Samsung Fills Galaxy 6 Edge With Gobs of Glue Resulting In A Torturous Teardown
Samsung discovered that the not-so-secret formula to reviving interest in its Galaxy line of handsets was to ditch the chintzy plastic construction and roll with a premium design consisting of metal and glass. As a result, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge have racked up impressive pre-sale figures, though there are tradoffs to the premium design, several of which are underscored during a teardown analysis.
The folks at iFixIt got their mitts on a Galaxy S6 Edge and immediately began performing electronic surgery. Right off the bat, they found that their usually reliable slim picks had unusual trouble with the edges of the glass. It took quite a bit of patience and lots of help from the company's iOpener tool, a gadget that once heated helps to melt glue, to penetrate the perimeter and remove the back panel.
Once inside the teardown team found strings of glue laying about like remnants of a defeated spiderweb. No big deal, as the panels weren't overly difficult to separate at this point, though there was one thing the team expected to see, but didn't.
"In every previous Galaxy phone -- including even the repair-challenged Galaxy S5 of last year -- this is the part where we got to pop out the battery with a fingernail. Apparently Samsung wants to keep us disappointed, with a battery fully buried behind the midframe," iFixIt said.
Removing the midframe finally offers a view of the battery, though it's still not accessible, as it's nestled underneath the phone's motherboard. Other parts come out a little more easily, like the main camera and various connectors, finally offering access to the mobo. Once removed, the battery comes tantalizingly into clear view, taunting you after all that hard work.
Unfortunately, Samsung opted to glue the battery, while the lack of pull tabs further exacerbates the process or removing it. The pick comes in handy here again, and once freed, you can spy the 3.85V, 10.01 Wh battery, which is rated for up to 12 hours of LTE web surfing, 26 hours of 3G WCDMA talk time, and up to 58 hours of music playback.
When the anesthesia wore off, the Galaxy S6 Edge awoke to a 3 out of 10 repairability score. On the plus side, many of the components are modular and can be replaced independently. Also, you needn't remove the display to get into the phone and replace the motherboard like you have to with the Galaxy S5.
The highlights are marred by the copious glue, especially on the rear glass, which is difficult to remove. Front and back glass also make for double the crackability, and of course the battery is a bear to replace. Finally, it was determined that replacing the glass without killing the display is a difficult procedure.
The folks at iFixIt got their mitts on a Galaxy S6 Edge and immediately began performing electronic surgery. Right off the bat, they found that their usually reliable slim picks had unusual trouble with the edges of the glass. It took quite a bit of patience and lots of help from the company's iOpener tool, a gadget that once heated helps to melt glue, to penetrate the perimeter and remove the back panel.
Once inside the teardown team found strings of glue laying about like remnants of a defeated spiderweb. No big deal, as the panels weren't overly difficult to separate at this point, though there was one thing the team expected to see, but didn't.
"In every previous Galaxy phone -- including even the repair-challenged Galaxy S5 of last year -- this is the part where we got to pop out the battery with a fingernail. Apparently Samsung wants to keep us disappointed, with a battery fully buried behind the midframe," iFixIt said.
Removing the midframe finally offers a view of the battery, though it's still not accessible, as it's nestled underneath the phone's motherboard. Other parts come out a little more easily, like the main camera and various connectors, finally offering access to the mobo. Once removed, the battery comes tantalizingly into clear view, taunting you after all that hard work.
Unfortunately, Samsung opted to glue the battery, while the lack of pull tabs further exacerbates the process or removing it. The pick comes in handy here again, and once freed, you can spy the 3.85V, 10.01 Wh battery, which is rated for up to 12 hours of LTE web surfing, 26 hours of 3G WCDMA talk time, and up to 58 hours of music playback.
When the anesthesia wore off, the Galaxy S6 Edge awoke to a 3 out of 10 repairability score. On the plus side, many of the components are modular and can be replaced independently. Also, you needn't remove the display to get into the phone and replace the motherboard like you have to with the Galaxy S5.
The highlights are marred by the copious glue, especially on the rear glass, which is difficult to remove. Front and back glass also make for double the crackability, and of course the battery is a bear to replace. Finally, it was determined that replacing the glass without killing the display is a difficult procedure.
