iPod Touch, Nano disassemblies reveal surprises

by Parm Mann on 11 September 2008, 15:44

Tags: iPod Touch, iPod nano, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

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Repair specialist iFixit's desire to buy new kit and immediately take it to bits continues unabated - it's just disassembled the 2G iPod Touch and the 4G Nano. Revealed: the Touch has a Bluetooth chip, the Nano a scratch-proof glass screen.

The Touch proved easy to take apart, which bodes well for folk looking to get their new player fixed in the future. iFixit was surprised by the presence of Bluetooth, since it's not something Apple's mentioned so far. The tech's enabled in a Broadcom BCM4325 Bluetooth 2.1+EDR chip.

Inside Apple's iPod Touch - images courtesy iFixit

Steve Jobs announced on Tuesday that the new Touch has integrated support for Nike+, the trainer maker's in-shoe wireless pedometer system. That uses a proprietary wireless technology, but it operates in the Bluetooth 2.4GHz band - also home to Wi-Fi - so the new Touch had to have something like this on board.

See the metal plate up at the top? The Broadcom Bluetooth chip's under that

That said, whether Apple will allow Touch owners to use it for other, Bluetooth-based applications, most notably A2DP wireless stereo, remains to be seen. We can only hope.

Apple's new Nano: remove the LCD from under its glass cover

Like the Touch, the new Nano is driven by an Apple-branded Samsung ARM chip. Barely thinner than its predecessors, the new Nano is just as tricky to disassemble and features a battery hardfixed onto the circuit board. Apple presumably reckons these boys are cheaper to replace than repair.

The Nano in bits

The good news is that the Nano has a glass screen cover in place of the plastic ones of old. That plus the metal shell should make the Nano far more resistant to scratching, giving the device a longer lifespan.

You can view many more pics of the two iPods' innards and read the take-apart notes at iFixit.



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Which came first ?, The Register or Hexus ;)

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/09/11/ipod_take_aparts/
Fatboy40
Which came first ?, The Register or Hexus ;)

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/09/11/ipod_take_aparts/

they both link to the same page ;)
Or indeed Engadget :)

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/10/debunk-the-ipod-touch-bluetooth-chip-is-really-the-nike-receiv/

Which has additional commentry:
Just to be totally accurate, the BCM4325 also does WiFi – and Nike+iPod has been called a “proprietary 802.11 protocol” in the past, so it's even less likely that it's there for actual Bluetooth usage.

I would put money on Apple still not including A2DP audio.
Welcome to the internet :P
At least with el reg and engadget you get to see a paragraph or two of the article or the whole thing to read rather than just a sentence and “read more” link.