Hasta La Gadget!

A teardown of the Palm Pre, just hours after its nationwide launch, has revealed an ultra-fast processor and a solid build but a touchscreen module that could become a trouble spot for some buyers.

“It’s a good design with components that, while not quite at the bleeding edge, are at the forefront of their competition,” says Aaron Vronko, CEO of Rapid Repair, the company which dissected the phone told Wired.com. Technicians took about an hour-and-half to slice through the device.

Palm launched the Pre exclusively on the Sprint network Saturday. Reviews of the Pre have praised the phone’s design, its completely rebuilt operating system and its ability to multitask. But they have also pointed out drawbacks such as the device’s cramped keyboard and poor battery life. The Pre will cost $200, after a $100 mail-in rebate, on a two-year contract.

Vronko and his team’s repair toolkit for the Pre included a small Philips screwdriver, a flat head screwdriver, a razor blade, pliers and a solder iron. Removing the back panel was easy since, unlike the iPhone, the battery on the Pre can be replaced.

“We found the overall construction of the Pre to be typical of slider phones,” says Vronko who rates the difficulty of taking the device apart a seven out of ten and comparable to the iPhone.

The Pre’s system board has a Texas Instruments CPU (TWL5030B/ 94A20PW C), an Elpida memory chip and 8GB NAND memory chip from Samsung.

“The processor on the Pre is almost 50 percent faster than the iPhone,” says Vronko. “One reason could be that Apple may have clocked down the speed on its iPhone processor to reduce power consumption and heat generation.”

The Pre stumbles when it comes to its touchscreen says Vronko. In the Pre, the LCD and capacitive touchscreen are permanently glued together. It’s similar to how the first generation iPhone was built. But the subsequent iPhone 3G has the two screens as separate modules. The advantage for users is that in case of a problem with the screen it is easier to repair if they are different modules, says Vronko.

“If the screen is damaged, it’s almost twice as expensive to repair and replace it if they are glued than if the two are discrete components,” he says.

Another likely trouble spot for the Pre is the slider mechanism that could wear out over time, warns Vronko. Still, he rates the Pre a “solid build”. “The phone is in pretty good shape,” he says.

See more photos from the Pre teardown

Palm Pre with its back panel removed

Palm Pre’s front panel exposed

Palm Pre’s front panel board view

For step-by-step view of the Pre disassembly, check out Rapid Repair’s site

Photos: Rapid Repair

It was bound to happen sooner or later — this poor Cowon S9 got the vivisection treatment and the startling pics have been posted in the Anything But iPod forums. And guess what? It’s choc full of tiny components, a little bit of “wax paper or something,” and let’s not forget that world renowned AMOLED touch screen. This endeavor hasn’t been undertaken in vain, however — the good doctor has included tons of pics and step-by-step instructions in case you ever have to conduct the operation yourself. You know, in the name of science.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Cowon S9 gets pulled apart, put back together again originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are you dying to see Nokia’s latest, the N97 ripped to shreds in glorious moving pictures? Well, that’s too bad: we don’t have that. What we do have, however, is a series of photographs of said shred-ripping, turned into a video. A creepy, silent film, if you will, complete with subtitles. Lack of movement and sound aside, it gives us a pretty great look at the innards of the handset, if that’s what you’re into. Sure, it’s not The Goldrush, but if you want to see the N97 in a talkie, there’s always that Royksopp video, right? Full video after the break.

[Thanks, Mike]

Continue reading N97 disassembled on video… sort of

Filed under: Cellphones

N97 disassembled on video… sort of originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 18:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When iSuppli recently reported that the parts and packaging of the iPod Shuffle 3G cost only $21.77, a mere twenty-eight percent of the unit’s retail price, PMP Today asked a most reasonable question: Where are the new Shuffle KIRFs? According to Business Week, Samsung is making a killing on these things, supplying not only the unit’s ARM-based processor ($5.98), but the storage ($6) on at least a few of the units as well. The lithium ion battery, described by iSuppli as “the smallest we’ve ever seen,” has an asking price of $1.20. As for things like capacitors and resistors, they’re being described as “about the size of a grain of salt” and cost fractions of a penny each. Of course, none of this takes into account things like paying engineers and designers, and royalties paid to patents owned by other companies. Not that the KIRFsters of Shenzhen worry about these sorts of things. Maybe the wherewithal required to produce a phony Shuffle is (for the time being) beyond the capabilities of the pirates? Or maybe they’re just having too much fun cranking out NOKLAs.

Read – iPod Shuffle 3G Costs $22 to Make: Where are the Clones?
Read – Deconstructing Apple’s Tiny iPod Shuffle

Filed under: Portable Audio

$22 iPod Shuffle shocker: components tiny, inexpensive originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, we saw the Nintendo DSi get its teardown treatment back in November, but now that it’s available stateside, iFixit’s decided to go for round two and rip the portable completely apart, snapping pics at each painful step. Taking it a step further, we also get to see in finer detail some of the differences between the new hardware and its DS Lite predecessor, including the now smaller 840mAh battery that we hear’s been contributing to some shorter play sessions. For all the gritty imagery, kindly point your mouse to the read link below.

[Via Wired]

Filed under: Gaming

Nintendo DSi torn asunder, sized up against DS Lite’s innards originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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