The very popular hand crank console sold by the Panic company goes against the current trend of irreparable gadgets. The dismantling of the specialized site iFixit shows a device rather easy to dismantle and repair.
Perhaps you ordered the Playdate last July. If so, you’ll be happy to know that the amazing little hand-cranked handheld console isn’t terribly complicated to take apart according to feedback from specialist site iFixit.
The battery is easily changeable
Carefully dismantled piece by piece by site specialists, the fluorescent yellow console is rather easy to repair. Only a few screws and a few plastic clips bar access to the bowels of the console. Once the rear panel has been removed, you can see most of the components of the device.
From there, one can easily disconnect and replace the battery which is only held by three small cables and a little glue. This is excellent news which will allow Playdate owners to give their machine a second life when it begins to show signs of weakness.
Repairability rating of 6/10
Then the motherboard and other related components can be disassembled with a simple screwdriver. Only the screen is securely attached to the front panel and cannot be changed (unless you buy back the whole front panel). Another little black spot, all the buttons are connected to a single PCB, which means that if one fails, the whole circuit must be changed.
Overall, iFixit still praises the console’s ease of repair. The site is even amused by the fact that only one small sticker, recalling that ” breaking something here will void your warranty ”, Be placed there to prevent the risks you take in disassembling the gadget. In the end, the console inherits a 6/10 from iFixit (10 being the easiest to repair). The note should however be taken with a grain of salt since the site admits that its ” repairability index is not really suitable for the Playdate “, The console being in” a separate category “.
