(Last edited Feb 29, 2008)

This is part six of the Putting it all together series. If you haven’t read part one, please read it here.

Jump to:

Cases
Send back to Palm for repair
Extended Warranty
Screen Repair
Repair services Online
Palm Screws
Take Apart Instructions
Screen Protectors
Screen cleaning
eGrips

Physical protection for the Palm

Hard or soft or crystal case

You’ve spent quite a nice sum of money on this great little Palm device. Wouldn’t you want to make sure that you protect it in case of any emergency or accidents? Most of us never really think that we’ll be careless one day and accidentally drop our precious several hundred dollar investment, or crush it by accidentally putting it in our back pocket and sit on it, or leave it on a table somewhere and accidentally push it over the table edge and watch it break. But accidents happen and you should take some precautionary measures to prevent an abrupt shortened life of your Palm.

To prevent the Palm from a nasty fall or being crushed by some unforeseened accident, I’d suggest investing some money in a case for it.

A soft case or cover, like Boxwave’s Designio Leather Shell Case or FlexiSkin or JavoEdge’s JAVOSkin may somewhat protect the Palm from the shock of a sudden shake or bump, and give you a better grip on it, but it may not prevent something from accidentally crushing it.

A hard case like Boxwave’s Armor Case or the Active Case may prevent such crushing or accidental turning on of the Palm due to accidental pressing of buttons when it’s rumbling inside a purse, or a bag. But, if you dropped it on the floor, it may not protect the Palm from the shock of the impact.

There are many different cases that attach to a belt, holster cases, cases that flip up to open, cases that flip on the side (like a book). They come in many different styles. You just have to determine what you want in a case and weigh which one will suit you best. I personally prefer a hard case since it prevents any accidental pressing of a button and turn on the Palm, thus draining the battery. The inside has a lining of soft felt so in some ways, it provides somewhat of a cushion should I drop it on the floor (although it’s not a good idea to test it).

The Palm glass screen can be very easily cracked, crushed, scratched. If you spend some time checking out the various forums, there’s always at least one Palm user per day or every few days who posted about cracking their screen and wanting to know his options for fixing it. Unfortunately, short of getting the glass screen replaced, there’s no other way to fix it.

Send broken Palm back to Palm Inc to repair it

If you are still under warranty for your Palm (unfortunately nowadays Palm only provides 90 day warranty so it’s unlikely you will still be under warranty), you can contact Palm and return it back to them to replace. I’m not sure whether cracked screens are covered (I doubt it) but it doesn’t hurt to try. If they determine that it’s not covered under warranty, they will likely charge you $125 or more for the repair. What they usually do is send you a replacement unit rather than fix it and return your unit back to you.

Buy an extended warranty

If you are still within 90 days before your Palm warranty expires and reside in the USA, you can purchase an extended warranty (which covers glass screen repair) from PDA Parts. It costs $9.95 and you get an extra year of warranty including one screen replacement.

Take advantage of the credit card’s extended warranty feature

If you purchased your Palm using a credit card that offers an extended warranty as a feature, maybe you can utilize the extra extended warranty to repair the screen. Contact your credit card company and research what’s covered.

Although I suggested to go for the GetHighTech extended warranty, most times I find that extended warranties are not a good investment if you’re someone who usually don’t break things and take very good care of your devices.

They’re usually very expensive and account for a hefty percentage of the device’s price. Unless you need that peace of mind that only an extended warranty can provide, I’d use the money to buy your accessories instead.

Get the screen repaired from online repairers

Find a place where they repair glass screens for Palms. That may not be very easy to find one located near you. Your choices will most likely be found online. There are a few well known places where they claim to repair glass screens and Palms. I’d suggest asking for a quote first and determine whether it’s cheaper to get it fixed by them or by Palm.

Repair services online

Here are a few places where they do repairs: PalmMedicCanada, PalmMedic, RunPDA, PDA Specialists, Homer’s PDA Repair, PerformancePDA.

And here’s an article from the INQUIRER regarding Chris Short’s Palm repair services. Apparently, if you need your Palm fixed, Chris is very good at doing it at a reasonable price. He even gets 100% positives on his Ebay feedback, which is nearly impossible with any vendor. So, I’d suggest checking out Chris Short if you are in need of repairs.

Or you can also contact Legodude522, alias Jeffrey Fraidy who apparently has opened quite a few Palms up himself and replaced the glass screen among other tasks. He’s a moderator at PalmInfocenter and frequents a lot of various Palm forums.

Here’s a few links that has more resources for doing repairs and upgrades LINK1, LINK2, LINK3.

Buy the screen or other Palm part and repair it yourself

Find a replacement glass screen and do the replacement yourself. Many places that do repair also sell replacment screens and parts as well. GetHighTech, GetHighTech Ebay store, PerformancePDA, UsedPDAParts, GetHighTech, UnityElectronics,Unity Electronics Yahoo Outlet store, WholesalePDAs.

Lost Palm screws

If you find that your Palm Tungsten T/T2/T3 or even the Treo screws have somehow fallen out (and this seems like a common problem with the Tungstens, which usually leads to digitizer woes), either check out your local optician and see if they can sell you screws that can fit your Palm (yes, apparently, some Palm users have claimed that they work!), or buy them from Carmine Castiglia’s InfosystemsPro store. Many Palm users have claimed that they work great. Or get them from PDAParts/GetHighTech, UnityElectronics and the other vendors I’ve previously mentioned. Please read my posting on the screws where I’ve done a comparison of their prices here.

If you are considering on getting the screws, please purchase either the regular screws at Carmine Castiglia’s store here or the 24 kt gold plated screws and others which also fits the Tungsten T, T2, and T3 and help support my blog as I will get some revenue from the sale from the affiliate link. Again, proceeds will be used to pay for the hosting and domain fees and if any left over, portions will be donated to World Vision Canada and/or Plan Canada. In 2006, $20 was donated to Plan Canada and in 2007, $85 was donated, thanks to your support!

Take Apart instructions

Here’s a few links that has instructions on how to open up a Palm. Most of them are specifically for battery replacement but they’re helpful nonetheless.

Here’s one from PDAInternalBattery/LaptopsForLess for the Zire 71. For instructions to other Palm devices, check out this link and click on the “Installation instructions” link specific for the device if available.

Here’s a translated page on opening up the Zire 71 LINK

GetHighTech/PDAParts has a good list of instructions for many Palm devices including web page and video. Check it out here

Here’s a link to more pages that have pictures on how to take apart the Palm Tungsten devices. It provides instructions on repairing the screen drift digitizer problem as well as other well known ones on replacing the battery, etc.

Those who need instructions on how to open up for a Zire 72 may find these detailed instructions from 1src helpful. As well, Legodude522 from Palminfocenter has some instructions and pics in this posting that you may find helpful.

Always consider how comfortable you are at opening up and fixing things. Unless something is broken, don’t fix it (yourself). If you mess up, you’ve got something that is broken and now you’re out how ever many dollars and need to spend more money to get a replacement Palm. HIndsight is always twenty-twenty. Think about it before you attempt to fix things yourself.

Glass screen protection

Most Palm users, when they first get their Palm, remove the piece of clingy plastic that covers over the screen, very much like they remove the plastic that usually sticks to a display on a new cell phone, game boy, etc. Although removing the plastic makes the device look nicer, what they fail to realize is that they’ve removed the layer of protection that prevents the screen from scratching. The same applies to the Palm glass screen display.

What they also fail to realize is that the Palm glass screen is extremely sensitive and can very easily be scratched. The worse the glass gets scratched, the more likely the scratches may affect how effective or ineffective the digitizer mechanism located underneath the glass screen can detect the stylus taps and strokes. Also, a scratched screen doesn’t look all that nice and may actually be harder to read when in the light. And don’t forget how much less likely money you’ll get if you decide to sell it in the future if you have a badly scratched screen.

Screen protectors

To protect the glass screen from scratching, either resist the temptation to remove the clinging plastic protector that came with the Palm and use it as a cheap screen protector until it gets too scratched. Then, go out and buy a replacement screen protector, or make your own.

There are a number of places which sell various brands of screen protectors. The popular brands of screen protectors that I’ve heard were good were from Brando, Boxwave, Martin Fields. There are other brands like NuShield, Proporta but I haven’t many comments regarding those. What I have read is that many Palm users recommend against getting the Palm branded screen protectors. So stay away from Palm branded screen protectors at all costs!.

NuShield screen protectors

You may want to consider checking out NuShield’s screen protectors (obvious conflict of interest here since I am an affiliate and have reviewed it in this posting. First of all, it doesn’t use an adhesive, which I like because many times, it seems that the adhesive may be part of the problem many Palm users have with regards to lack of responsiveness after the protector is applied. Second, it looks very simple to apply and doesn’t require any pressure (usually required when applying the adhesive ones since you want them to stick well to the glass). NuShield even created a QuickTime demonstration of applying their screen protector. Third, it come with a no-nonsense money-back guarantee. I’m not sure if any others offer that. Fourth, NuShield claims to filter out 99% of UV rays from reaching your screen or reflecting to your eyes. Fifth, it looks like many industrial businesses, law enforcement and military use NuShield. Well, if it’s good enough for industrial use, it would seem good enough for regular consumer use. I should also disclose that any purchase made from my affiliate NuShield links will go towards paying for hosting and maintenance for this site.

Here’s also an article on screen protectors from Brighthand: Protect Your Screen which offers a comparison of several brands. And here’s another article from MobileRead regarding screen protectors.

If you don’t feel you want to spend the money on screen protectors but instead want to make your own, here’s a site you may be interested that discusses how to make your own using various different types of materials. It’s called Tony Jest’s DIY Pilot Screen Protector Tips. It’s got a lot of good tips on making your own screen protector. I can’t stress enough how important it is to have screen protectors. I personally have it fitted so that it covers up the edges of the glass so that I prevent dirt, debris and dust from getting stuck in between the casing, which is normally the cause of digitizer woes, or an unresponsive screen.

I personally buy a small portion of the transparent clingy plastic that’s sold at most fabric stores (for table covering) or the fabric department of Wal-mart. They’re quite cheap and are easily washable. I cut the pieces and custom fit them over my Palm screen, carefully pushing out all the tiny bubbles out to the edges. Many people may not like using the clinging plastic because of the bubbles on the screen but it doesn’t bug me. I find that it’s thick enough to protect the screen, and easily to remove, unlike many other screen protectors that use adhesive. If it gets dirty, I can wash it with soap. And when the protector plastic gets too scratched, I can put on a new one. All at a fraction of the cost of buying other branded screen protectors. Again, that may not be suitable for you. If you find that the stylus isn’t gliding along the plastic, spray a bit of Pledge over it (it’s fine if you’re spraying it on the plastic and not on the actual glass screen) and it will glide much better. It may also be a better idea to spray the Pledge on the cloth and then wipe it over the plastic. That is probably a much safer way to apply anything on any surface rather than spraying it directly on.

One thing to note is that if you are noticing that your Palm isn’t detecting your stylus taps, try removing your screen protector and test it again. Most times, the screen protector may be affecting the detection of the stylus. Sometimes, people apply too much pressure on the screen when applying the screen protector, which causes the digitizer to not function properly. If this continues to happen and you have determined that it’s the screen protector, you may decide to get another brand of screen protector.

What to use to clean the screen

If you do need to clean the screen, I’d suggest using the eyeglasses or camera lens cloths. They are made for cleaning glass surfaces without scratching. Using any other cloths will scratch the glass. The cloths are usually inexpensive. Most eyeglass wearers will have one so ask your friends or relatives if they have a spare one they can give you. Or go out and buy one from your nearest optician.

Don’t use toothpaste to remove the scratches on Palm screen

I’d strongly advise AGAINST using toothpaste to clean the screen. Why? Toothpaste has a mild abrasive (think of stains on your teeth and how toothpaste can remove them) and will scratch the screen (although you may not be able to see it with the naked eye). If you don’t believe me, do a search on “abrasive and toothpaste” and you should come up with search results about the mild abrasive ingredient in toothpaste. Regardless of how mild the abrasive ingredient is, it is still an abrasive ingredient. That means it will scratch, regardless of whether it’s visible to the naked eye or not. The best way is to ask your dentist whether toothpaste is abrasive or not.

Now, many people will come out and argue that many people recommend using toothpaste to remove scratches off a CD. Well, the common misconception is that toothpaste will remove scratches. Wrong. What toothpaste does is create even more smaller scratches on the CD’s film so that the deep scratches would be somewhat be made not as deep because there are other smaller scratches on it that somewhat deflect the light at a different angle.

Remember that to read a CD that the laser light hits on the surface of the CD and the pits and indents on the CD will reflect (or not reflect) back and the CD will read off those relections and determine the data stored. What the scratches whether the small or large does is deflect the light somewhere else so that what’s on the CD can’t be read. So, using toothpaste, although may work to somewhat make your CD be read on the CD player, it doesn’t mean that the scratches are removed, because there’s now more scratches on it (most of them very tiny) than there used to be but your CD can read it though due to the whether something is reflected or not. So, toothpaste doesn’t remove the scratches, but it still works to make your CD be read on the CD player or computer. That’s why. So, no. Toothpaste DOES NOT REMOVE SCRATCHES. If you want to scratch your glass screen, then continue to use toothpaste to clean it. You don’t hear of anyone using toothpaste to clean eyeglasses if it works so well, because it will only make scratches become worse. Especially for eyeglasses where things get magnifified that much more, it’s quite clear (pardon the pun) that any small scratch will be noticed and the glasses will eventually get replaced because it’s too hard to view with all the scratches in the way.

Don’t use any solvents or chemical compounds to clean the Palm screen

Brasso, although many claim to also help make your scratched CDs be played on the CD Player, also may not be good for your scratched Palm, glass, or plastic screen.

I’ve personally never used Brasso but I would reserve this as a last resort in hopes that a badly scratched CD can be played on a CD player. Yes, I do use toothpaste on some badly scratched CDs to make it easier to play on CD players but only after I try to clean it with liquid soap and with special CD cloths. Only if it’s the last resort will I even consider Brasso. And you can never be sure of what chemical compounds are in any household items nowadays. Over time, I’m sure that a glass screen that has never been touched by any chemical compounds will be much better than one that has been routinely “cleaned” by solvents. Chemicals will react. Remember that.

Scratches can not be repaired

A scratch is a scratch. If your piece of plastic lens or glass is scratched, there is really nothing you can do to “repair” it. Short of melting the plastic or the glass and reshaping it back to its original shape, there is no way you can “repair” it. And, most of us are not capable of melting glass or plastic and then reshaping it back so that’s why it’s important to keep the surface scratch free and prevent scratches from happening. Preventitive measures again, is important.

I’d also advise against using something like Pledge or other polishing compounds because it may damage the glass or plastic. Remember that any compound contains chemicals that may react with glass or plastic. And Windex is a a NO NO. Windex usually has ammonia which is not good. No one ever recommends using Windex on your computer monitor screen or LCD screen because they know that it will adversely affect the screen. And I always find that after using Windex that the window or the glass surface will have the blue stuff. You can always tell because when you’re wiping it away that your paper towel will have the blue stuff on it. Even when you’re rinsing it with water (which most people don’t), you’ll find the blue stuff on your paper towel or cloth. Do you want some blue solvent on your precious Palm screen? Normally, it’s not visible to the naked eye but I’m sure that over time, the blue stuff will show. I actually have seen how an old Windex bottle (I don’t use Windex all that much) turned into a cloudy greenish yellow color rather than clear and transparent that it normally looks. So, it’s quite obvious that the chemical in Windex may do something harmful to the glass over time (because the plastic bottle obviously reacted to the chemical to make it turn cloudy and greenish yellow in color. So, using a lens cloth is probably the best way to clean a glass surface. A little bit of a warm breath on the screen and wipe with the cloth is probably the safest way.

Get a better grip of your Palm with eGrips, Flexiskin or JavoSkin

If you own the Zire 71 or other Palms that tend to have a slippery casing, you should also get something like eGrips. eGrips is a rubbery, and somewhat grippy texture adhesive that you apply to your Palm or any electronic device like a cell phone, PSP, etc that helps you get a better grip of the device. On the slippery Zire 71, it certainly helps make a difference. Without eGrips on a Zire 71, it’s very easy to allow the Zire 71 to slip off your fingers, even if you think you’ve got a good grip on it. With the eGrips applied, it’s not as easy. But, one disadvantage of eGrips is that they don’t last very long. Depending on how it’s used, it can last a few months before the various layers of eGrips come off. First comes off the rubbery texture layer. Then, the thin layer of plastic over the underlying colored rubbery layer. Then, the colored rubbery layer and the metallic adhesive at the bottom.

I’d suggest buying the generic piece rather than the piece that’s designed for your Palm device. Why? Because you can prolong the piece of eGrip you use on the Palm, by cutting small pieces where you will be holding the Palm and replacing when necessary rather than buying the entire piece and applying it and have it come off after 3 months. So, with one generic piece, cut into pieces, it can last you for a year rather than 3 months with the entire piece applied. eGrips come in many different colors for a variety of devices including cell phones, remotes, etc.

Or, the alternative is to get something like a rubbery “skin-like” cover like Boxwave’s FlexiSkin or JavoEdge’s JAVOSkin which doesn’t “stick” onto your Palm and leave a gummy residue and can easily be removed and washed and re-applied at any time. They can somewhat protect the Palm againsts slight bumps and scrapes and also give you a better “grip”.

In the next part of this series, I will continue on the protection theme, discussing security programs for your Palm.

Thanks for visiting and supporting Palm Discovery. If you are not reading this article from Palmdiscovery.com or palmdiscovery.net, the website you are reading it from is guilty of copying and posting my content without consent. Please visit Palm Discovery for the original source of the material.

: archives categories protection cases screenprotectors screens takeapart instructions repair egrip extendedwarranty gettingstarted palm

Try or Buy TiBR Pro an advanced eBook reader

Or get it at Handango