iFixit tears down 'the most repairable smartwatch' - and it's not from Apple

"Smartwatches are, by and large, very hard to repair. They're usually small and full of adhesive. They live their life, and then they're chucked away -- hopefully into the electronics recycling pile, but too many end up in the back of a drawer or a landfill. And while a lot of companies like to flex their green credentials, it's hard to put that into real-world repairability. How has Google pulled this off? But ditching the adhesive and using screws. Yes, screws."

"Replacing the battery requires three Torx Plus bits, a spudger, a pair of tweezers (everything you need comes in The Ultimate iFixit Toolkit ), and a few minutes. All the screws are visible, not buried under stickers of easily damaged trim. And the lack of adhesive doesn't in any way compromise water-resistance -- the Pixel Watch 4 is rated IP68 for water and dust resistance -- because Google has kitted out each of the external screws with its own little O-ring."

"The teardown is one of the easiest, least brutal smartwatch teardowns I've seen. "Everything inside this watch points toward a repair-first design philosophy," writes iFixit's Elizabeth Chamberlain, and I have to agree. The ease with which this smartwatch can be torn down for repair gives me hope that eventually all our personal devices, from smartphones to earbuds, will be much easier to repair."

Smartwatches are typically small, adhesive-filled devices that are difficult to repair and often discarded. The Pixel Watch 4 replaces internal adhesive with screws, enabling visible, accessible fasteners and simple battery replacement using common Torx Plus bits, a spudger, and tweezers. External screws are sealed with individual O-rings, preserving IP68 water and dust resistance. The teardown process is notably non-destructive and straightforward, making repairs faster and less risky. The design reflects a repair-first philosophy and earned a 9 out of 10 repairability score from iFixit. The ease of repair raises expectations for future consumer electronics.

Read at ZDNET