Cell phone chip swap

[Ken Ibold]

My daughter's Palm Pre got stepped on and the screen broke. She really liked the phone, so rather than falling into the upgrade trap yet again, we bought a replacement on eBay.

Sprint wants $35 to activate the new phone, but the kicker is that starting Feb 1 they put in a $10/mo surcharge on all phones they consider smart phones, but old ones are grandfathered in.

My question is this: Is there some way to swap the chip or something from the old phone into the new one so that the network can't tell the difference? Or else maybe it's possible to swap the screen? If so, is it something a reasonably smart person can accomplish without specialized knowledge or tools? Or do I need to take it to some specialist?

 

[ScottM]

If the Sprint phone does not have a SIM and I am pretty sure that most of Sprint's phones do not have it, then your best bet is to a) pay the fee to have them make the change in the database, or b) break out the soldering iron and fix the screen. FCC regulations actually require that the ESN not be transferable between phones. The ESN and the MIN aka the phone number are what identifies the mobile to the system for CDMA technologies like what Sprint uses. For SIM based phones like GSM and its evolutions there is a different way that the phone is identified.

Unless you are pretty good with small component soldering I really do not recommend doing the repair yourself.

 

[rpadula]

Ken,

Here's the iFixit (great site!) teardown of the Palm Pre.

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Palm-Pre-Teardown/809/1

Unfortunately, on page 3, they say this:

Unfortunately for repair, it doesn't look like the LCD and digitizer are easy to separate.
​

 

[Ken Ibold]

If the Sprint phone does not have a SIM and I am pretty sure that most of Sprint's phones do not have it, then your best bet is to a) pay the fee to have them make the change in the database, or b) break out the soldering iron and fix the screen. FCC regulations actually require that the ESN not be transferable between phones. The ESN and the MIN aka the phone number are what identifies the mobile to the system for CDMA technologies like what Sprint uses. For SIM based phones like GSM and its evolutions there is a different way that the phone is identified.

I think I get what you're saying, but can you restate and dumb it down a little?

Do you know enough about the specific phone to give an indication of how hard it would be to just change out the slider that holds the screen? Or even if that would work?

 

[ScottM]

I think I get what you're saying, but can you restate and dumb it down a little?

You cannot easily and legally program your new phone to look like your old phone to the network. There is an electronic serial number programed in the phone that is non-transferable. In the olden days of cellphones it was easily moved and duplicated and this led to lots of fraud problems. Thus the ability to move it around was technologically and regulatorilly (sic?) made much tougher to be basically impracticable.

Do you know enough about the specific phone to give an indication of how hard it would be to just change out the slider that holds the screen? Or even if that would work?

I don't know what the inside of that phone looks like, sorry. I cannot even give you a hint about it.

 

[Ken Ibold]

You cannot easily and legally program your new phone to look like your old phone to the network. There is an electronic serial number programed in the phone that is non-transferable. In the olden days of cellphones it was easily moved and duplicated and this led to lots of fraud problems. Thus the ability to move it around was technologically and regulatorilly (sic?) made much tougher to be basically impracticable.

I don't know what the inside of that phone looks like, sorry. I cannot even give you a hint about it.

Now that I get. Thanks, Scott!