Teardown gurus iFixit play with Fire – Amazon's new mobe

The teardown team at repairs biz iFixit has cracked open Amazon's Fire smartmobe, and it seems the new handset is indeed a complex piece of kit even by modern smartphone standards. The teardown repair tutorial, designed to serve as both an exploration into the device and a loose guide for home repairs, found a number of unique …

[SuccessCase]

Going to Amazon and buying their home brand Kindle Fire is a bit like going in MacDonald's and thinking, I know, I'll buy their home brand cookery book.

[NoneSuch]

13MP camera takes magnificent hi-res shot, then gets uploaded to FB and converted to 640 x 480.

Technology.

[Thomas 6]

At least the Kindle Fire phone is difficult to repair due to the complexity of the design and not due to the manufacturer just not wanting anybody to repair it.

[James 51]

proprietary screw

What's the point of these? Is there some magical improvement in screw design that phone manufactures are keeping to themselves?

[big_D]

Re: proprietary screw

It stops greasy oiks from "accidentally" dismantling the phone and then complaining that it doesn't work.

I used to take everything apart I could get my hands on. The problem was, I couldn't always put it back together again - at least not in working order. Usually it sort of worked and I learnt a fair bit about electronics that way - it was generally the small volume wheels and the like that I had problems with, when putting things back together; that and the half dozen screws that were left over...

How much customer support time would be wasted if they used a standard cross-head screw and little Billy dismantles Daddy's pride and joy and he then complains to Amazon (or whoever) and wants it repaired under warranty, even though his son is responsible for taking it apart, which isn't a warranty issue, but he hastily stuffed it all back together and hoped you wouldn't notice, when you got it in the repair shop and you have a back and forth of emails and calls for a couple of months, until the issue is sorted and the customer is p*ssed off and will never buy your products again...

It is annoying for the genuinely curious, but not an insurmountable problem, whereas it keeps those that don't have a clue from making a pigs ear of it and expecting you to pick up the tab for putting it back together again.

[VinceH]

Re: proprietary screw

" that and the half dozen screws that were left over..."

You're supposed to have screws left over. If you don't have screws left over, you're doing it wrong - and for this very reason, I find that if I need a screw of some sort, I just need to find something that will probably have that sort of screw, take it apart and put it back together again.

That's how screws are manufactured, in fact. In the factories around the world that make screws, they just constantly dismantle/reassemble things, and the resulting left-over screws end up packaged and sold on in DIY stores, or to other companies who need them for things they're making themselves.

[frank ly]

Re: proprietary screw

You might have a screw loose. Then again, you know enough to take care of that.

[JCB]

and the half dozen screws that were left over...

You have to remember you are on a war footing here. Remember the report from The Falklands - I can't tell you how many there were, that is a secret, but I counted them all out and I counted them all back in again.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: proprietary screw

It stops the casual repair crowd from having a go.

Computers used to have warranty seals years ago.

[Chris Parsons]

Adverbs!

"Those sensors don't come out easy" - I think "easily" would be a better choice.