Over the past year or so we have cracked open several versions of the Apple iPod and the iPhone. These are always delicate operations that often result in broken devices. Unfortunately, the Cracking Open of the iPod Touch second generation is falls in the broken category. Here is what happened.\n
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
This is our Apple iPod Touch just before we begin to crack it open.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
We opted for the least expensive model just in case.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
Within two minutes after starting we had a catastrophic event. The glass face plate is toast already.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
The cracks in the glass radiate out from the epicenter. Getting the face plate off is not even more challenging. The cracks will get bigger as we go and the glass is likely to shatter in to smaller pieces.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
My worst case scenario occurs – the glass face plate shatters and several glass pieces remain behind, still glued to the plastic framing.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
Several shards of glass remain on the plastic housing that supports the face plate.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
Here are the glass pieces – what a mess.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
The top plastic piece unclipped from the iPod without much trouble to reveal the underside of the WiFi connection subsystem. The on/off power switch is also housed here.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
Take a close look at the sides. Those plastic pieces should have come out with the faceplate. They are part of the plastic framework – This cracking open is the roughest so far.
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These various pieces should all be part of the glass face plate framework. This is not what you want to see.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
This is what I was looking for during the initial Cracking Open phase taking off the glass face plate. However, this state was reached several steps too late to save or iPod face plate.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
Very small screws hold the metal plate in place.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
The battery is glued to the underside of the metal plate. It peels off the metal plate easily and we can separate the LCD panel from the rest of the device.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
The battery does not disconnect from the rest of the device so cleanly. In fact, it is soldered to the circuit board.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
The main circuit board houses the Apple software ROM, the ARM processor, and the 8GB of memory. Unfortunately, most of the chips are under a very elaborate heat sink. This is completely new with the second generation iPod Touch. Even the iPhone 3G did not have this configuration.
At this point I still had high hopes that we could buy a replacement faceplate and fix our iPod Touch.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
This is the Apple iPod Touch cracked open. Notice the LCD screen – it has a couple of discolored areas. I was apparently feeling very destructive the day I cracked this device open, because the LCD screen useless now.
\nTo summarize: DO NOT OPEN YOUR IPOD TOUCH —- EVER!. Apple has gone to great lengths to make this device nearly impossible to open without breaking something. My best advice, take care of your iPod and if it does break, get a new one.
Photos by Mark Kaelin for \u00a9 TechRepublic.com
Mark W. Kaelin has been writing and editing stories about the information technology industry, software, hardware, gaming, finance, accounting, and technology geekdom for more than 30 years.
