[Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] arvinchugh:
Disclaimer: Read this thread completely before doing anything. I'm NOT responsible for any damage done to your device while doing this. DO IT ON YOUR OWN RISK. I'M ALSO NOT SURE IF THIS VOIDS YOUR WARRANTY OR NOT.

Hello everyone,

Like many of you, I ended up breaking my back glass of new Nexus 4. But being from India finding a replacement wasn't easy and if it was possible it wasn't cheap at all. So I did loads research and found just back glass lens only for cheap ($25 to India from China with free shipping) delivery time was fast got it within 10 days. I thought its cheap so its worth taking a risk. I was unable to find any guide online to replace just glass so I thought I'll make one here to help others out.

Requirement:

Back glass lens only replacement.

T5 screw driver and few other tools to remove glass from back (As shown in picture below)

Adhesives remover, I used nail polish remover as I had nothing else and at least for me it worked well.

Adhesives to stick new glass on back, I used SYNTHETIC RUBBER BASED ADHESIVE as I had nothing else. But I suggest find something better than this.

Cover yourself properly(full pants, full sleeves shirt or tshirt, glooves, piece of cloth to cover your mouth and if possible eye gear too (You'll need this to protect yourself from small glass particles and glass dust) Basically cover yourself as much as you can, if you don't like to be in mess like me.

This is what removed glass looks like.

LEAST 2-3 HOURS of your time.

PS: You should do this in safe environment, glass is so thin while removing it can cause you serious harm(cuts, can fly into your eyes or mouth) It becomes powder form so if you're not careful you'll be left with glass dust all over you. Also Make sure NO children are around when you do this.

Lets get started.

1. You'll need to remove back door from nexus 4. You can either google how to do that or goto following link for xda guide

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2257896

2. Wireless charging coil and speaker grill is directly attached to glass. So you'll have to remove speaker grill first before removing glass from back and if possible charging coil too, if not you can remove it later like it did.

3. Now you can start removing glass out from where its broken or like me you can look under back door and you'll find 2 holes in upper part. Using something sharp punch through them. You can start from there then. Also make sure you don't use excessive force as plastic used in door is really weak, it can crack or break easily. So always support the part of door with finger from below while you're removing glass on top of it. This took me almost 1 and half hour to get this done. It will take time initially and will be hard but will get faster and easier as you'll get used to it. I removed glass from border of case and corners as it has somewhat plastic support below and left the glass on coil for last as its very delicate.

4. If you did as I did in pictures, you'll be left with charging coil and glass on it. I removed charging coil at this point from back door and removed glass really carefully. Removing glass from coil alone took me an hour. You can see some part of plastic protection of coil is removed while scrapping glass out, though I'm sure its still working fine, but still be really be careful while doing it. After done this is what you'll be left with.

5. Use Adhesives remover (in my case nail polish remover) to clean back door and charging coil. This is really important, as you need no residue left on it before putting new glass on. This is what it looked like after cleaning it.

6. After its all clean, Use Adhesive you chose and apply if on back door evenly and fit glass on it. if its rubber based like one i used let it dry for a bit before fitting glass on it. As rubber based ones takes time to dry. I did not apply adhesive on charging coil as some of its plastic protection was removed so I didn't wanted to take any chances. So I stick glass on back without charging coil and this is end result.

7. Now my back is ready, I stick speaker grill back on it and I just put charging coil on glass back without adhesive I didn't wanted it to be stuck with glass again as incase glass breaks again its pain in a** to remove it from glass. So i just place it in its place and put my phone back together again.

8. My phone is working perfectly fine now, fitting is not as original but that's cause of Adhesives I used. If you use better it will be just as brand new.

Below are few things you should keep in mind before doing this.

It took me least 3-4 hours to do this, was it all worth the pain? I was getting just a back without nfc and wireless charging for $75 shipped to India and original back door replacement with all equipment for $100+ neither were worth according to me and I didn't wanted to spend so much money on it either. I had back screen guard on when it fell, So all broken glass was behind guard and I further sealed it with clear tape so glass wasn't going anywhere and further it was in case. So no one could even see its broken. I fixed it cause I might be selling this phone to replace with Nexus 5 incase its worth an upgrade. Also I bought phone from USA as I was never gonna claim Warranty either so thinking if this will void warranty or not wasn't something I had to worry about. So making phone as good as new for $25 it was money well spent. Infact you can get this glass lens cheaper than what I spent depending on country you live it. Also there is risk to break the back door itself as its fragile. So please consider everything before you even try this. If you're careful enough I don't think you'll have problem doing this fix.

My phone is working perfectly fine now, tested everything besides wireless charging as I don't have wireless charger but nfc and all are working just fine.

I got my replacement from china and it came well packed thought should share with you guys incase you are wondering if its safe to get something so delicate from china.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I'll try to help as much as I can. Hope this helpful to people. Good Luck with your repair :)

Arvin