Broken Samsung S4 Screen? Don't fix it (yourself)

I'm clumsy. On my 3rd day I dropped the phone on the sidewalk. A huge set of cracks appeared and  I knew it was bad news. I decided it would be easy to just "replace" the glass like they show you on those youtube videos. So I ordered the Pro kit from Amazon and borrowed a heat gun and temp gauge from a colleague at work.

Big mistake.

Did you know? This glass was not meant to be replaced. There is a reason why it's difficult to separate from the digitizer: It's bonded with special glue.

Apparently you can heat the phone up, and using guitar picks and other special plastic tools, "lift" the screen off the digitizer. unfortunately, when I attempted it today I actually cracked the LCD screen below it.

$350 later (money I don't have) and I had to get a replacement screen and glass. I do not suggest anyone who has a broken screen attempt this repair unless they are full and willing to actually pay to replace the phone if it fails. Its too damn flimsy. I'm going to be paying this off for quite a while.

Don't make the same mistake I did. Instead, just buy a digitizer/LCD/screen from a reputable store and have a shop install it for you.

It's cheaper in the long run.