Tricky-to-repair internals give ‘strong first-generation tech vibes’
Despite being the company’s first wearable, the Google Pixel Watch has great hardware. On the outside, it looks and feels like a premium piece of tech. Inside, less so. A teardown video from iFixit shows the device won’t be easy to fix, especially if you damage the screen or the crown — so, basically, any of the parts you’re likely to break in normal use.
The video gives us a tour of the Pixel Watch’s tightly packed innards. As soon as the domed display glass is popped off — seemingly a simple enough operation — it’s clear that replacing a damaged Pixel Watch screen is an ordeal. Dislodging the display cable also requires removing the watch’s vibration motor and battery, which means dealing with a bunch of tiny screws, plus some adhesive holding the battery down.
Interestingly, it seems like the Pixel Watch keeps track of its digital crown’s position with an optical sensor that can see notches on the crown, inside the watch body. It also seems like the crown and the button right above it are impossible to remove without breaking parts of the watch hardware — meaning if anything goes wrong with either, you might just need an entirely new watch.
While iFixit needed a vice to hold the Pixel Watch in place during removal of the wrist-facing bottom glass, that glass piece pops off cleanly. The fitness sensors underneath are soldered to the watch’s motherboard and not actually attached to the bottom glass, so it seems like the underside of the watch is relatively easy to fix compared to the rest. That’s probably the part of the watch you’re least likely to damage, but hey, a win’s a win.
All in all, it looks like the first-generation clumsiness we noticed in the Pixel Watch’s user experience extends to the wearable’s internal construction, too. Here’s hoping Google can address both in the Pixel Watch 2 — assuming we get one, anyway.
