Teardown Shows Sony PlayStation VR Is Remarkably Easy To Gut And Challenging To Reassemble
Sony's now an official contender in the VR gaming space with its PlayStation VR, which as the name implies is a VR headset designed for the PlayStation 4 console. Naturally, the teardown specialists at iFixIt wasted no time getting their nimble fingered mitts on one for a complete deconstruction. That's to be expected, but what we didn't expect was the level of praise they showered on Sony and its headset.
"The verdict: Sony just won the war. Regardless of resolution and actual games, this thing is really well-constructed, cheap, pretty accessible, and has the entire PlayStation marketplace backing it." iFixIt said. "We were able to use one screwdriver for the whole teardown and found just a few JIS screws holding the headset together. Sony also scored some bonus points for having the best cable management we’ve seen in VR. Their design approach is both elegant and simple—making for a pretty darn repairable device."
That level of kudos doesn't come easy, though it was deserved in this case. Taking the PlayStation VR apart is a rather easy process. It starts with peeling away the user-replaceable rubber shield and then removing a few simple JIS screws that hold the scope in place. Once that's down, it's easily pried off without having to worry about stubborn adhesive or other tricks.
It's a fairly modular design throughout, which is great for DIY repairs because it means you can replace individual parts instead of entire assemblies. Sony also showed a bit of design savvy in places, in particular the AMOLED display. While the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive sport a pair of displays some complex IPD (interpupillary distanct) adjustment schemes, Sony simplified things with a single display and digital IPD.
That's not to say everything was peaches and cream. The PlayStation VR was dinged for being a "complicated piece of hardware with a lot of extra trim pieces that would be difficult ot reassemble with guides," and there is some adhesive holding the lenses in their frame, albeit not a lot.
Taking all that into consideration, the PlayStation VR earned an impressive 8 out 10 Repairability Score, same as the Vive and one point higher than the Rift.
"The verdict: Sony just won the war. Regardless of resolution and actual games, this thing is really well-constructed, cheap, pretty accessible, and has the entire PlayStation marketplace backing it." iFixIt said. "We were able to use one screwdriver for the whole teardown and found just a few JIS screws holding the headset together. Sony also scored some bonus points for having the best cable management we’ve seen in VR. Their design approach is both elegant and simple—making for a pretty darn repairable device."
That level of kudos doesn't come easy, though it was deserved in this case. Taking the PlayStation VR apart is a rather easy process. It starts with peeling away the user-replaceable rubber shield and then removing a few simple JIS screws that hold the scope in place. Once that's down, it's easily pried off without having to worry about stubborn adhesive or other tricks.
It's a fairly modular design throughout, which is great for DIY repairs because it means you can replace individual parts instead of entire assemblies. Sony also showed a bit of design savvy in places, in particular the AMOLED display. While the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive sport a pair of displays some complex IPD (interpupillary distanct) adjustment schemes, Sony simplified things with a single display and digital IPD.
That's not to say everything was peaches and cream. The PlayStation VR was dinged for being a "complicated piece of hardware with a lot of extra trim pieces that would be difficult ot reassemble with guides," and there is some adhesive holding the lenses in their frame, albeit not a lot.
Taking all that into consideration, the PlayStation VR earned an impressive 8 out 10 Repairability Score, same as the Vive and one point higher than the Rift.
