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I’ve disassembled and repaired my HTC One, but I can’t really get all the tape that was covering the ribbon cables to re-adhere. My impression is that it was just there to keep things in place, and maybe prevent shorting. In that case can I use regular electrical tape instead? If not, where can I find the right tape?
You are correct, that tape is used to hold the cables in place. Especially with an HTC phone, they have a tendency to run lots of cables everywhere! The tape that is being used is called Kapton Tape. Its a heat resistant thin tape, and has multiple uses in the electronic repair industry. iFixit sells this tape for about $10. You can also find it on eBay for about $5 (both links below). You could probably apply a little electrical tape to hold the cables down, I wouldn’t use too much since electrical tape is thicker than the Kapton and you don’t want that thickness to interfere with something not laying properly. Polyimide Tape http://www.ebay.com/itm/10mm-X-100Ft-Gol…