Cracked samsung a11 screen.

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Oct 16, 2010
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california
Dropped from 3 feet or so onto cork flooring

Landed nearly flat on face in protective cover.

Shattered half of screen.
Still works fine, but can feel sharp edges.

Watched 2 different repair videos.
Not sure I could do it... Devote the time, and try to develop the new skills. The heating of glue on fingerprint sensor and back of battery then prying being my main concern, other than fat calloused fingers.

How long will the cracked screen remain functional if kept dry?

I dont need or want a new or better phone, but is the clock ticking as to its ability to function normally, and if so how quickly do need to hire a repair service.

Any related experience you care to share.?
 

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It may work now but for how long? I dropped a phone, it worked fine but had a very thin line in the panel which could only be seen with phone powered off with a lot of ambient light present. In a few weeks, the big black blob appeared and the phone was useless. If you can't afford a new one, use a repair service and get it fixed.
 
Mastercard World Elite credit cars include cell-phone insurance if you pay your carrier bills with them. Get one of them, and start paying your cell-phone bills with it. Sell the cracked phone and buy a new phone. The repair bill will be high, and it will probably mess up other things when they open your phone. Don't bother to repair it yourself—not worth your time and the headache.
 
Around here you can get a new screen put on by one of the independent cell phone retailers. I think it's about 50 bucks.
 
This is a sub-$200 phone new so no value especially Android used. Paying to repair makes little sense but I would always ask. My inclination is use till it breaks and move on. Good luck!
 
Expect it to get worse. Copy all of your photos etc out of the phone now.

This is a $150 phone at best. If you have to hire someone to repair it, I think you're going to be money ahead to replace instead.
 
Think I spent 170$ for the phone some 14 months ago with the 2 day shipping which took 6.
I would still be using my 2014 era S4 mini if my network did not phase it out.

I have other 'wifi' phones compatible with my network(ting), but they were trac fone subsidized and attempting to get one unlocked enraged me.

a quick search reveals lots of mobile tablet/ phone screen repair guys in this area.

Got a lot of life crap going on right now, don't want to deal with immediately getting a solution, and doubt I currently have the concentration/skills to attempt to do it myself.

was wondering at a timeline before it becomes unfunctional, as I'd rather only deal with life crap, than phone crap,
transferring photos out of it now.
 
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In my book, that phone isn't worth the $ / time to repair, I view cell phones as disposable (meaning ever changing tech standards or unexpected disasters (dropping phone) render them very poor $ investments. Like yourself, I'd still be using my IPhone 5S if the termination of G3 support (ever changing tech standards) effectively 'bricked' it, which helped reinforce my belief NOT to sink much $ into consumer electronics. A few months ago I bought a grade A used IPhone XS (256G memory) for $ 270 from a Walmart authorized reseller and happy with the purchase as I wanted to keep the price to less than $ 300. Not even adjusted for inflation I only paid 20% of the original retail price so the folks out there blowing $ 1500 on the new latest IPhone have me scratching my head !
 
Had several fail slowly. Once was an iPad Mini 2 that was dropped on concrete. It actually only cracked near the top and I figured that the right case would hide most of the damage. However, the crack was like a spiderweb and eventually it spawned a crack that then went down the device. I lived with it until it started showing "ghost touch" where the digitizer failed and it was like some unseen force was randomly trying to access the touchscreen.

The worst thing would be if "ghost touch" turns into multiple times where the system registers unsuccessful attempts to enter the passcode. Too many (it will take progressively longer to allow entry before it can be done after a few) and it might get permanently locked out where it can only be wiped to regain use.

Another was one that was dropped really hard - and even an Otterbox Defender didn't keep it from eventually failing. However, that had a case that was clearly bent, and currently the glass is pulling out of the case in one corner. That one has more serious problems than a display, including Wi-Fi shutting off where it can't restart unless restarted - and not consistently. I can try to turn on the Wi-Fi slider and it flips right back to off. That one has serious display issues where at different times the backlight can get weird, it can look "foggy", and even just completely display oddball patterns as well as restart by itself. This thing is not in good shape, but it works **most of the time**. I just keep it around for fun as I have a new iPad mini 6.
 
I can't really say, but I'd recommend getting a USB-C to USB-A adapter and also backing up important data if you wanna draw things out.

Amazon Basics USB Type-C to USB 3.1 Gen1 Female Adapter - Black https://a.co/d/adYcE71

The adapter will allow you to plug in & navigate your phone with a mouse/keyboard in the event the touchscreen stops being responsive to touch.
 
Thanks for that.

I've done nothing regarding the cracked screen, at this point, 2+ weeks later.
I take that first step to every process, procrastination, seriously.
 
Are you 100 percent sure it's not the screen protector which has cracked?
This. I was using a used phone, dropped it, two thin but long cracks on the screen. Hmm, wait, the previous owner put a glass screen protector on it. Peeled it off, the actual screen under it was still perfect.

If your actual screen is cracked, do the same thing in reverse. Put a screen protector on it to help hold the cracked screen together. At the worst, it will keep you from possibly cutting your fingers on the broken glass.
 
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