Replacing the back (but not with more glass).

[JCampbell]

All,
I just got my N4 this afternoon. Within six hours of having it, it slid off my lap and about 2.5 feet down onto carpet. The back promptly shattered. This has me thinking: why not replace the glass with something more durable? There has to be a solvent that can remove the glass without harming the internals of the phone, and then it would be fairly easy to fashion and attach a back of plastic, rubber, or polycarbonate (heck, even a hardwood could work). The only issue then would be Qi charging, but since it works one the WP 8x through an Otterbox, I don't really see that being a real problem either.

 

[SiempreTuna]

That's a real bummer! You must be SO p****d off!

I can see why you might want to use something different for the back, however I can't help thinking that a solvent could potentially damage any internals it comes into contact with - you'd have to be mighty careful applying it.

You'd then have the problem of securing the replacement back, presumably with some sort of adhesive, which could also potentially damage things ..

Someone on here had a shattered back replaced by LG for

 

[steslatt]

It would be best to remove the back before you try and get the glass off. It looks pretty easy, just 2 screws at the bottom then unclip round the sides.

 

[JCampbell]

Well, I have property insurance that will cover the repair cost (most likely), but I don't want to get another glass back if it shatters that easily.

 

[MT Rotor]

Just remove the back, eBay has dummy N4's phones for $30 see if the back on those fit on the nexus 4

 

[MartinS]

Remove the glass and leave as is?

 

[MT Rotor]

Yeah if the glass isn't interfering with it when removed, if so just get a dbskin and slap it on their to have the nexus logo on the back,..

 

[kalaster]

This reminds of the cool customization options for iPhone4/ 4s', where you could easily remove the back and replace with a cool back panel made of metal, or clear glass, a plain glass panel, ect, that you could get cheap from iphone4parts.com. too bad you cant for the nexus 4 =/ this is what almost made me get an iphone last year.

 

[JCampbell]

Just remove the back, eBay has dummy N4's phones for $30 see if the back on those fit on the nexus 4

Unfortunately, the N4 has antennae and the NFC chip in the back, so I couldn't do a clean swap. That was one of the things I looked into though.