it's a fitness tracker it can tap your
wrist every time you get a notification
and it can even tell time it's the Apple
watch and it could be the device that
brings wearable technology into the
mainstream
we've been waiting eight long months
since it was announced to get our hands
on one and now we've got it our teardown
team once again traveled beyond the
International Dateline to join our
friends at Mac Fixit in Melbourne
Australia to be one of the first people
on earth to get an Apple watch we're not
counting all those celebrities we've
been seeing with one by the way thanks
for not letting us take your watch apart
Pharrell what mysteries will we find
inside the most personal device Apple
has ever made there's only one way to
find out and that's to tear it down
hi I'm Gwendolyn with iFixit and today
we're tearing down the Apple watch
coming in three versions the aluminum
sport model the stainless steel Apple
watch model and the golden edition model
we had quite a decision to make as to
which one we'd be getting for our
teardown
fortunately supply constraints made the
choice easier for us as the 38
millimeter aluminum sport model was the
first of the watch as we ordered to show
up the sport model measures in at thirty
eight point six millimeters high by
thirty three point three millimeters
wide by ten point five millimeters thick
and weighs in at 25 grams the 38
millimeter Apple watch comes with a
Retina display with a resolution of 272
by 340 and a pixel density of 290 pixels
per inch all covered with a scratch
resistant aluminosilicate glass that
Apple is calling ion X glass while
getting the watch band off was easy
enough just to press on the band release
button on the back case releases the
spring-loaded metal peg on the band then
it slides right out hopefully getting
into the watch will be just as easy
scouring the watch for a point of entry
we find the model number a one five five
three and a small port door that seems
to be the diagnostic port we've seen
reports of after finding no obvious
points of entry outcome the eye openers
a razor blade and a soft opening pick to
gently pry the glass up peeking
underneath the display we see we'll need
to disconnect the display and digitizer
cables which are trapped underneath the
springy bracket not unlike the touch ID
cable we saw in the iPhone 5
once those were disconnected we achieved
full separation and got our first real
look at the digital crown the taptic
engine and a hint of gold we suspected
some kind of antenna with a little
prying we popped this adorable 3.8 volt
point seven eight watt our lithium-ion
battery out of the rear case just to
throw a little comparison at you the
Samsung gear live and the Moto 360 have
300 milliamp hour batteries whereas the
Apple watch has a mere 205 milliamp hour
battery still Apple claims you should
get up to 18 hours of life with this
little guy digging further into the
watch we encounter some of the tiniest
screws we've ever seen these little tri
wing screws are so small even our
smallest bit wasn't up to the task well
we aren't ones to take this lying down
so out came our files and with some
minor modifications to our bit we were
able to get these screws out now that we
have a clear view of the taptic engine
we take it out for a closer look and it
looks like the speaker's coming along
for a ride to the taptic engine is the
source of Apple watch's haptic feedback
it's what gives you a tap on the wrist
letting you know you have a new
notification this cool piece of tech is
apple's design of a linear actuator that
produces that haptic feedback if you're
wondering what a linear actuator is it's
an actuator that creates motion in a
straight line in contrast to the
circular motion of a conventional
electric motor moving right along we
take out the antenna assembly the button
cable with a mechanical button and a
button cover that looks exactly like
what you would find in an iPhone only
this one like everything else in this
watch is tiny working our way down
towards the s1 we encountered the other
side of that hidden diagnostic port we
saw earlier and find some contacts the
next piece standing in our way with the
digital crown bracket and with that gone
we begin to pry up the s1 and oh my god
that is a lot of cables pulling out this
mess turns out to be a destructive
procedure as there were some soldered
connectors that were ripped out in the
process taking apart a new gadget is
always an interesting learning
experience but we were rewarded with the
first look at the s1 it turns out this
might be as close to the insides of the
s1 as we're going to get for the time
being the emblazoned cap isn't a cap at
all but a solid block of plasticky resin
keeping its guts hidden from us
for now despite rumors and hope of an
upgradable product the difficulty of
removing the s1 cast serious doubts on
the idea of simply swapping out
internals so take that into
consideration when you're purchasing
your addition model after removing the
s-1 we check back with the display panel
to find what might be an ambient light
sensor and this lonely chip this is an
arm cortex-m 3 based touch screen
controller we're betting that oddly
positioned light sensor is one of
Apple's new solar cell ambient light
sensors these sensors can actually be
placed behind the display panel as
opposed to the traditional surface
mounted design seen in most smartphones
and tablets the digital crown seems to
have a nice encoder system much like the
nest thermostat to read the spinning
dial the encoder system is branched off
the same cable that connects to the
single push button below the crown and
the debug port contacts we've come to
the end of our teardown which means it's
time to talk repairability and iFixit
it's our mission to teach people how to
repair everything so we give every
gadget we tear down a repair ability
score between 1 and 10 10 being the
easiest to repair and one being the most
difficult the Apple watch scored a 5 out
of 10 and here's why
on the upside the watch band is easily
removed and swapped out for a
replacement removing the screen is
difficult but not impossible it's the
first component out simplifying the
replacement once you're inside the
battery is quite easy to remove only
mild adhesive holds it in place but on
the downside removing any other
component is essentially impossible
and finally the fully encased s1 system
makes board level repairs impossible for
the complete teardown including tons of
beautiful high-quality images head on
over to ifixit.com don't forget to
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