Broken Volume Button - Fixes possible?

[jts5009]

Hi everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster. I have a question for you all. I dropped my original Motorola Droid (on Verizon) last night, and the volume down button broke (the volume up button still works fine). Unfortunately, it’s a hardware issue, not a software issue. There are no visible cracks, but the down button doesn’t ‘click’ like it used to. I don’t really have the tools to open the phone up, and since I’d likely mess something up if I tried, I’d prefer to keep the phone in one piece if possible. I downloaded a volume control app after it happened. The app works great (I have it displaying a taskbar notification for easy access), but obviously having a physical button would be nicer. After some cursory Googling, it looks like it’s possible to remap the camera button to the volume down button. This would work perfectly for my needs, but I have no idea how to actually do it on my phone. This thread seems to have some good advice in it, UNLOCK the Strek by volume UP or DOWN even Camera button!!! - xda-developers, but if there’s an easier solution, I’d be glad to hear it. Does anyone have any advice or other workarounds (including advice for opening up the phone itself, if it’s an easy hardware fix)?

For what it’s worth, I do have root access to my phone, but I’m still running the original ROM that came with the phone. Also, I’ve actually been due for an upgrade since January, but I’d like to get some more life out of this phone if it’s at all possible in order to upgrade to a future native ICS device. That said, if any ‘fixes’ end up breaking the phone, I have no problem buying a new phone now. I’d probably go with the Droid RAZR MAXX (or possibly the Galaxy Nexus) at this point, but that’s a different topic altogether.

Any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks!