Amazon’s first smartphone isn’t very friendly to do-it-yourself fixers.
The Fire Phone received a low repairability score of 3 out of 10 from gadget repair site iFixit, which means you’ll likely have to send it back to Amazon for repairs in case anything goes wrong. In comparison, the iPhone 5S received a repairability score of 6, and Samsung’s Galaxy S5 received a score of 5.
You’d be hard pressed to fix any modern smartphone without some sort of technical experience, but higher repairability scores give you the option of bringing your phone to a local technician for repairs rather then sending it straight back to the manufacturer.
When it comes to repairs, the Fire Phone’s big problem seems to be its four infrared cameras, which are held in by glue. You’ll need to heat up the glue and cut the cameras out to remove them. The phone also seems to include more cables and connectors than most smartphones, many of which are shared between different components.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More
