A couple of months ago I was carrying something very heavy, had the Treo 650 on a belt clip and piece of metal pierced the screen in two places. So the touchscreen would act a bit wacky in one of the spots with a hole in the screen (the screen protector saved the 2nd pierced area). Of course I was bummed and my Verizon Wireless contract doesn’t end for another six months so I can replace the smartphone at a discount. New Screens are about $100 so that’s a pretty expensive route which is why I used the phone for two months in the damaged state.
I found the solution to the problem online. The screen is made out of two components: A color LCD screen (if you crack that you’re hosed), and the touchscreen on top of that. The touchscreen can be bought for about $16 online! So I ordered a touchscreen, took the treo apart via some good directions in a video tutorial. and replaced the digitizer/touchscreen. Now my Treo’s screen is in mint condition. But don’t try this at home unless you’re really comfortable taking things apart and putting them back together again.
I’ll probably get a Treo 700p this summer, it just does so much more than the Apple iPhone.
On another note, I just replaced the focusing screen of the Canon 20D camera I use to an old-school Haoda split image/microprism screen. For some strange reason the 20D could not focus the Sigma 14mm/2.8 lens I’m using in low light. Actually it would confirm focus (green ball and beep) but would not actually be in focus. There isn’t enough light staying on the normal focusing screen to manually focus in poor light, thus the split-image/microprism. Works great but old time photogs will have flashbacks when they see half the split image black out with slow lenses.