crwdns2915892:0crwdne2915892:0
The shift 5.1 is a 5 inch smart phone from the company shift located in Germany. It replaces the first version shift5 from their so called #lovephone series. Shift claims to produce its mobile devices mostly under fair conditions and is trying to use conflict free materials where possible.
crwdns2942213:0crwdne2942213:0
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            The shift5.1 is the second biggest smartphone in the Shift series and features these specs: 
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            5-inch HD IPS display with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels (293,72 ppi) 
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            Mediatek MT6582 Quadcore SoC with 1.3 GHz 
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            2GB DDR RAM + 16 GB internal memory 
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            Dual sim (regular and micro sized) 
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            2000 mAh user-removable Li-Polymer battery 
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            5 MP front and 8 MP rear camera 
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            Android 5.1 Lollipop 
 
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            The shift5.1 measures in at 144 x 72 x 7 mm and weighs 140 grams. 
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            For those who did not already know—it holds a small warning on its rear case: 
 
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            Having a user-removable battery usually equates to an easily removed back cover. 
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            And that's what it is: very easy. We start with a small notch at the lower end of the cover and the flexible black plastic gives way to reveal the battery. 
 
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            Taking the battery out is also easy as pie. 
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            The 2000 mAh brings you 7.6 Wh at 3.8V, settling behind the 9.2 Wh from the Fairphone 2 battery. 
 
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            We bring out the Phillips #000 to loosen the seven screws and get further into the shift5.1. 
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            A plastic opening tool helps us prying away the plastic frame. 
 
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            Before we take the frame aside we take a short look at the loudspeaker which is embedded with a mild double sided adhesive tape. 
 
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            On the back of the display unit we see the motherboard with a multitude of components mounted on it. 
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            We unplug both of the display connectors and peel the volume buttons and power button unit loose from the frame. 
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            A single Phillips screw holds the motherboard in place. 
 
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            Now we can careful lift up the motherboard and take away the 8 MP rear camera. 
 
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            In regular teardown fashion, we get to work peeling up the strongly-adhered plastic cover in the base of the battery housing. 
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            This huge black adhesive plastic foil hides the interconnect cable running from the motherboard to the daughterboard. 
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            There is also a little adhesive tape over the daughterboard. 
 
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            After lifting the vibrator and the microphone carefully out of their recesses we free the daughterboard by loosening two more Phillips screws. 
 
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            And here we have the heart of the shift5.1: 
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            Mediatek MT6582 SoC with an ARM Cortex A7 
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            Samsung KMR820001M-B609 2GB LPDDR2 memory 
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            Mediatek MT6627 Diplexer QVL for WIFI/BT/GPS 
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            Mediatek MT6166V RF transceiver 
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            Mediatek MT6323GA PMIC 
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            AIROHA AP6684 quad-band GPRS front-end module 
 
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            On the flip side we're met with an unfortunate surprise: 
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            All the remaining components are soldered to the motherboard, including the front facing camera, headphone jack and the power and volume buttons. 
 
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            Last but not least we have the remaining display which carries the earpiece speaker. 
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            Taking it out leaves us with the fused display which carries a GOODiX GT9147 touch screen controller on the flex cable. 
 
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            And here we have the shift5.1 spread out on the teardown table showing us all it has to offer. 
 
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- Cover and battery are easy to remove and can be swapped without using tools.
- No excessive glue and no proprietary screws are used, only Phillips #000.
- Shift offers a forum and a youtube channel with some information and tutorials (unfortunately only in German).
- The fused display can be changed but you need to take out everything else reminding us of the iPhone 4 and 4s.
- Lots of components and connectors are soldered to the motherboard. They could be soldered by hand if needed but this makes repairs more difficult.
crwdns2935195:0crwdne2935195:0
crwdns2935097:0crwdne2935097:0
 
             
            
            crwdns2935199:0crwdne2935199:0
crwdns2947412:06crwdne2947412:0
the display can be changed in 2 ways:
either with the a-frame or without. if changing only display without a-frame, you only need to open 2 connectors and take of the display and stick the new one on with the sticker-set, that comes with the display. this way you do not need to take out the electronics and you will be done much faster ;-).
by the way:
You can get any SHIFT spare part you want and need at: support@shiftphones.com
I do not unterstand why it have only a 6 I woud take it between 8 and 9
Only a handful of components aren’t soldered and you have to take a lot apart to change common parts like the display. I understand why it’s not a 8 or 9 but a fully agree I don’t understand why it’s a 6 and not e.g. a 5 or 7. Is there any comparison what has to exist to justify a specific grade?
LastDawn -
jup. we also think a 7 would have been fair.
i think the problem was that the iFixit team took the complicated repair-way. if they followed the instructions from SHIFT for sure it would have been a 7 score. but anyway… this is now long time ago :-)…
cwaldeck -
