iFixit Droid 4 teardown reveals quality keyboard with repairability issues

iFixit gave the Motorola’s Droid 4 its usual teardown treatment to reveal a few issues with repairability, and it gave the device its lowest score ever for a Droid product. While claiming the device has the “best keyboard yet,” iFixit said the keyboard is integrated into the motherboard, which forces you to replace both parts even for minor keyboard repairs. Although iFixit was able to get it off the battery with a little force, the teardown also revealed the battery is not meant to be removable by the user (unlike past Droids).

Motorola definitely understood the importance of designing a good keyboard for this phone. From our limited txt-testing, it appears to be the best Droid keyboard yet. The same shows in its internal construction (aside from it being integrated into the motherboard).

The positives noted in the teardown: No proprietary screws, and the LCD and glass are separate to allow for cheaper repairs of cracked displays. You can check out iFixit’s full teardown to see exactly why it gave the device a 4 out of 10 repairability score.