Handsets

iFixit tears down the Motorola Droid 4, reveals hardwired keyboard

13

The Motorola Droid 4 has received the ceremonial post-launch teardown by iFixit, revealing a few bumps in the road to user serviceability. Along with all the standard parts from CPU to LTE chip, the guys at iFixit discovered that the latest Droid features a keyboard that is hardwired to the phone’s motherboard, a problem for anyone that may need to replace the keypad down the line. If a few keys cease to work the only solution is replacing the entire motherboard of the device (at which point getting an entirely new phone seems like a better choice).

The crew also discovered that the Droid 4’s non-removable battery can in fact be pried loose with a bit of force and also located the handset’s 16GB of on-board flash storage. You can see the full teardown for yourself by heading over to the source link below.

[via iFixit]

Kevin Krause
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13 Comments

  1. There’s still not a current phone (or even an upcoming phone) that I’m interested in after getting my Galaxy Nexus ;)

    1. +1

    2. Same here.

    3. same case here, except I have a LG GW620. Ancient by today’s standards, but it has the best keyboard ever.

    4. The Note is the only one that might make me sell my Nexus.

    5. I love my GNex. The screen is beautiful, the software is smooth, it’s more comfortable to hold than my last phone (Bionic), and it lasts through a normal day of usage. LTE is great for downloads and the thing lasts forever with LTE shut off. I’m happier with this phone than I have been with any before it.

      I won’t wanting another phone for quite a while :)

      Oh and the Gnex has convinced my roommate that he doesn’t need a physical keyboard. His Epic is wearing down more and more, so he might replace it with a Nexus on Sprint when that comes out :)

      1.  I currently have the EVO 4G (or as I like to call it, the EVO 3G). This time around I will be waiting until the new 4G is available in my area. WiMax never made it here. the gNex looks nice, but will it still be as nice when the Greater Metropolitan Detroit area gets LTE.

        1. I can honestly say that I like my phone almost just as much on 3G. Web pages take a little longer, videos have to buffer a bit, and downloads take significantly longer, but that doesn’t change the hardware and software of the phone. I do suggest borrowing a Verizon GNex and shutting off its LTE to see about how you like the experience, or waiting for the Sprint one to play with it.

          As far as 4G on Sprint goes…yeah, they screwed up badly and now it’s going to take years to catch up. They haven’t even nailed down who will build their LTE, so it may be a long while.

          1. You are wrong.. all wrong.  Sprint is in full swing with their LTE.  Maybe its the lightsqured deal that is confusing you (like many others)? But, that has no effect on Sprints 4G LTE plans.  They’re moving along fairly rapidly, actually.  You can see for yourself here: 
            http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1-the-wall/  In fact, Sprint has 4G LTE up in some places as we speak. Several major markets (Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Baltimore, Kansas City all come to mind) will all have Sprint 4G LTE this summer.

          2. That’s very good news that they have a few sites up and running for testing. I probably wasn’t clear enough on the fact that I meant the rollout, not the launch. They will still take a very long time to catch up on rollout unless they partner up and partnering up is running into problems.

        2.  When is the last time you turned on 4g? I live in Knoxville TN, and 4g never made it here either, but….4g is here O.o. I know it sounds stupid. Check the Clearwire map @”street level” to see where 4g is not the Sprint map. I just checked the Detroit area on the clearwire map and its there. Its just spotty. Never know it may be available in the places that you are in most. I get 4g here in all the places I am in most, but its not an “official” 4g city. N. Detroit is covered in 4g from detroit to warren. Hopefully you are in North Detroit.

    6. The Asus Padfone is a fascinating concept.  I’m interested to see it, but I doubt it’ll make its way to Verizon (cause they can’t charge a separate data plan for a tablet with it!).  Time will tell.

    7. unless it was a galaxy nexus slide

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