Inside Nokia E61

Few days back, we (me & my brother) were feeling adventurous but had nothing exciting at hand. So we dared to open up the Nokia E61, with the stated purpose of "cleaning the dust" as an excuse. We didn't rip it apart completely though, as we don't have too many of those lying around, and we managed to achieve the stated objective and put it back safely to working order.

So if you want to do the same, here's how you go about... Some of the images are a bit shaky - no tripod and low light.

Step 1: Switch the phone off and take out the battery.

Step 2: Remove the plastic covering the back top portion of the phone. With a blunt knife or a screwdriver gently push the wedges that hold the plastic and lift it up simultaneously. This holds the speaker and the antenna.

Step 3: Four screws at the back hold the front cover of the Nokia E61 to the body. Remove them to take off the front cover.

Step 4: Now lift up the front cover. You are left only with the phone body. The Nokia E61 is pretty well sealed as you would notice. Not much of dust inside except near the keys and the rocker button. The earpiece is covered with a shiny foil. The joints are pretty snug and don't let much of the dust in.

Step 5: Now you can just take out the rubber key pad to see the key contacts underneath. Clean the key pad and the rest of the phone if you want with a light brush.
You can see the small black reset switch on the top right, a small white LED on the top left for the email notifier. The Nokia E61 cover is shiny silver on the outside, but an ugly gray color in the inside with an uneven surface.


There are two small screws holding the LCD to the base. I didn't dare open it any further as I was scared of disturbing the LCD contacts. Go ahead from where I stopped if you want to explore further. Once you are ready to pack it back up, just follow the steps in reverse order and get your phone back.

Mine worked fine after putting everything back. :)