The Cost Of A New LCD Screen Than A New Phone
 by: Antony Dayani


Nowadays, phones are being updated all the time. Some phones are cheaper than others and sometimes the parts, like internal LCDs are more expensive than a cheaper end phone is to buy.

As there are so many phones coming out all the time, the LCD range that is stocked needs to cover the majority of these models. An ever increasing selection of mobile phone LCD screens are now available to the public.

Often, people will ask why one would want to change the broken LCD screen and not just buy a new phone? Well, firstly, the LCD price represents the price of the phone it is for.

An example being, If a phone cost £50 new, an LCD for that phone would be available for around £15 whereas a £100 phones LCD screen would more likely cost about £35. So it is always going to be a cheaper option to replace the LCD than the phone. Nowadays, some phones cost up to £500 when purchased sim free. The LCDs again, reflect this and can cost up to £180 or more. So, you may think that for the price of a new LCD, you can get a new phone for, right? Right, but it would not be the same phone as it costs £500 to replace that model. People would rather spend x amount on repairing the current phone they have than spending the money on a new phone instead as the phone would be inferior to the broken phone. Not many people step down a model in a phone, like many other things in life, like a car, the desired model normally inclines rather than declines.

The fact that LCD's are getting easier to fit with the correct tools openly available, many people are buying the parts needed and fixing the phone themselves rather than pay a qualified engineer to do the job and being without the phone whilst the work is carried out.

The majority of people with a high end phone would have bought it with an airtime contract from a network provider. The phones cost is heavily subsidised by the network when taken with a contract. So many people are unaware of the true cost or value of the phone if it needed to be replaced because it was free with a contract via a network. So when it needs a new LCD screen replaced, these people often suggest that its not worth spending money on as it was free. Then they learn that to replace the phone like for like it would cost £200, a new LCD for £55 is better than any new £55 phone would be.

Many people find that they would rather repair the mobile phones LCD over buying a new phone because they have finally just got used to using it and it's now discontinued so it's hard to find an exact replacement and the thought of learning another mobile phone set up, just not appeal to them.

Other people need to repair the current phone that just has a broken LCD, as they have all their contacts stored on the phone so its vital to get the phone working again, even if it is just to retrieve the data stored on the phone. This data is often priceless information and if it’s a toss up between losing the data or spending £100 plus for a new LCD part then its often £100 or so well spent. As if you were unable to get the information then you would have lost numbers of people you would never get again.

The price of LCDs do drop as do the phone prices themselves. As a new phone comes out, the older model drops in price, so do the parts for it drop accordingly.

I can recommend a couple of items available to help out if such an event happens to you, firstly though, I feel that the most important thing to do is always keep a backup of your phone book. There is a range of SIM card back up devices available. Some copy from SIM card to a small stand alone device where no PC is needed. You can then put in a new sim card and copy all the entries over to the new sim card. Other devices come with PC software that can be linked up to a PC and entry details can be edited on the PC. This would be a better option as more data can be stored on here like calendar entries and text messages.

Other options include PC suite software and connectivity cable or a Bluetooth dongle with a Data suite software.

About The Author
The author Antony Dayani writes for cheap sim free phones pathphones http://www.phatphones.com. This is a mobile phone website with emphasis on mobile phone repairs and phone parts, amongst other phone accessories.