iPhone teardown reveals better-than-iPod construction (photos)

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  • Reply 21 of 34
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    It wasn't totally outlandish, just unlikely. We've already seen one stealth "hardware" upgrade but that doesn't diminish the claimed reasons that Apple put off 3G capabilities. With the n upgrade, the idea is that the drivers weren't ready, with the iPhone, the available chips supposedly weren't ready.



    I'm a little disappointed Apple didn't incorporate the radio stack into the main CPU which was partly why I thought the theory was at least a vague possibility.



    One of the benefits of Symbian OS8 and 9 is the 'nano' kernel is fast enough for realtime and capable of running the radio stack on the same CPU as the applications instead of requiring a separate chip to keep that running and therefore it reduces the chip count and power consumption.



    That's not necessarily what Nokia and SE have been doing though, instead they chose to add 3D GPU and wifi chips in their high end phones, which Apple presumably has as well as the Skyworks chip.



    There's a bit of engineering to do to get that iPhone Nano going obviously if they've that high a chip count in the iPhone.
  • Reply 22 of 34
    iphone pr0n already!
  • Reply 23 of 34
    bryandbryand Posts: 78member
    Its interesting that the phone contains a sim card. I was wondering about that. In Canada Fido uses sim cards that can be easily changed from one phone to another. Makes me wonder if I coul dpick up an American iPhone and just put my Fido sim card in it.
  • Reply 24 of 34
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,953member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bryand View Post


    Its interesting that the phone contains a sim card. I was wondering about that. In Canada Fido uses sim cards that can be easily changed from one phone to another. Makes me wonder if I coul dpick up an American iPhone and just put my Fido sim card in it.



    I think the GSM standard requires a user accessible SIM card. The problem is, both Wall Street Journal and ThinkSecret has tried competitor SIM cards and it didn't work. I think the iPhone has to be unlocked to allow use with other carriers.
  • Reply 25 of 34
    davegeedavegee Posts: 2,765member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    I think the GSM standard requires a user accessible SIM card. The problem is, both Wall Street Journal and ThinkSecret has tried competitor SIM cards and it didn't work. I think the iPhone has to be unlocked to allow use with other carriers.



    Have you guys never purchased a cell phone before with getting free or discounted phones?!?! It sure seems so...



    EVERY(*) SINGLE CELL PHONE YOU GET IS LOCK TO WHOEVER YOU SIGN UP WITH.



    * when its provided free or discounted... and I'm talking SPECIFICALLY about the US, not Europe or anywhere else...



    This isn't something shockingly new... The chances are you just never even realized it... but its standard practice with every carrier.



    Dave
  • Reply 26 of 34
    shetlineshetline Posts: 4,695member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DaveGee View Post


    Have you guys never purchased a cell phone before with getting free or discounted phones?!?! It sure seems so...



    Of course, the iPhone is priced like an unlocked phone even though it is locked to a single carrier.



    I'm glad to see that the SIM card is easily accessible, however. I knew that SIM cards are part of the GSM standard, but I wasn't sure that "user accessible" was part of the standard too. I have a feeling Apple would have happily buried the SIM card deep inside the guts of the phone if they could have.



    I don't like locked phones, and I think it would be a good idea to wait for the second generation of iPhone, especially to see if 3G comes along. Maybe by then (though I'm not holding my breath) unlocked iPhones will be sold (if not in the US, in Europe).



    Then again, I'm feeling major gadget lust anyway, and I'm not sure I'll manage to hold out.
  • Reply 27 of 34
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wojciechowski View Post


    Looks like they bent the back panel. Hope there is a better way to get into the thing if the batteries die as fast as the 1st gen ipods.



    Otherwise apple is going to piss off a shit load of people.





    Some people couldn't come up with a non-negative comment if their lives depended upon it, I guess. Winners see the glass as half-full. Losers see the glass as half-empty. It's the human condition.
  • Reply 28 of 34
    nerudaneruda Posts: 440member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Neruda View Post


    I can understand why people are interested in these deconstructions, but if you're going to destroy the product (as thinksecret clearly did), why not test its durability first? Turn it on and drop it from varying heights, "spill" some liquid over it...etc, see what kind of abuse the phone can take and then take the thing apart.



    The iPhone seems pretty rugged. Can't wait for all of this to make its way into a 6g ipod



    http://www.pcworld.com/video/id,545-...,0/video.html#
  • Reply 29 of 34
    guinnessguinness Posts: 473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DaveGee View Post


    Have you guys never purchased a cell phone before with getting free or discounted phones?!?! It sure seems so...



    EVERY(*) SINGLE CELL PHONE YOU GET IS LOCK TO WHOEVER YOU SIGN UP WITH.



    * when its provided free or discounted... and I'm talking SPECIFICALLY about the US, not Europe or anywhere else...



    This isn't something shockingly new... The chances are you just never even realized it... but its standard practice with every carrier.



    Dave



    If you really wanted to, you could have your carrier unlock your phone; with ATT, you need to have an account in good standing for at least 90 days and customer service should be able to unlock it.



    Some people do that if they are going overseas, but I guess if you really liked your locked phone, you could put it on a different carrier too.
  • Reply 30 of 34
    Wow, it doesn't seem like folks really know what they are getting.

    How can folks be getting so hyped up about this thing when they don't

    even seem to know what it does/doesn't do?



    For one thing...

    Even if you unlock the phone, it will NOT function as intended on another

    carrier. I know this is NOT the norm for most cell phones.

    Everyone seems to have forgotten Jobs introduction of the phone where

    he specifically stated that they had to work with the carrier to get the voicemail

    feature and one of the other features to work as he wanted. This means

    that Cingular had to do something on their end different for the iPhone.



    Also...

    Why worry about messing up the case to change the battery?

    Most folks aren't going to change out a battery that is literally soldered

    to the main board of the phone. If I hear anybody raving about the design

    on this thing, I think I'll be sick. Say hello to please send us your phone

    and for $100 plus shipping we will change your battery for you.



    By the way...

    Is that magic glue? How does the glue make it more reliable?

    I'll bet you that the glue was to handle issues making the phone.

    The connectors were probably being pulled off in assembly. Look at

    the fit for the antenna. This is definitely not a production friendly design.

    They push folks on the line to get the product out. With the tight fit of

    that case, they were probably getting a bunch that were ready to package

    but didn't work. (Yanked connectors, or damaged antenna cables)



    Oh well...

    I'll be expecting rave reviews and a few design awards anyway....



    Regards,

    Ocriss
  • Reply 31 of 34
    haggarhaggar Posts: 1,568member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post


    Some people couldn't come up with a non-negative comment if their lives depended upon it, I guess. Winners see the glass as half-full. Losers see the glass as half-empty. It's the human condition.



    Yeah, really. Everybody should be more positive like this guy:



    http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech...hives/764.html



    http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech...hives/848.html



    http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech...hives/890.html
  • Reply 32 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bdkennedy1 View Post


    It doesn't make any sense to me at all why they would solder the battery wires to the logic board. That isn't any more reliable that using a connector. If the battery were to move around a bit, then at least you'd be able to plug the battery back in with the connector. With solder the wires would just come loose.



    Yeah it stinks that the wires are soldered to the mother board but this site i found looks like they will be able to do it for you with an longer lasting iPhone battery</a> replacement:



    http://www.ipodjuice.com/iphone-batt...t-products.htm



    - Laura
  • Reply 33 of 34
    akacakac Posts: 512member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shetline View Post


    Of course, the iPhone is priced like an unlocked phone even though it is locked to a single carrier.



    Just to argue the point - its not priced like an unlocked phone. Just priced like an unsubsidized phone. I bought a Cingular 8525 for $600 at a Cingular store because it was unsubsidized. They tell you right there - $450 for it if you get a new contract; $600 with just buying it.
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