Networking

Cracking open the LG C1300 flip phone

By · May 11, 2007, 6:10 AM PST

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  • LG C1300

    by Arthur Tamayo

    The LG C1300 cellular phone is one of the many new flip phones found on the market today. This is not my preference of cell phone styles, so dismantling this flippin' phone is going to be a treat for me.

  • Remove the battery

    Upon examining the back cover I notice a sleek design without any screws showing on the exterior. The first order of business will require the removal of the batery pack.

  • Remove the case screws - watch for the hidden screw

    Once the battery is removed I found that the SIM Card easily slides right out with little effort. The back panel however required the removal of a silicon insert located adjacent the antenna to reveal a fifth screw that holds the back panel securely snug against the body of the device. This is done to help keep the antenna from popping loose, should the phone ever be dropped, which seems to happen to everyone, even most careful cell phone users.

  • Carefully remove the case's back panel

    After the five screws are removed, the back panel must be unsnapped from the body by carefully sliding a small flat screw driver in between along the seem. Prying or turning of the screwdriver will result in unsightly damage to the outer case, so be very careful here.

  • Antenna connector?

    The plastic insert that covers the fifth hidden screw also covers a connector port. I didn't find any reference to this port's purpose in available LG documentation. However, after looking closely at the circuitry, I would guess it is a coax connector for an external antenna. The large gold pad on the corner of the PCB is used to make contact to the antenna connector and as you can see in the photo, there is also a circuit path leading directly to our mystery connector.

  • Don't remove the main board just yet

    The few stops take place pretty quickly. The main circuit board simply snaps off but be careful not lift it out of the case just yet.

  • Be very gentle with the flexible circuit

    Notice the flexible printed circuit connector with the hand written markings on it. This connector is fragile and if you intend to put your phone back together, as every good tech should, then you will want to be very careful not to break this part of the circuit.

  • Remove the main circuit board

    The main circuit board can be lifted and the keypad also lifts out as a single unit. The keypad is a molded silicon part and no further disassembly of the keypad is possible.

    The volume control buttons are located in the highlighted area of the photo and to remove them I simply rolled them out of their original position until they ended up in the position shown in the photo.

    In this photo the flip phone is in the closed position and the LCD can be seen through the keypad holes of the main body of the phone.

  • Remove the display cover

    At this point, flip the phone open disassemble the phone's display. There are two screws hidden by silicon buttons--indicated with red arrows. Remove the screws. The LCD cover can then be removed by first prying near the hinge and then sliding a small screw driver around the seem as with the back cover.

  • Remove the display, speaker and microphone

    With the LCD cover removed, the LCD, speaker and microphone can be lifted out, again being careful not the break the flex bus.

  • Separate the hinge

    At this point, any curious techy should have a good idea what this phone is made of. But we're not just any techies are we? It's time to separate the brains from the unibrows. Next we'll separate the hinge.

  • Removing the hinge

    In my haste, I chose to pry and bend the keypad part of the hinge to clear the post that fits into the hole located at arrow 1, being careful not to tear the bus connector that slides out through a slot at this location.

    The correct way to remove the hinge would be to insert a special tool, (which I don't have at my disposal), into the hole located at arrow 2 and pull back the spring-loaded post that sticks out of the center part of the hinge. This will be clear in the next photo.

  • Halves disconnected

    With the hinges now separated, the bus can bee seen at arrow 1.

    Arrow 2 shows the spring-loaded post that would retracted to allow removal and insertion of the center hinge into the outer hinge on the keypad housing.

  • As far as I want to go

    Further disassembly would require de-soldering the bus connector from the main circuit board and feeding it through the slot in the keypad housing, a procedure which I have chosen not to demonstrate.

  • LG C1300 completely disassembled

    The disassembly for this Cracking Open demonstration is complete.

LG C1300

by Arthur Tamayo

The LG C1300 cellular phone is one of the many new flip phones found on the market today. This is not my preference of cell phone styles, so dismantling this flippin' phone is going to be a treat for me.

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