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Apple iPhone Dissected
Conch writes "Only hours after the launch, the Apple iPhone has been dissected. The good folks at AnandTech violated one of the first iPhones to still our curiosity about whats inside the aluminum shell.
'Please note that we're doing this so you are not tempted to on your recent $500/$600 expenditure, while it is quite possible to take apart using easy to find tools we'd recommend against it as it will undoubtedly void your warranty and will most likely mar up the beautiful gadget's exterior.'"
at ThinkSecret. Plus they didn't destroy the case :-)
Obviously you can't change the battery yourself, but from those pictures it looks like even Apple couldn't change it. That can't be so, can it?
You know, I have the feeling people who buy high-tech, flashy gadgetry such as the iPhone aren't likely to invest in it for the long term, with a value-for-money approach to buying and owning the product. The battery will probably last long enough for the owner to have another "oh shiny!" purchasing moment and relegate his iPhone to the bottom of some drawer...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
It's like some kind of warped geek snuff movie
You know, I have the feeling people who buy high-tech, flashy gadgetry such as the iPhone aren't likely to invest in it for the long term, with a value-for-money approach to buying and owning the product.
You'll be surprised. Most Mac people I know are poor, unemployed, and step on toes around their machines. But they were so convinced they should absolutely must get Apple, they would stay away from pot for a month to afford one.
Obviously you can't change the battery yourself, but from those pictures it looks like even Apple couldn't change it. That can't be so, can it?
r y/
Apple will replace it under their service program, when the phone is out-of-warranty. $85.95 including postage.
http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/service/batte
http://stream.ifixit.com/
they did it some time yesterday, about an hour after it came out i think.
and by the looks of it, they didn't destroy it.
dreemkill.
So it takes a soldering iron to change the battery. That's not exactly making it a challenge for most people on Slashdot, right?
And it's not like we're going to have any real trouble sourcing a battery either, all the usual iPod battery suppliers will have them.
I'm really not sure why people keep whining about the battery thing. That's really the least of the iPhone's problems as far as I'm concerned.
My list of why I won't buy one now, and maybe not ever:
1. I don't know if it will tether. If it won't, dealbreaker.
2. EDGE - I have an EDGE phone now. It's too slow. If 802.11 worked where I needed my phone to access the internet, I wouldn't need my phone to access the internet.
3. Javascript is not an SDK.
4. Not enough storage capacity to be useful as an iPod. I wouldn't mind at all having a hard drive in my phone, I want 80GB, not 8.
5. I don't do 2 year contracts.
6. This thing is useless without activation. If I decide I don't want Cingular, it's not even an ipod, it's a doorstop.
I don't hate Apple, I make Apple computers work for a living. I'm typing this on an iBook. But it looks like my next phone will probably be a RAZR v3xx, not an iPhone. And if the iPhone would do what I want, I'd be all over it.
I still have a pile of the various PDA's and cell phones I have had over the years. Most used undersized batteries that reduced the initial cost of the unit (even though most cost about the same as today's iPhone), but also didn't last. This required me to purchase new batteries, extra batteries, and bigger, add-on batteries and battery packs. All of these batteries are in the same pile, waiting for me to find appropriate green disposal (some day).
I would argue that most people eventually just chuck these things away and that they end up in a landfill somewhere. Also the fact that the batteries are generally crap means that the average user goes through more batteries for a non-Apple "replaceable battery" product than they do for the Apple product.
The fact that Apple offers a low-cost, no-hassle, battery replacement option means that the majority of iPod and now iPhone), battery replacements happen through Apple instead of the consumer, and thus the batteries all get properly recycled instead of just being dumped. The main cause of battery pollution from iPods for instance is whatever portion of the populace that does not return them to Apple for replacement or recycling and just chucks the item away when it's dead. That is the consumer's fault, not Apple's.
The only thing that could be done better is that Apple could take back the old iPods so as to alleviate even the worst acts of the consumers of their products. They already do this in a limited way and have announced recently a goal of doing a take-back on every product they make.
How much more green could they possibly be right now?
Repo man's always intense.