iPhone 5 Teardown Shows Boost To Repairability 171
iFixit has posted a detailed teardown of the new iPhone 5. While the casing still uses Apple's proprietary pentalobe fasteners, the good news is that Apple has made the screen much easier to remove. Once the fasteners have been removed, the screen will lift out easily through the use of a suction cup. The screens are by far the most common parts of iPhones to break, and this change turns a complicated 38-step procedure that takes about 45 minutes at minimum into a quick, 5-10 minute job. The teardown also shows the iPhone 5 battery to be very similar to the iPhone 4S's, suggesting that the improvements to battery life come from other hardware and software changes. We get a look at the new A6 processor running the phone, which is a custom design based on ARMv7. iFixit also looks at the Lightning connector assembly; unfortunately, it includes the loudspeaker, bottom microphone, Wi-Fi antenna, and headphone jack as well, so fixing any one of those parts individually will be difficult. Whatever you think of Apple's decision to move to Lightning instead of micro-USB, it seems their switch away from the 30-pin connecter was necessitated by size constraints.
Summary fails to give final score (7/10) (Score:5, Informative)
Pentalobe is not proprietary (Score:4, Informative)
I've had pentalobe drivers since before Jobs went back to apple and at least 15 years before the iPhone ever existed.
Just because you aren't used to seeing them on all the crap you buy designed to be as cheap as possible.
Pentalobe bolts are about a thousand times more reliable than Phillips heads, which are DESIGNED TO STRIP WHEN CRAPPY FACTORY WORKERS OVER TORQUE the screw/bolt during assembly.
Every time you call pentalobe proprietary you just make your ignorance and inner fanboy obvious.
Re:Pentalobe is not proprietary (Score:4, Informative)
Torx fulfills that need and is far more common.
Like you said, with phillips heads the bit jumping the grooves is a design feature not a flaw.
Pentalobe is just a little less common, but not hard to get either.
Re:Pentalobe is not proprietary (Score:5, Informative)
I've had pentalobe drivers since before Jobs went back to apple and at least 15 years before the iPhone ever existed.
Just because you aren't used to seeing them on all the crap you buy designed to be as cheap as possible.
I call BS on this, everything I've googled is stating that Pentalobe is a new design that Apple came up with. It is very similar to the Torx screw, but incompatible by design. Unless you have some link to prove that pentalobe is not a new design, I'm gonna say you are shilling or mistaken.
Re:F$^%$ers (Score:5, Informative)
Well, there comes time to change. The dock connector is nearly a decade old, and being called to do stuff it was never envisioned to do so pins are heavily multiplexed and you still need to have protection circuits (after all, someone could still plug in a +48V firewire cable to it, even if the pins ar eused elsewhere, it still needs ot handle it gracefully). And other stuff get obsolete - do you really need composite, s-video and component video outputs these days? And other stuff gets bodged in (VGA, HDMI, USB host) In the end, the connector's a mess.
The new cable would at least be a bit more future-proof (the dock connector was designed for a time when iPods were king, and smartphones were a race between Blackberry, PalmOS, and WInMo, tablets were running Windows You can only expand it so much before it starts becoming a legacy maintainance nightmare.
So a new connector is needed, and it should take in mind it will have to handle stuff that may be coming soon (e.g., 3D, 4K video formats) as well as stuff that no one's thought of yet (because changing connectors is painful). It should also support what made the old connector good - an easy way to get line-out and headphone audio, an easy way to control the iPod and an easy way to get video.
So the best way to future proof it would be a connector that basically adapts some sort of bidirectional digital signalling system with adapters that produce the final output desired. If some fancy new way to hook up an iDevice to TVs comes out, a new adapter is all it takes (and supporting software), rather than having to figure out how to multiplex pins even more.
It's probably also why the Lightning to dock adapters are so bloody expensive - they've got signalling chips that transform the digital into stndard analog audio, serial control , etc that the old connector has).
Re:F$^%$ers (Score:4, Informative)
I love all the angst over a cable. Isn't this the day and age of wireless syncing? Of online syncing? The only reason I've ever needed my iPhone cable in the past year is to charge it--and before iOS5, I only ever used it for software updates.
Peripherals? People act as though every iPhone user is now going to have to spend hundreds of dollars buying new peripherals. This ignores two things:
1. The obvious. There's an adapter you can buy. The Apple one is $30, but you can find them much cheaper on Amazon.
2. Not every iPhone user will have to spend hundreds on new peripherals. Personally, I will have to spend exactly $0. Of people I know, only one friend will need to buy a $30 set of speakers (that is--if he still uses them).
I've always found micro-USB a bit annoying to actually plug in. It's not an arduous task or anything, but it sometimes takes a couple tries if the cable manages to go in at an angle. That the new connector is reversible is pretty nifty.
Re:Sooo... (Score:5, Informative)
It's perfectly logical: Making it easier to repair makes it cheaper (for the tech) to repair.
1. They sell more iPhones than they do MacBooks.
2. iPhones break more than MacBooks--there's #1, and also the fact that people carry their phones everywhere.
3. The most common breaking point of an iPhone is the screen.
4. Making the screen easier to remove makes it cheaper to replace.
MacBooks don't have nearly the number of accidents, so they can lock it down a bit more in their quest for nicely fitting and ultra-thin hardware.
Flavors of Spinal Tap (Score:5, Informative)
The gist of that article is "Lightning is better because it has 8 pins! 8 is more than 5!"
And 11 is louder than 10...
It's nonsense. You can put audio and video over micro-USB (see: MHL), and the standard specifically allows for sending more power over the cable when a device is using its own charger, so the argument "You couldn't charge the iPad!" is BS. The Nexus 7, Kindle, Galaxy Tab, Transformer, etc. all charge fine over micro-USB based chargers.
Re:Data comm speed - guess LTW means nothing... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/09/12/iphone-5-three-mics/ [idownloadblog.com]
Re:F$^%$ers (Score:0, Informative)
What?
Lightning accessories will support iPod controls just fine. The Lightning to 30-pin adapter does not support "iPod Out" which was a screen mirroring mode for docking an iPod/iPhone to an external display/control interface (like the large touchscreens in some cars). With no Lightning accessories available yet, it's not clear if a pure Lightning-Lightning system will provide a replacement for this mode. In any case, iPod controls are still there, even with the adapter.
Analog output over an all-digital connection is obviously impossible. The whole point of Lightning is to go the Thunderbolt route of adaptive signaling and supporting various protocols and communication methods that don't exist yet. Analog out is available through the DAC in the adapter to legacy accessories that require it, and accessories going forward will be all-digital, obviating any ongoing need for analog audio output.
12V charging isn't a function of the connector, so I don't even know what you're talking about there.
The new connector does four main things:
1. Improved durability and usability (easier to insert, reversible, far less fragile).
2. Much smaller in surface area and volume than existing in-device hardware
3. Future-proofing by allowing changes to signaling and data protocols without changing the connector hardware without having to dedicate specific pins or plan around hypothetical future developments in needs for mobile devices.
4. Comprehensive functionality not offered by USB or MHL (which has its own limitations in connector compatibility, device compatibility, features, and simultaneous use of USB and extended features--on top of not yet even being a ratified standard). MHL might one day be a standard set of communications methods, but it will never be a standard connector with standard implementations across manufacturers. Using a USB connector isn't even specified by MHL.
Re:Complies with spirit (Score:3, Informative)
Re:F$^%$ers (Score:4, Informative)
That link is a summary of anouer summary of another summary, and is quite simply stupid and incorrect.
Instead, look at the source link: http://brockerhoff.net/blog/2012/09/13/boom-2/ [brockerhoff.net]
and a follow-up post: http://brockerhoff.net/blog/2012/09/18/boom-a-follow-up/ [brockerhoff.net]
Lightning definitely has advantages over micro USB. And one big disadvantage: it's proprietary. Most manufacturers, thankfully, have to go with something standard, but Apple has the clout to ignore standards to their own (and, arguably, their customers') benefit.
Re:Most things still work (Score:4, Informative)
The only thing I have ever seen a micro-USB on is phones. The apple dock connector however has become common on clock radios, speakers & a plethora of docks. As micro-USB does not have enough pins for some dock functions, is not reversible, cannot furnish the wattage necessary to quick charge an iPad & should not need to be changed to accommodate USB3, it looks to me to be a good move. Change now, give an adapter for the old devices & do not need to change for another decade.
Do you really believe that the current Micro-USB connector has much longer to live given that it cannot do USB3? Have you seen the abomination that is micro-USB3 with a dual socket structure wider than a USB type A? Have you never had problems with micro-USB being hard to insert the right way? Hell, I've seen a number of normal sockets where the shelf holding the contacts was snapped off & micro-USB damaged by people inserting them the wrong way. USB is not a great connector & within a few years most phones will have moved on to something else anyway.The only thing I have ever seen a micro-USB on is phones. The apple dock connector however has become common on clock radios, speakers & a plethora of docks. As micro-USB does not have enough pins for some dock functions, is not reversible, cannot furnish the wattage necessary to quick charge an iPad & should not need to be changed to accommodate USB3, it looks to me to be a good move. Change now, give an adapter for the old devices & do not need to change for another decade.
Do you really believe that the current Micro-USB connector has much longer to live given that it cannot do USB3? Have you seen the abomination that is micro-USB3 with a dual socket structure wider than a USB type A? Have you never had problems with micro-USB being hard to insert the right way? Hell, I've seen a number of normal sockets where the shelf holding the contacts was snapped off & micro-USB damaged by people inserting them the wrong way. USB is not a great connector & within a few years most phones will have moved on to something else anyway.