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I have an old Android phone around whose display broke after a fall. The touch screen has stopped working but I am reluctant to accept the device merely as a paper weight.

I do have some use cases for the device, e.g. as a file server, if only I could configure the network settings and install certain apps.

My specific use case is not the question but:

How do I configure my Android device without using the touch screen?

I wonder if it is possible to configure the device via USB connection.

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Did you have USB debugging enabled on the phone before the display broke? That would at least give you a way to interact with the phone via USB, but if it wasn't enabled beforehand I don't know how you could enable it. – eldarerathis♦ Apr 26 '12 at 20:35
@eldarerathis I'm afraid I did a factory reset in order to exclude a software hiccup as the source for the dysfunctionality of the touch screen. The touch screen did work for a few month after the fall. – k0pernikus Apr 26 '12 at 20:39
@eldarerathis I just checked. It is indeed activated. – k0pernikus Apr 26 '12 at 20:48
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When you say "The touch screen has stopped working" Do you mean that the display doesn't even turn on? so you can't see anything? OR that the display works but it does not receive any touch events? – FoamyGuy Apr 27 '12 at 3:08
@Tim I can see what is happening on screen. Yet only some rare touch events are recognized. And that, inconstantly. – k0pernikus Apr 27 '12 at 8:42

2 Answers

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You could use Android Screencast to control the device connected via usb. It only does about 3-5 fps, but you can do what you need to accomplish, if you have patients. You will need to have the android SDK installed (I believe).

Another solution, that would be specific to your device, is to see if you can find a replacement digitizer. If you can see what is on the screen, but it doesn't recognize the touches, then you need only the digitizer.

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What device is it?

if it is a device that supports USB Host mode you can plug a keyboard into it with an adapter of some sort.

If you can't go that route, another option is a bluetooth keyboard. I don't know if you'll be able to get connected with no touch screen though. But if you can once your connected you'll be all set. You can control focus with the arrow keys, send a screen touch with enter, and esc acts as the back button.

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I was hoping for a device-agnostic solution. In my case, the broken device is a Samsung Galaxy Ace. – k0pernikus Apr 26 '12 at 21:47
does the small rectangle thing under the screen act as a trackpad and allow you to move focus around items on the screen? additionally can you press it to send an "enter" event to the system on whatever has focus? – FoamyGuy Apr 27 '12 at 2:57

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