Second iPhone 3G S tear-down filmed with another iPhone 3G S

[AppleInsider]

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.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[chronster]

This kind of reminds me when I was in the 6th grade, and my parents brought home a brand new dell, and later that night my mom found me taking it apart. Her face went white seeing her brand new computer in pieces all around. I just wanted to see how it worked! LOL

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

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.

[ivan.rnn01]

Where's wifi chip??

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.

[ghostface147]

I thought ifixit.com was based in the US, yet they have a UK power adapter?

[irnchriz]

If you listen really carefully you can hear the screams and the crying of the iPhone 3GS as it watches its brother being torn limb from limb..

[chronster]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

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.

[nomad421]

ohh ohh, any official verification of the GPU model yet?

[solipsism]

Some rudimentary tests and comparisons…

• http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3587

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by chronster

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.

[Carbd86gt]

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.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Carbd86gt

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.

[hiimamac]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Some rudimentary tests and comparisons…

• http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3587

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

[heathsnow]

Originally Posted by solipsism

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

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by hiimamac

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.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by heathsnow

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.

[nagromme]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

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

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by nagromme

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).

[chronster]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

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.

[Stormchild]

Can't help chuckling at that hideously large power plug. Glad we don't have to deal with those in North America!

[Footloose301]

Originally Posted by heathsnow

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.

[chronster]

Originally Posted by Footloose301

I think engadget said you can record up 2GB of video at a time.

It does have a pretty decent resolution. It may have to do with hardware limitations when working with the file (cpu & ram limits)

[ByronVanArsdale]

Originally Posted by chronster

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.

Helpful - thanks.

[ByronVanArsdale]

Originally Posted by chronster

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 do not have a reference for the following so take this "as rumor":

It appears Verizion is now has a full 3G network in anticipation of being able to compete with AT&T when their stranglehold on iPhone exclusivity runs out. I'm sure AT&T will run full out over next year to play catch up.

Facts anyone?

[ecking]

I personally think it's evil to force one iphone to film and watch his brother die. It probably doesn't make calls or alerts anymore, it just sits there, occasionally vibrating.

[ecking]

Originally Posted by irnchriz

If you listen really carefully you can hear the screams and the crying of the iPhone 3GS as it watches its brother being torn limb from limb..

Aww man. I didn't read the replies before posting. You beat me.

[TenoBell]

Technically this article should say recorded instead of filmed, the iPhone doesn't shoot film

[TenoBell]

You put Windows and Open in the same sentence. WM is closed in it's own different ways. I think the iPhone has the better trade off of the two.

Originally Posted by chronster

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.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by TenoBell

Technically this article should say recorded instead of filmed, the iPhone doesn't shoot film

The term has evolved with the times. Film is still appropriate.

[TenoBell]

I guess I'm coming more from the professional nomenclature. When you say you've filmed something they will think you literally shot it on film.

Originally Posted by solipsism

The term has evolved with the times. Film is still appropriate.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by TenoBell

I guess I'm coming more from the professional nomenclature. When you say you've filmed something they will think you literally shot it on film.

I’d say it purely contextual. If the conversation calls for it a differentiation should be made, but I know I’ve oft stated in some way that I’m watching a film without considering the type of medium it was shot in or the medium it was playing off of.

With even professional movies being shot in digital more and more I think we’ll some pedantic divide but on the flip side we’ll see the already defined general use of film to mean movie broadened even more. But you never now, language evolves faster and is less logical than technology.

[TenoBell]

Yes you are right it is contextual.

If you use the word as a noun as in "I'm shooting a film" is a format agnostic statement. But to use it as a verb as in "I'm filming this scene" implies that you are shooting on film.

Using the term "filming" is becoming antiquated, people rarely say that anymore.

Originally Posted by solipsism

I’d say it purely contextual. If the conversation calls for it a differentiation should be made, but I know I’ve oft stated in some way that I’m watching a film without considering the type of medium it was shot in or the medium it was playing off of.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by TenoBell

Using the term "filming" is becoming antiquated, people rarely say that anymore.

I'm not so sure about it. I'd love to talk on this more but I have get ready to take this handsome young flapper to a talkie this afternoon before hitting a speakeasy tonight.

[chronster]

Originally Posted by TenoBell

You put Windows and Open in the same sentence. WM is closed in it's own different ways. I think the iPhone has the better trade off of the two.

Well that's like, your opinion, man. :P

I said the openness of windows mobile, but by no means am I saying the os complete open like, say, android, which is open source. It just feels like you can do whatever you want with a WM phone while with an iphone, you're forced into a preconfigured environment with very little customization. This works fine for a lot of people, but windows mobile feels more suited for meddling geeks like me.

[TenoBell]

It can depend on what you mean by "open". The iPhone as well as BlackBerry are preconfigured to meet the needs of the average consumer who is not interested in how electronics work, they are not interested in tinkering. They simply want the device to work as advertised with little effort on their part. Looking at iPhone and BlackBerry sales numbers its a winning strategy.

Originally Posted by chronster

Well that's like, your opinion, man. :P

I said the openness of windows mobile, but by no means am I saying the os complete open like, say, android, which is open source. It just feels like you can do whatever you want with a WM phone while with an iphone, you're forced into a preconfigured environment with very little customization. This works fine for a lot of people, but windows mobile feels more suited for meddling geeks like me.

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by TenoBell

Yes you are right it is contextual.

If you use the word as a noun as in "I'm shooting a film" is a format agnostic statement. But to use it as a verb as in "I'm filming this scene" implies that you are shooting on film.

Using the term "filming" is becoming antiquated, people rarely say that anymore.

What you're saying is true in some circles and in some contexts.

However the word "filming" also connotes video recording while the word "recording" is ambiguous as to whether both audio and video or just audio is being captured. In the context of an iPhone, I don't think anyone will be confused into thinking real film is being discussed. Thus it is more clear to use the word "film".