different auctions the price was getting to be about where I thought it would sell, then the prices sky rocketed. One had terrible cracking and fetched $240. I chalk that up to a very poor photo that I was able to enhance on photoshop and see the actual cracking. Another one went for $182 which was more than I expected it too, but someone is happy I guess. At least the cracking wasn’t on the viewing/use area.
Then there was another, this had tiny cracks in the corners and was very clean otherwise. I knew it would get a little more than I expected. I got in on the bidding in the closing seconds, it hit $175 so I folded. It has $15 shipping and getting that high I knew for just a bit more I could get an undamaged one. In the end someone is paying about $192 + shipping. Which is the other thing to watch for. So what if you get it for $150 if you are paying $25 in shipping on top.
So onto the broken screens. Not a huge deal to me, I did some research and saw a few different methods. One said to get a screen and new digitizer (LCD) which seems ridiculous if the LCD is still fine. That is to the tune of about $150 that I have found online. Sure takes away that affordable iPhone doesn’t it? I mean you can get Apple to do it for $300…ha!
The other method is to not disassemble your iPhone but to break out the broken glass and use goo gone to remove the old adhesive. Then, put a new piece of glass, or plastic in another case, in place. The funny thing here is this method and the first both recommend only using a few drops of glue to adhere the glass to the digitizer.
There is not really anything wrong with that per se, but he whole reason people can still use their iPhones with cracked screens is the adhesive. The overlay screens are glass, which would shatter on most cases, but since it is completely glues to the LCD it might just crack and you’ll fair okay. If you replace the glass and just glue the corners then you risk shattering the glass into a billion pieces all over the place.
I know, fine, what’s the better solution? I don’t know? There is probably a spray adhesive you can buy at a hobby store that will dry clear that you may be able to spray a light coat on then apply the glass. I have no idea if this is viable so if you do it, you do it on your own.
I don’t even have an iPhone, just did some research that’s all. Maybe I will acquire one soon and if it has a cracked screen you can be sure I will try to replace it and fill you in.