My Problem
I was offered a "hand me down" iPhone4 when I mentioned to my daughter I was going to purchase an iPod as I did not need a phone—just all the other tasks that the phones perform. When I started to use the phone, it held a charge for only a few hours then needed a recharge. I needed it to last 8 hours so I looked at battery replacement after searching the net for information on iPhone 4 battery life and found this one was well below average.
My Fix
Easy as pie. I am good at repairing computers but this was my first small computer repair. Surprise, phones are small computers that also make phone calls. A desktop in your hand. iFixit made it that easy! My research took me to a YouTube video with a most pleasing woman showing me how to fix this phone. Every move she made was designed to show the viewer how to make this repair easily.
My Advice
After the viewing I started to look a prices for the battery but remembered from the video that special screwdrivers were needed for the phones 00 screws. I started to research those also. I went back to the video to look up the name of the special screw that Apple uses in the base of the phone. It has a 5 star slot unlike the 4 star slot of a normal Phillips head screw. I noticed that the site also sold the tools and had a kit for the fix. I bought the kit with two screwdrivers for the 00 (two zeros called "double ott" - not a typo) screws (real small, just a little bit bigger than the head of a common pin), two replacement screws that were there to replace the pentastar screws to Phillips head screws , a plastic battery remover and instructions. In the video the woman mentioned that 1) the battery MAY have too much glue from the Apple factory to hold it in place so she cautioned to pull gently with steady pressure on the Apple provided tab used to unseat the battery; 2) she also mentioned that oils from the fingers could transfer to metal and possibly migrate to the radio parts (bad for reception) , she suggested using a "windex" solution to degrease any parts you touch. Instead of that I used non vinyl gloves (from CVS) to handle the parts. I also used a tweezers to handle the screws. The screwdrivers from the kit were magnetized and that was a life saver. I replaced the penta-star screws with the phillips screws. The kit cost much less than the sum of the battery + tools bought separately. So, I got instructions, advice, a kit and satisfaction all in one place. I'LL BE BACK! I work at a place where I am in charge of the care and maintenance of 24 computers and a network as a volunteer. I just found IFIXIT to help with that job. I am passing the word about this site for all manner of repairs
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