[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Galaxy S speaker removal and replacement:

I did this successfully tonight and it took around 20 minutes, plus another 10 minutes studying this page and watching the first 3:15 of the video: http://www.squidoo.com/disassembly-of-samsung-galaxy-s

When I say successful, so far I've only verified the phone boots OK and music comes out of the speaker OK.

For some perspective:

- I've never disassembled a cell-phone before and I need reading glasses as my eyes approach a half century. :)

- But, I was building and doing component level repair of microcomputer equipment 3 decades ago and can still wield a soldering pencil. I've also done a fair share of automotive and other mechanical work.

Warning: It's bad enough my app has somehow "triggered" something that resulted in some blown speakers. I don't want to compound this by having anyone destroy or even put annoying rattles into their phone. So judge for yourself and do anything at your own risk.

You need: A small philips head screwdriver. I used one with a shaft around 1/8" or 3 millimetres, but that's the largest you should go, and hold it tightly to prevent stripping the screws. Stripped screws are always really bad. I don't wanna hear about drilling out cellphone screws; It'd probably result in metal shavings on the circuit boards.

As the video shows:

- Remove the "normal" back cover. Remove battery. The speaker is above the SIM slot. To the left of the speaker is the 1st screw to remove. Around the edges are 6 more screws to remove.

- This is the trickiest part. Remove the black plastic "inside back cover". If you mess this part up your phone may never stop rattling. Breaking this part is not good. I have short nails and couldn't start the prying from the side. I was able to start it from the top. I pulled to get the first bit out, then next to that I pulled again and so on. Be careful not to lose the plastic power or volume buttons, as they may now fall out.

- Stop following the video now once you reach 2:20. They remove the board the speaker is on, but that's not needed for this. Skip ahead to 3:08 for the speaker disconnection. There is a flat cable connecting to the speaker at it's bottom left. (I assume you have the phone camera up as normal.) Bring your finger from the left to the right to pull the tiny flap up to vertical. You should now be able to pull the cable out and remove the speaker.

- The new speaker can now be installed. I found getting the cable in was rather tricky. When in, push the flap to the left and down to close it. (Down meaning towards the phone, not towards the battery compartment. If a gentle tug on the speaker shows that it's locked, you can now ensure the speaker is lying flat.

- Replace the inside back cover. My volume and power buttons both fell out earlier. If yours have fallen out, put them back into the cover and push them all the way to the outside. They seem to only go in one way and the cover seems to hold them enough to replace it without pushing on the actual switches. I had an issue here with the white wire on the right poking out a bit, so I pushed it back in with the dull end of a utility blade. I'm not positive I didn't crush it or mess it up somehow, so be careful.

- Make sure the inside back cover is fully snapped in all around the perimeter. It's probably a good idea to test the phone before replacing the 7 screws or the normal outside back cover.

Does the speaker and everything else work now ? If so, congratulations, grab a beer or whatever and celebrate. :)