Hey guys!
I’m Gwendolyn Gay and this is the Ifixit Rundown where I give you all the news that
happened this month at ifixit.Over on our teardown table we have all the accessories
you’ve been wanting to see.
Starting with the much anticipated Air Pods!
Unfortunately, the AirPods got the lowest score possible on our repairability scale.
We talk about repair a lot, and there’s a reason for that—it’s good for consumers
and good for the environment, just like recycling.
Usually, being repairable goes hand in hand with being more recyclable.
When products are glued shut and soldered together, like the AirPods, it costs recyclers
more than they can earn from recovered materials.
So with heavy hearts we could not in good conscience give the Air Pods more that a ZERO
on our repairability scale.
On a lighter note, The Oculus Touch finally came out this month as a nice addition to
the oculus rift released earlier this year.
Each Touch controller packs 24 IR LEDs for tracking, three buttons, two triggers, a joystick,
and a “thumb rest” capacitive sensor.
This combination of inputs far outpaces the Sony Move or HTC Vive controllers, allowing
the Rift to track thumb, forefinger, and hand position.
While we don’t recommend taking the Dial out on the ice, it does seem to be constructed
with the durability (and repairability) of a hockey puck.
Microsoft layered a magnetized back, battery frame, bearing, mid-frame, and board into
a parfait of surprisingly little silicon: a BLE SoC is the only chip of note on the
motherboard.
The rest is pretty much a spruced-up mouse: You’ve got a mechanical switch for clicks,
and an optical emitter/receiver combo to handle spins.
Oh, it also has a rubber foot that sticks to displays.
To see how the Dial and the Oculus Touch scored check out our full teardowns at ifixit.com
Over at our blog read Michael’s story about his repair roadtrip.
Over 12 days, Michael would cross 13 states and drive 2,000-plus miles through the American
Midwest.
But this wasn’t your typical road trip.
Instead of stopping to see the sights, Michael stopped to see repair shops.
His goal: meet as many people in the electronics repair community as possible.
And we also have an informative read on the afterlife of clothing.
Our very own photographer and tech writer, Kristen, lays out a few easy options for extending
the life of your old garments.
there’s plenty you can do with your old clothes—from repair to upcycling to recycling.
Check out all her sugestions on our blog at ifixit.org
On our channel we have a couple of drone teardowns or rather a teardown and a build up.
We took apart one of the coolest drones we have ever seen due to its compact size, the
DJI mavic Pro, and put together a few flybrix models just to crash them so we could build
it again.
It was hard work but someone had to do it.
We also have have a couple of videos recapping our teardowns of 2016 Starting with the top
three VR headsets.
Its an interesting side by side comparison of the design choices in the Oculus Rift,
the HTC Vive and the Sony PSVR.
We also take a look at a few of the phones we tore open in 2016 with the best and worst
scores and why we felt they deserved those scores.
Catch up on all these videos out over at our channel.
We had a great holiday here at ifixit and we’re hoping you did too.
Some of you even shared your ifixit gear you received for the holiday.
We’re so glad you like your new gear.
Show us what you are fixing in 2017!
Tag us on instagram and twitter and you may end up on the next rundown!
And that’s your December ifixit rundown.
Make sure you keep up to date on all of our projects by following us on twitter @iFixit
or checking out our facebook page at facebook.com/ifixit.
Hopefully you are already subscribed to our youtube channel but if you’re not go ahead
and click that subscribe button.
Thanks for tuning in.
See you next year!