Ever since that Galaxy S8 durability video, I’ve been thinking about making a clear
Galaxy S8 and how cool that would look.
Now the S8 is a little bit different than the S6 and the S7, where the coloring isn’t
so much of a sticker – it’s more of a coating on that back glass.
So it scrapes off, but not super easily.
But I think I have a solution.
[Intro]
All of these are called “solvents” or paint thinner.
And one of these should work.
“May be fatal or cause blindness if swallowed.”
This should work just fine.
The first step in making a clear Galaxy S8 is to remove the back glass panel.
I talk more about this in my complete S8 teardown video, but the short version is to go slow
and to use heat and a thin metal pry tool so you don’t break the glass.
Remember, you are voiding all of the warrantees on your phone if you attempt this project.
And it is a little bit harder than it looks.
Once that back glass is off, I’m going to pop out the camera frame and the fingerprint
scanner so I have complete access to the glass slab itself.
These are incredibly well sealed to the back glass so I’m doing more of a slicing motion
through the adhesive instead of prying up against the glass.
At this point I did try separating the color from the glass, but it seemed pretty permanently
coated and it did not want to come off.
My razor blade couldn’t do much more than just scratch the underside of that glass.
This paint and epoxy remover, on the other hand, is kind of like acid.
The solvent worked incredible well to soften the paint on the underside of that glass,
but there was still one more slightly cloudy lamination layer underneath that.
The lamination was relatively clear, but still had a murky affect to it.
So getting rid of that was the next step.
The extra strength paint remover, once again, made this part slightly easier because it
had loosened the laminated bond with the glass.
Now that the glass is completely clear and rinsed off, we have a few different options.
One is to just take that glass panel and put it directly back on the phone.
This leaves the phone with complete functionality since everything is still in place and intact.
And while it still does look pretty good at this point, I’m going to strip it down and
take it a step farther.
There are 14 screws on the back of this thing, and the good news is that not all of these
screws are mandatory.
In order to view the pretty stuff inside the phone, we have to remove the wireless charging.
The phone will still function completely fine with this removed, it just won’t charge
wirelessly anymore, obviously.
Now the loud speaker plastics are covering too much of the circuit board for my taste.
This Android has a headphone jack and I want to show that off from the inside.
The loud speaker is still pretty important though and crucial to the normal functionality
of the phone so I’ll need at least half of this piece of plastic – the other half,
not so much.
Now we can visibly see half the charging port while still keeping our speaker intact.
The important screws that need to stay in place are these ones.
I’m pretty sure all the screws are important on some level, but these are the only ones
I’m going to keep.
I’ll put some clear double sided tape back onto the camera lens as well as the fingerprint
scanner, and then re-stick them to the underside of that clear panel.
I’ll have all of this stuff linked in the video description if you’re curious or if
you want to try this yourself.
And now we’re starting to get somewhere.
All of the internal circuits and components are completely visible at this point, just
like back in the gold old days with my favorite GameBoy.
This thing is looking pretty sweet.
To get that back glass to stick securely to phone we have to use more clear adhesive.
I’ll link this stuff in the description.
Just make sure that it goes all around the inside edge to keep that dust out.
The phone definitely isn’t going to be water resistant anymore.
I’ll use a little glass cleaner on the inside of that panel.
Once you set it down it will be down for good, so make sure it’s clean the first time around.
After removing the top layer of the double sided tape, I’ll clip in that little tiny
fingerprint scanner.
The complete disassembly and reassembly of this phone will have a few more tips and tricks
in it.
This particular video is more just highlighting the clear back panel.
And there you have it, the world’s first fully functional, clear backed Galaxy S8.
Let me know what you think.
Do you think Samsung should start mass producing these things for everyone?
I think it looks pretty cool.
There are a few cons that go along with this project.
Obviously the phone’s not waterproof anymore, and it doesn’t have the wireless charging
in the back.
And, you know, the phone’s not meant to be taken apart so there’s a good chance
that it could just die completely during this and you have no more warranty once it’s
been opened up.
But, as far as aesthetics and how cool it looks, I think it’s pretty awesome and it’s
pretty much a cost free project.
I had to buy that paint thinner which costs about 8 bucks and it took about an hour of
my time to clear off that back coloring and reinstall the phone again, but other than
that…
If you have any questions, leave them down in the comments below, and maybe if this video
gets enough “likes”, Samsung will start making these phones in the future.
It’s a long shot but it could happen.
Thanks for watching.
I’ll see you around.