Hasta La Gadget!

No costly proprietary tools needed to accomplish iFixit's Thunderbolt Display teardown. Image: iFixit

Apple sure does know how to pack in a lot of gear into a seemingly simple LCD monitor. How do we know? iFixit’s latest teardown, of course!

iFixit took apart Apple’s 27-inch Thunderbolt Display for our viewing pleasure, revealing an iMac-like glass panel that can be removed with heavy-duty suction cups and a host of parts not normally found in an LCD monitor.

In fact, the display itself shares an uncanny resemblance to an iMac display because it’s actually the same model: an LG LM270WQ1, which was used in the iMac Intel 27″ from October 2009. This is also the same display that’s in Dell’s competing 27″ monitor, albeit with LED backlighting instead of CCFL. The display is 2560 x 1440 pixels and supports 16.7 million colors. Interestingly, that’s 1.07 billion fewer colors than on Dell’s display.

But anyways, the Thunderbolt Display houses a large brushless fan for noiseless cooling. And housed on either side edge of the display in “massive enclosures” are 49-Watt speakers, complete with a miniature subwoofer.

Rather than being soldered directly to the board, the Thunderbolt cable that routes to the display plugs into a standard Thunderbolt socket situated on the logic board. And both sides of the logic board are “packed with enough chips that it’s hard to believe there’s no computer inside this display,” according to iFixit.

The whole shebang can be taken apart using non-proprietary parts like suction cups, screwdrivers and a spudger. Repairability rating? iFixit gave it an 8 out of 10.

via [iFixit]

Go on, Fusion Garage — get down with your bad self. While we’d previously heard that the outfit’s $399 Grid 4 smartphone wouldn’t hit shelves until “closer to Q4,” a surprise stop by the FCC this morning makes us cautiously optimistic that it’ll happen — at least in the US — sooner rather than later. For those who’ve forgotten, this guy’s packing a 4-inch 800 x 480 LCD, dual-core Qualcomm CPU, 16GB of storage and dual cameras to boot. Moreover, the included user manual sheds a ton of light on how Grid OS will act, and it’s the first real in-depth look at how it’ll differ from what’s already out there.

We’re told that there’s a built-in web browser, Grid Launcher, support for Yahoo / Google data importing, a contacts app that’ll suck names in from just about anywhere, full integration with email / Facebook / Twitter and a “GridDesktop” application that’s used to load media from your PC or Mac onto the device. The guide also talks up the status bar, which is located at the top of the Grid 4 screen in order to show “indicators and widget controls for wireless networks, notifications, music playback and volume control.” The oddly-named TaoBar is described as a “unique feature that shows details on your current notifications, events and ongoing sensor information, while also offering suggestions that might be of interest.” Examples? Things like similar artists whilst listening to music, or pinging you with lunch recommendations when noon rolls around. Eager to see what else the feds put your future unlocked phone through? Give that source link a poke.

Update: We’ve added a gallery of the FCC’s teardown images below.

Fusion Garage’s Grid 4 smartphone sails through the FCC, Grid OS details flow from user manual originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  FCC  | Email this | Comments

The Samsung Epic 4G Touch is a triumph of engineering, jamming oh-so-very-much into an oh-so-little frame. What better way to celebrate its wonderous design, than to tear it all down to its constituent parts, and then reassemble it? Thank the guys at iFixit, because they’ve already done it — again. Interesting points include just a single EMI shield — unlike some competitors — which is great news for those looking to emulate a tear-down of their own Sprint-specific GSII. It could still prove to be a challenge, with both the glass panel and LCD apparently fused to the middle of the phone, meaning a replacement for that sumptuous 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen could prove costly. Click below for a pictorial blow-by-blow of the teardown, let’s keep the drooling to a minimum, shall we?

Samsung Epic 4G Touch gets torn down, confirms its epic crendentials originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  iFixit  | Email this | Comments

What do you do with a shiny and new dual-core LTE phone? You rip it to shreds and then poke around in its guts, like any respectable techie would. At least, that’s what the folks over at iFixit got up to with Verizon’s day-old Motorola Droid Bionic. By now, you should be well familiar with its slightly revamped Droid X2-ish casing and usual micro-USB / micro-HDMI ports. Pop off that back, however, strip out the internal barrier of stickers, screws and clips, and you’ll be treated to a silicon underworld of EMI shields, motherboard components and that hump-making 8 megapixel rear shooter. Of course, seeing is believing. So, go ahead and hit that source link below to get your rubberneck on.

iFixit picks the Droid Bionic to disassembled pieces originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  iFixit  | Email this | Comments