Google Copied Apples Best Feature But There's A Catch - Pixel 7a Teardown And Repair Assessment
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- Опубліковано 26 тра 2023
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(DISCLAIMER: This description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, l will receive a small commission.) - Наука та технологія
I'm pretty sure Google is using true love to keep the screen togheter. That's why is so hard to separate it.
And some people say Google is an evil company, they use true love for their phones after all
together
In Aussie models they’re using 100% pure kangaroo spunk.
Just polyurethane sealant.
With the way Google kills products, Google will kill true love in a year or two
I may be mistaken, but this black "glue" on screen can be some kind of loctite used to bond metal parts in car engines. It hardens when pressure is applied (oxygen is cuted off) and overflow can be easly removed. Its oil an water proof connection sealing any micro imperfections in materials bonded together. It's very temperature resistant as its mainy seals hot engine parts.
Wow,that seems like an overkill tbh.
@@spydermonkey9381Who knows, it might be used by a citizen of Ohio?
Hugh Janus broke the screen.
and who said it was black?
UA-cam channel PBKreviews has a teardown of this and he didn't have a problem removing the display after applying some heat - he didn't indicate how much heat but I would assume he would have mentioned if there was a major issue. However, TheHandyRetter channel did advise it needs a long time and to be careful.
I think the screen touch glitching at the start is an indicator that it was already faulty from factory, which might add to it just fully breaking when the phone was fully disassembled
Yep, Google's typical nonexistent quality control.
@@ziofascistssuck Hey stop it! I like the sharp edges around My 7 Pro! lol
I think it was the excess heat, but this too I believe played a role. Might have been bad from the start to begin with.
@@eshbanvelez5212 doesn't explain the screen working after getting that much heat to remove the screen
@@M1U5T0N3 what is wrong with it??
The symptoms of the "dead" screen seem to indicate a lack of power to the OLED. Reason I say this is because the panel is extremely dim and seems to be dimmer the more pixels are active (thus the panel seems to be "off" when showing the lockscreen or certain dialogs during the setup)
This is accurate.
Hugh, it seems as though the ambient light may be malfunctioning, the symptoms are very similar to a bad proximity sensor on an iOS device. was there maybe adhesive around it or is it possibly misaligned or disconnected after the full disassembly? I can see it’s below the front camera pressed through the mid frame?
Had the same thought first. May be it... At least i hope so!
Thought of the same thing, it might have had something to do with the proxysensor. Although the screen probably was sorta faulty in the beginning, he as said also probably burnt out all the pixels a lot by heating it so much
You can tell by the initial boot logo either the AMOLED itself or some power delivery problem is at hand. This is not an ambient light/proximity sensor 100% guaranteed.
You got it so hot that you couldn't even touch the side opposite the heater. Cooked all away through. Something didn't survive
The heater shouldnt be able to melt any contacts inside the phone
It is possible if unlikely that the heat did end up damaging the screen itself. If the screen was still pretty warm when it was initially tested after having been removed it could have damaged something as it cooled down. From the sounds of it the screen got REALLY hot and it went through multiple hot/cold cycles which would expand and contract. You can also see the screen itself flex pretty hard while its being pried off the frame. All of that induces a lot of stress. Either way as noted if you are removing the screen its broken anyway but for it to be so difficult is a bad sign. I doubt it was intentional though.
This was my first thought too, either the excess heat and/or prying it off perhaps damaged something even though it briefly worked after Hugh quickly checked it before proceeding with the rest of the teardown. I suspect it's similar to a 'thermal shock' issue, therefore the cooling after the excess heating.
Agreed. Curious as to whether a screen replacement would bring this Pixel back to life.
Maybe ambient light is malfunctioning, symptoms are very similar to a bad proximity sensor on an iphones. It's possibly misaligned or disconnected after the full disassembly
@@clickbaitproyes this can be the issue
Most likely, though just a hunch, but it looks like the microcontroller board of the display got fried due to the heating process thereby messing up the connections. This scenario is similar to the Galaxy Note 9 yellow screen issue, where a software update causes the phone to heat up insignificantly during the recovery update which causes the chip on the display to be fried. The only way to fix is to replaced either the chip or the screen itself.
update us to any developments with this. interested to see if this display would work on a different phone or if a different display would work on this one
If you can get them replaced, then yes it would work. Google doesn't serialize that stuff like Apple does.
@@porschepal7932 Not yet atleast.
This phone just looks ugly.
@@TheythinkimNinja I really don't see Google doing it. They're on the 7 series now and nothing. I don't see them ever being that way. They even let you flash a different rom onto your device so you could use privacy focused OS's like Calyx or Graphene.
@@rilum97 It really comes down to personal preference. I know a lot of people who think it looks sleek.
It looks like they used a self-curing rubber gasket maker to attach the screen. Kinda similar to what they use for automotive repairs
This phone just looks ugly.
@@rilum97 ??
@@rilum97 not everyone thinks the same.
@@rilum97 my guy, you’ve said that 4 times in separate places. We get it, you don’t like it’s design. Grow up.
@@rilum97 Though still better than iphone
Look under the front camera, there is a hole in the screen. That hole is for all front facing sensors, even for screen brightness. The screen isn't close enough, too much light is going through that hole for the sensors. Try to push the top 1/3 with 2 finger down and see if you have better brightness.
Interesting video Hugh! Thanks for doing these tear down and reviews so that we don't have to! 😊😊
Maybe it was the extra long heating time that caused it to fail.
It was the excessive heat.
Great video Hugh, I just got mine and I'm loving it. My thoughts are that maybe all the heat did actually end up damaging some component in the screen. Because like you said it doesn't point to it being an anti repair maneuver by Google. Although it did seem to have problems since the beginning so maybe it was from a bad batch. I'd be curious to see if a screen replacement would bring this Pixel back to life, I suppose it's too much to ask for an update on that? Keep being awesome!
Now you have a chance to do a video on replacing the display!
Hi there, the problem with the screen might be from the proximity sensor reattached incorrectly, that sensor considers that it's in a dark environment and it'll dim the screen near 0, I don't believe the screen it's faulty.
so you tell me that he didn't test to change the brightness settings?
Thank you Hugh for this video.
Im pretty sure all rhat heating you did to the display DID damage it, and once it cooled down thats when it took effect
Just had this exact fault on an ipad. I found a bit of tape over the light sensors, removed it and sorted. Maybe the sensor got damaged?
Nope. Even if the sensor was damaged, it would have just dimmed the screen or kept it at the same low brightness.
@@ziofascistssuck OK, just saying this is exactly what the ipad did. Start up logo, then pin entry would vanish. Totally off backlight. I cleaned the sensors and it now works fine. 🤷♂️
I think that like a lot of phones it's just supposed to be opened from the back, and to replace the screen I'd bet they'll sell the screen with the frame attached.
But here's the issue. The connector is only accessible from the front
i work for a repair company. The google phones are designed to have screens replaced with the display only for easy screen repairs. More people break screens than they do housings / back glasses. They are not designed to be opened from the back on higher end google phones. The entire rear housing gets replaced on the top tier models. The lower tier ones have more repair features like being able to be opened from the back (only starting now with the 7a and on some older pixels). Realistically you shouldnt need to open them from the back unless the battery fails or motherboard, which are very intrusive repairs with pixels anyways. Most who break the back just put a case on it or live with it.
Screen repairs that require full housings are very expensive compared to just displays. Take samsung devices for instance. 95% of them come with full housings with all buttons, a battery, and some small sensors like the fingerprint sensor. They are really expensive and make fixing a lot of older samsung devices not cost effective ( this is only true for samsung service centers / business with certified manufacturer repair contracts).
@@Radiiiiiiiii Thats why it comes with the frame, so you don't need to disconnect/connect anything
@@Lego455200930 did you not listen. The connector for the screen, is at the front. To disconnect the screen, get this, you have to open it from the front!
Hugh considering you blasted the front screen with a hell lot of heat I am not surprised you (literally!) cooked it to death
But the screen functioned just fine after he lifted it off but before unplugging the flex cable.
@@r.Ry4N.05 it might've been damaged due to the abrupt temperature shift
@@r.Ry4N.05 Something could have broken during cooling. It's not always just excessive heat that can kill things, sometimes it's the cooling back down that gets it.
@@mjc0961 it's not the speed that kills people, but sudden deceleration
30 min of baking must've killed it.
Almost every pixel has had reports of screens popping off, I'm guessing someone decided to just use heavier duty glue.
i have pixel 7 and i have the same black screen have an idea haw to fixe the problem
I wonder if the screen comes mounted to the frame as an assembly... not available separately, so not meant to be removed?
Looks at other teardowns of the 7A, the screen is supposed to come off, it just takes longer.
it might off been to much heat on the screen
Hey mate, I'm watching your videos now for a longer time now and I really enjoy it. I'm a computer scientist who's more in the software thing. But I also want to improve in hardware and also repairing, you're a big inspiration. Could you tell where do you get your broken devices from?
probably should start a Jeffreys' repair difficulty scale on phones.
The exact same thing happened to my Galaxy S3. The display kept glitching the exact same way. After trying 2 new screens, it turns out it was one of the filters(small black component) next to the display connector.
Hi, what glue should I use to glue the back panel back?
I got a question. Since it is repairable? Why not make another video showing how you replaced the broken screen? (Broken as in.. not working)
It'd be really disappointing if they used a hard substrate for the OLED as a cost-cutting measure.
Even worse if the previous generation was Soft OLED.
Pixel 7 has hard oled, so no reason to think 7a would have soft oled. (I have a pixel 7)
What difference does it make?
@@worthless_opinion Soft oled has superior image quality, but more than that the viewing angles are a dead giveaway, hard oled has a rainbow effect when viewing from an angle while soft oled is perfect from any angle.
@@worthless_opinion cheaper but breaks if bent. Depending on how the phone is built it doesn’t really matter though, because if the only reason for removing the display would be to replace it anyways, it doesn’t matter if you would likely break it while attempting remove it.
You disconnected the screen before the battery, why?
Thank you so much 😊
I had the exact same screen issue with my brother's Galaxy A71. Although the screen was never disassembled. It was able to show the boot screen and recovery menu but everything else was just black, touchscreen was still responsive tho.
Am impressed by the firmness of the screen
I suspect the screen issue is with the light sensor or perhaps the damage is related to the driver and when it goes to 90hz it blacks out. Gives a bit of a flash and dies. Hopefully the motherboard isn't damaged.
But remember, the 7a is set to 60hz by default so it's unlikely that it would be at 90hz during setup
@@Rsonny I don't know and I don't have the test equipment to measure it. All we can do is guess.
It's a strange and repeatable issue but I have a sneaking suspicion it goes beyond the screen.
It looks a lot like what used to happen with computers when you selected unsupported screen settings. You didn't get a warning, you got an occasional artifact and a black screen.
I’m a remote mobile tech for Asurion. I love when you can’t power down the iPhone 14 or 14plus because the display is too damaged, when the new screen is installed, I have to do a hard reboot back into customer UI, then power down and calibrate.
i have a question 6a and 7a have the same form factor display size fitting wise as of cover and screen guard so can their housing be swapped like
xr getting changed to 11 in housing ?
Just did one of these the other day. Its just as hard to remove front screen as its on fold 4 small front screen. I didn't know the back came off like that. Good to know. Now need to find out it 8 series does the same thing.
I'd say you definitely cooked it to death trying to get that screen to detach. Understandable why you'd want the screen to come off but still. You probably kinda killed trying to
But here is the thing. Even after he removed the screen and put it back initially, the screen still worked perfectly fine until the ending of the video.
Could it be that the display just sets itself to minimum brightness? Like the iphones after a display replacement? Still It would be pretty weird since the startup animation still shows properly
That's what I'm thinking. Especially since the screen still seems to work.
8:22 it might be a damaged proximity sensor that caused it to adjust into minimum brightness.
@@jrnzhsmks that’s exactly what I thought when I saw it’s behavior!
Finally! I always hated the design of the pixel phones because you had to basically break the screen in order to open them for any repair.
(I know it was posible to remove the screen in working condition but its just a big unnecesary risk)
Changing the display might take a bit more work now, but everything else is just soo much easier to repair.
Pixel 3 and pixel 4 all can open from front and back
This was never my experience? I repaired the 7a and found that it was quite easy to open. Seemed like a standard adhesive responsive to my heat plate.
Yep. I just tried to take my 4a in for a new battery and they told me there was no way without breaking the screen, making the cost of repair more than the cost of the phone
I got an iPhone 5s that my friend through a metal shed. It landed on rocks and it didn’t break. And would you know how to fix it? It says unable to activate touch ID every time I turn it on, but that was also before he threw it.
good job l love it 😎
One out of 25 is not bad. Zach kills 99 out of 100.
He's simply built different
Not at all. When a phone doesn't snap in half during the durability test, it usually still works after the teardown. It's not his fault manufacturers make crappy phones that snap in half.
@@mjc0961 He has only recently learned to be more careful.
It's like the biscuits I made this morning...overcooked.
dude, you baked something in there
fr, he got it so hot it would burn his hands through semi heat resistant gloves, that mustve been over 100c for sure
Definitely melted some solder somewhere.
Did you try turning off autobrightness?
That glue is similar what samsung use on their A series, It dry like rubber. It is way more secure.
Great video ..
I have a silly question... It looks like the SIM tray was still in the device during most of the tear down, was the SIM tray still there the whole time?
He removed it at 5:41
I bought the Google pixel 7 pro with a damaged screen in one corner. I bought a replacement screen from eBay. I then removed the damaged screen with only a curved scalpel…no heat! The only bind being my big fingers attaching the screen ribbon cable. I had to move the finger print sensor, again with the scalpel. It was quite an easy replacement.
Hugh Jeffreys: Heats the screen at 500 degrees Celcius... The screen dies.
Surprised Pikachu face 😮
if i had to guess, id imagine google used that black gasket adhesive you use when delidding a CPU IHS.
hey important question, where do you buy your tech lots??
Can you try attaching a new battery and see if the display issue is fixed? Sometimes either the fault lies in the circuitry or the battery, (if the display itself is not short-circuited) due to which the display can't pull the required voltage to fully power the backlight.
Would it be possible to install a pixel 7 back panell on pixel 7a?
Every review praise this phone. But I feel this is the true review we need.
It's called Cold Glue. Apple has been using it since iphone 6. All newer screens use cold glue to adhere the screen to the frame because it's more durable given how thin the bezel has become.
Hugh remember you finding a gap from the earpiece? Maybe that’s when you damaged the ambient light sensor.
Thanks a lot for this video. I was looking for a new contract with a new phone, but it seems I'm keeping my OnePlus 7 Pro for some more years.
I had a similar issue repairing an old samsung model. After hours of head-scratching I noticed that the light sensor was dirty/not connected properly so the automatic brightness dimmed the screen
Can't wait for follow up video lol
Does the battery really need to be so well glued inside? I mean generally, so that pull tabs won't be a thing anymore. Also how much adhesive does IP68 require before you need to melt the screen just to open it.
i have built and repaird stuff in the past but i have never had anything to fail like that that is very cool tho
Is it too late to see an analysis on the Asus Zenfone 9?
That happenned to my 5a last week. The screen went black out of the blue. For no reason. And I didnt take it apart nor had it on a hot plate. I can feel the phone vibrate and I can even hear it if I connect it to charge but no display whatsoever. And as I'm not in the US I'm SOL. 15 months the damn thing lasted.... Good work google. Thanks.
Try doing an incomplete FRP bypass. Skip the bootup process, go straight into the settings, turn on ADB and disable the OOBE for your user, then go into the launcher.
Also put it at max brightness manually from settings.
It simply doesn't make sense for the screen to cut out like that. It just doesn't feel right. It's too consistent.
Plus, in the recovery is completely fine.
oled needs more current when showing bright colors, the phone's fine with powering lower amount of pixels but fails when there's too many
Probably stupid question were you wearing ESD protective equipment when handling if not that may be the cause damaging components
the brightness may be 0 after the reassembly, I've seen that problem in some other videos too
Huge you know how to get activation code of T-Mobile phone?
@5:39 I was pretty sure that batteries aren't manufactured that exactly, so I looked it up: +/-2.5% seems to be the standard tolerance (for industrial applications). That would be 110mAh. Therefore, 30mAh isn't really worth losing any words about.
Hugh,
Pardon my ignorance, but could the extra heating have caused the screen to fail?
It looks to me like the screen is held on with loctite maxblack or similar anaerobic adhesive
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First of the redesign fully isn't copied from apple. Pixel 5a had everything from front screen, pixel 6a also had from the front screen but back side removable, pixel 7a now have screen from the front while rest of the things from the back.
Secondly, what do you expect from this price range phone using hard oled? Flexible oled costs more and good only curved screens mainly. It also thin so can be use to save the space. But at this price range they had to cut the corners. 7 also use hard oled.
Maybe a new front screen part will always come with the frame? There-by forcing shops to move all the internals into a new frame?
Haha! Yep. Nobody upgraded after the Pixel 3.
Thanks to iFixit I'm still rocking mine! 👍😎
Pixel 3 is still a great phone with a custom ROM like pixel experience
The display connector has a metal bracket and screw on top of it, this means you have to take the display out if you want to remove the motherboard you cannot otherwise, if the charging port is damaged you risk braking the display
Would you be able to repair my Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro? It's been broken for months and it needs a replacement digitizer and screen. I can't do it myself, and no repair shops will take it.
do u will ever brokled it .? ,
Hey Jerry rig everything's channel did the disassemble and reassemble with no issues at all
Would you do the Pixel Tablet or the Pixel Fold as they were announced as well?
You should disconnect the battery before the screen. You may blow screen back light filter
OLED doesn't have backlight?
Having bought almost every Google Nexus phones, I will always be suspicious of Google's quality control for its hardware.
Same. I had to have a Nexus 5 screen replaced under warranty and the other one the proximity sensor failed which meant I had to end phone calls with the power button. My Galaxy Nexus was perfect though and still works.
I am 99% sure its something related to the proximity sensor, hope to see an update , while the screen is connected , lift it off the body to see if it resolves the issue.
Or maybe there are pogo pins or something similar connecting the proximity sensor which arent well comnected.
Well we'll see when the repair guide is published on iFixit, I guess?
this proves we're a step closer to laser machining screens just for the glue to let go
Maybe the display doesn't like the long cooking befor the disassembly process. Yes it worked when was still hot but after cooling somthing probably disconnected internally and game over. Nice job google!
P.s. im surprised the battery doesn't catch fire while cooking...
"there's nothing I did that would have damaged the screen"
Huge, did you watch your own video? :'D remember when you had the phone on the heatplate for so long that, while heating the FRONT of the screen the BACK got hot enough to be disassembled from that side? lol
That front was probably vacuum sealed 🤣
Props to that screen still being alive
I was thinking that the display might have been failing anyway right out of the box given the touch issues you were having
Wtf that soldered usbc port. Thanks for your help!
When can we see some more iPod restoration videos?
Great timing Hugh, I'm currently thinking about replacing my old Mate 20 Pro with Pixel 7a as I fell in love with Pixel UI. But something still holds me with Huawei and don't know what to do, I Wonder if it is just your phone faulty or it's something what afffects more of devices
I'd suggest looking at other teardowns and seeing if they experience similar issues. If they do and you want to spring for the pixel, maybe try the base 7.
my 7a runs just fine. His might need the software update that was issued after a few days after the launch.
Man, I'm in the same position. I'm still sticking with my Huawei Mate 20 Pro. It just works! The battery life is great and the screen is perfect even after all this years. Although, I've decided I'll definitely be changing it once the Pixel 8 Pro comes out!
Get the 6, 6a or 6 Pro on the cheap, or maybe try a Honor or Xiaomi phone if they work in your country. Have you considered a Sony Xperia phone?
@@SayAhh the pixel 6 series so have some issues, so I'd recommend against them
I have a Galaxy S4 screen that fails in almost the same way. I found that the display controller is bad. Maybe you have applied too much heat on the display and damaged the components. And the same for me, recovery, boot is perfect but as soon it’s booted, lines appear, display blinks and turn off. A new display solves the issue.
Looks like Google used Gorilla glue on the display. 😂
Great video, just wish you would've gone more indepth on why the screen is screwed up. Definitely won't be getting a pixel a
I just got a Google Pixel 7, and I kinda wish I can just remove the back panel instead of the front. I rather not touch the front if I don't have to as it looked like you removed half the phone before removing the battery. If I ever need to do a battery replacement I don't know if I'd ever try to do it myself.