Tear-down of Microsoft Kin phone reveals silicon choices for the new phones
A disassembly of Microsoft’s Kin Two shows the silicon and component decisions that went into creating Microsoft’s youth-oriented, social networking smartphone.
Have you been itching to know what’s under the Kin’s skin? The helpful demolition experts at iFixit and Chipworks lay it all for you in a step-by-step disassembly of Microsoft’s just-introduced, youth-oriented smartphones.
Microsoft’s design is a bit bulkier than high-end smartphones like the iPhone and Motorola Droid. It’s 0.77 inches thick compared to 0.48 inches for iPhone and a bit thicker for Droid.
Part of the thickness is due to the fact that the Kin models are slider phones, with two halves sliding apart to show a simple full QWERTY keyboard. The teardown revelas Microsoft uses two springs to keep the halves fully open or fully closed. (Close-up photos from Chipworks are online at iFixit)
Also read: Out-of-this-world iPad has 5 antennas
The heart of the phone is the first-generation mobile chip from Nvidia, the Tegra APX2600. Tegra is the chip vendor’s mobile silicon platform, based on an ARM core, with a companion GeForce graphics core and other components. It’s been designed for good quality multi-media applications, and Microsoft already uses it in its line of Zune music players.
Later this year, the first smartphones, many of them apparently Android-based, with Nvidia’s next generation CPU, the Tegra 2, will become available. The company is also targeting tablets and netbook-style devices. More details can be found at Nvidia’s Website.
The onboard camera, a Sony IMX046 with an impressive 8 megapixels, only takes up 0.3 cubic inches. Sony fabricates it with a 90 nanometer CMOS process. Chipworks notes it’s one of the first phones to feature 720p High Definition video.
Networking connectivity is provided by a Qualcomm QSC6085 CDMA processor and, for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (and FM radio) a Texas Instruments WL1271A chip. The touchscreen controller is from Synaptics: its Clearpad technology in a device marked T1021A.
Storage is via the Samsung moviNAND KLM8G4DEDD package, based on an advanced 30-nanometer architecture, with up to 8GB of capacity.
* Avago has two chips inside the Kin Two: an ACFM-7103 CS/Cellular/S-GPS Qunitplexer and an ACPM-7353 dual-band power amplifier.
* The camera is the Sony IMX046. The IMX046 is fabricated using a 90nm CMOS process. The camera’s resolution is 8.11 effective megapixels (8 active megapixels), 1.4 μm sized pixel, 1/3.2″ optical format. Samsung was the first to use this camera in the M8800.
* Taking a cue from the iPhone and Zune HD, the Kin Two has an accelerometer. It’s an STMicro 331DL 3 Axis nano MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) device.
John Cox covers wireless networking and mobile computing for “Network World.” Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnwcoxnww
Email: john_cox@nww.com
Blog RSS feed: http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/2989/feed
