Google Pixel XL Teardown Review

[Megalith]

The Pixel phones are beginning to ship out, and iFixit has a look at the innards of the bigger guy. They found that the display assembly could have been better put together, but many components are modular and simple to replace.

 

[Accursed]

Got my Pixel XL a couple of days ago, love it so far, disappointing how hard it is to change the battery.

Waiting for daydream viewer to ship.

 

[RanceJustice]

I wonder if these will give any insight into adding after-market wireless charging internally? I know that for some earlier devices (like Samsung Galaxy S3 - S5 I think) there were Wireless Qi receiver kits sold that you applied to the internals of the phone which gave it full wireless charging compliance. Its really annoying to see the Pixel / XL released at its price point without wireless charging but an aftermarket kit would at least blunt the sting a bit, if possible.

 

[Poseur]

I wonder if these will give any insight into adding after-market wireless charging internally? I know that for some earlier devices (like Samsung Galaxy S3 - S5 I think) there were Wireless Qi receiver kits

Samsung made a Qi charging back for the S5 too. I have it and it makes the phone much better. I can't believe all phones don't come with wireless charging now. They can keep the NFC, fingerprint reader, pulse sensor, selfie camera and all of that crap and just put in bigger removavble batteries with Qi.

 

[nightanole]

I wonder if these will give any insight into adding after-market wireless charging internally? I know that for some earlier devices (like Samsung Galaxy S3 - S5 I think) there were Wireless Qi receiver kits sold that you applied to the internals of the phone which gave it full wireless charging compliance. Its really annoying to see the Pixel / XL released at its price point without wireless charging but an aftermarket kit would at least blunt the sting a bit, if possible.

Yes, all you have to do is break apart your glued together phone, and attach it to what looks like a horrendous connector. Then hope it goes together and seals.

If the phone has a removable battery, you can do the swap. You may even be able to do the swap if you do not mind a huge case that piggy backs the usb port(bonus is that you now wear out the cases usb port instead of the phones).

Else there is no way to do the swap, you have to find some way to add 5v to the charger, or replace it with a battery with an all in one charger/qi/battery that is just as thin as the orginal battery, or is a complete backshell replacement.

 

[RanceJustice]

Yes, all you have to do is break apart your glued together phone, and attach it to what looks like a horrendous connector. Then hope it goes together and seals.

If the phone has a removable battery, you can do the swap. You may even be able to do the swap if you do not mind a huge case that piggy backs the usb port(bonus is that you now wear out the cases usb port instead of the phones).

Else there is no way to do the swap, you have to find some way to add 5v to the charger, or replace it with a battery with an all in one charger/qi/battery that is just as thin as the orginal battery, or is a complete backshell replacement.

I was hoping the interior would, even if it required a battery replacement, allow for one of those Qi recievers that fits totally internal and does not require connecting to the miniUSB / USB-C jack. You can see models like this for the Samsung Galaxy S4 / S5 and whatnot which have an internal connector. I don't see it a worthwhile tradeoff to lose the use of the USB connector entirely. I'd go as far as buying another battery and/or installing something inside the phone to give it "seamless" wireless Qi support without affecting USB charging/data when I wish. I'd even buy a high quality aftermarket back panel if absolutely necessary, but honestly with the Pixel having a bloody "glass window" it seems like that shouldn't be necessary. However, all of this is really just ridiculous for a brand new, $700 phone that Google is trying to market as a high end branding experience. Not including wireless charging is not excusable considering that 1) all previous Nexus phones have done so going back to Nexus 4 and 2) even the highest-end Android competitor from Google's perspective, Samsung, has finally started building in Wireless Qi compatibility into their S6, S7, and comparable series. However, even with all of this I'd feel a hell of a lot better if I at least had the option to add it after market in a seamless way.