If you’re looking for a phone that you can take apart and put back together, do not buy the HTC One. HTC’s latest smartphone has gotten a reputation for its solid construction and beautiful industrial design, but according to iFixit, it is ‘nearly impossible’ to perform simple repairs such as replacing a damaged screen.
Apparently, the display assembly cannot be accessed without removing the back cover and all of the phone’s internals, the battery is buried beneath the motherboard and is glued to the phone’s midframe. There is also copper shielding on many components, reassembly of which has been described as ‘like trying to straighten out aluminum foil once it’s been crinkled’. Also, there are no screws on the outside of the device at all, so getting inside is all suction cups and spudgers. Sounds super fun!
The One’s reparability score of 1 out of 10 (10 being the easiest to repair) places it alongside the Microsoft Surface Pro, the only two devices to date to receive such low scores, but both very beautiful pieces of hardware. Conversely though, Apple’s iPhone 5 received a reparability score of 7/10, largely because of the fact that it comes apart screen-first.
Is it important for you how easily a phone comes apart, or would you rather a device with solid construction that hopefully won’t need to be repaired? Let us know in the comments.
