Fix Your Broken BlackBerry

You’re in the middle of a two-year contract on your BlackBerry when it happens. You’re walking down the street and your phone, which serves as your lifeline and the center of your digital universe, falls out of your pocket and smashes against the sidewalk. The plastic covering the screen is cracked, and the entire body casing looks like a dog’s old chew toy. Now what?

You could buy a new device, but because you’re not eligible for a phone subsidy, a replacement could cost upwards of $500. You could take your device to the store, leave it with them for a few days, and pay a couple hundred dollars for repairs. Or you could do what we’d do: buy some inexpensive replacement parts online and fix the BlackBerry yourself.

To demonstrate how easy it is to fix your own smart phone, we mended a BlackBerry Curve 8330 with a cracked screen, an inaccurate trackball, and a completely scratched up case. With the right parts and tools, we were able to perform a complete repair in just a few minutes. Remember, before you start repairing any smart phone, make sure all your data has been backed up (provided the phone still works well enough to do so) and the device itself is powered off.