Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS

Opinion Articles

Friday, December 17, 2010

The teardown: engineering or entertainment?

Mark Bridge writes:

A few months ago I wrote about the so-called geek porn of unboxing. Unboxing, in case you’re unaware, refers to photos and video clips showing brand new mobile phones being removed from their packaging and switched on.

However, I’ve recently been reminded there is another similar type of geek porn. It’s darker than unboxing. More destructive. More intimate. It’s the teardown.

Now, a teardown – pronounced tare, not tier – isn’t a term from American Football. It’s another word for dismantling. However, instead of just ending up with a box of bits, you’re presented with an inventory that reveals all kinds of information about components and manufacturing processes.

The latest product to be subjected to a teardown is the Google Nexus S (or the Samsung GT-i9020, if you believe what’s written inside the phone). Online repair community iFixit has strapped on its anti-static wrist band and whipped out the motherboard.

I can’t pretend I’m not slightly interested by the results – but they don’t teach me anything that would affect my buying decision.

Which, I think, reveals the truth of the teardown. For most of us, it falls somewhere between the mystery of reverse engineering and the spectacle of Will it blend?

And that’s got me thinking. We’ve already been introduced to live teardowns. But maybe the speed teardown could be the next phenomenon for the wannabe geek. Two people, each with nothing but a Phillips size 00 screwdriver, pitted against each other. And then speed reassembly afterwards.

iFixit Google Nexus S teardown

Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Categories: Handsets and manufacturers, OpinionNumber of views: 7557

Tags: opinion android google

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Recent Podcasts

Podcast - 11th June 2010

Ben Whitaker of Masabi talks about mobile ticketing, including his company's recent partnership with thetrainline.com that'll enable almost any mobile phone user to buy train tickets when they're on the move. (An extended version of the interview from Wednesday's podcast).
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 9th June 2010

Apple announces the iPhone 4, Iridium prepares 72 new satellites and Orange reveals a phone charger powered by hot feet. In addition there's a conversation with Ben Whitaker of Masabi about his company's plans to introduce rail tickets on mobile phones across the UK.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 2nd June 2010

HipLogic CEO Mark Anderson talks about his company's information and entertainment application, which is being preloaded onto mobile phones at The Carphone Warehouse. And, as usual, there's a look at all the week's other major mobile industry headlines.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 26th May 2010

Iain, James and Mark discuss the week's headlines, from the Nokia/Yahoo! partnership and Google's AdMob approval to one-sided phone calls. There's also an interview with Andrew Grieve and Paul Erickson from fSONA; a company that offers 'optical wireless' technology to relieve network capacity problems.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 19th May 2010

This week's podcast is dominated by the results from the Interphone 'brain cancer' mobile phone research, although there's also time for Iain, James and Mark to talk about Google, Bluechipworld, Vodafone MVNOs, giffgaff, 3D mobile video, HTC's legal action and houses without fixed-line phones.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First6566676870727374Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«December 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
2526272829301
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
303112345

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement