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IPad 2 Wi-Fi Teardown

ifixit.com

69 points by nirmal 15 years ago · 27 comments

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zdw 15 years ago

So, the only thing preventing the iPhone 4 or either iPad from being an FM radio receiver is software? a suitable antenna?

I doubt it's Apple policy, as the iPod Nano has FM and basic radio timeshifting capabilities

nasirkorma 15 years ago

I'd love to know the weight of the battery and the glass display.

  • light3 15 years ago

    Imagine how thin and light it could be if batteries were not required.

    • cloudwalking 15 years ago

      Atomic isotope? Would be even worse for tech waste, but imagine the 'battery' life. 25 years...

      • biot 15 years ago

        Ideally you'd have a removable power module which you can take from device to device... a "zap drive". Brought to you by the US Nucleics Corporation.

        • light3 15 years ago

          They can be shaped as coins and become a new currency, it glows green when fully charged. Devices(including cars) have coin slots to take in power.

          • Herring 15 years ago

            Spoken like a true geek. Normal people don't want to know that such things even exist. Let machines with radiation detectors track them down in the dumpsters.

  • axisofevil 15 years ago

    So would I. I'd love to know what percentage of the iPad 2's weight is the battery and glass.

  • icco 15 years ago

    Your best bet is to post a comment on the teardown if this hasn't been added yet.

zwieback 15 years ago

Anyone know what kind of drop tests these devices are subjected to? For our industrial handheld devices we need to survive 6ft on concrete multiple times and end up potting connectors and stuff like that. I don't see anything like that in the iPad.

dr_ 15 years ago

and the point of this is?

  • icco 15 years ago

    I work for the company, so color me a little bias, but the point of these teardowns has always been threefold. First, learn about hardware design. See how a company was able to make the latest cool new device. Second, some people are interested in only buying devices that they can repair. This teardown showed that it would be damn hard to repair most parts in this. Third, people want to know about how green the device is, and what other companies Apple is using for chips, etc.

    Hope that explains. If it doesn't just chalk it up to to the fact that the same people who like reading engadget tend to like iFixit's teardowns. Gadget lust if you will.

    • ableal 15 years ago

      Could you suggest, at work, putting the "three massive Li-Ion cells" and items such as case and glass (as mentioned in other comments) on a scale, and publishing the figures? I know it's not related to repair, but it would be interesting to know in these weight-constrained devices.

      Thanks for the breakdowns. I also appreciate knowing the chips used. In this case, there was no reference to how you found the A5 had 512 MB RAM. I remember your/Chipworks previous A4 x-raying, showing the stacked CPU and RAM chips inside the module.

    • biot 15 years ago

      Fourfold: advertising impressions. Presumably that's why the article went up tonight rather than spending time doing more research into availability of parts and so on which would be required if people were truly interested in a device they can repair. :)

      • cloudwalking 15 years ago

        Availability of parts will probably be in line with the previous iPad, and will most likely come from iFixit themselves.

        iFixit is known for providing teardowns soon after product releases--I don't see anything wrong with that.

        • power78 15 years ago

          Except for the fact that they force us college students at Cal Poly to do their tech write-ups for our Technical Writing class. iFixit is filled with a bunch of losers. Sorry for being blunt, but half their "how to"s are written by college students forced to make them for our grade.

          • ugh 15 years ago

            You are being very cryptic (and angry). Care to explain and be a little bit clearer?

            How can they force you? Why does the university allow that?

            • icco 15 years ago

              iFixit runs a program with a few universities, including Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where students are given recycled devices (such as an old cell phone or laptop) to write repair guides on iFixit.com. iFixit also provides all of the tools required to take the device apart and take pictures of it (including cameras and tripods).

              The class was originally created because some of the Cal Poly's teachers were tired of the project that students were given at the time for the Technical Writing for Engineers class (Engl 149), which required students to make a fictional product and then write a user manual from it.

              Most of the responses from teachers and students has been positive now that we have been running the program for two years. There are still some teachers that teach the class the old way, so if students dislike the project and want to write a twenty page paper instead, they are welcome to take the class with those teachers instead. Also we have excepted requests from students who want their work taken off of the website after the quarter is done.

              As for being losers, well, sorry?

              • power78 15 years ago

                >"The class was originally created because some of the Cal Poly's teachers were tired of the project that students were given at the time for the Technical Writing for Engineers class"

                That is not true, iFixIt CAME to the english department to ask for free content for their website but covered it as a "great technical writing experience."

                >"Most of the responses from teachers and students has been positive now that we have been running the program for two years."

                Uhhhh where are you getting your responses? Most people will give good reviews since YOU MAKE OUR GRADE. If you report to our teachers that we did a bad job, WE FAIL. Of course we will say we enjoyed it since you control our fate. I think its crazy that iFixIt has control over students grades.

                >"and want to write a twenty page paper instead"

                That is not standard practice in ANY 149 class. There is a final project but 20 pages? Thats extremely class-dependent!

                Edit: and their standards are EXTREMELY high. We have to go way out of our way to meet them. Perfect cameras, perfect room lighting, perfect hands to hold the devices, perfect backgrounds... Many times we were forced to redo our guides and go well over the bounds of a 100 level class....all so iFixit could benefit financially.

                • icco 15 years ago

                  I really don't want to get in flame war with you here, so I'll just say that as an employee, the thirty some odd students I talk to every quarter seem happy once the class is over.

                  Also, I was there when we were initially approached and took 149 back when students had to write a long paper in all of the classes.

                  If you have more complaints or would like some of your facts verified, feel free to email me at nat@ifixit.com

              • ugh 15 years ago

                Every student's favorite pastime: bitching about everything and not being informed about anything. (I'm allowed to say that because I'm a student myself.)

                • power78 15 years ago

                  Everyone in the class was pissed off at them. They make it seem like its some "education program" but in reality they are making money off our work and we get paid nothing.

      • ugh 15 years ago

        Well, duh. It's awesome PR because it gives gadget fans exactly what they want. Everyone wins.

  • 0x0 15 years ago

    At least the information about 512MB RAM is news to me. I don't think this has been announced by Apple.

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