Gadgetory

the Moto G for a solid mid-level device that passed my durability test it's time to take it apart and see what it's made of I have an unopened g5 on my desk the life would not be complete without a teardown of its older sibling first we can test the g5 tomorrow let's get started it's a pleasant change when I finally tear down a device that isn't glued shut the back panel is removable but that only gives you access to the sim and SD card trays everything else is still hidden under 19 T 4 screws surrounding that back plastic panel at this point we can pretty safely assume that the more screws the phone has the more durable it's going to be there is one ribbon that we need to disconnect before lifting off that back panel it's under this rubber tab the little ribbon that unsnaps goes to the camera sensor and flashed the two gold tabs on the opposite side go to the earpiece I'll show you that in just a second now this tape does not come off in one piece so if you do swap out your screen or battery it's going to be easy to tell that someone has been inside of your phone the battery connector is a pretty flimsy little two prong plug you don't see the type of connector very often anymore the battery unfortunately does not have any magic pull tabs either instead it requires a bit of aggressive negotiation I'm using that flat side of my metal pry tool taking special care not to puncture anything since a punctured battery would be the end of your phone this guy is at 3000 milliamp power which is actually the same size as the new Galaxy s8 interesting the eccentric rotating mass vibrator motor is over here at the bottom of the phone with the same type of connector that we saw the battery using it's tucked under this black little rubber blanket that also covers the non modular micro USB charging port there are two more t4 screws holding down the motherboard some phone manufacturers who I won't name seem to be ashamed of their headphone jack but we have Motorola over here rolling out the red carpet on top of theirs thumbs up for the red decorations Motorola it's actually got a really interesting design this headphone jack ideally pulls out leaving a ribbon with gold contact pads inside a little hole in the frame totally modular before the motherboard can lift out of the screen frame I'll disconnect the screen ribbon it's under the copper tape and we had the last little ribbon for the headphone jack up here at the top I'll lift up the latch connector and slip it out with my tweezers before we look at the screen let's talk about the mainboard specifically the cameras the front camera has a little bit of gold tape covering the latch connector I'll set that off to the side next to the water damage indicator once that tape is off the latch will lift up unlocking the front camera and it can slip out and away from the motherboard the rear camera is on the other side it has the same type of latch connector that we've seen all over this and then both cameras are free the camera on the left of the larger 13 megapixel camera this camera only shoots in 1080p but since most TVs and computers are still displaying 1080 that's fine for the moment it's just not future proof the iPhone 6 on the shoots in 1080p as well and a lot of people are still using those phones the front-facing camera is 5 megapixels neither of them have optical image stabilization now remember that huge speaker grille on the front of the phone this is pretty interesting actually take a look at this tiny speaker back here talk about compensating I'll what about the extremely large speaker grille material so we can see exactly what's going on there are a few screw holes but the speaker is literally only shooting out of that far left side of the grill such a strange placement it's not even in the center it's such a small speaker for such a large hole maybe the sound is supposed to echo down that chamber or something kind of weird either way this is the replacement screen now and like always I'll be including replacement parts in the video description luckily the Moto G 4 screens are pretty cheap now you might need to separate the old LCD from the frame just use some heat to soften the glue remove it and then reuse the frame for your next screen the replacement screen should come with adhesive pre-installed once you get the new screen into frame the rest of the assembly is pretty simple I'll tuck that earpiece back into the frame then the motherboard can literally click down into place make sure the external power and volume buttons are lined up with the motherboard or you'll have problems later on new screen gets clicked and with the metallic tape over the top of the connector then the headphone jack ribbon can get slipped into the little slot and lock down with the little latch the vibrator motor needs be sitting into the frame along with the two silver T 4 head screws that go into the two holes on the motherboard lay out the red carpet for the set phone Jack couldn't agree more and finally the battery goes in with its little flimsy motherboard connector make sure and tuck the black and red wire underneath the plastic brackets right there alongside the battery the back plastic slides on then you can clip the flash ribbon connector into place and 19 screws later I'll toss the exterior back panel on the phone and here it satisfyingly snap all around the back and it's over the phone is back together and fully functional you can join me tomorrow to the durability test of the Moto G 5 we'll see if the new metal design holds up as good as its plastic sibling and check it out I just did a whole repair video with that one saying the leggo and never mind thanks for watching I'll see you around