The intrepid hardware tinkerers at iFixit have torn down yet another newly-released gadget. Armed with only a spudger, razor blade, and Torx screwdriver, the gang took apart the Nexus 4's all-glass chassis to jump into the innards that fuel it and take a deeper look at those components.
To start, the rear cover of the phone does not conceal a battery, but rather a number of pressure contacts that power the NFC antenna and connect the induction coil to the motherboard for the Nexus 4's wireless charging capabilities. Though there's a battery connector that's screwed into place, the battery pack is actually secured to the case with adhesive which doesn't bode well for users who might wish to physically replace it in the future. It's interesting to note that the handset also features a 3.8V battery, like the iPhone 5. Underneath that, there's also a speaker enclosure, which is set atop a plastic frame that covers the motherboard, earpiece speaker, and vibrator motor.
On the motherboard, iFixit points out that the Nexus 4 houses a total of five Avago chips—one for the GSM and Edge networks, three for power amplification, and one specifically for the handset's GPS capabilities. What's more: there's also a WTR1605L OVV PKK486R1 chip from Qualcomm tacked on to the motherboard, which we discovered is actually a multi-band 4G LTE chip. It's unclear why it's not providing LTE capabilities to the Nexus 4, but it's possible that this could simply be a case of carrier restriction, or that it's the same chip featured in its sister phone, the Optimus G, and LG has simply left it in there to curb manufacturing costs on the handset.
Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments
via Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com
