If possible, drain the battery before disassembly. When the battery is charged, there's increased risk of a dangerous thermal event if the battery is overheated or damaged during repairs.
If your display is cracked, completely cover it with packing tape to contain the glass shards and avoid injury.
Heat the perimeter of the display to soften the adhesive securing it.
If available, use a hot plate or heat pad. Place the Essential Phone face-down and heat it to 85° C for at least 15 minutes.
Otherwise, use a heat gun to evenly heat the entire perimeter of the display until it's too hot to touch. Try to maintain a high temperature for 15-20 minutes—but beware that without exact control over the temperature, you can easily destroy the display.
Wear heat-resistant anti-static gloves as needed to safely handle the phone after this step.
In the following steps, you will separate the display panel and cover glass assembly from the Essential Phone's chassis.
For reference, the back of the display panel is shown at left. Note the contours of the display panel. Tools can only safely be inserted into the camera notch at the top, and along the very thin (just over 1 mm) black bezel surrounding the display.
Inserting tools at any other location risks permanent damage to the LCD.
While the phone is still hot, apply a heavy-duty suction cup to the top half of the display.
After positioning the suction cup, gently press down, and then close the handle to securely fasten the suction cup to the display surface.
If your display is badly cracked, the suction cup may not adhere. Skip the next step below and use your blade to slice under the display as best you can.
Insert a thin blade or pry tool into the camera notch at the top of the display.
The gap where you can safely insert a tool is only about 5 mm wide. If you hit the LCD with your tool, you will damage it.
Use your suction cup and blade or pry tool to widen the gap at the top of the display until you can insert a second tool under the glass, closer to the corner.
Before installing the display, remove all traces of the old adhesive, then clean and prep the glued areas of the chassis and display (if you're re-using it) with isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free cloth.
Connect the display and power on the Essential Phone to test your repair before sealing the display panel in place.
You may re-secure the display with a strong double-sided adhesive tape, such as 1 mm Tesa 61395.
Yes when you re-install the display you’ll need to add more adhesive as it destroy it during the removal process. They recommend using '''Tesa 61395 Tape (1mm)''' however I got away with using 2mm tape as it was all I had on hand and it worked just fine, however the application was a little difficult. I’d also recommend getting some small conductive tape for the display adhesive pads as well as the couple of conductive pads on the bottom of the battery.