After unsuccessfully trying to replace the home button on Joanne's iPhone 4, I ended up taking the busted phone to "Mobile Phone Repairs Central" at Woden plaza (just opposite the King of Knives). The guy was very helpful and fixed it while we did our shopping.

I had managed to break the ribbon cable that connects the screen to the main logic board, and I don't think I installed the home button cable properly.

Frankly I'm amazed that he managed to get it working at all, he took it apart three times and charged a modest fee for the parts and labour.

I was really impressed with how the guy managed to field customer queries, sell products whilst working on an iPhone consisting of a bazillion components.

So, if you need an iPhone repaired, I highly recommend mprcentral@gmail.com. Rear case and batteries are easy for a user to replace, home button and screen digitizer should definitely be left to the experts!

If you do need to do it yourself I would recommend the following ifixit guides: http://www.ifixit.com/Device/iPhone_4

Here are my lessons learnt:

  1. Follow the steps in order
  2. Label all of your screws (according to each step)
  3. Don't force things (this is what tripped me up with the digitizer ribbon cable - it got kinked and I ended up breaking it.
  4. When in doubt pay a professional