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Amazon

Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

By Bill Detwiler December 22, 2015, 5:31 PM PST Bill Detwiler on Twitter billdetwiler

Image
1
of 35

Amazon Fire tablet (2015)
Amazon Fire tablet (2015)
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Amazon Fire teardown

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Amazon Fire teardown

Costing just $50, Amazon’s Fire tablet is definitely a bargain. But it looks so much like the company’s original Kindle Fire and is so cheap, that I got to thinking. Did Amazon just put old Kindle Fire hardware in a new package? In this TechRepublic teardown gallery, I crack open the Fire to find out. More my full hardware analysis and to watch a video of the teardown, check out my article, Cracking Open: Amazon Fire illustrates dramatic drop in cost of tablet tech.

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire

Released in 2011 for $200, Amazon’s original Kindle Fire was a moderately priced tablet with average specs. It was more an entertainment device and shopping portal than anything else. The new Fire tablet takes this concept to the extreme, but does it at a quarter of the cost.

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Dimensions

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Dimensions

Its dimensions are nearly identical to the original Kindle Fire, but it weighs slightly less and has a more rounded back cover. It also has a lot of features the older tablet didn’t have, like cameras, a microphone, and a microSD card slot, which is good because like the original Kindle Fire it only has 8GB of internal storage and more than 2 of that is used for the operating system. Also like the original Kindle Fire, the screen has a 1,024×600-pixel resolution, so it’s not high-definition like Amazon’s Fire HD tablets. And the front panel isn’t made with Gorilla Glass, so it’s not are durable as many other tablets on the market.

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Power button, volume button, mic, headphone jack and rear camera

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Power button, volume button, mic, headphone jack and rear camera

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: microSD card slot

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: microSD card slot

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown: Removing the back cover
Amazon Fire teardown: Removing the back cover
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Popping off the back cover

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Popping off the back cover

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the back cover

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the back cover

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Internal hardware

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Internal hardware

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: System board, battery, speakers, and front panel

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: System board, battery, speakers, and front panel

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Back cover

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Back cover

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Disconnecting the battery

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Disconnecting the battery

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the battery

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the battery

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 2980 mAh Li-ion battery

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 2980 mAh Li-ion battery

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the rear-facing camera

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the rear-facing camera

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 2MP rear-facing camera

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 2MP rear-facing camera

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Detaching the system board connectors

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Detaching the system board connectors

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the system board screws

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the system board screws

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the speaker

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the speaker

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Mono speaker

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Mono speaker

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the system board

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the system board

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Front panel and display attached to frame

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Front panel and display attached to frame

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: FocalTech FT5436i touch controller

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: FocalTech FT5436i touch controller

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the shield from the system board

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Removing the shield from the system board

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: System board - Front

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: System board - Front

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: System board - Bacl

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: System board - Bacl

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 1.3 GHz Mediatek MT8127 ARM Cortex A7 quad-core processor

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 1.3 GHz Mediatek MT8127 ARM Cortex A7 quad-core processor

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 1GB Samsung DRAM chip K4E8E304EE-AGCE

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 1GB Samsung DRAM chip K4E8E304EE-AGCE

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 8GB Samsung eMMC storage module KLM8G1GEND-B0310

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 8GB Samsung eMMC storage module KLM8G1GEND-B0310

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: MediaTek MT6323 power management IC

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: MediaTek MT6323 power management IC

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: VGA front-facing camera

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: VGA front-facing camera

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 3.5mm headphone jack

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: 3.5mm headphone jack

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: micro-USB port

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: micro-USB port

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: microSD slot

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: microSD slot

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown
Amazon Fire teardown
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: System board markings

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: System board markings

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Amazon Fire teardown finished
Amazon Fire teardown finished
Photos: Cracking Open the Amazon Fire

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Completed teardown

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open Amazon Fire: Completed teardown

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
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By Bill Detwiler
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.
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