How can I tell what part needs replaced if my screen is broken?

[androidalltheway92]

Please help! I dropped my Samsung Galaxy S4 and the screen has shattered! I think I am going to fix it myself but I don't know which parts I need to replace. The touchscreen and everything on the phone is working perfectly, just like it never cracked and you can't even tell the screen is cracked unless you look really hard and tilt it to get a glare on the screen. But the bottom part by the home button is badly cracked and even has pieces of glass falling out under the home key. I am still using the mirrored screen protector that was on the phone when it busted to try to prevent more cracking so I don't know if that could be helping the main screen? If you could help me figure out which parts are needing replaced and maybe even the cheapest place I could find them, it would be greatly appreciated! I have attached pictures. Please let me know if you need anymore information. Thank you so much in advance!

 

[VidJunky]

It sounds like you just need a digitizer. They can be fairly easy to replace. The difficult part is the adhesive tape. Both getting it out and finding one that will hold it in once you've replaced the glass. Meanwhile there are hundreds of vids on YouTube that will step by step you through the replacement, and there's probably one for your specific device. Plus replacement digitizers are relatively cheap. My advice, having replaced 3 digitizers on a couple of different models, is spend the extra to get a digitizer that comes with the disassemblly tools and adhesive tape. I say this because if you watch the vids, they always have jeweler's tools, which not many ordinary people have, and the adhesive they provide is probably going to be better than what you can find without ordering on line.

On a side note opening your device voids your warranty, obviously, and you could run into issues during the disassembly or reassembly. For instance I broke a wire to my vibrator motor and had to replace the whole motor. Granted it was only $1.80 and two weeks wait. It still required me to tear everything down and put it together again. Also if you can live with the cracks, and not get cut up in the meantime, those digitizers shatter into really small shards even when you think you've gotten it all, but I'd hold off for as long as possible. That's just me after going through it a few times.