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iFixit: Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7 is hard to fix

The new Kindle poses a host of challenges for anybody attempting to repair one, leading iFixit to give it a 3 out of 10 on its "repairability" scale.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
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Lance Whitney
Watch this: Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX 7 is a smart evolution of its tablet brand

Amazon's new 7-inch Kindle Fire is one tough tablet to take apart.

Subjected to the teardown treatment from the folks at iFixit, the new Kindle Fire HDX 7 doesn't want to give up its inner secrets too easily. The rear case wraps around the entire tablet, forming almost a total enclosure and forcing iFixit to crack it open. A cable joins the two halves together, offering another obstacle to be overcome.

On the plus side, the volume buttons, microphones, and headphone jack are all separate parts, so they can be replaced individually. Back to the minus side, the antenna cable is connected, screwed, and taped three times in place before it can be removed. The battery is connected through spring contacts underneath the motherboard, so replacing that item first demands the removal of the motherboard.

The motherboard itself is hard to replace since the midframe has to be separated from the tablet's display assembly, according to iFixit. Finally, the LCD display is fused to the front glass panel, so both of those parts would need to be replaced if the screen cracks.

Overall, the new Kindle Fire HDX 7 scored a mere 3 out of 10 on iFixit's repairability scale, meaning don't try this at home.

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