The OnePlus 5, the Android phone named after a first grade math problem, is on my desk
and ready to be taken apart.
Let’s get started.
[Intro]
OnePlus is still using the rare T2 bit that is not normally included with most cellphone
repair kits.
I’ll link a kit that includes the bit in the video description.
The build of the OnePlus 5 is pretty similar to the iPhone which has 2 little screws at
the bottom.
Then I can slip my metal pry tool between the plastic rim of the screen and the metal
edge of the phone.
It’s still very securely snapped into place so this takes a little bit of aggressive persuasion.
I switched to a plastic tool in the middle of the process to avoid scratching the metal
because I would hate to do any damage to this phone.
And definitely take out the SIM card tray before you attempt any of this.
Once we get that last clasp undone we get our first glimpse at the non-red battery.
OnePlus used to include a brilliant red battery inside the OnePlus One and the OnePlus 2,
but stopped with the red battery after the OnePlus X.
The OnePlus 3 didn’t have it either.
I guess OnePlus didn’t get the memo that internal beauty is just as important as external
beauty.
I have nothing against yellow, but red is definitely more cool.
One interesting thing is that the charging port and the headphone jack are still attached
to the back panel.
Removing one Phillips head screw allows me to pull off the silver metal bracket on the
motherboard and unclip the charging port.
There are 4 screws holding the two components onto the back panel and once those are gone
the ribbons can pull free.
This is extremely convenient because the charging port and the headphone jack are some of the
first things that stop working on a cellphone a couple years down the road, so it’s nice
that they have easy replaceable access.
There’s a little rubber ring around the charging port, but I would assume this is
to protect the port from stress of plugging and unplugging and nothing to do with water
resistance.
There’s no adhesive around the port or around the lip of the screen, so I would not trust
this phone anywhere near water.
We still have no access to remove the battery yet but we can unplug it.
Eight normal Phillips head screws need to be removed from the motherboard.
I’ll unsnap two more ribbon cables; they just unclip like little Legos.
And one black wire cable.
Finally the board can lift away from the frame, giving us access to unsnap the one remaining
extension ribbon hidden on the back.
I’m using my plastic pry tool for all of this so I don’t hurt any of the fragile
electronics.
The dual camera set up comes with two individual ribbons.
The regular 16 megapixel camera is on the left and the 20 megapixel telephoto camera
is on the right.
Neither of which have the optical stabilization.
All of the shake reduction is done internally - electronically, which isn’t always my
favorite.
The front facing camera also has that same electronic image stabilization, no OIS, but
it does come with 16 megapixels of its own.
I’ll snap the rear cameras back in like little Legos and then move back to the body
of the phone.
The little silver circular guy is the vibration motor.
And now we have access to the extremely average looking, yellow and silver colored battery.
I don’t read Chinese real good, but I’m going to assume this tab means “pull”.
Luckily no heat is required for the removal of this battery.
There are no magical pull tabs but it’s still pretty user-friendly.
I’ll give OnePlus a thumbs up for that.
Making our way down to the bottom of the phone, there are 6 screws holding in the loudspeaker.
It’s a thin little guy with two golden contact pads on the back to receive the signal.
The extension ribbon can come loose and then the larger ribbon on the left.
The last little connection is probably for the capacitive buttons on the front of the
screen.
In the past, OnePlus replacement screens came without the frame installed, so to complete
a screen repair you’d have to heat up the old display, remove it from the frame of the
phone, and reuse the same frame with your new display.
You can check the video description for replacement screens.
I’m going to leave my display intact because the old screen will not survive the removal
process and mine still works just fine.
Now that the new screen is on I’ll clip the 3 ribbon cables down into place including
the extension ribbon for the motherboard.
And I’ll screw in the loudspeaker.
This loudspeaker does not have the waterproofing mesh that we’ve seen in water resistant
phones like the iPhone 7, Samsung or even the HTC U11.
So once again, I would not trust this phone around water.
There has been some false speculation floating around out there that this is a water-resistant
phone, and that’s just not true.
The boring battery is back in place though.
Before I can set the motherboard down I do have to attach the extension ribbon cable
to the underside of the board.
After that’s clipped in I can drop the board down into the frame.
I’ll connect a few more ribbon cables and then the one wire cable, and make sure all
those screws get back into place.
Over here on the back metal panel, we have the charging port and the headphone jack that
need to be screwed with their 4 screws.
And I can plug it back into the motherboard right next to the battery connection.
Both of those connectors get covered by the metal bracket and that last motherboard screw.
Getting the screen to pop back in the frame was easiest for me by lining up the top first,
getting those clips in place and then pressing down along the sides very carefully.
Overall it was very nice opening up a phone that didn’t require a heat gun.
I might not approve of the battery color or the lack of optical image stabilization, and
it is kind of nice to have water resistance on a phone, but I am a fan of this phone in
general.
If you haven’t seen the durability test, go check that out.
And subscribe for more videos like this in the future.
It’s free and I have plenty more videos coming.
Thanks a ton for watching.
I’ll see you around.