TearDown -- Engadget Mobile

Motorola Droid torn down despite desperate cries of 'no disassemble'

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 11th 2009 @ 5:32PM

If you were thinking of tearing apart your own Droid, let us direct you first to this quote straight from the folks at phoneWreck: "no easy task." It seems that even finding some of the screws involved in holding the mess together was a problem, but at the end of the day, good old-fashioned human ingenuity prevailed over... well, other human ingenuity, and the phone fell asunder into the 16 pieces you see here. As you might imagine, there's a bit of industrial magic involved in fitting a full QWERTY slide into a package this tight -- but just as Moto was up to the challenge of putting it together, some dude with a little time on his hands was up to the challenge of asploding it. Needless to say, we won't be doing this to ours.

HTC HD2 ripped to shreds, probably in the name of science

by Ross Miller posted Nov 10th 2009 @ 11:08PM

Hello there, HD2. To be honest, it's a bit soon in our relationship to be seeing all your inner workings -- not that we mind. The folks on the xda-developers forums have done the duty of tearing down HTC's impressively skinned Windows Mobile 6.5 device. Not much to glean from the snapshots, but if you do harbor some strange technologically-inclined curiosity and would never consider ripping up the phone yourself, hit up the read link for more pictures.

[Via Pocketnow]

iPhone 3GS: $179 to build says iSuppli

by Laura June posted Jun 24th 2009 @ 3:20PM

iSuppli's just released its estimated cost of Apple's newest offering, the iPhone 3GS. Total costs for the 16GB model costs $178.96 to manufacture, according to them -- give or take $4.63 more than the 8GB iPhone 3G estimate from last year. It's also about $40 more than iSuppli's most recent manufacturing estimate for the Palm Pre. The estimate covers only materials, and doesn't take into account various costs such as shipping and distribution, packaging, royalty fees or all the miscellaneous accessories included with each handset. Regardless, it definitely looks like Apple's managed to step up the innards of the phone without a significant bump in costs.

iPhone 3G S gets the quick and dirty tear apart treatment, already

by Ross Miller posted Jun 19th 2009 @ 12:04AM

Well that was fast. Orange Boutique in Paris, France did a midnight release of the iPhone 3G S, and the gang at Rapid Repair were there to pick one up and subsequently rip their new toy to shreds. There isn't much here in terms of analysis of parts yet, it's more so just a quick and dirty job to get it out to the world, but hey, if you're into watching someone rip apart brand new, expensive gadgetry, we've got just the gallery for you.

Palm Pre and Touchstone get torn down gently, beautifully

by Darren Murph posted Jun 7th 2009 @ 11:27AM

As much as we love those guys and gals over at Will It Blend?, we couldn't help but cringe each time they "dissected" any given gadget. The cautious cats over at iFixit, however, are more our style. Gentle, loving, appreciative and respectful -- what else could you want in a gizmo surgeon? Per usual, they've done whatever it takes to get ahold of Palm's new Pre and Touchstone, but rather than basking in the glory of ownership, they promptly unrolled their tool belt, fired up the DSLR and proceeded to dissemble both units for your viewing pleasure. We already know that all those little innards add up to right around $170 (for the Pre, anyway), but there's nothing quite like looking at each and every chip and bit yourself. Hit up the read links below if you find your interest piqued, and don't forget to tip your hat as you exit.

Read - Palm Pre teardown
Read - Palm Touchstone teardown

Palm Pre already torn to shreds, estimated to cost $170

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 6th 2009 @ 12:21PM

Zero-day teardowns are now a staple of major new product launches, and Rapid Repair is eager to do the deed on the Pre just a few hours after going on sale. Word like "pry," "razor," "spudge," and "difficult" all make appearances in this one, so the long and the short of it is that you don't want to try doing this yourself unless you're a microsurgeon, an electrical engineer, or you have a total commitment and willingness to destroy your brand new Pre in the name of science. Overall, Rapid Repair estimates $170.02 in components -- but as always, this figure doesn't mean a lot since you can't quantify the blood, sweat, tears, and poached engineers from competitors that went into this product over the last several years.

N97 disassembled on video... sort of

by Laura June posted May 29th 2009 @ 6:16PM

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

Meizu M8 gets stripped of its shell, dignity

by Chris Ziegler posted Dec 5th 2008 @ 1:32AM

See that Meizu M8 there? See that multitool-equipped hand? Yeah, you know damn well what's going to happen next, and we think the translated text expresses it best: "Well, the last one of the screws removed, MEIZU M8 has been completely broken up in a heap before us." The M8's guts make for some predictably boring pictures (unless you're really into circuitry), but the interesting bit might come in the accompanying narrative where we learn that the phone seems pretty dang solid -- good build quality, good materials, and name-brand components. That being said, they found it wasn't quite up to the iPhone 3G's standards for sheer manufacturing prowess -- but hey, they wouldn't want to take any cues from Apple, would they?

[Thanks, Jeff]

iSuppli says T-Mobile G1 costs $144 to make, nothing to love

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 12th 2008 @ 1:51PM

Teardown specialist iSuppli is at it again, digging through the G1's guts this time around in an effort to wrap its inquisitive brain around the inaugural Android handset's bill of materials. The result? $144, which naturally doesn't reflect HTC's R&D -- an additional expense that might have been unusually low for the G1 considering HTC's overwhelming expertise in manufacturing all things mobile. For the record, this is about $30 less than iSuppli's July estimate for the 8GB iPhone 3G, though the comparison isn't terribly fair considering that the G1 has a mere pittance of internal storage by comparison. There's no telling what T-Mobile pays HTC for each and every G1 it sells, but we pay $179 (or less) on contract -- so it seems HTC is making itself a nice little profit right out of the gate and customers aren't footing much of the bill. At least, not until they've gone a few months into their two-year agreements.

T-Mobile G1 ripped to shreds, uses same trackball as RIM's -- maybe they can be friends

by Paul Miller posted Oct 31st 2008 @ 10:01AM

In the grand tradition of TMI, the G1's gone through a teardown for your voyeuristic pleasure. Underneath that chubby matte shell there are all sorts of build-related details that you probably didn't need to know, like the fact that Panasonic built the main board, the compass was built by Asahi Kasei (exciting, we know) and the keyboard element is thin. Some might say too thin. Perhaps of most note is the trackball, which is basically identical to what RIM uses -- minus the fancy glowing effect. All riveting factoids, we assure you. One item of worry is that the engineers doing the teardown noted the particular thinness of the plastic bar connecting the sliding display to the phone, and raised the troubling possibility of breaking the display off from he handset. We certainly won't be stress testing that element, we can assure you.

Video: Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1 gets white-glove dissection

by Darren Murph posted Oct 22nd 2008 @ 10:47AM

White glove delivery? Puhlease. Try white glove dissection, as in, the four part saga shown to us via the miracles of YouTube by gadget lover CyK1. Using a cautious approach, a pair of tweezers, what appears to be a guitar pick and a pair of delicate white gloves, he details the disassembly of SE's highly-anticipated XPERIA X1 in four captivating clips. Granted, two of the four actually show reassembly efforts, but you know you're not about to leave after just watching half of the show. Hop on past the break once your popcorn is ready.

Continue reading Video: Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1 gets white-glove dissection

RIM's BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 endures old fashioned tear down

by Darren Murph posted Oct 19th 2008 @ 1:43AM

Just because you're the elephant in the group, that doesn't mean you'll get away without suffering through the same humiliation that comes with being a hot new BlackBerry: dissection on camera. RIM's first flip phone has recently been disassembled by the curious minds over at SycotecSolutions, giving us all an up close and personal look at what makes the Pearl Flip 8220 tick. Eager for more? Give the read link some of your undivided attention.

BlackBerry Bold gets another review, sneaks into more comparison shots

by Darren Murph posted Jul 31st 2008 @ 12:55PM

We know, we know -- you've already seen a couple of Bold reviews, but honestly, can you really get enough of this thing? While the release date draws nearer (or not), why not feast your retinas on yet another hands-on experience that involves a closer look at the user interface, an inside glance (yes, sans the back cover) of the internals and a slew of comparison shots with other handsets. Sorry to keep teasing you, but you know you love the torture.