Gadgetory

today I'll be tearing down the axon 7 some of you might recognize it as the L nach Civ from my durability test this thing held up very well during that test and now it's time to see what this mid-range Android phone looks like from the inside it's always considerate to turn the phone off before initializing surgery and moving the SIM card tray as step number two there are no visible screws on this device which is great for aesthetics but not so great for repairing some heat is required to soften the glue under each of the plastic speaker grilles at the top and bottom of the phone this phone does have dual front firing speakers though which is kind of cool there are four screws at the bottom and two screws at the top I will link all the replacement parts and tools down in the video description right below this video after those screws are out the rear back metal panel can be separated from the front and the fingerprint scanner ribbon cable can be disconnected from the back of the phone just like a little Lego and you can see the little golden contact points for the rear LED flash these just rest on top of the motherboard pins for their signal you can tell that the rear panel is made from aluminum by the silver color and by the machine mil marking designs all around the inside this really does help add strength to the phone so thumbs up for a solid build quality now for the electronics we're going to disconnect the battery first it is located under the silver bracket that has one screw holding it down then I can unclip the little connector with my plastic pry tool so it won't short out I'll pop off the extension ribbon cable next and then the screen ribbon and the little Lego style connector for the power buttons on the side this white dot up top is the liquid damage indicator so if your phone ever gets wet it will turn pink and your warranty will be voided so try to keep your phone dry there are four screws holding down the motherboard to the frame and then the motherboard can lift off after you detach the one signal wire from that bottom right side the front facing camera unsnaps like a little Lego just like the rear facing camera and the processor or brains of the phone is the big black square you see on the back of the board it rests on top of this pink gummy like substance to help with the heat dissipation the pink frosting might look but it is not don't eat this you can see that the rear camera has OIS by the way the lens can physically move around inside of the camera unit the headphone jack is soldered into place but hey at least it has one I'll snap both of the cameras back into place just lining out the little connection and clicking it down just like you would if you were playing with LEGOs at the bottom of the phone there is a white loudspeaker cap there are two screws holding that down and then it'll lift off it's interesting that the loudspeaker at the bottom is the exact same size as the top earpiece so the sound will be equal coming from both ends of the phone the charging port has three more screws holding it in place I can remove that metal bracket over the end of the extension ribbon cable and that will pop off as well it was nice of ZTE to put the arrow on this ribbon because it will only work in one direction so don't stick it on backwards one more wire cable at the bottom and then there is a little bit of adhesive holding the USB C charging port into place but then it will lift away from the frame the little hole you see in the circuit board is for the microphone the little metal circle is the vibration motor and now we also get a good look at the bottom loudspeaker it is the same as the one at the top of the phone the battery is very well adhered to the frame unfortunately it has no magical pull tabs to help you remove the adhesive so it is very easy to puncture as you're prying it up so be careful heating it up with a blow-dryer or heat gun will help it come out easier as well try not to bend it too much and if you're trying to keep your display intact and functional make sure to be careful with that ribbon that's running up the left-hand side of the phone that goes to the screen this flat copper thing is called a heat pipe it's there to help keep the processor cool sometimes manufacturers will call it liquid cooling but it's more of a vapor chamber and it has no physical liquid inside I also remove this pipe entirely on my old galaxy s7 with no ill effects so I'm sure the pipe is useful but it's definitely not mandatory now the display right now this AMOLED panel and the glass are adhered to the mid frame of this phone separating the two is pretty impossible without damaging the display so only attempt it if you have nothing to lose and if you have a fully functional display ready to put in its place it really is hard to find parts for ZTE phones but if I do find any I will link them in the video description below this video but if I can't find any replacement parts you can always buy another broken axon 7 and Frankenstein the working parts together to make one useful phone it's time to put things back together I'll plop the battery back in and then get the charging port situated along with the loudspeaker and that white speaker cover with its two screws get the extension ribbon clipped in and the wire cable snapped down before putting on the silver bracket and those three screws for the charging port board then up here at the top of the phone the motherboard gets set into place making sure that all the ribbons are out of the way and not stuck onto the board the only wire under the board is the black wire that plugs in on the bottom right I'll get the extension ribbon cable clipped in and then the power button ribbon and the screen ribbon and the four screws on the motherboard that gets screwed in before I finally connect the battery power power should always be the last thing you connect on the board the metal bracket with its screw will go over the battery connection and then I can test the phone making sure everything works before I put the back panel on now I know it works so I'll go ahead and turn off the phone again and attach the fingerprint scanner ribbon and slip the phone back in to the back metal panel you can always add new adhesive under the plastic speaker grilles at the top and the bottom make sure you get all the screws screwed back in as well there are two at the top and four at the bottom my adhesive is still kind of tacky so I'm just going to set the grilles into place and hope for the best if you haven't seen the durability test of this phone yet go check it out and subscribe if you like seeing tech reviewed from the inside thanks a ton for watching I'll see you around