With nary hours
since the reviews went live, the gang at
iFixit -- no doubt blessed by the
hands of early deliveries -- have procured an
iPhone 4. And as is their modus operandi, they wasted no time tearing that sucker apart screw by screw. The teardown is still ongoing, but here's what we got so far: 512MB RAM (confirming
earlier rumors), a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor (same as the
Samsung Wave S8500, they say), and chemically-strengthened Gorilla Glass for a more
torture-friendly front panel. Those two screws on the bottom of the phone can be removed to excise the real panel, but the site says the front glass "will likely be rather challenging [to remove]." The battery, looking rather large even in the pictures, is a whopping 1420mAh Li-Polymer -- comparatively, the
Nexus One is 1400mAh and the HTC
Droid Incredible is 1300mAh. There's no SIM eject tool with this phone, but a paper clip should work just fine. As for the much-ballyhooed side panel antennas, the phone apparently now "[utilizes] whichever network band is less congested or has the least interference for the best signal quality, regardless of actual signal strength" -- in other words, better call reliability (hopefully). Also helping with overall voice quality is a dual microphone setup for suppressing background noise. Peruse on over if you're interested in seeing a bare Apple device at its most beautiful.
Update: The teardown is complete with a few more interesting bits of information. First, the battery is very easy to remove (and thus, replace) after removing the two screws. The LCD panel is not, however, as it's tighly glued to the glass and digitizer. So if you do manage to break the Gorilla Glass, you'll have to replace it, the digitizer, and the LCD as a single unit. The new AGD1 3-axis gyroscope is thought to be made by ST Micro and Broadcom provides both the BCM4750IUB8 single-chip GPS receiver and BCM4329FKUBG receiver giving the iPhone 4 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and an FM radio.
posted June 22nd 2010 11:38PM
(the obligatory) "Will it blend"?
@Justin Bieber 3
what a horrible username ! jking
@Justin Bieber 3 this is so satisfying to see :)
@Justin Bieber 3
For sure! Haha. Have they found anything that doesn't blend?
@rockstarben1 Not sure, I keep wanting to see them blend one of their competitors blenders though. Give it some time I'm sure we'll see an iPhone 4 in the cyclone of doom...
@Justin Bieber 3 will it bend?
@rockstarben1 Chuck Norris doesn't blend...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ImibHwYqU
@rockstarben1
Chuck Norris!
@New Reformation
Every time some one says 'Chuck Norris' I hear this in my head...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcxthg885ZY
@Justin Bieber 3
Nah apple's task force will stop the blending process!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06O5rejU3ZU&feature=related
@Justin Bieber 3 No. It's the Godphone. It's holy. It wouldn't blend.
@Justin Bieber 3
Will Just Bieber Blend?
@Justin Bieber 3 ............................wow why does engadget continue to claim that the iphone 4 has gorilla glass. they are going to get into some serious legal trouble soon. the iphone 4 does not have gorilla glass., yes it has a similar tech but is not the patented design of Corning Gorilla Glass.Corning Gorilla glass is an environmentally friendly alkali-aluminosilicate THIN sheet glass designed specifically to function as a protective cover glass for high-end display devices such as notebook PCs, televisions and mobile phones. key word thin and that glass on the iphone 4 is not thin. not at all.
That's one sexy phone.
@LoganJ I expected a bigger battery since they said it was so large, it's still definitely large for how slim and small it is, but phones these days come with 1500mAh+ to be the cream of the crop. Who knows if the bar will be raised even higher 6 months from now.
Still, it sips power so users wont complain, it's got some staying power.
@LoganJ
yes it is but the moto 2ghz phone is far more sexir :)
@theonlysmr
I suggest you buy 2, 1 to keep with your Courier
@LoganJ
So how long until someone transplants the 512 MB of RAM from iPhone 4 to the iPad?
@juanvaldez Well keep in mind the iPhone is small. The phones you're seeing a 1500 mAH battery in are the ones with 4.3 inch screens (even the Dell Streak only has a 1500 mAh battery). To cram a battery that big in a phone this small is pretty impressive, but it's the sort of thing you can only do by sacrificing the ability to have the battery be user replaceable -- a trade-off not everyone will agree is worthwhile.
@Faxmonkey Again, I'm more saying I wonder what we'll be seeing in 6 months and it's the rated time that is really more important than the figure, and that's why a device like the Evo or the Streak wont last as long (amongst other reasons, though the screen has the biggest impact on usage time).
Though a think a pico at this stage is a gimmick, Samsung Beam packs together a 3.7" Super AMOLED (better on battery than AMOLED) along with a whopper of a battery @ 1800mAh which Samsung claims to have over a 75% better battery rating (I'll give Apple's reputation to have conservative battery ratings to mean it might be more like 65-70%), though only the same amount of talk time.
@Faxmonkey
With 38 hours of battery life while actually being USED, not just idling, I'd like to see anybody make a reasonable justification for a removable battery.
@Jack If you blend the first one.
@Jack "With 38 hours of battery life while actually being USED, not just idling, I'd like to see anybody make a reasonable justification for a removable battery."
Batteries don't last forever. They do die and have to be replaced, sometimes within a year. I know quite a few people who's iphone batteries went kapupt, Which results in them having to get their phone replaced
@Faxmonkey I've had my iPhone 3G for 2-3 years now and have never had battery issues...If the 4 has the same quality I could care less.
@Shinjifei
Not to mention the 38 hour number comes from having very few apps that support backgrounding. Wait until you have 10-12 apps that want to poll for data, position, etc at the same time as that will be a more interesting test (not to mention giving the battery a couple weeks to settle in).
@bonedog73
silly americans. it's "couldn't care less". if you could care less, then you must care at least a little about battery issues
@Jack I wanna see those 38 hours when playing games, browsing the net or watching a video. Those are the reasons why I carry an extra battery for my current cellphone.
I'm holding out for my Moto DroidX :-)
But still iPhone 4 looks nice
"Wil it blend?"
@AdamSapnik
Getting paid to advertise the Droid X?
@AdamSapnik
Seriously, is that the next "great" phone I'm going to have to read people bitching about each time I read and iPhone article?
A month after it's released nobody will care about the Droid whatever.
@Christopher02
*an
@Christopher02
really thats odd because the first Droid came out 7 months ago and everyone still cares about it. Its also still selling like hot cakes, and besides I've already forgotten about this phone because every piece of it is already outdated except the screen, and that will be gone in 3 months. Apple products are just a means to an end for steve jobs, the end being money. thats why all the iPhones are only marginal upgrades and everything added to them has for the most part already done and when they want to make it extra "magical" they'll add one new feature and either half ass it or make it so un unique that every phone in the world will have it in the next three months. sorry to burst your bubble fanboy
@DroidCLH
Is "hot cakes" in Droid land like 100k phones? I never see anyone with one of those phones...
I knew of someone who had a 3GS and got a Droid when it first came out and he was really disappointed with it. He said that other than call quality, the iPhone was a much better phone all around.
@DroidCLH
Yeah, because Motorola and Google brought you the Droid because they love you, and want you to be happy. So they put out their phones to spread glee and cheer.
Here's a clue; all these products are a "means to an end", that end being to separate you from your money. And from the looks of things, with all the fanboys gobbling up whatever new Android device is the FOTM model, Android looks to be a bigger money pit than the iPhone could ever *hope* to be.
@Kevin6432
I've seen one Droid in person, and its' a creaky, cheap-feeling plastic piece of garbage. I won't even get started on how the OS feels like a half-baked Linux abortion that just won't die.
@DroidCLH Nothing about the iPhone is outdated... the screen is what makes it better than the opponents' phones...
@DroidCLH And the fact that Apple has this Retina screen which all the competitors are gonna copy makes it so magical...
@Kevin6432
How bout you actually RESEARCH the sales number. The Droid sold more it the first two months than the iPhone 3gs did
@DefPoet
THAT is not true at all, please post your source. Even though you can get droid phones "buy one get one free" they still don't outsell apple, and apple is making money on EVERY phone. You should actually get YOUR facts straight.
@DefPoet You should really practice what you preach. The Droid sold more in the first 2 months than the original iPhone. Which isn't something to be proud of considering the iPhone cost $600 when it first came out. The 3gs sold about as many in 2 days as the Droid did in 2 months. A rather embarrassing fail on your part I must say.
@Kevin6432
Yah, cause of course noone really needs a smartphone that can actually make phone calls...
@AdamSapnik Jesus, why are you guys so touchy? all I said was the iPhone is nice but i'm waiting for the droidx, just because I mentioned something other than your beloved iPhone gives you no right to act like a toddler and no I'm not being payed, I just said I'm waiting for another phone and you guys get all pissy! That's pathetic! So just calm down... I thought this was a site to do with all things tech where you can have a good time with people like yourselves... Obviously I was mistaken!!
@ebon Had you actually used a Droid you would know it's metal and glass, not plastic, and the general consensus is that it is of high build quality. Anywho, glad Apple stepped up their game for this device. I'm an android user, but I love new things and innovation, regardless of where they come from. Short of it, fanboi fail.
@AdamSapnik They are touchy because of the flood of comments on way too many stories with people saying things like "X > Y" and "my phone can kick your phone's ass". It's getting really old.
You comment could look like that if someone squinted and that triggered a round of post and counter-post that escalated, though not as much as on some stories.
@DroidCLH Lolololololol you already forgot the phone? Are you mindlessly wondering the comment section then? Are you some lost sheep. Go find your shepered, you're clearly in the wrong place. And, while you're at it, go grab some recent facts. Not only is the A4 the fastest mobile processor in a phone, but 512mb of RAM will be over kill for iOS, when Android desperately needs 512mb, and yet, only the really expensive ones get the luxury. The operating system determines the real value of the componets and iPhone had just lost the lead a couple of months ago. Android is going to need these 2GHz processors if they want to even be relatent. Btw, have you seen iPhone multitasking? It's like magic*******
@ebon
At least we have control over our devices and OS though, some people value that over walking around being seen with a shiny product.
Functionality > Vanity.
No Flash = Trash, Controlled dev environment and controlling the developers and users from the ground up is wrong in every single situation, and people who continually buy the apple products in this day and age are just as much to blame for Steve Jobs and that company's AWFUL policies. Facts that just can't be argued.
@Cold Dead Fingers
Yeah I thought Steve Jobs said it had an A4 in it. Why did iFixit post that it has an A8 processor then? If I'm correct I think the core of the A4 is an A8 structure right? But it's still an A4 now and they have moved away from the actual A8 processor which was also MUCH bigger.
@grindking
You'll find your "facts" are hardly facts, and argument between reasonable people are completely possible. Some people don't want to use a phone with a command line and Linux commands. (I exaggerate to make a point.) iPhone users like their phones because they work they wa they want them to. Phones are more like refrigerators than computers. We want them to work, do their jobs and get out of the way. We don't want to have to hack them to make them to tricks.
Reviews are in, and the new iPhone can actually make calls too! Bad news for frandroids and Verizon.
@Joe007 A4 is the name of Apples complete chip. The CPU and video processor and memory controller etc are all on 1 chip that apple calls the A4. It contains an ARM Cortex A8 core @ 1ghz, however.
I don't see the magical gnomes?