Buying a repair kit
Make sure the repair instructions include disassembly *and* reassembly instructions
When my girlfriend's phone had a cracked screen, I offered to take a shot at replacing it. After all, there was a repair kit available that included all required parts and tools. They even had an instructional video posted on YouTube, which I glanced through.
Even with instructions, it wsa difficult to disassemble. After struggling to get the phone apart (the seals had to be heated with a hairdryer to remove, there were two boards that had to be pried apart... initially pried off the wrong one, etc), I was able to remove the cracked screen.
The instructions left off with "now just do everything in reverse".
There was a replacement screen in the kit, but no replacement seals. Taking something apart is different than putting it back together.
After a couple of hours, I bit the bullet and bought her a new phone. A small price to pay for retaining my sanity.
