There are plenty of different comparison points between this year’s Nexus phones, and in most of them the Nexus 6P is simply superior. The Nexus 6P has a larger screen, a more premium build, a better camera, and more powerful internals. But there’s one area that we now know that the Nexus 6P is clearly the loser. When it comes to repairability, the Nexus 6P is one of the worst phones ever, getting a score of just 2 out of 10 from iFixit… Expand Expanding Close
Two years after the original Chromecast HDMI streaming stick, Google decided it was ready last week to unveil the sequel with a redesigned and more capable 2nd-gen Chromecast as well as an entirely new product for streaming audio to old speakers called Chromecast Audio. Readily standing by, the folks over at iFixit have already picked up and torn apart both new streamers. Both look remarkably similar on the inside at first glance, and iFixit has some praise for how Chromecast handles HDMI this year… Expand Expanding Close
In case you didn’t know, iFixit, known for its disassembly instructions and teardowns, does more than just smartphones. We may find the repairability of of our handsets to be just one more benchmark to compare different brands, but who says we can’t do that with routers too? Google’s OnHub router is one of the first of its kind, and it turns out that it’s not super easy to repair…
Hardware over the years has definitely become more attractive to the eye, but repairing these devices has gotten a lot more difficult at the expense of unibody designs and huge glass screens. The OnHub is kind of similar. Unlike the routers of old that were basically just a couple of screws away from full disassembly, the OnHub is held together with clips and has fragile parts.
To give you an idea, iFixit only listed one thing clearly positive about the OnHub: The device’s speaker is replaceable. But it’s all downhill from there. Assembled mostly with clips that iFixit found to be easily broken, the OnHub has most ports on one board (meaning solder will likely be needed), tiny fragile antenna connectors, and its build is overall fairly complex.
If you want to read more about the details of the OnHub’s hardware, head over to iFixit.
This year’s Android flagships have really gotten the beating from iFixit. The group gave the HTC One M9 a 2/10 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 a slightly-better 4/10, just as two examples. But the LG G4, which many believe to be the best Android handset introduced this year as of yet, seems to have an advantage in terms of repairability as well. At least partially due to the fact that it’s one of the only handsets left that has a removable back, iFixit has graced LG’s flagship with a repairability score of 8/10. Expand Expanding Close
The disassembly pros at iFixit are at it again, this time tearing down the LG Watch Urbane. LG’s latest entry into the Android Wear space is considered by many to be the fanciest and nicest smartwatch available, but now it looks like we have the authority on device teardowns confirming that it’s also going to be pretty easy to pull apart on the off chance you’ll need to fix it yourself.
iFixit has been hard at work tearing down the latest round of Android flagships, and following last week’s pull-apart of the HTC One M9, we now have a look at the inside of the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge. Smartphones in general have been breaking records for difficulty in repairability, but it seems that this year’s phones in particular are especially a pain, and the S6 edge is absolutely no exception. In fact, the S6 edge is taking a two-point hit in repairability compared to the S5…
The Samsung Galaxy S6 was only recently announced at the beginning of this month, but at least one person seems to have already gotten their hands on the device and given it the teardown treatment. Smartphone teardowns have definitely gotten more difficult as components continue shrinking and device designs have gotten sleeker, and based on this video, the Galaxy S6 is no exception…
You can find the full teardown over at iFixit (a site well-known for their comprehensive device disassemblies), but this one is a community contribution. It supposedly only takes 12 steps to take apart, but the guide is definitely an over-simplification if you have no experience tearing these devices down. Just removing the back of the S6 would probably be a challenge for the faint of heart.
iFixit, a company which made its name supplying parts, tools and instructional guides for repairing Apple products, is now branching out into the Android market. So if you’ve been wondering what to do with a broken phone or tablet, you can now try your hand at a DIY repair.
Our Android Repair hub is now live. On it, you’ll find hundreds of Android repair guides and replacement parts for a dozen of Android’s most popular devices—including the Samsung Galaxy S, the Galaxy Note, and the Nexus tablet series.
The challenge, of course, is that there are way more Android devices than Apple ones–almost 4000 different models of smartphone, even before you start counting tablets, smartwatches and TV boxes … Expand Expanding Close
Following its ritual teardown of the Google’s new HTC-made Nexus 9 tablet earlier this month, today our friends over at iFixit have torn apart Google’s new Nexus 6 smartphone made by Motorola. While the Nexus 6 scores a decent repairability score— 7 out of 10, which is on par w/ the new iPhone 6 Plus— it does have some shortcomings that you’ll want to be aware of before cracking into your phone for repairs. Expand Expanding Close
The reason Amazon’s Fire Phone has failed to impress is that it spent so much on the “gimmick” of dynamic perspective that it only had enough cash left to build an otherwise mediocre phone – the conclusion of a component analysis of a teardown of the phone.
Dynamic perspective allows the phone to detect and respond to head movements when viewing the phone’s display, but has been widely seen by reviewers as a novelty or gimmick.
Following iFixit’s earlier teardown of the Fire Phone, re/code has been given sight of a component costing following a separate teardown by research form IHS. This reveals that the total component cost of the Fire Phone is around $205 – more expensive even than Apple’s flagship iPhone 5S. The cost of the dynamic perspective technology left little room for anything but mid-range specs in the rest of the handset, says IHS … Expand Expanding Close
iFixit has added to the poor reception given to Amazon’s first ever smartphone, the Fire Phone, by rating it 3/10 for repairability. Even Amazon didn’t seem to have great confidence in the technology, its first ad focusing instead on the free 1-year Amazon Prime subscription you get with the phone.
Despite external, non-proprietary screws and no adhesive holding the casing together, iFixit found that simply removing the battery proved challenging, requiring a mix of heating and prying. After that, says the company, things only got worse … Expand Expanding Close
A OnePlus One in the wild is about as rare as a household connected to Google Fiber, but despite how uncommon these two occurrences are, they’re very much real. In the case of the former, the folks at iFixit have managed to get their hands on the elusive smartphone and dismember it in the name of science. This exploratory surgery pretty much uncovered what we’d expect to see: 3GB of Samsung-made RAM, a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a Snapdragon 801 CPU and a pair of cameras (5 and 13-megapixel) designed by Chinese manufacture Sunny Optical Technology.
Google let iFixit open up one of its 200 prototypes of the Project Tango phone, an Android phone that uses highly-sensitive 3D motion-tracking and measurement to create automatic maps of interior locations.
The device is a really neat piece of kit, and Google believes that developers will find plenty of uses for it. For example, use the phone to scan the interior of your home before you go furniture shopping, and it will create an accurate 3D model of your home complete with measurements. Take the phone to the store with you to see exactly how furniture might fit … Expand Expanding Close
The folks over at iFixit showed off just how repairable Samsung’s Galaxy Gear 2 smart watch is earlier this week, and today the site has shared its teardown of Samsung’s Galaxy S5 smartphone. The verdict? Smart watches are easier to repair, but so was Samsung’s Galaxy S4. For comparison, the site rated both the Galaxy Gear 2 and the Galaxy S4 with an 8 out of 10 for ease of repairability. Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone was rated at 5 out of 10 by iFixit (which is more in line with Apple’s latest smartphone as the iPhone 5s was rated at 6 out of 10 by the site)… Expand Expanding Close
If hardware quality was the only factor in buying a phone, you could stop reading right here and go out and buy the HTC One M8 – it is the best looking, best built (AFAICT after 3 days) phone out there, bar none.
The front will look familiar, if elongated, to current One owners. It still has separated stereo speakers which incidentally are again the best you’ll hear in a phone by a long shot, but the screen is bigger and unfortunately so is the bezel around the screens.
That extra length tallies to a centimeter taller than its predecessor making an already big phone now almost phablet-like in stature. Add to that HTC’s insistence of putting a power button on top of the phone which you must shimmy up and down to reach and you’ve got yourself some usability experience issues before you even turn on the phone.
The back of my gray “stainless steel” unit matches up nicely with my fridge in the kitchen. I mean that in the nicest possible way. It looks gorgeous, though I’m not sure I’d say the same for other color variations offered, particularly the gold model. The improved curves are super nice in the hand and also look the part. You’d almost forgive how long this thing is…almost.
The M8 may not be terribly repairable by iFixit standards, but HTC has your back with a pretty impressive repair plan called HTC Customer Advantage. In it, you get a free screen repair within 6 months, a somewhat vague promise to keep Android updated to the most recent version (the website says “We are committed to keeping you current” but at the show they said 2 years of upgrades), and 25-50GB of extra Google Drive space.
Besides the length coupled with the power button, I’m still a huge fan of the exterior. But then there is the interior with HTC’s insistence on Sense 6.0 and this new 3-camera system… Expand Expanding Close
There are few things I look forward to more with a high-profile handset launch than the iFixit tear down. The good folks at the company are tearing the Nexus 5 up as only they can do and showing us all the wonderful cords, plugs, parts, pieces and everything that makes up Google’s newest flagship device.
Some notable takeaways from the video include the discovery the battery is held in place with only “very mild adhesive” making it “fairly easy to remove and replace.” Ten #00 Philip head screws hold everything in place “simplifying repairs and reassembly.” As for any bad news, that arrives with the glass and LCD both fused to the display frame making any fixes to the glass either “expensive or very difficult.”
Ok, so we’ll take the good with the bad but watching the whole video is more than worth the 3:45 of your time.
The Frankenstein-like NVIDIA Shield, the handheld games console whose size and weight (1.5 pounds!) makes it seem like something invented in the 1990s, has been given the tear-down treatment by ifixit.
One thing is for sure—with its shields disabled, this device looks nothing like any tablet we’ve ever taken apart … or game console … or anything
The guys and gals over at iFixit are once again performing their usual teardown ritual and this time they have gotten their hands on the just released Samsung Galaxy S4. It probably won’t be the most exciting teardown you’ve ever read, as the internal design of the device, like the outer design, hasn’t changed much since the Galaxy S3. The good news is that the S4 gets a higher 8 out of 10 score for repairability.
• Snapdragon 600 APQ8064T 1.9 GHz Quad-Core CPU
• Qualcomm MDM9215M 4G GSM/UMTS/LTE modem
• Qualcomm PM8917 power management
• Samsung K3QF2F200E 2 GB LPDDR3 RAM
• Qualcomm WCD9310 audio codec
• Skyworks 77619 Power Amplifier Module for Quad-Band GSM / EDGE
• Qualcomm WTR1605L Seven-Band 4G LTE chip (same part found in the Nexus 4)
• Broadcom 20794S1A standalone NFC chip
• Maxim MAX77803 microcontroller
• Silicon Image 8240BO MHL 2.0 transmitter
• Qualcomm PM8821 Power Management
The folks at iFixit are performing its usual teardown ritual today. This time it has a full breakdown of Amazon’s new Kindle Fire HD announced earlier this month. One of the teardown highlights: the device includes a 3.7 V, 4400 mAh, 16.43 Wh Li-ion battery that has about the same juice as the previous-generation Kindle Fires, which means the 11 hours of expected battery life is up for debate. Other findings: The Kindle Fire HD sports an upgraded Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM from Elpida, a LCD from LG Display, and 16GB of flash memory from Samsung. Overall, the device scores a decent 7 out of 10 repairability score, which ties with the Nexus 7 and beats the third-generation iPad.
-Samsung KLMAG2GE4A eMMC 16 GB Flash Memory and Flash Memory Controller
-Elpida B8164B3PF-1D-F 8 Gb (1 GB) DDR2 RAM
-Texas Instruments TWL6032 Fully Integrated Power Management IC
-Broadcom BCM2076 GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, and FM Receiver/Transmitter
-Wolfson WM8962E Ultra-Low Power Stereo CODEC
-B50 5222 12507A9A10
The folks at iFixit are once again ripping apart the latest devices. This time Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1, officially launched just last week, gets the teardown treatment. It scored relatively high for repairability compared to the industry’s leading tablet, the iPad. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 came in at 8 out of 10—that is in comparison to the newest iPad’s 2 out of 10 score.
* Major players on the motherboard include the following: * Samsung Exynos 4 Quad 1.4 GHz processor with integrated 3D graphics * Wacom W8008 (we assume this is used for S Pen input) * Atmel mXT1664S touchscreen controller * Samsung KLMAG2GE4A NAND flash memory * Wolfson Audio WM1811AE audio codec * F0514A 430 1201KP411
There was nothing too shocking in the teardown, but iFixit was able to identify the origin of many components. As noted in the report, “it’s nearly impossible to have a truly American-made electronic device.” Here is what it found:
iFixit is hardcore when it comes to breaking open our favorite electronics to see what’s inside, and the website did it again today with the refreshed Google-flagship, Asus-built Nexus 7 that unveiled at the Google I/O conference last week.
Teardown highlights:
— The 7-inch tablet offers GPS, NFC, and Wi-Fi antennas all manufactured between April 20 and May 25, 20011.
— The Nexus 7 boasts a 4326 mAh battery that lasts 9:49 hours, whereas the Kindle Fire has a 4400 mAh battery that lasts 7:42 hours. Meanwhile, the new iPad battery, which is “significantly larger” at 11,500 mAh, only lasts 9:52 hours for HSPA and 9:37 hours for LTE.
— The official Nexus page stated there is one “speaker” in the back, but iFixit spotted
— Hydis manufactures the 7-inch, 1,280-by-800 HD display designated by model HV070WX2.
The folks over at iFixithave torn-down the Galaxy Nexus, per usual, exposing what’s underneath. While they didn’t find anything we didn’t already know in terms of hardware, the team found that it’s fairly easy to get into the device — unlike the Droid RAZR — requiring only a few screws and a guitar pick. For replacing the 1750mAh battery users shouldn’t have any problem. The iFixit team does worn however that the screen is fairly hard to replace. They’re still working to identify a few power amplifiers and motion processing units , but we’ll let you know when iFixit finds them.
Don’t forget, we’re still waiting on the launch of the Galaxy Nexus in the United States. The Ice Cream Sandwich device has been available in the U.K. for a little over two weeks now, and has seen positive reviews. It shouldn’t be too long until we see Verizon’s LTE in the mix. iFixit gave the device a 6/10 on the repairability scale:
Samsung Galaxy Nexus Repairability Score: 6 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair).
Battery replacement is incredibly simple thanks to the removable rear panel.
Minimal adhesive makes removal of the motherboard and other components a snap.
Headphone jack and speaker assembly are not soldered to the motherboard, so replacement is easy.
The only soldered components are the volume switch and vibrator motor.
Removing the rear case to access the motherboard and other internals requires a lotof careful prying and guitar-picking.
The glass is fused to both the display and the display frame. So don’t crack the glass unless you’re good with a heat gun, or you’re fond of replacing the glass, display, and frame together ($$$).
