It’s time to tear down the Nokia 6 and check the build quality, and see how it managed
to pass my durability test so well.
Depending on what side of the planet you’re on, Nokia could also be pronounced “Nakia”.
But either way, let’s get started.
[Intro]
I’m going to remove the SIM card tray first, like I always do.
And then comes the heat gun.
If you remember with the Google Pixel how the screen lifted off first, this is going
to be almost the same process…which is actually really smart from a design and repair perspective
because screens are usually the first thing to break on a phone.
I’m taking a thin metal pry tool and sliding it under the glass after the adhesive has
been softened and the glass warmed up till just about too hot to touch.
I’m placing cards under the glass after it’s lifted so that it won’t re-adhere
to the frame again.
I’m taking extraordinary care not to touch the LCD edge underneath that glass layer with
my metal pry tool or the cards, because that LCD has the structural integrity of a potato
chip.
You’ll see what I mean in a minute.
Normally, anyone attempting this repair will already have a cracked screen and won’t
need to salvage or save the old one, but since I like to keep my phones in working condition
– for the most part – I’m being careful.
Once all the sides have been slit, the screen will lift off just high enough for me to slip
one of my playing cards underneath the LCD.
Remember, touching the sides of the LCD with anything is catastrophic.
It’s extremely easy to break.
Most people will not be successful at removing a functional screen on their first try.
So if you ever end up replacing anything inside of the phone, just plan on replacing the screen
as well.
There are some ribbon cables that you need to avoid slicing down here.
These can easily be cut with a business card or a metal pry tool so make sure you stay
away from them.
Avoid the home button and menu buttons too.
Lift upward against the glass instead of downward against the metal.
And now we start to see what makes this phone so strong.
A solid metal mid-plate is protecting the rest of the components.
I’m just going to double check and make sure that my screen is still functional.
I wouldn’t recommend doing this yourself, it’s better just to leave the phone off
the entire time it’s open.
Surprisingly enough though, I was successful and my screen is still functioning.
So I’ll power down and move onto the connector.
There’s one little screw holding down the metal bracket over the screen ribbon connector.
I’ll unsnap that just like a little Lego and the screen is off the phone.
And this is it.
If all you need is a screen replacement, this is literally all you have to do.
You don’t need to watch the video any farther.
Just grab your new screen, plop it on and you are good to go.
It’s really incredibly simple.
Remember that the corners and the edge of the LCD are going to be the most fragile.
That’s why I was really happy that LG got rid of their corners on the LG G6.
It does help with the removal process.
An experienced tech who doesn’t need to save the old screen could probably do a whole
screen replacement on this Nokia 6 in less than 10 minutes.
I’ll link any replacement screens and tools that I find in the video description.
There’s one more screw holding down the fingerprint scanner and home button ribbons,
so if those stop working, they’re also super easy to replace.
I’ll set these off to the side.
And this little guy is the battery connector.
It would be smart to disconnect this before removing the screen and the home button just
so nothing shorts out on accident.
I almost missed it because it was so small.
And then we find – wait for it – nineteen screws surrounding the middle mid-plate.
Some of these are different sizes so it is very important that you keep the screws organized
as you remove them.
Once the screws are out I’ll slip my pry tool in up near the top ear piece and lift
the metal plate up like a giant door.
There are some latches at the bottom so this is the best way to go about it.
Then we have complete access to the battery.
This is a repair guy’s dream by the way.
The battery is out and away from all the fragile electronic components now.
So if prying needs to happen during the replacement process, nothing important can be broken.
But look at this – the Nokia 6 even has those magical pull tabs.
There is no prying to be done at all.
Just tug the pull tab and the adhesive pulls out away from the battery, leaving it completely
loose and free to fall away from the metal plate.
No force necessary.
I’ll give all the thumbs up to Nokia for this one.
If Apple and Samsung don’t step up their game, this phone is going to win the most
durable and repairable phone of 2017 easy.
The battery is a 3000 milliamp hour.
Here’s that metal mid-plate; definitely a huge reason this phone is so rigid.
One, it’s made of quality metal and two, when it’s screwed into the thick metal back
housing it forms an indestructible metal sandwich.
Huawei needs to take a few pointers here from Nokia.
There’s one more metal bracket holding down the volume and headphone jack connectors.
I’ll set that off to the side.
And then 6 more screws are holding down the motherboard to the frame.
Keep these organized and away from the mid-plate screws.
Then I can unclip the volume ribbon and the headphone jack ribbon.
And this is where it starts to get kind of tricky.
Now normally, I’m one of the first people in the world to tear down a cell phone for
the YouTubes which means I don’t have any guides to follow as I’m doing it.
This circuit board pulls straight down and then lifts up out of the frame.
During my tinkering I forgot to unclip that bottom left wire cable, so when the board
finally lifted off, the head tore off the wire.
Incredibly cheap to fix, just kind of annoying that it happened in the first place.
So make sure that your wire is unplugged before pulling it out of the board.
There’s one more ribbon cable on the bottom as well that leads down to the charging port.
Looking at the motherboard, we can see that the two cameras are modular and the LED flash
is built into the circuits.
If I pop off each of these little cameras we can see that the left one is the rear 16
megapixel camera and the right little guy is the 8 megapixel front facing camera; neither
of which have the hardware stabilization.
For me, OIS or optical image stabilization is super important.
Electronic stabilizing is usually not as good as the hardware stabilizing when it comes
to video quality.
And since I do a lot with video, it’s kind of a deal breaker for me.
I hope Nokia includes it in their future devices.
Following this extension ribbon down to the charging port we find 4 more screws.
Remove those and unclip the wire cable that we destroyed the other end of, and the micro
USB charging port can pull away from the frame.
It’s tucked underneath those little metal tabs on the frame just like the motherboard
up top was.
It also has a little microphone down there at the bottom next to the micro USB port.
The loud speaker has its own special section in the frame of the phone.
Each metal ridge or lip inside of a metal object add strength to the overall structure.
So this Nokia 6 really is utilizing all the available space and design tricks.
I’m pretty impressed.
This phone also has the same circular vibrator motor we saw in the HTC U Ultra.
When putting the circuit board back into place, remember that they slip underneath the metal
tabs along the bottom of the frame.
I’ll get the 4 screws back in there.
And now we can deal with this extension ribbon.
It plugs into the bottom of the motherboard so I’ll do that before I set it down into
the frame, and when I go to set the motherboard down, it needs to tuck itself into the top
of the frame first, under the metal tabs protruding from the frame.
I’ve never seen a phone built like such a tank before, but I’m not complaining.
These boards definitely aren’t moving anywhere.
The volume and power button gets plugged in next as well as the headphone jack ribbon.
These both snap into place like a little Lego; you’ll feel it click in.
There’s a little metal bracket holding these down as a second layer of protection.
Technically you can screw this in place right now if you have your screws organized.
Or you can just wait till the back metal panel is in place.
There are 6 more screws holding down the motherboard.
And don’t forget to plug in that bottom left wire cable either, since mine is broken,
I’ll just have to live with it for now until I can get a replacement wire.
The battery gets set back into place but not plugged in yet.
And finally I can plop that metal mid-frame down into the phone.
It has two tabs along the bottom that need to be set into the frame first and then the
rest of it can be pushed down.
And now we get to sandwich the metal slabs together with nineteen little screws.
Overkill?
Probably.
But durable?
Definitely.
I’ll slide that home button into the little groove routing that wire over to the plug
where it clips in.
I’ll tape it back down just to keep it secure.
And then finally we get to install the screen.
It will clip back in just like the little Lego connections we’ve been working on this
whole time.
And then when everything is plugged in including the battery, which should be last, we can
plop the final two metal brackets into place over the plugs and we’re good to set the
screen down into the frame – making sure to line it up over the home button and keep
it inside of the grooves on the metal sides.
I imagine that the replacement screens will come with their own adhesive which will help
keep them down and in place.
Overall from a repair perspective, if you have to work on a cell phone that’s glued
shut, this is probably the most ideal one to work on.
Screens break most often on cell phones and that’s the first component on this device
to be removed.
Batteries fail most often after that, and this battery is located right below the screen.
Pretty easy access for both repairs.
I hope the Nokia 6 holds its own on the software and camera size of things because they for
sure have the hardware and built quality nailed perfectly.
If you want to see more tech reviewed from the inside, hit that subscribe button.
I have many more videos on the way.
Thanks for watching, I’ll see you around.