It’s got an oddly familiar camera bump, the ability to use motion control, and super
fast facial recognition. It’s Google’s latest version of it’s Pixel phone, the
Pixel 4 XL and today we’re going to tear it down.
The adhesive holding on the rear panel is no match for our iOpener and opening picks.
Compared to some other phones, getting this panel off is a breeze.
Opening the rear panel reveals a booby trap! There is a delicate camera sensor cable connected
to the motherboard underneath a metal bracket.
Speaking of brackets, if you like them, this is definitely the phone for you! Pretty much
every cable connector is covered by a metal bracket of some kind and there is no shortage
of cables to disconnect. We count 15 cables connected to this motherboard.
With all the cables disconnected we’re left with just one screw holding the mother board
to the mid-frame. With the board out we can spot the 6 GB of Micron LPDDR4x RAM layered
over the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, and the 64 GB Universal Flash Storage
The dual camera system hitched a ride out with the motherboard and a closer inspection
shows the 16MP telephoto camera and the 12.2 MP wide angle camera. The 16 MP telephoto
sensor might sound superior to the 12.2 MP when counting megapixels alone, but the wide
sensor should handily win most image quality contests with its wider aperture and larger
1.4-micrometer pixel width.
If you’re looking for the front facing camera, it comes out with the front-facing sensors,
which besides the camera includes two well-separated Near Infrared (NIR) cameras, a Near Infrared
flood emitter, and a Near Infrared dot projector.
This unassuming square of sensors is actually home to an earpiece speaker, mic, an ambient
light sensor AND the Soli chip which is what interprets your magical hand waving using
the power of radar.
Motion Sense works by emitting precisely tuned waves of electromagnetic energy. When those
waves bounce off of something like your hand, some of them reflect back to the antenna.
The Soli chip then studies the reflected waves and analyzes their time delay, frequency shift,
and other data to learn the characteristics of the object that reflected them—how big
it is, how fast it's moving, in which direction, ect. Soli then runs that data against its
known gesture database to determine what action, if any, needs to be performed in the OS.
Once we’ve dispatched the speaker we get to work on getting the battery out. Google
has thankfully provided us with adhesive pull tabs, but unfortunately they’re rather fragile
and broke for us during removal. So, it’s down to our isopropyl alcohol and some gentle
prying to get the battery all the way out.
This is a a 14.24 Watt hour cell which is a bit of an upgrade from last year's 13.2
Watt hour battery. Even with the spec bump, the first round of
Pixel 4 reviews revealed poor battery life. Which is disappointing in a new phone. But
if your older Pixel needs a new battery, we've got a kit for that. ;D
We’re left with the 6.3" OLED display which is firmly glued in place. This display has
a resolution 3040 x 1440 and a 90 hertz refresh rate which for now is only active when brightness
is set to high, but Google is promising a software fix sometime in the near future.
With our Pixel 4 XL fully disassembled it time to talk repairability, the Pixel 4 XL
scored... You guess it 4 out of 10 and here’s why.
One the upside All screws are standard T3 Torx fasteners.
The stretch-release adhesive securing the battery may not be foolproof, but its inclusion
is repair-friendly.
Waterproofing measures complicate repairs, but hopefully make them less common.
But on the downside
Display repairs continue to be difficult, requiring complete disassembly of the phone.
All repairs require access through the stubbornly-glued back panel.
Glass on the front and back doubles potential drop damage.
Hey Pixel lovers, before you go, you can see how the Pixel has evolved over the years by
watching our other Pixel teardown videos. And don’t forget to hit subscribe so you
can be the first to see what we teardown next. Happy Fixing!