Samsung Gear 2 Gets Surprisingly Good Score In iFixit Teardown

Updated on

These days when our gadgets are hardly repairable, it comes as a bit of a surprise when a gadget gets a good repairable score by the folks over at iFixit. This time we’re talking about Samsung’s Gear 2 smartwatch that’s surprisingly easy to tear down, and highly repairable.

It is not often that iFixit gets impressed when they teardown the device. In their own words “Samsung did a masterful job in designing the Gear 2. The watch is well-thought-out, both inside and out. If stuff breaks, folks will be able to fix it.”

Samsung Gear 2 teardown

The first step for the teardown is removing the strap, which comes off easily. After that comes the task of removing the rear case. Thanks to those tiny four screws, opening the smartwatch is a piece of cake. When the rear case is finally out, the good news is that there are no cables, and the two halves communicate solely via spring contacts, which surely is a sign of a highly repairable device. Removing, or replacing the 300 mAh battery too is a very simple task, by just pulling it out.

The Gear 2 is water resistant and comes with a IP67 certification, which makes it safe for immersion in up to 1 meter of water. There’s a gasket around the case and screws which make the smartwatch water resistant. The 2.0 megapixel camera which is capable of recording 720p videos also comes out easily.

Most of the components are connected with the small mainboard, and can be removed easily. Now comes the part where the Gear 2 actually gets a minus point, and that’s the display assembly part. The display is glued to the front of the device, which will make it difficult as well as costly to replace the display when broken.

Coming to the most important part of the teardown. Samsung Gear 2 gets a repairability score of 8 out of 10 (10 being the easiest to repair). Vary rarely does a newly released device gets such a good score, and Samsung has done a good job with the Gear 2. It is always good to know that the latest and greatest device that you’re going to buy can be repaired without spending a fortune.

Leave a Comment