iphone hacks pushing the iphone and ipod touch beyond their limits phần 9 potx

Figure 12-45 using a metal spudger to remove the screen from an iPod touch The simple spudger Figure 12-46 has a wedge with a hook on one end, and a pencil-like point on the other end..

Figure 12-36

Ground loop isolator

In-Vehicle Internet

if you have an iphone 3G, then you already have near-broadband speeds in areas that are served by aT&T’s 3G network But if you have an ipod touch or an original iphone, you may feel out of touch

on the road, unable to play network games and download movies But there’s a solution to that, too

There are several devices that can help make your vehicle into a Wi-Fi hotspot portable wireless routers, such as the kyocera kR-1, turn a Verizon or sprint eV-Do mobile broadband card into a wireless hotspot (sprint sells a portable router for $140 as well) cradlepoint (www.cradlepoint.com) also makes portable wireless routers (Figure 12-37) You can find a full list of similar devices

at www.evdoinfo.com

all of these products provide Wi-Fi to any device you’ve got, so if you’re trying to make sure that you’re almost always online, these are an essential addition to your arsenal of gadgets

Figure 12-37

cradlepoint portable wireless router

You can keep your hands warm and still use your iPhone.

the iPhone has a capacitive touch screen that means it’s registering the presence of a conductive

object, such as your finger, and not the pressure of your touch as you might expect if you’re

curious, get a piece of carrot and try to use your phone with that You will find that it works just as

well as your finger

when you’re wearing mittens or gloves in colder climates, it’s uncomfortable and inconvenient to

keep taking them off and on in order to operate a touch device like the iPod while some gloves

have fingertip caps that you can open, it is at times too cold to comfortably do this what you need

is a way to make your fingers work right through the glove

there are several approaches to making the fingertips of your gloves conductive:

Put conductive glue on the fingertips

DIY conductive Glue

to make conductive glue, grind mechanical pencil leads (Figure 12-38) into a fine powder and mix

the graphite powder with a minimal amount of elmer’s rubber cement (Figure 12-39) Glue should

be added one drop at a time while stirring, until you get a paste-like consistency At first you just

get gooey balls of graphite, but as soon as you’ve added enough glue, it turns into a black sludge

then put the glove on your hand, and dip your thumb and index finger in the bowl You have to be

moderately quick, because it will dry quickly Also, it’s pretty messy You will get graphite on your

hands, and probably any surface you are working on it goes without saying that although graphite

isn’t poisonous like lead, you probably don’t want to use your nice cooking pestle and mortar set to

do the grinding

surprisingly, this actually works, and it works well it gives a natural feeling, and good control You

don’t have to layer it on too thickly for it to work; you might just try a dot of glue, or a thin coating

the drawback of this solution is that sometimes you may leave graphite smudges on things, but

these can be wiped off

.

Figure 12-38

Mechanical pencil lead, ready for grinding with a pestle

Figure 12-39

Rubber cement mixed with powdered pencil graphite

Rubber cement costs about $5 and you’ll probably spend another $5–$10 for the pencil lead so at

$15, the glue option is the cheapest, easiest, and quickest to apply, and gives the best control over the phone The price of pencil leads is usually the same regardless of the thickness of lead, so you get slightly more for your money if you buy the thickest pencil lead you can

Conductive Threadconductive thread (Figure 12-40) works well, and can be made to look nice, depending on your sewing skill levels Both finger and thumb work fine, but the stitching on the index finger (Figure 12-41) gives more control than the thumb although more thread works better, experimentation showed that a minimal amount of thread was still functional (Figure 12-42)

Figure 12-40

conductive thread

An inexpensive, already conductive solution for the problem of cold hands and iPhones is made

by Dots (Figure 12-43): the iPhone Glove

.

Figure 12-43

Dots iPhone Gloves

Whether you’re replacing the battery or replacing the screen, this hack will introduce you to the delicate steps of iphone surgery.

There is a wonderfully macabre portion of the iphone and ipod touch community that can’t help but recklessly disassemble and document each new model as soon as they come out They revel

in unveiling the inner workings and most secret physical components of each soap-bar-like device This process is often very well documented and of great help to anyone who wishes to modify, repair, or simply torture their device This hack will focus on modifications and repair, with images helpfully provided by our disassembler friends over at iFixit (www.ifixit.com), which is also a great source for any of the parts you might need in the repair of your device

Most disassembly instructions for devices will drop a bomb on you right at the end of the

d

instructions that “reassembly is the opposite of disassembly” or “reverse these steps to reassemble.” At that point, you may suddenly realize that you haven’t exactly been keeping track

of which screw goes where, or even taking care not to lose the screws Here we’ll warn you ahead

of time So find some shotglasses or plastic food storage containers, such as ice cube trays, to save the screws (Figure 12-44), and pay attention to the steps, thinking about them backward

as well as forward so that reassembly will be as easy as possible If you keep a camera handy

to take photos of your work at each critical step, it will make it way easier to backtrack.

Figure 12-44

screws saved in a shotglass

Toolsspudgers are the most generic-seeming yet most crucial tool for disassembly of tightly constructed devices such as the iphone (Figure 12-45) They’re sticks of plastic or metal with different tips often they have wedges, hooks, or points Devices like the iphone aren’t like toy guns,

in that they don’t have lots of loose plastic that can simply be screwed together They use systems

Figure 12-45

using a metal spudger to remove the screen from an iPod touch

The simple spudger (Figure 12-46) has a wedge with a hook on one end, and a pencil-like point on

the other end It’s made of tough and antistatic plastic It is used in prying, lifting up connectors,

and at one point in this disassembly, scraping away glue

.

Figure 12-46

The spudger

The heavy-duty spudger (Figure 12-47) has a thicker wedge and thicker point It does the “heavy

lifting” as it were It is plastic, like the regular spudger

.

Figure 12-47

The heavy-duty spudger

The metal spudger (Figure 12-48) is even sturdier, because it is metal It’s used in the prying of

certain edges as well as in the removal of the original iPhone’s antenna cover

.

Figure 12-48

The metal spudger

The ipod opening Tools (Figure 12-49) are specially made for prying up the edges of ipods and iphones without damaging them They are made of a lighter material than that of the ipod, and thus are prone to damage if not used properly Too many failures could result in them being unusable, in which case a thin metal blade or guitar pick would work as a replacement.

Figure 12-49

The ipod opening tools

The #00 phillips screwdriver (Figure 12-50) is a very small screwdriver, used for the kinds of tiny screws that you’ll find in small precision devices like iphones

Figure 12-50

The phillips #00 screwdriver

To whet your appetite for disassembly fun, here are four grand reveals of iphone and ipod touch insides Figure 12-51 shows a disassembled original model iphone—the same model that is pictured partially nude on the cover of this book as a teaser

Figure 12-51

You can tell it’s the original iphone from the black plastic antenna cover portion.

Figure 12-52 shows a dismembered iPhone 3G, with all the fixins.

.

Figure 12-52

The iPhone 3G, which comes with all that you see here

Figure 12-53 shows a filleted original iPod touch It looks simpler than the iPhone, because it is:

no sIM card, camera, or microphone

.

Figure 12-53

The original iPod touch

Figure 12-54 shows a splayed iPod touch 2G It’s like the original version, but rounder

.

Figure 12-54

The opened-up original iPod touch

The following four hacks will give you disassembly instructions for both generations of iphone and ipod touch By the time you’re done reading, you’ll feel like you could disassemble anything.

12.10:

Master the skill of disassembling and reassembling your iphone.

Taking apart the first-generation iphone is quite different from taking apart the iphone 3G

The advanced stages of this hack require soldering experience If you don’t have

in disassembly

For tips on reassembling the device, as well as an overview of the tools used here, see

Figure 12-55

popping out the siM card tray

The next part necessary in any iphone disassembly is removing the black plastic antenna cover (Figure 12-56) it has four tabs that you need to pop open with a metal spudger and an ipod opening tool First, release the tabs near the dock connector by sliding a metal spudger in-between the dock connector and the antenna cover (Figure 12-57) Make sure that you’re actually sticking it between those two pieces and not simply sticking it in the dock connector next, insert the wedge

of the ipod tool between the front metal bezel and the antenna cover (Figure 12-58) The wedge should be facing the antenna cover slide the ipod tool up and around the corner to unhook the side

Figure 12-59

Removing the antenna panel

next, the metal rear panel is the object of our deconstruction You’ll want to unscrew the three phillips #00 screws that attach the panel to the rest of the phone (Figure 12-60) Make sure to note where these were (check the photograph for help) and tuck them away safely now, this panel is rather hard to remove, so don’t get discouraged or angry at it, or you may damage it more than you intended to

now you’ll need to do more prying start with the side that doesn’t have the volume buttons, as whichever side you tackle first is going to be the hardest to get, and then you won’t risk damaging those buttons insert the point of a heavy-duty spudger into the gap between the rear panel and the area around where you removed the screw (Figure 12-61) Gently pry the frame upwards until you can insert an ipod tool in the gap between the bezel and rear panel slide the ipod tool along the side of the case and pop the four tabs open (Figure 12-62)

Make sure during the remaining steps that you don’t squeeze the case and repop the tabs back into place now repeat the same pry-and-pry procedure on the button side (Figure 12-63), which only has 3 tabs now you can lift off the rear panel But don’t yank it off, as you still need to use a spudger to disconnect the headphone jack cable from the logic board (Figure 12-64)

Figure 12-60

Unscrew three phillips #00 screws

Figure 12-64

Disconnect the headphone jack cable from the logic board

It’s Open!

now your iphone is opened up, and you can access nearly everything from this point The rest of this section will cover removing the battery, a common maintenance procedure More removal instructions can be found by poking around with spudgers and screwdrivers yourself, or through the guides available on www.ifixit.com

Removing the BatteryUse the tip of a spudger to remove the cloudy white glue covering the battery contacts, as shown

in Figure 12-65

Figure 12-65

Remove glue from contacts

Working from the edge opposite the battery connectors, insert a spudger between the battery and the plastic frame and pry up (Figure 12-66) The battery is attached to the casing with an adhesive, but should slowly come free

Figure 12-66

Pry up battery

We’re now ready to begin the soldering process You’ll need a soldering iron, solder, and desoldering

wick You should be able to find these items at a Radioshack, if you don’t already have them

Clean the soldering iron by melting a small amount of solder directly onto the soldering iron’s tip

(as shown in Figure 12-67) and then wiping the tip of the soldering iron on a damp sponge

.

Figure 12-67

Cleaning soldering iron tip with solder

now, you need to disconnect the battery:

Place the desoldering wick on top of the solder ball as shown in Figure 12-68

Repeat this procedure on the remaining two connectors

lift the old battery out of the iPhone be sure that all the solder has been removed before pulling

the wires away from the board The wires should come free with little to no resistance

Figure 12-68

Desoldering the battery from the board

clean the exposed surface of the board with a soft lint-free cloth or sponge and a small amount of rubbing alcohol

Replacing the BatteryMelt a small solder bead directly onto the metal connector on the board by placing the soldering iron onto the metal connector and then pressing solder against the tip and the board once a small amount of solder has melted onto the board, lift the solder away first and then the soldering iron see Figure 12-69

Figure 12-69

prepare soldering area

The solder bead should look like a small dome or hemisphere (Figure 12-70) if it is flat or jagged, simply place the soldering iron back on the solder to remelt it and then pull the soldering iron away

it may require a little more solder if this does not work

Figure 12-70

good solder beads

Place the wire from the new battery onto the new solder bead Press the tip of the soldering iron

onto the solder bead until it melts, as shown in Figure 12-71 slide the wire lead into the liquid solder

until it is in the center of the bead, then remove the soldering iron

Continue with the other two connections the same way, taking special care not to solder two of the

connectors together That would make for major iPhone sadness

.

Figure 12-71

soldering a battery wire

if you’ve successfully followed all these steps, congratulations! You’ve taken apart the most

complex of the four devices covered in this chapter The more apple has redesigned these soap

bars, the better the insides have become to dig around in

iFixit.com & adam stolarz

—

Master the skill of disassembling and reassembling your iphone.

The iphone 3G is quite an upgrade from the original iphone The case is made of fewer parts, and all in all, the device is easier to deconstruct apple has even included numbered stickers to indicate what order to detach various cables

To get started, remove the two phillips #00 screws from the dock-connector end of the iphone,

as shown in Figure 12-72

For tips on reassembling the device, as well as an overview of the tools used here, see

Figure 12-72

Remove the two phillips #00 screws from the dock connector

There is a fragile rubber gasket between the silver front bezel and black display assembly keep your tool as close to the silver front bezel as possible to prevent damaging the gasket

a metal spudger is recommended for this task (Figure 12-73), but an X-acto knife should also work—just be careful not to slip

insert a metal spudger into the seam between the silver front bezel and the black display assembly

on the edge closest to the home button Gently pry the display assembly up from its bezel

Figure 12-73

opening the bezel with a metal spudger

if necessary, insert the metal spudger in the same manner on the side of the iPhone and continue

to pry up gently, as shown in Figure 12-74 stop using the metal spudger once the display assembly

is up enough that you can lift it up with your fingers

.

Figure 12-74

Going along the side

The display assembly is still connected to the iPhone by several cables, so don’t try to remove it

entirely just yet

lift the free edge of the display assembly up until it is at an angle of approximately 45 degrees,

as shown in Figure 12-75

.

Figure 12-75

lifting the display

Continue to hold the display assembly with one hand, and use your other hand and a spudger to

disconnect the black ribbon cable labeled “1” inside the iPhone, as shown in Figure 12-76

Figure 12-76

Figure 12-78

Detaching cable 3

insert your sim eject tool or a paper clip into the hole next to the headphone jack as shown in

Figure 12-79 Press down on the tool until the sim card tray pops out

Grasp the sim card tray and slide it out of the iPhone

.

Figure 12-79

Removing the sim tray

use a spudger to disconnect the ribbon cable that is labeled “4” inside the iPhone (Figure 12-80)

.

Figure 12-80

Detaching cable 4

Use a spudger to disconnect the ribbon cable that is labeled “5” inside the iphone, as shown in Figure 12-81.

Figure 12-81

Detaching cable 5

Use a spudger to disconnect the ribbon cable labeled “6” (Figure 12-82)

Figure 12-82

Detaching cable 6

carefully peel up the small sticker labeled “Do not remove.” isn’t apple nice? They tell you exactly what to do and then tell you to turn around and go home see Figure 12-83

Figure 12-83

Removing the sticker

next, remove the following eight screws, which are circled in Figure 12-84:

Five 2.3 mm Phillips #00 screws with partial threads securing the logic board to the rear panel

use a spudger to gently pry the camera up and out of its housing in the rear panel, as shown in

Figure 12-85 The camera cannot be removed entirely yet, because it’s connected to the bottom of

the logic board

.

Figure 12-85

Prying up the camera

use a spudger to gently pry up the end of the logic board closest to the dock connector as shown in

Figure 12-86 if the board won’t lift up, double check to make sure that all the screws securing the

logic board have been removed

Figure 12-86

spudging the logic board

slide the logic board toward the dock connector and out of the iphone (Figure 12-87)

Figure 12-87

Figure 12-88

Prying the battery

now your phone is open, as shown in Figure 12-89, and you can mess with it as you see fit You

shouldn’t have any problems from here on out, particularly if you remember that the labeled wires

should be reassembled in reverse order: 6-5-4-3-2-1

.

Figure 12-89

the nonwire battery connector

iFixit.com & adam stolarz

—

12.12:

Original ipod touch

master the skill of disassembling and reassembling your

iPod touch.

the iPod touch’s interior was clearly designed for ease of maintenance some lessons were learned

in designing the iPhone that make the first-generation iPod touch simpler inside and it helps that it

doesn’t have as much stuff crammed in it as the iPhone does