Nexus 6 teardown reveals solid repairability score
The device scores a seven out of 10 for repairability, according to iFixit, thanks to its standard screw size and easily replaceable components.
The Nexus 6, Google's new flagship smartphone, has earned a decent score for repairability.
iFixit, a company that sells repair tools for mobile devices and analyzes the difficulty of repair, gave the Nexus 6 a score of seven out of 10 for repairability -- with 10 being the easiest to fix.
On the down side, the phone has several components soldered to the motherboard, which prevents their removal. However, it avoids the use of adhesives or clips -- the lack of which lessens the chance of damage during repair -- and does use a single kind of screw, which makes repair easier. As a result, iFixit said people shouldn't have much trouble replacing cameras, buttons, or even the headphone jack if any of those parts fail.
Once iFixit broke open the Nexus 6, the company found components from an array of makers, including SK Hynix, which makes the device's 3GB of onboard RAM, and Qualcomm, which has its Snapdragon 805 processor inside. Qualcomm also handles the device's modem and power management. SanDisk provides the 32GB of flash storage.
Those components, combined with the Nexus 6's solid design, were enough to garner a solid review from the CNET Reviews team , which gave it a score of four stars out of five and called it "the most powerful pure Android handset available."
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the breakdown.
The Nexus 6, released earlier this month, features a 5.96-inch screen and was developed through a partnership with Motorola. It runs the latest Google mobile operating system, Android 5.o Lollipop. It's available in 32GB and 64GB versions and starts at $649 for an unlocked version.