Second iPhone 3G S tear-down filmed with another iPhone 3G S
Not to be outdone by an earlier dissection, the tear-down experts over at iFixit came up with the intriguing idea of filming their own iPhone 3G S dismantling with the new video camera on a second iPhone 3G S.
In a summary of the tear-down's points of interest, the parts and solutions provider notes that opening the iPhone 3G S is as simple as the iPhone 3G, requiring the removal of only two Phillips screws before the two halves of the phone can be easily separated using a suction cup.
Externally, the new iPhone is differentiated only by its new model number -- A1303 -- and the lettering on the back cover, which is now shiny like the Apple logo. Similarly, the internal physical design is also virtually identical to the iPhone 3G, with iFixit reportedly "struggling to differentiate the two."
Architecturally, nearly all of the handset's components have reportedly been relocated to the front side of the main logic board, including the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Flash memory chips. The battery is identified as a 4.51 Watt-hours, or 1219 mAh, which is about 6% larger than the iPhone 3G's battery. Also discovered was an additional antenna connection near the dock connector, though its function remains unclear.
As for the iPhone's camera, iFixit claims quality is much improved from the iPhone 3G. For example, close-up shots are now possible down to about 5 cm, and the brightness adjusted well when picking a focus area. Meanwhile, a test comparing the time it takes the Google Earth application to load reveals the new iPhone 3G S to be "bit faster than Apple's claim of 2X speed improvement" over the iPhone 3G.
The iPhone 3G's oleophobic screen "does seem to clean slightly easier than the 3G's normal screen," according to the report. It notes that oil-proof technology evolved from waterproofing but is harder to achieve as oil has a much lower surface tension than water, so it spreads out easier and thus is harder to get rid off.
For more on the iPhone 3G S's internal makeup, see an earlier tear-down conducted by Rapid Repair.
In a summary of the tear-down's points of interest, the parts and solutions provider notes that opening the iPhone 3G S is as simple as the iPhone 3G, requiring the removal of only two Phillips screws before the two halves of the phone can be easily separated using a suction cup.
Externally, the new iPhone is differentiated only by its new model number -- A1303 -- and the lettering on the back cover, which is now shiny like the Apple logo. Similarly, the internal physical design is also virtually identical to the iPhone 3G, with iFixit reportedly "struggling to differentiate the two."
Architecturally, nearly all of the handset's components have reportedly been relocated to the front side of the main logic board, including the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Flash memory chips. The battery is identified as a 4.51 Watt-hours, or 1219 mAh, which is about 6% larger than the iPhone 3G's battery. Also discovered was an additional antenna connection near the dock connector, though its function remains unclear.
As for the iPhone's camera, iFixit claims quality is much improved from the iPhone 3G. For example, close-up shots are now possible down to about 5 cm, and the brightness adjusted well when picking a focus area. Meanwhile, a test comparing the time it takes the Google Earth application to load reveals the new iPhone 3G S to be "bit faster than Apple's claim of 2X speed improvement" over the iPhone 3G.
The iPhone 3G's oleophobic screen "does seem to clean slightly easier than the 3G's normal screen," according to the report. It notes that oil-proof technology evolved from waterproofing but is harder to achieve as oil has a much lower surface tension than water, so it spreads out easier and thus is harder to get rid off.
For more on the iPhone 3G S's internal makeup, see an earlier tear-down conducted by Rapid Repair.
Comments
Not to be outdone by an earlier dissection, the tear-down experts over at iFixit came up with the intriguing idea of filming their own iPhone 3G S dismantling with the new video camera on a second iPhone 3G S. ...
After all the hoopla about the video camera, that's some really stuttery low quality result. I hope that somehow the poor quality has to do with compression or they had it on a low setting or something.
I thought it was supposed to be VGA 30 fps? Sure doesn't look like it.
Architecturally, nearly all of the handset's components have reportedly been relocated to the front side of the main logic board, including the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Flash memory chips. The battery is identified as a 4.51 Watt-hours, or 1219 mAh, which is about 6% larger than the iPhone 3G's battery. Also discovered was an additional antenna connection near the dock connector, though its function remains unclear.
No,no. Flash memory has been removed to the front side of the main logic board. WiFi/Bluetooth one seems to be relocated to back side. And all this to host just a bit thicker battery.
After all the hoopla about the video camera, that's some really stuttery low quality result. I hope that somehow the poor quality has to do with compression or they had it on a low setting or something.
I thought it was supposed to be VGA 30 fps? Sure doesn't look like it.
Looks about the same as what 30fps looks like coming from my Touch Pro. There's a registry hack on my phone that lets me view the fps as I record, and as long as there's sufficient lighting, it gets about 30 fps.
As far as VGA goes, just because they say it'll record at 640x480, that doesn't mean it's going to be crystal clear.
The camera on this phone is acceptable when compared to other phones. It's something I wish the 3g had honestly. I take lots of videos with my Touch Pro and it's one of the main reasons I didn't stick with the iphone.
Looks about the same as what 30fps looks like coming from my Touch Pro. There's a registry hack on my phone that lets me view the fps as I record, and as long as there's sufficient lighting, it gets about 30 fps.
As far as VGA goes, just because they say it'll record at 640x480, that doesn't mean it's going to be crystal clear.
The camera on this phone is acceptable when compared to other phones. It's something I wish the 3g had honestly. I take lots of videos with my Touch Pro and it's one of the main reasons I didn't stick with the iphone.
Well it's not horrible or anything, but it's a lot "less good" than I expected. I have an old junky Sony digital camera from the Hi-8 tape days that does VGA 30fps and while the quality of the image on that is *less* than the iPhone 3Gs, it's a heck of a lot smoother on the panning and zooming.
I will probably buy one tomorrow anyway, but if this is the "good" camera, it makes those folks who were arguing for it earlier look a little stupid. I can't remember ever seeing cycorder's output, but it must be horrendous if this is the best that brand new hardware and software can do.
And I think the video quality is actually pretty good for a phone, YouTube does kill quality, so it may even look better.
Does anyone know if video length is determined by time or by size with the 3G-S? Just curious...
And I think the video quality is actually pretty good for a phone, YouTube does kill quality, so it may even look better.
I think the video length will be determined by the capacity remaining. I?ve seen nothing to indicate that it auto stops after a certain duration.
I wonder about the YouTube quality. If it?s recording in H.264 and YouTube outputs in same codec and can output at even higher resolutions I?d think there would be no alterations, but they could always reduce the bitrate on their end, which I hope they won?t do.
Some rudimentary tests and comparisons?
Interesting. A: I never noticed how slow my 3g was and B: How fast the new Palm Pre is.
Have a Apple fanatic friend who says you jailbreak the 3G, then it will sell for $400-500 dollars. Will let you know
I think the video length will be determined by the capacity remaining. I?ve seen nothing to indicate that it auto stops after a certain duration.
I wonder about the YouTube quality. If it?s recording in H.264 and YouTube outputs in same codec and can output at even higher resolutions I?d think there would be no alterations, but they could always reduce the bitrate on their end, which I hope they won?t do.
I read a review that says the iPhone 3G S gets 1 hour of record time before it ends automatically. Simple enough to just hit record again though.
Regards,
Heath
Interesting. A: I never noticed how slow my 3g was and B: How fast the new Palm Pre is.
Have a Apple fanatic friend who says you jailbreak the 3G, then it will sell for $400-500 dollars. Will let you know
A. I asked Anand to retest the iPhone 3G with v3.0 since the tests for apps and web browsing reflect v2.x. If anything the new WebKit with SquirrelFish in v3.0 shuld improve the page rendering.
B. If you want to go that route don?t update to version v3.0 on your 3G. If you do that before Dev Team releases the ultrasn0w unlock/jailbreak you?ll update teh baseband which has no known exploits. Could be locked forever. I?m not sure if the $8 SIM card unlcoker will still work with that new baseband.
I read a review that says the iPhone 3G S gets 1 hour of record time before it ends automatically. Simple enough to just hit record again though.
I just checked iTS video I’ve purchased. SD stuff at 640x360 running at about ~1,500KBips. One hour is 3,600 seconds, so we have a ~5,400,000KB or 5.15GiB. While doable I’m guessing the bitrate will be well below that as I don’t think the camera is nearly sensitive enough to handle more than about half that without becoming pointless. We’ll see shortly, I’m sure.
edit: I just DLed that MacRumors video posting of the Audi. The bitrate is 3,700kbps at 30.05fos at 480x640. Very impressive bit rate, now we need a CMOS and lens that can do the processing power justice. Overall, it looks really good.
After all the hoopla about the video camera, that's some really stuttery low quality result. I hope that somehow the poor quality has to do with compression or they had it on a low setting or something.
I thought it was supposed to be VGA 30 fps? Sure doesn't look like it.
Blame YouTube.
Someone at MR just posted a short raw video file from the 3GS and it looks quite good to me--certainly better than the camera I use now! And it does NOT have that grainy smudginess of these YouTube samples.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=725753
Blame YouTube.
Someone at MR just posted a short raw video file from the 3GS and it looks quite good to me--certainly better than the camera I use now! And it does NOT have that grainy smudginess of these YouTube samples...
Yeah, just found that myself (sigh of relief)
Certainly not as bad as I thought.
YouTube seems purposely designed to screw up video quality IMO. Many times they don't even offer the *possibility* of viewing the video in it's original size for example so you get pixelated junk just because the original was two pixels narrower than their default window or some such.
(shakes fist in general direction of YouTube).
Yeah, just found that myself (sigh of relief)
Certainly not as bad as I thought.
YouTube seems purposely designed to screw up video quality IMO. Many times they don't even offer the *possibility* of viewing the video in it's original size for example so you get pixelated junk just because the original was two pixels narrower than their default window or some such.
(shakes fist in general direction of YouTube).
It's pretty damn good actually! Heck, the youtube video is what my phone does. The raw video looks GREAT for a phone. Damn this phone has so much potential. If only it weren't for Apple & AT&T parenting it so much. I wish I could have all the openness of Windows Mobile with all the cool shit that comes with this new iphone. I'd have everything I ever wanted.
I read a review that says the iPhone 3G S gets 1 hour of record time before it ends automatically. Simple enough to just hit record again though.
Regards,
Heath
I think engadget said you can record up 2GB of video at a time.