Never Have Used A Hot Air Repair Station

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I have a Galaxy S4 that ate the onboard chip for battery control. The chips are available in pandaland but it takes a hot air repair station to remove and install the chip.

There is a video on youtube that explains the process. But I did not see any application of solder, only what I can assume to be (flux?)

I cannot understand speech via cheaper cellphones because of limited hearing and doctors in USA REFUSE to use Whatsapp or text.

Is it fairly uncomplicated to master the art of hot air soldering? I assume it's an alternative to wave soldering. But the lack of adding solder has me puzzled. There is enough residual solder to count on it working? What is the gel like substance droppered onto the work area?

Nine hundred dollars for a new phone would be like nine thousand dollars to a person with an average income. Used Samsungs are getting trashed review-wise on eBay and Amazon. I do not have income to play a four hundred dollar slot machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vopBZ9_1tyg

[free_radical]

Fwiw I bought new unlocked Blackbery 10 on Amazon for 120$ last year..
Great battery life and on speaker louder then heck..

Not as famous as those other phones,but it has its fans
,plus many biz people love its unparaleled security
https://crackberry.com

Probably all cheap ones sold out already,though you never know..

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I land-lined my cardiologist today. Ever hear a cardiologist roar? Sounds like a gator (with hemorrhoids?).

Getting old ain't no steenking bueno

[BobsYourUncle]

The crack really isn't very noticeable. If you hold it in the light a certain way it can definitely be seen. But tip the phone a bit the other way and its invisible. I used it for at least a year or more after it cracked with no issues whatsoever. I would be tempted to just use it as is without going to the bother of swapping screens.

I hope this Canadian phone locked to Rogers can work in Mexico. It will have to be unlocked but that's easy to do.

[MrWizard]

maybe they can use the glass from the old one on this one
the glass contains also the touch screen sensor pad

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Seems like every block or two I see signs CELULARES DESBLOQUEADOS. on cell phone repair places. Inquiries yielded no one that was willing to fix a blown chip but all claim unblocking was a specialty of the house. I have a pair of replacement batteries for the S4. Less than 5 months old.

I make medical phone calls, use Whatsapp, check traffic and that's about it. The S4 has more features than I use. It's the crystal clear telephone audio that I treasure.

Mexican phone techs are amazing up to the point of replacing chips I guess.

[BobsYourUncle]

Hah!, I just found where I stashed it. It's been sitting for at least 6 or 8 months, turned off, and the battery was still at 14%.
It's a Canadian phone, locked to Rogers.

Will that work for you in Mexico?

[BobsYourUncle]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
The issue with the cracked screen I guess is moisture contamination?

I'll send you my ground address via messaging. My end is a UPS STORE 0250 so the destination is not hit or miss.

No moisture contamination whatsoever. One day I saw the one crack, right across the screen. It worked fine like that, just annoyed the socks off me.
No idea how I cracked it other than perhaps I leaned on it when it was in my pocket. I work construction so anything is possible.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Just about every cell phone I tried three or four years ago sounded like Donald Duck on helium. But those were throwaways.

The came the S4 as a hand me down gift. When I heard speech for the first time I nearly dropped the Samsung. I could hear with perfect clarity. The online brochures for the S4 claimed the phone had special circuitry to make sound speech with perfect clarity.

Is this hype? I cannot use a standard phone. Amplified phones pump up the volume and the speech is still muddy but it's loud and it hurts my ears.

The only thing I can really trust is someone who declares...
"yes I know several cellphone brands and the S4 is truly superior for speech clarity"

Or not.

I do not want to spend a lot of money on something that cannot aid my weak ears 🙂

[mgirardo]

The Galaxy S4 is more than 6 years old. Save your money on the hot air rework station & chip and upgrade the phone.

-Michael

[bighatnohorse]

For under $200. you can get a really good phone at Costco.
I strongly urge you to take a look at the Moto G6 unlocked. I have the G4 and DW has the G6 and loves it.
I used the G4 with the TeleCell chip while in MX and some other brand chip in Panama. Works great.
https://www.costco.com/.product.100422868.html

Mostly, we both use the built in hotspot feature (at no additional charge from phone company).

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Aha I have a fabulous USA parcel delivery address in the USA that is accessed twice a month then packages are forwarded to me OR for the last several months I am holed up where I get to it in person. There is no reason that a talented cell phone repair shop down here cannot change the case, SIMS card and unlock it if necessary. The issue with the cracked screen I guess is moisture contamination?

In my era the closest thing to a cell phone was Don Adams' shoe.

I'll send you my ground address via messaging. My end is a UPS STORE 0250 so the destination is not hit or miss.

[BobsYourUncle]

Think I still have my old S4 kicking around somewhere.
I'd give it to you if I could get it to Mexico somehow, without it going MIA....
Works good, has one crack across the screen that i have no idea how it got there.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

That eases one question. Is the amber liquid rosin flux? And is index positioning of the chip clearly marked?

[DrewE]

In the video, that's a ball grid array (BGA) chip. It comes with little balls of solder on the underside, which are melted to connect it to the pads on the circuit board; there are no pins as such. No additional solder is needed or used, for production or for rework.