Google's $199 Nexus 7 tablet is barely even available and the team at iFixit have torn one apart and looked around inside the tablet. Nexus 7 is just a millimeter thicker than Apple's iPad, but that 1mm can make a huge difference when it comes to repairability according to iFixit, who gave the Nexus 7 a score of 7 out of 10.
To compare this against other popular tablets, Apple's iPad scores a repairability score of two out of 10, Amazon's Kindle Fire scores an eight, and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet takes home a six out of ten. iFixit said in their report:
That's the difference between being able to open a device and service all of its internals, and not. That's the negligible difference between extending the life of your device through repair, as opposed to tossing it in a landfill. And most of all, nobody will complain about that one millimeter difference in day-to-day use, but the user-serviceability it brings will make all the difference when the device breaks.
iFixit notes there are 21 steps to check out the Nexus 7 naked:
- The 7-inch, 1280x800 HD display is manufactured by Hydis and designated model HV070WX2. The LCD is fused to the Corning glass so it's unclear if it uses Gorilla Glass or Gorilla Glass 2.
- The L-shaped motherboard is "littered with connectors and screws". On one side you'll find an Nvidia T30L Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB of Hynix H5TC2G83CFR DDR3 RAM (same as Retina MacBook Pro), Max 77612A inverting switching regulator, AzureWave AW-NH665 wireless module, Broadcom BCM4751 integrated monolithic GPS receiver and Invensense MPU-6050 gyro and accelerometer.
- The back side of the motherboard holds the Kingston KE44B-26BN/8GB 8GB flash for storage.
- The 4326 mAh battery is easily replaceable without soldering or even a screwdriver.
- The official Nexus page stated there is one "speaker" in the back, but iFixit spotted a pair of drivers.