Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Box contents

Cracking Open Kindle Fire HD: Hardware specifications, dimensions, and weight

ntThe 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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ntPhoto by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
ntCaption 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

ntUnfortunately, 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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ntPhoto by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
ntCaption 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)

ntThe 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.

ntAccording to the motherboard markings, DYnamic Electronics Co. manufactured the Kindle Fire HD’s PCBs.

Kindle Fire HD completely disassembled