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The iPhone 3G Gets Dissected
Posted by Mark Wilson at 9:24 AM on July 11, 2008
Those lads over at ifixit promised us that they'd be the first to crack open the iPhone 3G. And pending any stories coming out about absurdly bad gadget-dropping experiences from outside Vodafone, it seems they've delivered. We'll be following ifixit this morning to get the first look. Read on to behold the inside of your iPhone 3G (so you don't give into that impulse to crack it open yourself).
AU: Huge shout out to Luke from iFixit who lined up in the Auckland cold just to pull his iPhone 3G apart. He was fourth through the doors... I just hope he managed to put it all back together.
Such a tease....
OK, scratch that, we're actually getting a bit nauseous.
And the glass is no longer glued to the display (which means easier repairs, ifixit points out...plug plug).
My favourite part of this shot: The "Do Not Remove" sticker. UPDATE! It appears ifixit is going to remove it! If we're all sucked into a black hole, Brian Lam, we made eye contact once over dinner and I thought there might be something more there but wasn't sure.
UPDATE 2: OK, I think they were just joking about removing the sticker for the time being. You know, like I was joking about that whole Lam dinner thing.
The battery is not soldered on.
Here's the heart (logic board) of the iPhone 3G. According to ifixit, Intel NOR flash on the top left, Skyworks power management on the top right.
Here's the second half of the logic board. It's pretty easy to spot the massive Apple-branded processor.
And we are left with only an empty shell...consumerism sheds a tear.
Pending any other massive discoveries, we think we've seen enough iPhone 3G anatomy to curb the craving. Head on over to ifixit for more updates. [ifixit]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
Ryan
Posted July 11, 2008 9:37 AM
And who said the iPhone battery is not user replacable?
Callum
Posted July 11, 2008 10:06 AM
OMG! it's iGasmic. If the battery isn't soldered on does that mean possible disconnection?
Benny
Posted July 11, 2008 12:30 PM
Is that a QR code on the ... ok I dont know what part that is but the piccy is below this quote:
"UPDATE 2: OK, I think they were just joking about removing the sticker for the time being. You know, like I was joking about that whole Lam dinner thing."
Anyone curious as to what would happen if we used a nokia phone to decipher it?
ikdo
Posted July 11, 2008 8:52 PM
Can any1 knows if the flash memory can be upgraded/removed or if it's soldiered on?
ikdo
bir0
Posted July 12, 2008 4:08 PM
The QR/Datamatrix code says... wait for it... J582731MPY5KC... which is also written on the sticker.
I pasted the image into photoshop and adjusted the levels a little to help my Nokia N95 decode it easier.
I decoded a datamatrix on an envelope the other week that had info in it that was already visible beside it in plain text.
..and here I was thinking that it might say something exciting...'the source is satan' or 'all your base are belong to Jobs' or something... ;-)
-bir0
Kaspir
Posted 12:15 AM 11/7/08
hypothetically though, could one take the 32GB out of the ipod touch and put it in an iPhone??? perhaps with cleaner hands than the ones pictured?
Kaspir
kingzj
Posted 12:11 AM 11/7/08
iPhone and iPod Touch use flash chips rather than traditional drives so replacing is next to impossible.
kingzj
Kaspir
Posted 12:09 AM 11/7/08
Holy crap....their warranty is sooooo void now...
Kaspir
pantag
Posted 12:08 AM 11/7/08
So, will someone be able to replace the 16GB drive with a bigger one? Is it a simple HD swap/firmware restore scenario?
pantag
tagakweens
Posted 12:07 AM 11/7/08
if I was the guy doing the dissecting, guess what I'll do first... correct... I'll cut my nails first or at least clean it...
tagakweens
s3p5
Posted 12:06 AM 11/7/08
@thetickler: It comes with the standard iPhone headphones (mic included).
s3p5
thetickler
Posted 12:03 AM 11/7/08
I checked the site out. He explains the contents of the box and states that the headphones are the regular ones found on all ipods. Does this mean the remote mic headphone is not included?
thetickler
Joseph
Posted 11:56 PM 10/7/08
Thought you had new sim ejector tool there for a sec.
Joseph
iPeg
Posted 11:53 PM 10/7/08
Does not look like the battery can be easily removed...
iPeg
Tylas
Posted 11:50 PM 10/7/08
Crazy bastards
Tylas
mcdonnr
Posted 12:42 AM 11/7/08
@dingus: Right, but there are tools available that let you write extremely low-level, including but not limited to boot block and/or baseband. Eh?
mcdonnr
mcdonnr
Posted 12:42 AM 11/7/08
@Kaspir: Woah, woah, woah... why hasn't this been done yet?
mcdonnr
dingus
Posted 12:40 AM 11/7/08
@Kaspir: Flash is most likely soldered down like on the 1G and touch. Plus, there is likely a boot block in the flash that the iPhone needs to be able to do a recovery to load FW onto fresh chips. Not to mention the Touch may use more flash chips to get the 32GB than the iPhone, so there might not be a place in the iPhone for the extra memory.
The short answer is: probably, but you'd need a pretty swank set of lab equipment and soldering skillz.
dingus
pipper
Posted 12:37 AM 11/7/08
So, undo the 2 screws at the bottle and the whole front will pop out? (or do I have to force/crack it open using a "nylon stick"?)
From the ifixit site it seems the battery looks semi customer-replaceable.
pipper
strider_mt2k
Posted 12:37 AM 11/7/08
NICE pics!
Always better to let someone else do this and live through them vicariously via the magic of tubed electrons and such.
strider_mt2k
Castle1914
Posted 12:34 AM 11/7/08
@Kaspir: That would be expensive to say the least. But if you've got the cash, more power to ya!
Castle1914
EasyGT
Posted 12:09 AM 11/7/08
,b
EasyGT
EasyGT
Posted 12:09 AM 11/7/08
so wheres the batt!
EasyGT
thetickler
Posted 1:15 AM 11/7/08
@s3p5: great, thanks.
thetickler
reefer
Posted 1:09 AM 11/7/08
@tagakweens: Are you sure your a guy? My nails look quite similar.. maybe a bit worse, oh wait... I actually use my hands to perform manual tasks.
reefer
WinkMe
Posted 1:04 AM 11/7/08
@mcdonnr: for the same reason why you can swap out drives in the first place. Flash chips suck for removing and replacing (I.e. almost impossible)
WinkMe
rudeadly
Posted 12:54 AM 11/7/08
circuit bend it
rudeadly
itchytooth
Posted 1:40 AM 11/7/08
It actually looks pretty fun to take apart.
itchytooth
SneakerFiend
Posted 1:26 AM 11/7/08
@tagakweens: I thought i was the only one paying attention to his nails. It irked me seeing his dirty nails. T.T talk about poor hygene.
SneakerFiend
talkingsandwich
Posted 2:06 AM 11/7/08
but...can you put it back together and have it work?
talkingsandwich
altus
Posted 2:02 AM 11/7/08
Clean set-up. Would not have been too hard to make that battery replaceable.
altus
Pi-face
Posted 2:01 AM 11/7/08
DAMMIT, NO! NO! NO!
;_; this post makes me sad.
Pi-face
mrkymrk
Posted 1:52 AM 11/7/08
How cool is it going to be when OLED is ready to be put in these?
mrkymrk
etaripamai
Posted 2:35 AM 11/7/08
The batt looks replaceable. Anyone have the balls to try though? Im gonna build an SD card slot..... pshhhht
etaripamai
Digital Freak
Posted 4:54 AM 11/7/08
Balls of STEEL!!! Sick to my stomach ;)
Digital Freak
sfokevin
Posted 6:22 AM 11/7/08
And the screw count?...
sfokevin
shorty63136
Posted 6:13 AM 11/7/08
So sexy...
shorty63136
StealthNinja
Posted 5:50 AM 13/7/08
SE Cyber Shot 8.1 megapixels or larger for a comparison, for the next NIKE 3G IPHone please!
StealthNinja