How To: Disassemble Xperia Z1

The Sony Xperia Z1 has not even seen a wide release yet, but the handset has already received a very comprehensive teardown courtesy of Chinese site CNMO. The Sony Xperia Z1 packs some very high-end specs into its chassis, so if you’re intrigued in how Sony pieces it all together check out the handset dismantled in all its glory below. 

Xperia Z1 disassembly guide

The first step is to remove the back cover which is stuck using bonded stick tape.

Once the back cover is opened, you can see the Xperia Z1’s battery, secured by yellow tape, and the mainboard. There is a total of nine screws in the shell. The top two metal contacts on the back cover are to enable NFC.

Sony’s G Lens and chip shield can be seen towards the top of the handset.

The next step is to unscrew the nine hexagonal screws using a special screwdriver.

Nine screws removed.

Removing the shell is trickier and requires patience to separate carefully.

The power supply now needs to be cut off i.e. separating the 3000mAh battery from the shell.

A flat cable design sits at the bottom of the shell, reducing the chance of damaging the cable when conducting maintenance.

The Xperia Z1 has two RF cables, located on the left and right sides of the battery. This design helps to give the Xperia Z1 a more stable phone signal.

Now we remove all of the parts. This part is the bottom of the small panel which the speakers are connected to.

A close up of Sony’s G Lens.

The back of the motherboard (or mainboard) shows that it uses the now popular small-sided board design.

The front of the motherboard shows a number of interfaces including that of the micro USB, micro SD card slot, micro SIM and front camera.

The motherboard’s shield needs to be removed gently to get a better understanding of the Xperia Z1’s chip information.

With the shield removed we get a close look at the chipset information on the front of the motherboard.

The rear view of the motherboard with chipset exposed.

Now that the motherboard information is exposed, we can see the 2GB SK Hynix memory chip running H9CCNNNBPTARLANTH 327A.

Here we see the 16GB internal storage in the way of a Samsung 310 KLMAG2GEAC-B001 memory chip.

A close up of the Sky77629 signal amplifier.

Here is the IC chip, model PM8841.

The Qualcomm PM8941 power management chip.

The Xperia Z1 front camera.

The micro USB interface and micro SD card slot on the motherboard.

The micro SIM card slot.

With the motherboard removed, we get to the screen panel parts.

Xperia Z1 handset close-up.

The frame shows the magnetic pins to be used with the charging dock.

Slots in the frame for the micro SD and micro USB ports.

Slot for the micro SIM card interface.

The signature power button and volume keys close up.

The dedicated camera key.

All of the parts together.

Overall CNMO says the handset is not too difficult to disassemble for maintenance, although you need to take care as some parts of the process does require some brute force. It will also mean that you will need to reseal the dedicated tape around the handset. Only attempt if you know exactly what you’re doing.

Via CNMO.

Xperia accidental damage cover in India

Sony Xperia C heading to India as Evidence suggests

The Xperia C (S39h, C2305) has so far only seen a China launch, but ever since the phone was announced there was always the feeling that it would hit other select markets. Rumours of an Indian launch have been around for a while and judging by a listing on Sony India it seems a certainty it will hit the region.

Sony India is currently offering six months worth of Accidental Damage Cover for its premium phones. We first reported on this when the Xperia Z1 was launched in India, but didn’t know which other phones it would apply to. 

Well according to the T&C’s, this new promotion will apply to a number of devices bought on or after 15 September 2013. This includes the Sony Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1, Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR, Xperia SP and Xperia C.

Yes, Sony India has included the Xperia C in this promotion which pretty much confirms it will be heading to India at some point. It is believed that the phone will retail for under INR 20,000 and launch in early October. We’ll bring you firm information once we have it.

The Sony Xperia C is the first Xperia device to sport a Mediatek MTK6589 chipset (1.2 GHz quad-core processor and IMG SGX544 graphics), 1GB RAM, 4GB internal storage, dual SIM, 5-inch qHD display, 2330mAh battery, 8MP Exmor R camera and VGA front-facing camera.

Oppo announced N1 - 5.9' with 13MP rotating camera and CyanogenMod support

Oppo has now formally announced its new high-end Android smartphone, the N1. The device comes with a number of “firsts”, the most intriguing being a rotating camera. It is also the first phone to officially support CyanogenMod, after the project went commercial last week.

A quick look at the specifications shows that the smartphone comes with a 5.9-inch 1080p IPS display. Internally, the smartphone comes with a quad-core Snapdragon 600 SoC clocked at 1.7GHz, 2GB of RAM as well as 16GB or 32GB of internal memory. The smartphone will come packing a massive 3610mAh battery. 

The USP of the N1 is the rotating camera. The 13MP camera with CMOS sensor and f/2.0 aperture is impressive in itself, but there's a specially-designed Fujitsu IPS imaging chip. The camera has a 6-piece lens design, which Oppo says is the first of its kind on Android. The entire camera rotates 206 degrees allowing it to act as a front-facing camera as well. Oppo says the rotation has been tested 100,000 times and this means you can swivel it 40 times a day for 7 years. There's a dual-mode flash as well designed to work for front and back shots.

Oppo has now unveiled the N1 smartphone

The smartphone also comes with “O Click”, a Bluetooth accessory that can be attached in a keyring and can be used to take pictures remotely or sound an alarm if you can't find a phone. The N1 has a touch panel on the back, which allows users to perform various tasks with some gestures. This includes taking a selfie with a tap on the back.

There is still not much word about how the optional CyanogenMod support will work, but the device, by default, will support Oppo’s Color OS, based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, featuring 410 design 'improvements' over Google’s vanilla UI. In terms of connectivity, the smartphone is said to come with quadband GSM and pentaband HSPA+ support, so LTE support is missing for now.

There is, unfortunately, no word on there being any plans of launching the phone in other parts of the world. So far, the Oppo N1 is slated for an October launch in China.

Here’s a quick look at the specifications of the Oppo N1:

• 5.9-inch full HD display, 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, 377 ppi pixel density
• USB OTG, 5G Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, GPS
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 13-megapixel sensor with dedicated ISP with Dual-mode LED
• 16GB, 32 GB internal memory variants

Apple iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c drop test

For iPhone lovers we have arranged the drop test to see the build quality of latest iPhone 5s and 5c. If you’re one of the dedicated iPhone customers that lined up or logged on way too early this morning to secure your brand new iPhone 5s or 5c, then congratulations, but that didn't clue you in on one of the most important parts of purchasing a new smartphone — the drop test. Assuming you have an iron stomach, or at least aren't squeamish about pretty tech being smashed to pieces, viewing a drop test is an important part of a smartphone purchase.

The iron-stomachs over at Android Authority picked up both an iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, and then immediately dropped them on the ground from too great a height.

Both the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c were dropped from chest height onto pavement, an accurate portrayal of a common way you might accidentally drop your phone. The results are a little surprising, see below video.

If you are planning to pick up the iPhone 5c for yourself, then you might be interested in checking out what happens to your favourite gadget when you drop them. Read on to see how the new iPhones perform in a drop test.
Apple iPhone 5s and the 5c were dropped three times each in different ways and as expected, the aluminium iPhone 5s came on top with flying colours. On the other hand, the iPhone 5c with its plastic body survived two drops. As for the third attempt, check out the video below to see what happened:
Surprisingly, the newest addition, the iPhone 5c was still operational even with a shattered display. At the end of the day, it looks like both the iPhones will hold up pretty well against accidental drops.