Newly released Nexus 5 has been taken apart by teardown experts at iFixit and the Nexus 4 successor has been dubbed easy to repair with a score of 8 out of possible 10 on the repairability scale.
The teardown experts found that there are plastic clips holding the panels together rather than glue allowing for much easier removal. It wasn’t the case that LG hasn’t used glue at all, but that was quickly removed by iFixit experts without much difficulty.
iFixit notes that antennas for Wi-Fi, MIMO, and GPS have been labeled to remove any confusion; however, the same is not the case for NFC and wireless charging cables’ spring contacts. LG has used glue to hold the battery in place, but not in huge quantities that can’t be removed with little prying.
However, all is not well even with the Nexus 5 because as soon as iFixit folks removed the earpiece speaker, headphone jack, and front-facing camera, they noticed that Nexus 5’s front frame, its LCD, and the protective glass are fused together – a challenge if one of the component of the screen ever cracks or is rendered non-functional and needs replacement.
At the end iFixit gives a scoe of 8 to the Nexus 5 on repairability because of its modular design; very mild adhesive that holds the battery in place; Standardized screws; and back cover held in place with plastic clips.
