Mobility

Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic

By · September 14, 2011, 1:16 AM PST · billdetwiler

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  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic

    In September 2011, Verizon added a fourth device to its growing lineup of 4G LTE smartphones--the Motorola Droid Bionic. Like Verizon's other 4G phones (the HTC ThunderBolt, LG Revolution, and Samsung Droid Charge), the Bionic runs Google's Android operating system.

    In May, I cracked open the HTC ThunderBolt, and was excited to get my hands on another 4G device. Follow along as I go inside the Motorola Droid Bionic.

    For a more in-depth review of the Bionic's internal hardware, check out my article, "Droid Bionic Teardown: Motorola switches processors, upgrades RAM in final version."

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Verizon $299 with contract

    The Motorola Droid Bionic is available from Verizon for $299.99 (US) with a two-year contract. I bought our Bionic test device (sans contract) from a local Best Buy Mobile location for $699.99 (plus tax). Interestingly, Verizon's Web site lists the full retail price as $589.99.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Brief hardware specifications

    Our the Droid Bionic has a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 16GB of storage, 8MP rear-facing camera, VGA-quality front-facing camera, and 4.3" display (960x540 pixels).

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Box contents

    Inside the Droid Bionic's box, you'll find the device itself (includes removable back panel, battery, and microSD card), USB cable, power adapter, and product documentation.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Front

    The Droid Bionic measures 5" (H) x 2.6" (W) x 0.5" (D). It weighs 5.6 ounces.

    Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Back

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Volume buttons

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Power button and headphone jack

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Bottom edge

  • Motorola Droid Bionic and HTC ThunderBolt side by side

  • Motorola Droid Bionic and HTC ThunderBolt end to end

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the back cover

    Removing the Droid Bionic's back cover grants you access to the user-replaceable battery, microSD card slot, and SIM card slot.

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Back cover removed

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the battery

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: 3.8V 1735mAh battery

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Battery model MOTXT8758BAT

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: With battery removed

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the microSD card

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the Torx T5 case screws

    The Droid Bionic's rear case is held in place with 11 Torx T5 screws.

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Peeling off the battery compartment sticker

    Before removing the rear case, I had to peel off a sticker that lined the back of the battery compartment.

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Ready to remove rear case

    With the rear case screws and battery compartment sticker removed, you can remove the rear case.

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the rear case

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Rear case

    The internal loudspeaker, headphone jack, and LED flash are mounted to the rear case.

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Internal loudspeaker

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: LED flash and 3.5mm headphone jack

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Internal hardware

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the microSD and SIM card reader bracket screws

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the microSD and SIM card reader

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: microSD and SIM card reader

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the webcam/card reader spacking bracket

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Disconnecting the LCD and touchscreen connectors

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the front-facing webcam and speaker

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Front-facing webcam and speaker

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the main PCB

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Front panel assembly and main PCB

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Touchscreen and LCD

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Detaching the touchscreen ribbon cables from the LCD

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the LCD

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Touchscreen and LCD

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Touchscreen

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: LCD - Front

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: LCD - Back

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Main PCB

    Unfortunately, the EMI shields on the Motorola Droid Bionic's main PCB are soldered in place. To avoid damaging the components on the PCB, I decided to leave the shields in place. There are still a few components we can remove from the main PCB.

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the processor shield

    One of the only removable shields on the Droid Bionic's main PCB is the one covering the processor. It also covers the rear-facing camera's connector.

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Disconnecting the rear-facing camera

    Using a thin metal blade, I detached the 8MP rear-facing camera's connector from the main PCB.

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing the rear-facing camera

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: 8MP rear-facing camera

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Removing rubber cushions from the main PCB

    Several rubber "cushions" surround various components on the main PCB. I removed them using a pair of tweezers.

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Main PCB - Front

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Main PCB - Back

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Elpida B8064B2PB-8D-F

    When announced at CES 2011, Motorola indcated that the Droid Bionic would use a dual-core Nvidia TEgra 2 processor. But the final version of the phone uses this Elpida B8064B2PB-8D-F chip, which contains 8 Gb DRAM and the Texas Instruments OMAP4430 Application Processor.

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Atmel MXT224E touchscreen controller

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: X6500 F0TK RVC

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Vibration motor

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Ambient light sensor and proximity sensor

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Microphone

  • Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic: Complete teardown

    The Motorola Droid Bionic was remarkabley easy to disassemble. It uses standard screws, has a user-replaceable battery, and readily-accessible components. Only the rear-facing camera was a pain to remove.

    For a more in-depth review of the Bionic's internal hardware, check out my article, "Droid Bionic Teardown: Motorola switches processors, upgrades RAM in final version."

Cracking Open the Motorola Droid Bionic

In September 2011, Verizon added a fourth device to its growing lineup of 4G LTE smartphones--the Motorola Droid Bionic. Like Verizon's other 4G phones (the HTC ThunderBolt, LG Revolution, and Samsung Droid Charge), the Bionic runs Google's Android operating system.

In May, I cracked open the HTC ThunderBolt, and was excited to get my hands on another 4G device. Follow along as I go inside the Motorola Droid Bionic.

For a more in-depth review of the Bionic's internal hardware, check out my article, "Droid Bionic Teardown: Motorola switches processors, upgrades RAM in final version."

Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
Caption by: Bill Detwiler

Related Topics:
Mobility Security Hardware Software Apple Android Google

By Bill Detwiler

Bill Detwiler is Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop support specialist in the ...

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