\n\tLike the original Kindle Fire, Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD is designed for heavy Amazon users and Amazon Prime subscribers. And I show you in this gallery, the 7-inch model is easy to disassemble and has a completely new internal hardware layout.
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\n\tThe 7-inch Kindle Fire HD sells for $199 (16GB) and $249 (32GB). You’ll pay an additional $15 to remove the advertisements shown on the lock screen.
\n\tPhoto by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
\n\tCaption by: Bill Detwiler
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Box contents
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Hardware specifications, dimensions, and weight
\n\tThe 7-inch Kindle Fire HD has a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4460 system on a chips (SoC), 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM, a 7-inch IPS LCD (1280×800), and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (MIMO) support. The base model has 16GB of storage, but a 32GB version is also available. The Fire HD measures 5.4″ (W) x 7.6 (T) x 0.4″ (D) and weighs 13.9 ounces.
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\n\tPhoto by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
\n\tCaption by: Bill Detwiler
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Back
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: HDMI (mini) and USB (micro-B) ports
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Headphone jack, volume button, and power button
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: 7-inch IPS LCD screen (1280x800)
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Lock screen advertisements
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD, and original Kindle Fire
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Thinner than Nexus 7 and original Kindle Fire
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Wider than original Fire and Nexus 7
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Popping off the back cover
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the back cover
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Internal hardware
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Disconnecting the battery
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the copper tape from the battery and motherboard
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Disconnecting the Wi-Fi antenna wire
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the battery screws
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the battery
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: 3.7 V, 4,400 mAh, 16.43 Wh Li-ion battery
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: With battery removed
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Detaching the motherboard connectors
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the motherboard screws
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the motherboard
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Display assembly and internal frame without motherboard
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the headphone jack PCB
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Headphone jack PCB
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the left speaker
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the right speaker
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Speakers
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the internal frame screws
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Detaching the W-Fi antenna from the internal frame
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the internal frame
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Display/front panel assembly
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: LG Electronics LD070WX3-SL01 display
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Atmel mXT768E touchscreen controller
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Power and volume buttons removed
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Magnesium (AZ91D) internal frame
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Removing the camera
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: 720p front-facing camera
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Motherboard - Top
\n\tUnfortunately, many of the Kindle Fire HD’s ICs are covered by EMI/RFI shields, which are soldered to the motherboard. I want to reassemble this tablet in working order, so I’m not going to remove the shields.
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\n\tPhoto by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
\n\tCaption by: Bill Detwiler
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Motherboard - Bottom
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: 1GB Samsung K3PE7E700M-XGC(2) LPDDR2 SDRAM and 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4460 SoC (includes Power VRSGX 540 GPU)
\n\tThe 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4460 SoC is mounted under the 1GB Samsung K3PE7E700M-XGC(2) LPDDR2 SDRAM chip in what’s called a package-on-package configuration.
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: 16GB Samsung KLMAG2Ge4A-A001 moviNAND (eMMC)
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Wolfson WM8962E ultra-low power audio CODEC
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Invensense MPU-6050 Six-Axis (Gyro + Accelerometer) MEMS MotionTracking Device
Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Motherboard markings show DYnamic Electronics Co.
\n\tAccording to the motherboard markings, DYnamic Electronics Co. manufactured the Kindle Fire HD’s PCBs.
Bill Detwiler is the Editor for Technical Content and Ecosystem at Celonis. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and previous host of TechRepublic's Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Previously, Bill was an IT manager in the social research and energy industries. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Louisville, where he has also lectured on computer crime and crime prevention.
