Anyone Managed To Change the Metal Bezel on the Front?

[Alex_Hong]

A quick question (just trying my luck here seeing the lack of activity here) for Razr i users out there. Anyone managed to change the front metal bezel without actually getting the whole front assembly including the display? I had scoured the internet with no avail. Thanks.

 

[Alex_Hong]

Okay, guess I'll answer my own thread. I took the gamble and gave it a go. The metal bezel and the display is stuck together using adhesive, but not the type that is reusable. It is more like a type of seal to be precise, and the display is bonded with the bezel. You can use a hot air gun or hair drying to soften the seal and push the display inwards to separate it. Just don't expect it to stick back as well as it used to be (meaning it won't be as splash resistant as before that's for sure).

If you're not concerned about that, and just want to replace a badly damaged front bezel, wait till it's really bad before thinking about it. Once you screw everything back together the front bezel will hold the display tight, so it wouldn't drop off or anything. If you are careful while removing the bezel, perhaps some of the seal/adhesive will still be on the display, and you can just fit a new bezel over it, and try to use a hot air gun to soften it, and pray that it sticks a little. Mine did at least. Even if you use double sided adhesive to stick it back, don't expect the same level of splash resistance as mentioned before.

If you wish to purchase the back cover, buttons, and the bottom chin cover as well, sure. I did all those at one go for convenience sake. My back cover did not come with the speaker, earpiece jack assembly, so I had to move them over from my old housing. Hot air gun/hair dryer is your best friend. The battery, earphone jack, and the speaker are all glued down.

Special note for moving the Speaker:
The speaker require extra caution since it's a 2-part construction, on my first attempt, I broke the speaker assembly into 2 parts and killed the wiring inside because the adhesive wasn't soft enough. Bought a new one, and am still waiting for it. So learn from my mistake. Pry from the left side of the speaker (there's an empty area there) with a pry tool GENTLY while applying some hot air to soften the glue. Perhaps now the device is still not that old just yet (a year), but i thought it'd be useful perhaps another year down the road.

For those who want to give their RAZR i a fresh look without spending too much (the entire front display assembly with front bezel for example).

next time when I open it up to replace the speaker, I'll try to post some photos along with it.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[The Elusive Wordsmith]

I applaud your bravery (or recklessness depending on who you listen to). Interesting to read about, hope I never need the information!

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Alex_Hong]

Alright guys, my speaker assembly has arrived.

DISCLAIMER: ATTEMPT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
If you choose to use this walkthrough as a guide, and damage your device in the process, I will not be held responsible. This is only my attempt at sharing information that I couldn't find anywhere on the internet, along with how I change the housing of the phone. I did this to my own device and it is still working perfectly now. But this is NOT meant to be an official teardown, tutorial, or guide.


- Basically what all teardown video will tell you. 3 torx screws on both sides.
- Remove the Motorola logo at the top gently, it is held down by adhesive. Be careful not to bend the metal plate if you want to reuse. Hot air gun/Hair dryer helps. 2 Torx screws there.
- Pry the bottom chin open gently, there are slight adhesive. 3 torx screws.


- I prefer to remove the battery connector (red circle) first. Simply pry it upwards.
- The other connector (blue circle) is for the display assembly. Pry it upwards as well. Afterwards the top and bottom will be separated.


- 2 more connectors in blue circles, one for the rear camera, the other for the call speaker and front camera.
- 7 more torx screws on the board in red circles


- Here's a tricky part I found. I lifted the board from the bottom a little, then at the front camera and speaker assembly at the top, push it upwards away from the board to try and separate it from the board a little. If you see the image above in the area highlighted, you can see how it latches on the board.
- DO NOT try to yank this assembly out just yet. Just lift it up a little.
- The lift the main board a little and then try to release the main board. The tricky part would be right under the front camera assembly.


- Now we remove the speaker and front camera assembly.
- The red circle highlights the area that latches the top assembly with the bottom case.
- Hold the assembly on the left side, and push it down a little to release the bottom latch, and then push to the right to release the one on the right.


- To remove the speaker apply hot air on the bottom to soften the adhesive first.
-Then gently pry the speaker form the left as shown. (Make sure to pry gently all the way from the bottom. If you read my post above, i broke mine because I wasn't. Learn from my mistake)
- Just go really slow.


- My new casing came with NFC, but not much else. The red circles highlights the things I had to move myself to the new housing.
- Speaker, LED Flash (just lift it out), a orange/brown rubber like thing I assume to help with the call speaker (Just lift it out as well), The earphone jack assembly (same process as the speaker, apply lots of hot air). The jack has 2 parts, after removing the main assembly, there is a small piece that is the "ring" you see when looking at that port from the outside.
- Of course most importantly is the battery, apply hot air to soften adhesive (lots of it, and very strong) and slower pry it out. I don't think I need to say to be careful. right?

Next up the Front display assembly.


Remove the bottom translucent piece of plastic. Remove one end follow by the other. It's just a simple latch as shown in the image.


- Remove the metal plate by slowly lifting it up. The red circle indicates the area with a bit of adhesive.


- Separating the front metal bezel. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK, as far as I can tell, it's irreversible. Once separated, the seal/adhesive WOULD NOT stick back together properly anymore. This meant that the device would not be as splash resistant as before. So DO NOTE THIS.
- Hot air the metal frame till hot (wearing gloves of course, since glass and metal isn't the nicest to hold when hot)
- Push the display down from the bezel. If the seal has soften, you should be able to separate it. Slowly repeat the process around the frame.


Voila, separated. You can try to fit the new bezel over the existing seal and apply heat to try to get it to stick a little, but trust me, it won't be much. In the end I opted to just use double sided adhesive tape to stick them together.

AGAIN, ATTEMPT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

 

[jmillertime86]

Do you know if you can separate the front glass from the lcd? Or are they a sealed unit?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Alex_Hong]

Do you know if you can separate the front glass from the lcd? Or are they a sealed unit?

Posted via Android Central App

From what I can see they are more or less sealed. Either that or they very very hard to separate. Not without breaking something.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

 

[jmillertime86]

Thank you

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