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Samsung Galaxy S4 torn apart, is easy to repair

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has been torn asunder, revealing that it's even easier to fix than the S3 -- but the screen could cost you.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
2 min read

What's the first thing you'd do if you got your hands on the Samsung Galaxy S4? Tear that sucker to pieces, obviously, to find out how easy it is to repair.

TechnoBuffal has created a video showing the S4 being torn asunder, and it turns out the S4 is even easier to fix than the Samsung Galaxy S3, already a paragon of easyfixability.

To get knee-deep in the guts of the S4 all you need is a Torx screwdriver, a drop of elbow grease and a shocking disregard for the phone you've just dropped north of a monkey on.

Unscrew nine screws and the front and back of the phone come apart, giving you access to the S4's innards. The video reveals the important bits are easy to get at and simple to remove, replace and repair.

The only problem is the Gorilla Glass screen covering the 5-inch Super AMOLED 1080p display, which would be pricey to replace.

The model that's been disassembled is the quad-core version that's coming to the UK and US, giving us a good look at the 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core chip with 2GB of RAM. An alternative model boasts eight cores, with two quad-core processors on Samsung's own Exynos A5 Octa chip.

Hit play below to see why we're so excited about the S4:

Watch this: Samsung Galaxy S4 hands-on

The S4 lands on 26 April. What's different from the S3? Check out our video to find out:

Watch this: Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy S3

Not every phone is so fixable. The aluminium unibody body of the HTC One, for example, is nigh-on impenetrable. The plastic casing of the S4 divides opinion -- plastic is perfectly sturdy, but lacks the premium feel of metal or glass. Still, at least you can get at the good stuff inside, unlike say, the iPhone.

Are you looking forward to the S4? Should phones be easy to crack open, or is it easier just to replace a broken blower? What's the daftest way you've ever broken your phone? Tear us apart in the comments or on our unimprovable Facebook page.

Image credit: TechnoBuffalo