Google's Pixel Watch is finally here, but iFixit's teardown suggests you'll want to handle it with kid gloves rather than risk breaking it.
It's true that no smartwatch is fun to repair. They're just so small and fiddly, but some are worse than others and the teardown masters at iFixit's initial look at the inside of Google's very first Pixel Watch suggests it isn't a good one. Not good at all.
When taking the Pixel Watch apart, iFixit was quick to note that the wearable's "cheap-looking crown and a screen that announces itself with questionable durability" didn't set hopes too high. Things didn't get much better when the teardown got underway, either. The report says that getting to both the screen and battery was difficult, adding that repair manuals would make this kind of thing easier. For now, at least, they were flying blind.
That didn't stop them from getting the Pixel Watch apart, of course, but it wasn't a fun time. Both the screen and battery required the removal of brackets and tiny contacts, for example. And unplugging the screen's connector wasn't possible without taking the battery out first. And then things got worse.
According to iFixit, neither the crown nor side button is easily replaced - they're "on the same cable as a test port that seems rather permanently attached to the case," apparently. The result? "That means no replacing stuck switches, at least without some collateral damage." Less than ideal, that.
There are some good points, though. The iFixit team points out that the first Apple Watch was a terrible mess inside, so there's hope to be had that future Pixel Watches improve in that regard. There are more positives found in terms of rear glass accessibility as well, with a liquid gasket holding everything together firmly but also opening cleanly when needed. All good stuff.
The upshot of all this? You won't be taking your Pixel Watch apart to fix it, but you probably already knew that anyway. But it doesn't sound like many repair shops will enjoy trying to do it, either.
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