High-Tech Handymen at iFixIt Hack and Slash Motorola's Droid 4 Smartphone
The only people who concern themselves with non-removable batteries are those who are afraid to get their hands dirty and/or anyone who gets squeamish when thinking about prying open pricey electronics gear. Luckily for them, and for the rest of use who appreciate a good old fashioned teardown, the folks at iFixIt are never afraid to crack open the latest gadgets with pictures detailing every step of the way. The latest piece of equipment to land in iFixIt's operating table is Motorola's Droid 4 smartphone.
Some gadgets are harder than others to get into, but according to iFixIt, the Droid 4's rear panel easily pops off with just a little coaxing. To start really mucking around, however, you'll want to have a spudger and other tools on hand to help pry things out of place. Getting at the non-removable battery, for example, requires removing a sticker, unscrewing a pair of T5 Torx screws, and using a little elbow grease to counteract all the adhesive Motorola uses to keep it in place.
iFixIt discovered the Droid 4 utilizes a 3.8V Li-Ion battery rated at 1785 mAh, a 5 mAh improvement over the one found in the Droid RAZR, and 245 mAh over the Droid 3.
Unfortunately for Do-It-Yourself (DIY) repair gurus, iFixIt rated the Droid 4 a rather disappointing 4 out of 10 on the repairability scale, which means there are several factors that make mucking around the Droid 4 a drag. On the plus side, the lack of security or proprietary screws was a welcome sight, and the LCD isn't fused to the glass. However, iFixIt dinged the Droid 4 for using so much adhesive on the battery, the difficulty involved in servicing the physical keyboard, copious amount of glue throughout, and the need to take apart the entire phone just to get to the front glass.
Some gadgets are harder than others to get into, but according to iFixIt, the Droid 4's rear panel easily pops off with just a little coaxing. To start really mucking around, however, you'll want to have a spudger and other tools on hand to help pry things out of place. Getting at the non-removable battery, for example, requires removing a sticker, unscrewing a pair of T5 Torx screws, and using a little elbow grease to counteract all the adhesive Motorola uses to keep it in place.
iFixIt discovered the Droid 4 utilizes a 3.8V Li-Ion battery rated at 1785 mAh, a 5 mAh improvement over the one found in the Droid RAZR, and 245 mAh over the Droid 3.
Unfortunately for Do-It-Yourself (DIY) repair gurus, iFixIt rated the Droid 4 a rather disappointing 4 out of 10 on the repairability scale, which means there are several factors that make mucking around the Droid 4 a drag. On the plus side, the lack of security or proprietary screws was a welcome sight, and the LCD isn't fused to the glass. However, iFixIt dinged the Droid 4 for using so much adhesive on the battery, the difficulty involved in servicing the physical keyboard, copious amount of glue throughout, and the need to take apart the entire phone just to get to the front glass.
