Warranties and insurances usually keep us away from tinkering with our devices’ hardware, but many of you want to know just how easily repairable these expensive gadgets are. We gotta give it to the guys at iFixit, who will tear down any device they can get their hands on. This time it’s the Android Wear team’s turn to show their internals!
The LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live are the first Android Wear smartwatches to be released, making their teardowns a no-brainer for the electronics repair-centric website. These teardowns show us how easy it is to fix a device, and it seems the new Android Wear units are doing great in this department!
It turns out both devices are relatively simple to take apart and reassemble, which is impressive for a device with such limited space. The LG G Watch got a 9/10 while the Samsung Gear Live got an 8/10 (with 10 representing the easiest to repair).
The biggest challenge was removing the screen from the chasis, as it is fused and glued into it. Samsung’s device was taken off another point because of the addition of multiple PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). These will make it more of a hassle to repair the unit.
Ultimately, these devices really impressed iFixit, as well as us. For being so compact and water resistant, these Android Wear smartwatches hold up pretty well in hardware accessibility. The bands are easily removable and the backs are held by simple screws.
Batteries are easy to remove as well. LG only attached it with a screw, and Samsung went as far as adding a “pull” tab. These devices are quite the repairer’s dream… unless they have to fix the screen. Sadly, screens are what usually go first.
You can read more about the specific steps and the tools needed by heading to iFixit’s LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live teardowns. How many of you would consider fixing a smartwatch yourselves? Would these iFixit scores make you feel more confident?
from Android Authority http://ift.tt/1lSahpp
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