HTC One M8, like the model before it, earns poor repairability score

Shawn Knight

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htc teardown ifixit htc one

Teardown specialist iFixit wasted little time in ripping apart HTC’s shiny new One M8 in a continuous effort to weed out the irreparable. The process gets off to a great start as the team was able to breach the first line of defense without damaging the rear shell but even still, it’s no easy task.

Once inside, the iFixit had to tackle a large amount of tape and copper shielding only to find a glued-down motherboard. Those hoping to replace the M8’s battery down the road will be disappointed at it is located under the motherboard and is more than lightly adhered to the LCD shield.

htc teardown ifixit htc one

Digging deeper, the crew worked past the rotary vibrator motor and the earpiece speaker with a plastic amplifying chamber en route to the removal of a daughter card. Adhesive was once again used to hold this board in place, likely docking even more points from the repairability score.

Underneath is the HTC BoomSound speaker system (HTC’s partnership with Beats Audio is no more) and the 3.5mm audio jack. Despite no longer working with Beats, the speaker system is said to sound quite good and is rated at up to 95dB. All that remained after this point was to remove the display although take heed as the team accidentally severed the digitizer cable in the process.

htc teardown ifixit htc one

Much like the model before it, the M8 ultimately earned a poor repairability score. It wasn’t as bad as the previous One’s score of one out of 10 (10 being the easiest to repair) but even still, a score of two out of 10 isn’t much to brag about.

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This is the problem with making small devices slim. Manufacturers must use glue and tape rather than physical fasteners or back covers in order to make their device as slim as possible.
 
Well, that was to be expected, however on a slightly off topic note, neither the S5 or the M8 look as good as their predecessors imo.
 
Good thing HTC offers their HTC Advantage warranty for free. You get a new phone if your screen breaks anytime during the first 6 months.

For the rest of the time, this is why there's phone insurance. I notice that the last time we had any sort of news story about repairing the HTC One was the story when they earned a 1 from iFixit. HTC seems to answer the problem of having a phone that impossible to repair by building a phone that doesn't break.
 
And please tell me how many people expect to "repair" a cell phone?
 
Is there such a thing as an 'android kit' in the U.S.. or Europe where a buyer could order his preferred smartphone processor + gpu, ram, internal storage, external storage bay, front camera, rear camera, removable battery, and housing + lcd panel ?
 
Is there such a thing as an 'android kit' in the U.S.. or Europe where a buyer could order his preferred smartphone processor + gpu, ram, internal storage, external storage bay, front camera, rear camera, removable battery, and housing + lcd panel ?
That's not a bad idea as far as I'm concerned but I don't live on either continent and I'm not aware of any such thing (Motorola come closest with it's custom covers) but I can imagine manufacturers turning around saying they are in the business of making and selling complete, fully assembled mobile devices, not Meccano sets.
 
And please tell me how many people expect to "repair" a cell phone?

I seem to always been fixing peoples phones here at work, cause im in IT everyone seems to bring them to me. In the last month I say I have repaired the following

Iphone 4 screen (x2)
iphone 4s screen + back
iphone 4s speaker
htc wildfire screen
htc wildfire touch buttons
Galaxy s2 usb/mic daughter board
iphone 4s wifi chip

So for me it's always a benefit when I can better access and repair parts.
 
I seem to always been fixing peoples phones here at work, cause im in IT everyone seems to bring them to me. In the last month I say I have repaired the following

Iphone 4 screen (x2)
iphone 4s screen + back
iphone 4s speaker
htc wildfire screen
htc wildfire touch buttons
Galaxy s2 usb/mic daughter board
iphone 4s wifi chip

So for me it's always a benefit when I can better access and repair parts.
Sounds like you've got quite a little enterprise going there. I'm looking for someone to repair a few sticky keys on a touchscreen, do you know anyone who can? xp
 
I wish it was an enterprise but I normally do it for free. And fair enough in that previous post that was an extreme month no idea why everyones phones were breaking/broken. This month just got two iphones to do both smashed screens (most popular fault I find, maybe drunken nights out :D)
 
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