Hey everyone!
Kelsea here, and today I’ll be taking you through the iFixit Rundown where we fill you
in on everything we’ve been up to this month.
We’ve been busy with teardowns this month, starting with the Xbox One S.With only a few
tools needed to take the whole console apart, new to this “One” was the SATA III drive
upgrade, improved vibration dampening on the optical drive mount, and we even spotted a
cute little mini masterchief protecting the optical disc drive bracket.
And once inside, a clean, no-nonsense modular design allowing many of the internal components
to be easily replaced,the Xbox One S scored a 8 out of 10 on our repairability scale.
The OSVR HDK 2 was the next VR device on our teardown table.
This OSVR sports circular lenses similar to those in the older Oculus Rift HDK2, but the
lenses aren’t Fresnel like other devices we’ve seen lately.
One of the biggest improvements to this OSVR set are the two 1080p OLED displays, made
by AU Optronics.
If you have an older HDK, don’t worry, screen upgrade kits are available online at the OSVR
store.
The OSVR HDK 2 scored an admirable 9 out of 10 on our repairability scale.
And last but not least the Galaxy Note7.
In the Note7 you’ll find a newly designed S pen that won’t get stuck backwards in
your phone, along with iris scanning technology, and sealing gaskets surrounding the modular
headphone jack.
The Note7 scored a 4 out of 10 on our repairability scale.
On the upside, the sealing gaskets contribute to the Note7’s IP68 water resistant rating.
Modular components and improved cable routing means many components can be replaced independently,
but front and back glass make for double the crackability and due to the curved screen,
replacing the front glass without destroying the display will be nearly impossible.
Over on our blog you’ll find a story about Dina Amin.
We found Dina on Instagram, where she makes teardown videos as part of an ongoing project
she calls “Tinker Fridays.”
Tinker Friday began as a hobby where Dina picked up discarded objects, made an educated
guess about how she thought they worked, and then took them apart.
Dina hopes that her videos will inspire people to crack into their own devices.
And believes that, maybe, if more people saw what was inside their gadgets, they might
not be so afraid to fix them.
As you saw in last month's rundown Zack from JerryRigEverything spent some time with us
and one of the things he did during his visit was try to find out the Best way to remove
shattered glass on an iPad.
After many attempts with metal spudgers,razors, iopeners and even dry ice, we think we found
the best way to do it.
Our phones are some of the most abused pieces of electronics, getting tossed around in our
purses, backpacks, or bent in our back pockets.
Don’t get caught investing in a whimpy phone.
Zack from JerryRigEverything will fill you in on what will survive and what won’t with
his bend and scratch tests.
Does your iPhone 6 or 6plus have a grey flickering bar at the top of the display and an unresponsive
screen?
Your phone may be showing signs of Touch Disease.
Jessa Jones, owner of iPad Rehab filled us in on this issue and every board repair specialist
we’ve spoken to told us that the problem is very common, some seeing up to 100 iPhone
6’s a month with symptoms of touch disease.
Apple has yet to recognize this as a valid issue leaving many consumers out of luck and
paying out of pocket for a potential manufacturing defect, but as of this week a class action
lawsuit has been filed against Apple over the issue.
If your phone is showing signs of the disease don’t bother trying to replace the screen.
The problem lies in the two touchscreen controller chips or the Touch IC chips on the logic board
inside the phone.
Apple’s repair Geniuses aren’t equipped to make specialized repairs to the logic board
in-house, so you’ll find no cure for Touch Disease with them.
Your best bet for an out-of-warranty phone will be with a skilled, third-party micro
soldering specialist.
These specialists can fix phones with symptoms of Touch Disease, and they can do it for less
than the cost of a new logic board or a phone replacement.
September will be a busy month for us with with Apple teardowns and so much more.
You don’t want to miss out, so be sure you’re subscribed to our youtube channel, follow
us on twitter @ifixit and give us a like on facebook at facebook.com/ifixit.