Fitbit Flex Teardown

Web Version  |  Update preferences  |  Unsubscribe Here at iFixit, we promote only the healthiest of lifestyles. We eat our vegetables at least once a week, and we never eat pizza two days in a row (unless there are leftovers, of course). One might go so far as to call us health freaks, and we would not argue. But we are iFixit, and we're ready to sacrifice our fitness ambitions for science. That's why we ripped into Fitbit's newest pedometer/heart rate monitor/sleep tracker wristband to answer an all-important question: What kind of a diet helped this thing fit into its tiny jacket? Don’t expect to repair your Flex anytime soon... or anytime at all. The device was designed for action, not repair. It's well-nigh impossible to open the wristband without destroying it—so once the battery dies, so will the device. Consequently, the Fitbit Flex earned a 2 out of 10 on our repairability scale. Teardown highlights: • With less effort than peeling an orange, we peel the Fitbit Flex tracker out of the flexible wrist strap. Although it seems like a small consideration, we appreciate how easy it is to separate the electronics from the wrist strap—the component most likely to wear out. • Normally we would compare the size of the device to other similar devices. Unfortunately, we don't really have much to compare the Flex to. So how about a half dollar instead? • With no visible point of entry, we figure the path to victory can be carved with the judicious application of a sharp cutting tool, also known as a rotary tool. • Our first extraction: the light guides for the LEDs that pass for a display on this slim, dare we say emaciated, unit. Next out is the Bluetooth antenna, used for communicating with devices and the accompanying dongle. • The device is super fragile once the case is cut open. A tiny hitchhiker came along for the ride when we removed the Bluetooth antenna... a piece of the motherboard. • Stuck right on to the front of the board we find a near field communications (NFC) antenna. The NFC tag enables a tap launch of the Flex tracker's associated mobile app with "select NFC-enabled Android devices." •  The motherboard flexes to show us what it's repping:    • STMicroelectronics 32L151C6 Ultra Low Power ARM Cortex M3 Microcontroller    • Nordic Semiconductor nRF8001 Bluetooth Low Energy Connectivity IC • We just couldn't keep our scalpels to ourselves, so we ripped into the Flex's dongle as well. This diminutive USB board houses all of the hardware needed to communicate with the Flex—and your computer:    • Texas Instruments CC2540F128 2.4 GHz Bluetooth Low Energy SoC    • Bluetooth Low Energy Antenna    • USB connection contacts Fitting images: Final layout Unpacking the goodies Showing off the ginormous battery Please let me know if you have any questions regarding our Flibberty-jibbet teardown. You're welcome to use up to three photos in your story. Thanks, Miroslav Djuric Chief Information Architect iFixit   Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe

How To, Computer Tips Trick And Creative Ideas

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How To Remove Delta Search From Mozilla Firefox Posted: 29 Jul 2013 08:37 AM PDT If you want to remove Delta Toolbar and Delta Search Engine  from your Mozilla Firefox browser, follow the steps below : To Remove Delta Toolbar  • Open the Mozilla Firefox browser • Select the Add-ons menu Read more »

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iFixit: Nexus 7 2nd Generation Teardown

Web Version  |  Update preferences  |  Unsubscribe Heads up — Nexus 7's up! We didn't get enough Google this morning with the Chromecast, so without even waiting for our spudgers to cool down, we eagerly dove into the deep, dark depths of their newest tablet. Even though the new Nexus 7 opening procedure is identical to the previous model's — and even though we were quite careful while opening it — the rear cover managed to crack in the lower-right corner. Although that was a not-so-fun start to the teardown, we managed to power through the non-proprietary screws and removable battery with no other snafus, and arrived at the fitting 7 out of 10 repairability score. Teardown highlights: • Comparing the second generation Nexus 7 to the first, we notice a drastic change in body type. The second generation is thinner, narrower, and taller than its chunkier predecessor, and lacks texture on the rear panel. • But wait! There's an inductive charging coil? Hats off to the great Nikola Tesla, forefather of wireless charging. Although inductive charging has been around for a while, this is the first time we've seen it in a tablet. We're pleased with the trend, as it may help eliminate wires as a source of e-waste in the future. Now, if we could only make batteries infinitely rechargable... • The NFC Module is layered on top of the inductive charging coil. We just call it like it is. • Seals cover two of the screws in the Nexus 7 — one on each of the main boards — so replacing either board will likely void your warranty. Unlike food, we don't like our electronics "sealed for our protection." • The battery is rated at 3.8 V, 15 Wh, and 3950 mAh. Despite the 4326 mAh battery of the original Nexus 7, this new generation boasts an extra hour of battery life. Devices with lower power consumption give more bang for the ecological-impact buck, so it's definitely a nice trend. • The daughterboard houses a single IC nested among the connectors. ELAN eKTH325BAWS, which we guess to be the capacitive touchpad controller from ELAN's eKT line. • If you see Bigfoot and need to take a picture with your new Nexus 7, you'll be getting a 5 MP image. For selfies, you only get 1.2 MP. Both cameras are easily replaced once inside. • The hardware powering this nifty trick of a tablet:    • Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon S4 Pro Quad-Core CPU (includes the Adreno 320 GPU)    • Elpida J4216EFBG 512 MB DDR3L SDRAM (four ICs for 2 GB total)    • Analogix ANX7808 SlimPort Transmitter    • Texas Instruments BQ51013B Inductive Charging Controller    • Qualcomm Atheros WCN3660 WLAN a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and FM Radio Module    • SK Hynix H26M51003EQR 16 GB eMMC NAND Flash    • Qualcomm PM8921 Quick Charge Battery Management IC • The updated speakers come out next.    • What do we know about these speakers?    • They're stereo.    • They sound cool (we tried them briefly before taking out our spudgers).    • They are labeled DN17128L000. Images: Final layout Two halves make a whole Taking out the battery Removing the stereo speakers Please let me know if you have any questions regarding our Nexus 7 2nd Generation teardown. You're welcome to use up to three photos in your story. Thanks, Miroslav Djuric Chief Information Architect iFixit   Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe

iFixit: Google Chromecast Teardown

Web Version  |  Update preferences  |  Unsubscribe Ding, dong, the dongle's here! Google knows that cat videos are more entertaining when viewed on a 72-inch HD display, so they packed Chrome into a compact dongle, threw an HDMI output on it, and provided the world with the cat videos we deserve! Join us as we tear down the Chromecast to find out how Google squeezed so many cats into one small package. Unlike a lot of devices that end up on our teardown table these days, the Chromecast takes very little effort to open—just a little prying from our plastic opening tool. Of course, there wasn’t much to tear down. There are exactly two components in this little device: a motherboard and a heatsink in a tiny, tiny coffin. We’ve decided not to assign a repairability score to the Chromecast. There’s just nothing in it to repair. The Chromecast is essentially a luxury item with a limited use. It’s a throwaway gadget. Best hope for this little guy: after a long, fulfilling life of streaming kitten videos, the Chromecast is responsibly recycled. The Chromecast Teardown Cool stuff we found inside: • Motherboard front side:      • Azure Wave AW-NH387 802.11 b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth, FM combo module IC      • Marvell DE3005-A1 System-on-a-chip, similar to the Marvell DE3005      • Micron 4GB flash memory 29F16G08MAA      • Micron D9PXV 4Gb RAM • With the motherboard out of the way, we are left with one component, and one component alone: a heatsink. The relatively big heatsink — made of solid aluminum — spans the entire length of the device. Images: Final layout Cracking open this spicy meat-a-ball Removing the dongle’s innards Please let me know if you have any questions regarding our Chromecast teardown.You're welcome to use up to three photos in your story. Thanks, Miroslav Djuric Chief Information Architect iFixit   Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe

We wrote a book! And a lot of other cool things

Web Version  |  Update preferences  |  Unsubscribe Tech Writing Handbook We wrote a book! Our mission—to write repair manuals for every thing—depends on clear and compelling communication. We're on a quest to write more effective manuals, and we've decided it's time to share what we've learned along the way. The Tech Writing Handbook is now available online for free. Start reading the Tech Writing Handbook   New iPhone 5 Repair Series There are a bunch of busy bees in our video department. Not actual bees—'cause that's dangerous. But Gwen is excited to show you tons of ways to repair your iPhone 5. Screen cracked? No problem. Water damage? Fuhgeddaboutdit. You can fix it; we make it easy. Check out our growing video playlist Teaching "EPIC" Repairs Recently, iFixit went to Engineering Possibilities in College (EPIC), a summer camp for pre-college teens. One of our tech writers, Jake, shares how he taught these campers about e-waste and repair—and what they taught him in return. See what the campers had to say Liberation Jubilation We hosted Liberation Week earlier this month. The 5-day celebration to free iPhones across the world was a smashing success. Nearly 15,000 iPhone Liberation Kits—which enable you to replace an iPhone's proprietary screws with standard Phillips screws—are on their way to new homes. We'd like to give a big thanks to everyone who supported the effort. Happy liberating! Peruse our Liberation Week recap Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe 81 Higuera St San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

Announcing the Tech Writing Handbook

Web Version  |  Update preferences  |  Unsubscribe I kicked up a bit of a dust last year when I announced that I only hire applicants who practice good grammar. Grammar may seem like a small consideration, but it signals an applicant’s attention to detail and ability to communicate professionally. After the story broke in HBR, WSJ, and Huffington Post, a lot of people wrote iFixit asking for resources to improve their own writing skills. If you know anything about iFixit, then you know we like solutions. It’s not in our nature to complain about something and not do anything about it. We teach real people how to do real-world things—how to repair computers, how to fix iPods, and, through Dozuki, how to assemble machinery. I thought we should do something similar for writing: Give people a free resource that helps them write clearly, concisely, and purposefully. So, we decided to write a book: the Tech Writing Handbook.  After a year in the making, it’s finally done. The book is available immediately. And it's free. Tech Writing Handbook is a culmination of iFixit and Dozuki’s quest to write a more effective manual. When we opened our doors in 2003, we knew that the majority of existing repair and service manuals were horribly written. We’ve been crafting better manuals ever since. iFixit teaches people how to perform complex electronics repairs, so our manuals have to be great. Otherwise, people break their stuff! We’ve learned this the hard way—we’ve made many mistakes, and had to admit to customers, “I’m sorry. I overused the passive voice and now your computer doesn’t work. My bad.” Good writing, in our experience, is often the difference between “can’t-do” and “done.” Writing well is essential to iFixit’s mission. We’re technical writers, so the Handbook is geared toward writing of the hands-on and technical variety. But we’ve found that the rules of writing tend to apply evenly across the board, so the book should be a useful resource for anyone looking to improve basic writing skills. Through Dozuki, we’ve also found out that the manufacturing sector is just as eager to improve the state of manuals as we are. In the Handbook, we’ve included tips for writing effective work instructions. We also cover how to photograph procedures and create cutting-edge mobile manuals. Drop me a line. I'd love to talk to you more about the Tech Writing Handbook. Cheers, Kyle Wiens CEO, iFixit and Dozuki Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe 81 Higuera St San Luis Obispo, CA 93401