iFixit

It's desoldering time. After busting out the heat gun, we quickly get to work searching for what secrets lie beneath the Hynix RAM chip.

Eureka! Lifting off the RAM chip, we find the 1 GHz processor— a Texas Instruments OMAP 4430.

Continuing our IC exploration, we decided to sneak a peak under the Jorjin cover. We uncovered a Texas Instruments WL1270B 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi solution.

According to Chipworks, the WL1270 is an older chip that was designed to work with the TI OMAP 3530. It's interesting that the Fire has it, given that it's coupled with the newer OMAP 4430.

One more screw holds the power button board in place.

The Kindle Fire's sole button is used to turn the device on/off or tell it to sleep/wake.

• Be careful telling your device what to do; we hear it has a fiery temper.

A couple more Phillips #0 screws are removed from the Fire and off comes the speaker assembly.

The speaker assembly seems about on par with the speaker assemblies of some other tablets.

What do the Kindle Fire and a fruit fly have in common?

Thanks to the help of our Phillips #0 screwdriver, now neither have a backbone.

• For those of you that thought it had to do with short lifespan, you were mistaken. We actually have high hopes for this little tablet.

Separating the display from the glass was a breeze, which was a nice departure from the usual fused glass ordeals.

Don't be fooled by the display's current state of black lifelessness. When powered on, the LG-manufactured 7" (diagonal) display gives users an eye-pleasing array of 16 million colors at a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.

Sharing the screen with friends and family is made easy thanks to the application of In-Plane Switching (IPS) which allows for a wider viewing angle.

• We may be comparing apples and oranges here, but the original Kindle contained roughly 15,999,996 fewer colors. They were as follows: gray-ish, gray, grayer, and grayest.

Here we have the front panel assembly in all its glory.

The touchscreen controller is designed by ILITEK and is marked as 2107QS001K A95B8F416 A2130B002

Kindle Fire Repairability Score: 8 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair).

The rear case is very easy to open, granting trouble-free access to the internals.

All the fasteners found inside are Phillips #0 screws—one non-proprietary screwdriver is all you need.

The LCD is not fused to the display, making replacement an easy task, if necessary.

Simplistic design and limited functionality means fewer components and less headache for disassembly.

A decent amount of adhesive is used on the battery and motherboard, meaning some prying and gentle working is required for disassembly.

The glass panel is fused to the front plastic frame, meaning a heat gun is required for replacing cracked glass (or you have to replace both components together).