The CMF Phone 1 Is Suprisingly Difficult To Repair Despite Being Easy To Take Apart
I’ve taken apart my own smartphone before, and honestly, if all I needed to do to get past the back panel was to grab a screwdriver, I’d have been more than happy. Instead, I needed to ask my mom for a hairdryer and blast hot air at the back of my Note 10+ to soften the adhesive which kept the panel in place. Trust me, it was incredibly stressful, especially since self repairs aren’t regular for me.
So, you’d assume that a device that allows you to access the internals as easily as the CMF Phone 1 does would be incredibly easy to repair, whether you’re doing it on your own or not. Unfortunately, that’s far from being the case as we have been able to see thanks to a CMF Phone 1 teardown down by YouTube channel PBKreviews, who gave the device a 6.5/10 repairability score. That’s not horrible, but it’s far from what most would expect from a device like this.
When you take off the back panel, the battery is right there, hidden under a thin plastic layer (that voids your warranty when removed). You’ll also need to get rid of a total of 12 screws to get past the initial plastic housing under the back panbel, which will expose the motherboard with the cameras, SoC, RAM, sensors, and storage. However, you still can’t remove the battery as you’ll now have to get rid of a newly-exposed screw at the Accessory Point region. You can finally pull out the battery.
That’s a lot of work to replace a battery, which for many people, is one of the first parts of a device that they might opt to change out (along with the display). You’d expect more for a phone that seems to easy to dismantle at first glance.
The CMF Phone 1 Is Extremely Great Value, Poor Repairability Aside
For just $200, it’s hard to say that the budget CMF Phone 1 isn’t fantastic value. You get a midrange Dimensity chip, a fantastic screen, a big battery, aa respectable charging speed, and amazing software, as expected from a Nothing brand. It’s one of the best value phones that I’ve seen, especially with its unique selling point.
The only major downsides are a lack of NFC (which might potentially be an absolute dealbreaker for many) and no OIS on the primary camera. But then, at this price range, it might better not to expect OIS (and maybe better to expect a camera that sees through objects). Can’t say the same for NFC though.
