Great Design, Drops Better than the iPhone 5
While the HTC One managed to beat out Apple's iPhone 5 in drop tests recently it should be noted that it is a lot harder to repair. The HTC One recently got a teardown at iFixit (a site which takes apart smartphones and tries to put them back together). In that particular iFixit teardown, the HTC One is the only smartphone to get a repairability score of 1/10, which means it is next to impossible to repair (the Apple iPhone 5 has an iFixit repairability score of 7/10). Tearing down the HTC One the folks at iFixit found:
- Most of the components are covered with copper tape for shielding which when removed looks like used aluminum foil (almost impossible to fix back)
- The battery is attached to the midframe and covered by the motherboard, making it very difficult to replace.
- To replace the display you have to remove the rear case which may require taking apart the entire HTC One.
What does it mean for me the user?
Thankfully iFixit also noted that the build quality for the HTC One is awesome with no external screws at all. As you can see from the previous drop test videos the HTC One is very tough, however, if it falls on its face, the screen will almost certainly shatter and considering the above points repairing the display would be next to impossible. The bottomline is if the HTC One does get damaged, you'd better hope it was within warranty so you can get a complete replacement as repair is probably not possible. The other things that come up for the HTC One based on the iFixit findings include:
- If you can get extended warranty for the HTC One, get it!
- Get a shatter-proof screen cover before you get that HTC One trendy casing.
[Source]
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