iPhone prototype teardown reveals unique, tiny logic board

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  • Reply 21 of 87
    str1f3str1f3 Posts: 573member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    Battery life will increase. That is the biggest complaint from normal people. Apple branded hardware means nothing that doesn't need to be there. Improvements in CPU energy draw and less silicon all point to a possible 2 more hours of usable, batter life.



    Agreed. The A4 chip (or whatever A class chip Apple will use) was most likely made with power efficiency in mind. Considering that the new laptops and iPad have staggeringly long battery life, one would expect the iPhone to follow suit.
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  • Reply 22 of 87
    this would mean that apple iPhone 3GS sales will decline since people from around the world will wait for the said 4th Gen iPhone whom Gizmodo dissect.. Damn Good!!! Hope the said Processor will be much more faster than 800Mhz..
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  • Reply 23 of 87
    kibitzerkibitzer Posts: 1,114member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    Aside form the stunning illegality of this move (taking it apart), I wonder if any of them had the brains to use gloves. You gotta figure Apple is going to fingerprint and test for DNA on every surface.



    And once they positively ID each and every one of the perpetrators, Apple will put out contracts on them or arrange to leave horse heads on their beds while they're sleeping.
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  • Reply 24 of 87
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dr.No View Post


    BAD GIZMODO! (link link link) YOU'RE SO BAD GIZMODO! (link link link link) oh BOY Gizmodo are you gonna get SUED (link link linkity link link - thread thread thead - linkbait linkbait linkbait).



    haven't laughed that hard in a while...
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  • Reply 25 of 87
    SpamSandwichspamsandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by walshbj View Post


    Could be bigger than Mitchell Gant stealing Firefox



    More than anything I agree with your sig!



    Quote:

    AppleInsider Staff - Are you actually using your iPhone-formatted page?!?! It's BRUTAL ! Please make the toolbars stop appearing and disappearing !!



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  • Reply 26 of 87
    SpamSandwichspamsandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by echosonic View Post


    haven't laughed that hard in a while...



    Same here, almost in tears from laughing.



    In a bit of related news, "The iPhone Kid" Apple employee's body has been found at the bottom of a ravine in Cupertino. Authorities are baffled.
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  • Reply 27 of 87
    daharderdaharder Posts: 1,580member
    I wonder what happened to all of those naysayers from yesterday?
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  • Reply 28 of 87
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    For one it looks like the design is maximizing the volume available for the battery. As a 3G owner I can say that is a good thing _ a very good thing.



    I'm not convinced this is an A4 based product. For one rumors have been around that PA was split into two teams, one for iPad class devices and another for cell phone sized devices. Of course that is rumor. What isn't a rumor is the power use of A4 and the iPad which only gets it's ling life from the large battery.



    So from the point of pure speculation I'm going to suggest that Apple might go multi processor with A5. That is the new ARM A5 core which is someplace above the ARM11 and below A8. By going dual processor they can keep the clock rate extremely low yet still deliver good performance.



    Multiple core actually ought to work well on iPhone to deliver good performance. Especially with the rumored coming of GCD and other features of OS4.0. Think about where or when iPhone currently slows down noticably. For example am E-Mail coming in while you are editing a text field. Multiple processors would help greatly to take care of threads (spell checking) and background apps. The trick though is not to give up to much in single thread performance.



    This is where I see a multi processor running extremely low power cores doing an excellent job. The actual clock rates might even be lower than the GS. The flip side here is that the extremely small PC boards imply highly integrated silicon which would tend to counter indicate A4.





    Dave
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  • Reply 29 of 87
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Here and elsewhere I'm reading requests for faster processor at x-speed, but there doesn't seem to be a reasoning for these speeds, just a desire because the number sounds good.



    Wanting a faster processor and/or more RAM because there is a HW limitation that is affecting how your device works, sure, I get that, but I don't get wanting an A4 at 1GHz or 800MHz if the system feels consistently instantaneous at, say, 750MHz and offers better battery life because of it.



    The 3GS was the first iPhone that actually felt like the HW was faster than what the OS needed. Stepping that up would be great, but so would stepping up the battery duration with an under-clocked A4 designed for power efficiency.



    I wish they could have taken a look under the hood. The double stacking of chips is a huge change from the 3GS and earlier. I've seen nothing that compares so I have to think there are more than a few chips they'd combined to fit this board.



    The 3GS logic board: http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.com/ig...I2UNWjYJ.large (image)



    PS: My calculations get a 16.4% larger battery, not 19%.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by str1f3 View Post


    Agreed. The A4 chip (or whatever A class chip Apple will use) was most likely made with power efficiency in mind. Considering that the new laptops and iPad have staggeringly long battery life, one would expect the iPhone to follow suit.



    And if you look at the Nexus One with a 1400mAh battery, 1GHz Cortex-A8 Snapdragon and 512MB RAM and you have a battery that is only slightly worse than the iPhone 3GS. Apple's use of a tailored OS to tailored HW could definitely improve on that.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    In a bit of related news, "The iPhone Kid" Apple employee's body has been found at the bottom of a ravine in Cupertino. Authorities are baffled.



    That's him getting off easily if he's not a donor match for Jobs. I fully expect Jobs to force him to work at Apple, locked up in some dark for which he can't escape, just waiting for someone to harvest his organs for Jobs if and when he needs them.
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  • Reply 30 of 87
    bushman4bushman4 Posts: 870member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cvaldes1831 View Post


    i would agree if it was the same amount of silicon, but that is not the case.



    There are apparently fewer chips in this prototype than the current iphone 3gs. We could be in store for some serious battery life improvements.



    from you mouth to apples ears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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  • Reply 31 of 87
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,699member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    I think we'll see improved battery life.



    If we get a OLED screen and improved components (read, more energy efficient) then battery life could very well improve.



    I'm wondering what they run the A4 at in the phone. 800Mhz tops???



    Unless it's the new Samsung AMOLED displays, I don't want it.



    Even if it's that, from what I've been reading, I don't want it.



    The truth is that so far, AMOLED displays are not that great. There are two areas in which they're better. One is blacks. You can't get better than no light from a pixel. The other is viewing angle. Very good.



    But, an IPS display has a viewing angle almost as good, and it's an argument as to how important viewing angle is for a small screen such as we see on handheld devices. Blacks are also much better on IPS screens. So in those areas, if Apple goes with IPS, as they did with the iPad (assuming that they can get an IPS screen that small), there won't be much of an advantage to AMOLEDs there either.



    The bad things about AMOLEDS.



    Much worse outdoors than a good LCD.



    Garish colors. Looks good to the untutored eye, but is terrible reproducing a photo or video.



    Efficiency of the current generation is NOT better than an LED backlit LCD display. This is why we see AMOLED devices using black for so much of the GUI. No AMOLED phone has better battery life, and some are worse.



    As for Samsung's new AMOLED displays. At first they look good. They are significantly brighter and more efficient (which is why they are brighter). But there seems to be a problem with them. The resolution is not what is advertised! To me, that is cause to not use them:



    http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/...-and-hacks.ars
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  • Reply 32 of 87
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,762member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Proximityeffect View Post


    The larger battery will be negated by a faster processor. I think the battery life will stay about the same.



    One of the interesting things about the A4 is what it doesn't have. It's not a general purpose CPU with a bunch of stuff taking up space and power that Apple will never use.



    I think it's safe to assume there is some sort of Apple designed chip(s) in there as the size of the logic board is dramatically smaller. And just because it's (undoubtedly) faster, I wouldn't assume it's automatically going to consume more power. There is much more to the whole power consumption equation than just one factor like clock speed.



    Which is the real reason Apple went down the path of acquiring PA Semi in the first place
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  • Reply 33 of 87
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,699member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cvaldes1831 View Post


    I would agree if it was the same amount of silicon, but that is not the case.



    There are apparently fewer chips in this prototype than the current iPhone 3GS. We could be in store for some serious battery life improvements.



    The camera flash will drain the battery, so that would be a reason to use a bigger battery. If the flash can be used during video recording as a constant light, that will REALLY drain the battery!



    I was disappointed to see just one LED. Phone LEDs don't give much illumination. Two would give one stop more, enough for a 50% longer shooting distance.



    The new HTC Incredible uses two.
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  • Reply 34 of 87
    ndengndeng Posts: 14member
    From Visual:



    Truly new 3rd Gen iphone !!! here is how and why



    1st iphone: Sandwich PCB x 2 with Batter aside.

    2nd 3G and 3Gs one PCB x 1, LCD PCB but most area single side surface mount technology and Battery so Sandwich again.

    Those we offen see in most or say all cell phone, computer designs.



    But, from Gizmodo's latest Post and compared with ifixit iphone 3GS break down( see PCB pic) I have come with following:



    Apple has a new break through "Double side" PCB that has



    CPU/GPU like A4, Storage, GSM/3G, (largest in die size) surface mounted on both side of PCB. But PCB may be more difficult to produce.



    Bluetooth/wifi on one chip at tip of PCB (pic18),



    new single power management chip vs 3 chips from 3GS.



    and other components fit to rest area both side which is advanced iPad PCB design



    but iPad has more space and did not needed to be shrink as this new iphone needed.



    so there are more simplified new design in all including less chips (components) and power needed.



    We may be able to see 8Gb iphone again ! why? when I have an "iPad" and will not need 32GB or 64GB on iphone to carry a high price tag and 8GB and 16Gb won't increase on price at store.



    Larger battery indeed is better, for flash, video, music, game play, longer talk and stand by time.



    I can't wait to have it in hand, wait and see it June ! Gizmodo was too chicken to break the PCB cover...
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  • Reply 35 of 87
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,699member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    For one it looks like the design is maximizing the volume available for the battery. As a 3G owner I can say that is a good thing _ a very good thing.



    I'm not convinced this is an A4 based product. For one rumors have been around that PA was split into two teams, one for iPad class devices and another for cell phone sized devices. Of course that is rumor. What isn't a rumor is the power use of A4 and the iPad which only gets it's ling life from the large battery.



    So from the point of pure speculation I'm going to suggest that Apple might go multi processor with A5. That is the new ARM A5 core which is someplace above the ARM11 and below A8. By going dual processor they can keep the clock rate extremely low yet still deliver good performance.



    Multiple core actually ought to work well on iPhone to deliver good performance. Especially with the rumored coming of GCD and other features of OS4.0. Think about where or when iPhone currently slows down noticably. For example am E-Mail coming in while you are editing a text field. Multiple processors would help greatly to take care of threads (spell checking) and background apps. The trick though is not to give up to much in single thread performance.



    This is where I see a multi processor running extremely low power cores doing an excellent job. The actual clock rates might even be lower than the GS. The flip side here is that the extremely small PC boards imply highly integrated silicon which would tend to counter indicate A4.





    Dave



    We don't even know if this has anything to do with PA. It could be an Intrinsity diddled product.



    http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...sign-house.ars



    http://www.samsung.com/us/business/s...o?news_id=1115
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  • Reply 36 of 87
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,762member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Wanting a faster processor and/or more RAM because there is a HW limitation that is affecting how your device works, sure, I get that, but I don't get wanting an A4 at 1GHz or 800MHz if the system feels consistently instantaneous at, say, 750MHz and offers better battery life because of it.



    Thank you. MHz or other such tech specs are really irrelevant - what's the end user experience? That's the true gauge. It's why Apple hasn't said anything about the A4 other than it's name - they want to emphasize the experience of the device over meaningless feature and specification lists.



    However, having said that, I hope the new phone is a significant improvement, the lags while scrolling around in podcasts in the iPod app on the iPhone is really annoying, esp. after owning and using an iPad for the last couple of weeks - the speed of the iPad SMOKES the 3Gs now
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  • Reply 37 of 87
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,699member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Here and elsewhere I'm reading requests for faster processor at x-speed, but there doesn't seem to be a reasoning for these speeds, just a desire because the number sounds good.



    Wanting a faster processor and/or more RAM because there is a HW limitation that is affecting how your device works, sure, I get that, but I don't get wanting an A4 at 1GHz or 800MHz if the system feels consistently instantaneous at, say, 750MHz and offers better battery life because of it.



    The 3GS was the first iPhone that actually felt like the HW was faster than what the OS needed. Stepping that up would be great, but so would stepping up the battery duration with an under-clocked A4 designed for power efficiency.



    I wish they could have taken a look under the hood. The double stacking of chips is a huge change from the 3GS and earlier. I've seen nothing that compares so I have to think there are more than a few chips they'd combined to fit this board.



    The 3GS logic board: http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.com/ig...I2UNWjYJ.large (image)



    PS: My calculations get a 16.4% larger battery, not 19%.



    Apple is now in a trailing position as far as phone features go. While they've been trying to make people forget about the GHz race, it's on again. Can they come out with a phone with less than what their competitors have? That could be a perceptual problem. People who own iPhones will think one way, but the rest may think another.



    Your battery calculations are correct. How do I know? I got the same results, so you MUST be correct.
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  • Reply 38 of 87
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    Apple is now in a trailing position as far as phone features go. While they've been trying to make people forget about the GHz race, it's on again. Can they come out with a phone with less than what their competitors have? That could be a perceptual problem. People who own iPhones will think one way, but the rest may think another.



    That might be why Apple is marketing the iPad processor as A4. You give it a marketing term that the public at large can cling to then including details that most don't know about or care to know about is fine. The results of the experience will speak for themselves.



    While Apple stated the iPad speed, that might be a unique case with direct marketing appeal for the this new product category. I don't think any pocketable iDevice has ever listed the processor speed or RAM on the spec sheet. Something I've seen with PMPs over the years yet that didn't help their sales in the end.



    Now battery duration, Apple loves to post that stuff and they list more specific usage info than any other consumer device I've seen. I think most mobile vendors just list the 3G talk time and standby time.



    Quote:

    Your battery calculations are correct. How do I know? I got the same results, so you MUST be correct.



    The chances of both of us being wrong at the same time are astronomical, as would be our egos to actually think that.
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  • Reply 39 of 87
    cvaldes1831cvaldes1831 Posts: 1,832member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    The camera flash will drain the battery, so that would be a reason to use a bigger battery. If the flash can be used during video recording as a constant light, that will REALLY drain the battery!



    I was disappointed to see just one LED. Phone LEDs don't give much illumination. Two would give one stop more, enough for a 50% longer shooting distance.



    The new HTC Incredible uses two.



    Frankly, I don't see average Joe Consumer taking that many flash photos with their iPhone every day to drain their batteries that much.



    Personally, I would like to see Apple keep the megapixel count fairly low and work on better low-light performance from the camera sensor. For video recording, that makes a lot more sense. On-board camera illumination really isn't sufficient for good results unless you have a big-ass light that is pleasant off-camera and softboxed.
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  • Reply 40 of 87
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,699member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cvaldes1831 View Post


    Frankly, I don't see average Joe Consumer taking that many flash photos with their iPhone every day to drain their batteries that much.



    Personally, I would like to see Apple keep the megapixel count fairly low and work on better low-light performance from the camera sensor. For video recording, that makes a lot more sense. On-board camera illumination really isn't sufficient for good results unless you have a big-ass light that is pleasant off-camera and softboxed.



    I've learned that it's difficult to predict what the average consumer will do. They may take all flash pictures, as those dumb dumbs at sporting events do. There's no thought behind what is done most of the time, and the phone may turn the flash on automatically in dim light. You may have to go to settings to change that. I can see Apple doing it that way, because Apple wants things to come out as well as they can for the consumer, so that they don't have to worry about it.



    From what we've been reading, it looks like a 5 MP camera, though now I've read something suggesting that it may actually be 8, as the lens is bigger, and the assumption is that the chip is bigger, allowing more pixels, especially if that sensor is a backlit one as seems may be the case.



    As far as video goes, more pixels isn't a bad thing, as manufacturers are pixel binning, which gives better sharpness and dynamic range.



    What I'd like to see is stabilization, and hope, hope, hope—a zoom lens, not just digital zoom, oops, I mean cropping.
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