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.
Well there goes all my productivity for today (Score:5, Funny)
was trying to concentrate here..
And since when did girls get on the internet?
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And since when did girls get on the internet with their clothes on?
I think this is what you meant.
Summary fails to give final score (7/10) (Score:5, Informative)
Data comm speed - guess LTW means nothing... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not considering the above mention of score, data comm speed are the same and multimedia roughly the same.
The inclusion of LTE alone marks that statement wrong.
Oh and playing music and sound quality? Hasn't changed much since the 3S
Which is why some people buy better headphones.
It's a phone, not a movie theater. The built in speakers are always worse than better headphone options.
Re:Data comm speed - guess LTW means nothing... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/09/12/iphone-5-three-mics/ [idownloadblog.com]
Still a tiny speaker... (Score:2)
It may be improved but in the end the built in speakers will simply not be as good as even the cheaper headphones. If for no other reason than speakers on a phone will always be too close together to get any kind of stereo separation.
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Doesn't matter how good the speaker is--it's still shooting sound out the side, so lots of times I try to show a video to a friend and they're left holding the speaker to their ear.
The workaround is to cup the speaker side with your hand and deflect the sound toward you, but then it really doesn't matter how good the speaker is if it's at least decent.
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I forgot an important qualifier. The speakers perfectly fine in a quiet room, but hard to hear when watching video out in public, even in a low/moderate noise environment; or in a large open space without nearby walls to bounce the sound back. It's not the volume, because people have no problems hearing it after I tell them to cup the speaker to them, or of course holding it so the phone speaker is pointed right at them. It's 100% an issue with the sound shooting out the side instead of the front.
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Actually he does have a point about the sound, it is kinda weak on quality headphones. A lot of phones suffer from that problem, which is why some people carry battery powered amps for their phones. You can actually get them in a sort of backshell that fits in the iPhone specifically, or just a generic shape for any phone.
In particular the "Apple sound" has always lacked bass. It used to be muddy in the mid range up to the 3rd gen iPods, after which they moved to a transistor based output buffer. My guess i
F$^%$ers (Score:5, Funny)
They did something for some reason that wasn't just to screw over the sheep. Now I can't hate them as much.
Re:F$^%$ers (Score:5, Insightful)
So are you saying that nothing should ever change about the iPhone connector? Once god-awful 30-pin, always god-awful 30-pin? So that nobody ever has to buy new peripherals?
Or are you saying that it's okay if they change it (and force everybody to buy new peripherals) but only if they change it to something "compatible"? Note that micro USB isn't doesn't support the functionality the iPhone needs. See http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-lightning-vs-micro-usb-2012-9 [businessinsider.com]
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But they have the [coolest adapters!](http://youtu.be/nf5-Prx19ZM)
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:Flavors of Spinal Tap (Score:4, Interesting)
The Lightning connector is much easier to insert into the phone versus the micro-USB. Eyesight isn't improving for some of us here.
Then again it's just a connector, get over it and move on.
Re:Flavors of Spinal Tap (Score:5, Insightful)
I believe it can also be inserted either way. Micro USB is a horrible design. (And USB as a whole). Someone completely failed Poka Yoke [wikipedia.org] design when designing it. Micro-USB is just slightly different when flipped upside down. Sometimes with MicroUSB I can't tell if the connection is just snug or if it's being inserted backwards. I often have to double check visually. Something my parents wouldn't be able to do because of their eye sight.
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Ironically, the page you linked explicitly gives this example: 'Most computer manufacturers “Poka-Yoke” their cables so the plugs only fit in one way. This prevents damage to the system.'
I suppose a plug that works fine either way is even MORE "Poka-Yoke" tho. :)
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Apple is being a dick because they are using a proprietary connector. Period. If they really wanted to use something different than micro-usb and get my approval, they should just standardize the fucking plug so accessory manufacturers don't have to pay a license fee and more than just idevices can use it!
Shit like this holds us back. Just like the silly patent wa
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Yep guys. Made everything up. This guy and his anecdotes about not bing able to do it caught me.
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You physically can't insert a micro USB plug upside down, unless you apply so much force that you actually break the metal port. The point at which you have to exert all your strength to push a connector in is the point at which you should realize it is the wrong way around.
If it is that hard just put a little red dot on the top side of the connector to remind you.
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So you can read letters on your phone that are 4mm tall, but can't see a connecter that's 7mm tall?
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It's nonsense. You can put audio and video over micro-USB (see: MHL)
Sure, you could add MHL which would result in more space being used on the board, higher device cost, and higher accessory cost, or you could come up with something that does the same functionality at a cheaper cost in a more efficient manner. After all, the higher cost is why the Nexus 7 doesn't ship with MHL.
But hey, let's stick with something that's broken, expensive, and not really part of the USB standard anyway. That sounds like a good plan.
The Nexus 7 Charger is 10W (5V, 2Amp) (Score:2)
Like I said, in my original post, the micro-USB spec allows for more power to be pushed over the wire when the device is paired with its own charger...
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No they don't. The Nexus 7's charger is the same amperage/voltage as the iPad charger, last I checked. 5V, 2.1Amp or something like that. Same "10W" charging specs, but over a standard micro-USB cable.
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Supporting a standard USB plug does not rule out a separate dock connector, which you can see with the Nexus 7.
Or, like for my Galaxy S3, you can have a dock that the charger also plugs into, which provides data and power over the same USB connection... Just like the iPad dock does.
Again, none of the capabilities you are listing are impossible (or even difficult)
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USB-OTG is a standard.
I can hook up a USB gamepad to my Nexus 7 or Samsung Galaxy S3 with it.
Er?
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Oh, the Android Open Accessory [android.com] protocol? That makes use of standard USB interfaces to connect to external hardware like sensors, speakers, clocks, exercise machines, etc.?
Re:F$^%$ers (Score:5, Insightful)
Note that micro USB isn't doesn't support the functionality the iPhone needs. See http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-lightning-vs-micro-usb-2012-9 [businessinsider.com]
Neither does the Lightning connector. No ipod controls. No analog audio out. No 12-volt charging.
So why is it that we need this new connector again? One that does less than the previous one but will require all new cables and accessories?
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12V charging isn't a function of the connector, so I don't even know what you're talking about there.
The 12-volt capability is part of the firewire support. There are two pins for 12V power, and two pins for 5V. Many car connectors and chargers used this for iPod and iPhone charging in the past, but Apple stopped supporting it in the iPhone as of the 3GS.
You forgot one item on the new connector "feature" list:
5. It's an all digital connector allowing Apple to add an authentication chip to the cable to restrict third party manufacturers from creating low cost compatible hardware, the same way that the iPod
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So are you saying that nothing should ever change about the iPhone connector? Once god-awful 30-pin, always god-awful 30-pin? So that nobody ever has to buy new peripherals?
Or are you saying that it's okay if they change it (and force everybody to buy new peripherals) but only if they change it to something "compatible"? Note that micro USB isn't doesn't support the functionality the iPhone needs.
Apple dropped analog video output so all they actually need is to put all the ports next to one another on the bottom of the phone; stereo mini or micro plug, uHDMI, and uUSB. "Docks" can implement as many connectors as necessary for their functionality. Done and done. Instead they have invented a new proprietary connector so that they can make more money.
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So are you saying that nothing should ever change about the iPhone connector? Once god-awful 30-pin, always god-awful 30-pin? So that nobody ever has to buy new peripherals?
Or are you saying that it's okay if they change it (and force everybody to buy new peripherals) but only if they change it to something "compatible"? Note that micro USB isn't doesn't support the functionality the iPhone needs.
Apple dropped analog video output so all they actually need is to put all the ports next to one another on the bottom of the phone; stereo mini or micro plug, uHDMI, and uUSB. "Docks" can implement as many connectors as necessary for their functionality. Done and done. Instead they have invented a new proprietary connector so that they can make more money.
This.
There is no reason other then vendor lock in to invent yet another proprietary connector.
On my shopping list for a new phone is very much the existence of standardized interfaces - the proprietary cables to my iPhone have been a constant nuisance.
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Yes, they could have done this. And then the phone would be bigger.
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Yes, they could have done this. And then the phone would be bigger.
[citation needed]
Right now they have a headphone jack not grouped with the other port, that takes up space too. Unless you have done an in-depth analysis of the PCB and componentry you can't say this with any authority. And even if it were bigger, the difference in volume might well be essentially indistinguishable, which calls into question the relevance of the idea.
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Well, so why doesn't anybody do it that way?
Because no one but Apple gives one tenth of one fuck about docks.
Oh, and in case you haven't noticed: Lightning is not a dock connector, the dock is dead.
I guess you made my point for me. If it's not a dock connector, then there is no need whatsoever for all those signals to be even on the same side of the phone, let alone on one connector.
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Ohh, so your point wasn't actually about hooking up peripherals, but about docks. Silly me, I thought we were talking about technology not about "the shiny" - I should have known that's all you Fandroids care about.
I already knew you didn't have a valid argument, but thanks for proving it by going for the insult instead of providing some sort of evidence supporting your view. Troll detected, comment invalidated, don't come back now y'all.
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.
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How does that work for iPod / iPhone docks where the idea is that the device fits snugly in the dock? Or for hi fis and car sound systems with the same thing? A lot of people have been shafted by this. Just because you and your friends haven't is pretending that the vast market for 3rd party peripherals is irrelevant.
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Cool buy a new dock, a new hi fi, hell even a new car. Plus buy an accurate GPS app. Economic stimulus Apple-style.
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Because not everyone will use it. Everyone however does use mini-usb on something, and mini-usb phones sell far more total units. Apple should at least support that without an adaptor.
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You don't need an adaptor, just the standard Apple cable. It attaches to any USB device to charge. Mini-USB isn't a standard either, I have a mini-uSB cable for my hard drives that does not work with my camera because it has a DIFFERENT mini-USB connector. So as far as I'm concerned when using USB you already have to deal with several cables anyway and the Apple cable is just one more.
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Mini-USB is a set of standards.
I actually meant micro-usb 5 pin. That as far as I can tell all android phones use.
Re:Most things still work (Score:5, Insightful)
Mini-USB is a set of standards.
Being a set with more than one element means there's always room for one more.
I actually meant micro-usb 5 pin. That as far as I can tell all android phones use.
What about people that do not have any Android phones? It's just as weird for them to have to get the five-pin as it is for an Apple user to have to get an Apple cable. I didn't have ANY micro-usb five pin cables until my camera came with one; it went missing and I had to get another even though I had a slew of OTHER micro-usb cables from connecting hard drives and the like to my computer. I have a box downstairs with a huge number of orphan computer cables and for me the five-pin was the least common USB cable I had.
Nothing about the Apple cable is any more annoying than the horrible USB situation for normal non-technical consumers. At least with the Apple cable you can tell which one is for the phone at a glance.
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Micro-USB 5 pin also works on my old Sanyo dumbphone, my Nook, my wireless headset, and my Nikon point & shoot. One plug for four devices (since the dumbphone got retired when I finally got an Android phone about six months ago. The only other things I plug in to charge are my laptop and my 3DS.
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.
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This is simply not true. Only one end of the chargers Apple uses is USB.
It is true because ANY USB charger will work with that Apple cable to charge an iPhone 5.
If they would have made their new connector compatible with micro usb by taking the form factor and adding proprietary features they desired
Then we would have a cable with a worse connector at one end. To me it's absurd to settle for a USB micro connector, in the future that connector will limit speed of transfer and other things devices can do eve
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Re:Most things still work (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it doesn't.
You're right, because it ALSO results in a connector you can insert without having to look to see if it's in the right way, vastly superior for real people.
You honestly believe that inventing an entirely new connector takes less work that taking an existing standard form factor and adding pins to suit your needs?
Obviously not since my point is that people who believe Apple invented the new connector just to screw people, do not realize the amount of work that goes into building a whole new connector vs. simply overlaying functionality on top of an existing connector.
Apple would not go to extra work just to screw people over, as much as Apple haters would love us all to believe the opposite. Apple is doing what they have always done, taking people off an obsolete system (old iPhone cable, Micro-USB) before people have quite realized the old system is obsolete - as was the case for floppy drives or internal CD-ROM drives.
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This is simply not true. Only one end of the chargers Apple uses is USB.
It is true because ANY USB charger will work with that Apple cable to charge an iPhone 5.
No, it is absolutely not true because none of my iPhones or iDevices have ever been able to recharge from "dumb" USB chargers. I've had USB cigarette lighter power jacks for years in my vehicles. They used to work fine to charge various Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola phones. The Moto phones were especially convenient to charge anywhere because they had mini-USB ports on the phone ends, so the ubiquitous mini-USB cables were a perfect fit. But once I got an iPhone, the dumb chargers were no longer go
You are utterly wrong on USB chargers and iPhone (Score:2)
But once I got an iPhone, the dumb chargers were no longer good enough for it.
I have several cheap USB cigarette lighter chargers. Some I got as giveaways at conventions. EVERY SINGLE ONE has been able to charge every iPhone I've ever had.
Can you give us the model of any USB charger that cannot charge an iPhone? It's absurd because a USB charger HAS to provide the minimum specced power to whatever is plugged in and that is enough for an iPhone.
You may have had bad cables or something, but the chargers sh
Re:F$^%$ers (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, this article supposedly covers some of it: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-lightning-vs-micro-usb-2012-9 [businessinsider.com]
However, not owning a phone with micro-USB, I'm not sure how accurate it is. Anyone care to chime in?
Re:F$^%$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.
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Thanks for those articles. Some interesting reading.
With that said, I still don't understand the hangup with the cable being proprietary. In six years of owning iPods and iPhones, as well as random devices that use micro-USB, I've never been annoyed at having to use two different cables. Honestly, the Lightning connector, despite the silly name, looks to be a better cable than micro-USB--namely, that should be easier to insert and is reversible. Is it really that big a deal, or are people looking for re
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To me, at least, it's a matter of getting along and playing nicely. It's a matter of how Apple treats me as their customer and as a potential customer of their partners.
Moving beyond the 30-pin dock is a good thing. It outlived its usefulness, and making a change is a necessary evil. Let's take all of that as a given.
So, Apple has three choices here:
1) Do what all other major manufacturers have done and move to micro USB. Add on MHL for video. This has the huge advantage of being standard and inexpensi
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There we go--a well-reasoned explanation for why it's annoying the new connector is proprietary.
Personally, I think that #2 would have been the best option--try to make Lightning an industry standard. My boss got the new iPhone 5 today, and I got to play with it for a few minutes (very nice phone; feels great). The new connector is pretty slick. It is much easier to insert than micro-USB, feels durable, and being reversible is a nice little plus. I buy Apple products, but I do wish they would work more
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I'm not sure I agree with that blogger on some points. USB 3 is only about 2 or 3 mm wider than Lightning. And if they can put a Lightning controller on the SoC, they can do the same for USB. Do other phones even have an external USB controller? I doubt it. Even Arduinos have inboard controllers.
There are good reasons for not using USB, but I doubt space is really one of them.
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It's the way Apple uses the connector to extract money from you. With the original dock connector they kept changing the USB charger in subtle ways to break third party cables and chargers. Some of it is detailed here [ladyada.net].
So they force you to buy expensive Apple products. To be fair Dell and HP also tried to jump on that bandwagon by making their high end model laptops refuse to work with generic chargers, but Apple does it with everything.
There is also the annoyance of not being able to just hook up your devic
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Why not get the adapter?
Perhaps a better screw (Score:3)
Pentalobe fasteners are not a big deal. New and different screws, nuts and bolts are all the rage. It's been happening for, what, the last century? More? Sometimes they're actually an improvement and stick in the industry as the next great thing. The tools become available very quickly, or some of us make our own...
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Except that no one has figured out a business case for the pentilobe other than messing with customer's heads. They could have switched out the Phillip's for Torx - that would be an improvement in a number of areas and follows an industry standard. But they had to make one of their own for some bizarre reason.
Re:Perhaps a better screw (Score:5, Insightful)
You're thinking about it the wrong way. The new screw in each case is a challenge, a hurdle, an intelligence test. If you haven't got what it takes to figure out how to open the device then perhaps you shouldn't.
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There's one very good business case for pentalobe screws: make it so that only shops that pay a royalty can legally repair an iDevice.
Fortunately, its possible to get pentalobe drivers anyway.
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You realize Apple's now going to do that on the next model and then sue you for stealing their idea, right?
(And then probably sue me for having this idea)
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The pentalobe connector is only used by Apple. No one else uses it. Most likely because it isn't any better. It only serves to sell new tools, or have some people that would otherwise have done their own repairs to take it to an authorized repair shop. The tamper resistant torx would have done the same.
I s
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The original Torx design was invented & patented in the late 60's; the patent ran out in the mid-90's (they tried to separately patent Torx TR but couldn't). In between, people said exactly the same thing about it.
Funny how "evil" becomes "good" as
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Torx may have upset people originally, but it does have advantages over Phillips screws. Torx Plus doesn't give the same sort of improvement. The Pentalobe fasteners likewise are not any better than Torx. Why not use the same fasteners everyone else does? This isn't like the new connector, which can be argued to offer more than the standard microUSB. This is a fastener.
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.
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Re:Pentalobe is not proprietary (Score:4)
According to this [gizbot.com] the Pentalobe is an Apple invention. I'm not gonna go do a patent search, I'll leave that to some other genius.
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That is a different design/layout, missing the indentations between the points of the screw driver. Here's the one used on the iPhone: http://twitpic.com/3rt9sa [twitpic.com]
You might be able to drive the Apple screw with the torx bit,but the bumps in the screw head look like they would block it. That's assuming you could get one small enough. Nobody is saying that there were not 5-spline screw heads before the iPhone 4, just that this particular head is new and apparently chosen as it was esoteric enough that exist
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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.
Uh no. Philips was invented to eliminate cam-out, which it all but does when the screwdriver is lined up perfectly with the screw. Since it doesn't actually eliminate cam-out, we got torx, which does. And since Torx is more expensive to make than philips (especially the fasteners themselves) we also got ACR, or "anti cam-out ridges". These little ridges ground into the tips of screwdrivers are usually found on tools with snazzy names including "bite" and such, and they provide the same function for the tip
Sooo... (Score:2)
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.
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The line of logic is simple: repairability is a plus since it cuts their repair costs. Repair costs a relatively larger on the phones than the computer and Apple loses money on phone warranties. That being said, they are willing to lose money for thin and light.
I knew it (Score:2)
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More important than the battery size is battery life. The iPhone 5 seems to get better life than the Indulge, even though the Indulge has a much larger battery.
Maybe for you, the ability to swap out batteries is an important feature. I think that Apple's sales prove that it isn't a big factor for their customers. I wonder if there's any data on how many people tote around extra batteries for their phones?
Fractured glass + vacuum (Score:2)
Re:Fractured glass + vacuum (Score:4, Insightful)
No, you only need to remove it with a suction cup if you want the thing to stay in one piece. Not a problem if it's already broken.
oh, ffs... (Score:2)
...wasn't one of the bugbears I've been reading about elsewhere, the proprietary connectors Apple seems to love using? This is why I won't buy Apple: until they use a standard connector, I won't go fucking near one.
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I'm sorry, there's way more rage over the cable than makes sense.
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My mp3 player, all my external hard drives, my phone and even my camera use the SAME ONE CONNECTOR. I have ONE CABLE that does it ALL.
WHY do Apple have such trouble sourcing sockets that seem to grow like fucking WEEDS all over China!?
Who repairs the most iPhones? (Score:3)
While this is most definitely great news for the DIY crowd and the independent repair shops, I don't think it was necessarily done to make things easier on us. Not trash-talking Apple at all for this move, but this is going to save them a metric shitton of money in the long run.
Apple replaces/repairs so many devices with cracked screens that bringing the repair time down from 45 minutes to practically nothing will make the profit margins on their warranties and AppleCare coverage skyrocket. And makes those of us who do these things for fun and profit very happy. Smart business move from all standpoints.
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I believe in the EU boxes, they don't provide a USB-Lightning cable, but a USB-micro cable + micro-Lightning adapter. Just like they did for the iPhone 4s and others - a USB-micro cable and a micro-dock adapter. It's hard to tell, but where the strain relief is on the normal USB-dock cable, it's actually a little nub for the USB micro cable
Complies with spirit (Score:5, Insightful)
The real point behind the directive is that over time people just have USB chargers they can use with anything, right?
Well the iPhone ships with a USB charger. Sure the port at the other end is different but in the end you can have one charger for many devices, with just a few cables.
An important point to consider is that if you just stick yourself with pure USB end to end, you cannot get as much power through the system to charge quickly.
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I have something like five iPhone dock cables - these are cables I've built up from owning various iPods over the years.
Of course, I have even more USB micro-B cables. You know, the data cable that every fucking phone that isn't an Apple piece of shit uses? And then, even more USB mini-B cables. (By "mini/micro B" I mean the A end is standard sized.)
Do you know how many iPhone 5 cables I have? Absolutely none! Moving the iPhone 5 off the crap Apple needless proprietary cable is a good idea. Replacing it wit
Cable count? Fine, lets talk cable count (Score:2)
Of course, I have even more USB micro-B cables.
So do I. And the other kinds of micro-USB cables, something like five or six possible ends... I have a micro-USB cable for my hard drive, a slightly different tiny micro-USB connector for my camera. And if I want to plug in a hard drive dock why THAT's a whole other kind of USB connector. I have a travel USB adaptor with several different ends to attach.
So how is that any better? The Apple cable as far as I'm concerned is just one of the several cables I'll
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The lower limit is 850mAh, most host devices are going to supply much more than that. My Samsung charges in much less than 24 hours, even when charging from my laptop on battery.
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The iPhone5 ships with an adapter in the EU:
Not according to what I've read; the adapter is not included, and costs thirty pounds. The law does not require that the adapter be included; it only requires that you make one available. In other words, you can charge for it. And apparently, you can charge as much as many people pay for their whole fucking phone, with contract anyway.
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The idiocy of this sentence approaches perfection. Bravo, sir, bravo. You should retire from slashdot now -- you've been posting stupid things for years and years but you will never top this.
There's always tomorrow.
The irony of an AC saying this to me is amusing.
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I'm nearly certain that "repairibility" is patented.
No, Apple has the patent on "repairability" which is why the summary was forced to misspell it.