Motorola Droid Teardown Analysis!
Yesterday’s teardown received a lot of hype. We’re glad we could cater to what many of our readers obviously enjoy! We’ve been working hard with “our friends in high places” to really figure out what makes this thing chug.
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The device PCB is covered in what we call “cans” which provide ESD, heat and RF interrupt protection. In order to see what’s on the board, Dr.Wreck has to carefully remove each one by melting away the solder points. This is not an easy process as we try our best to keep the device in fully functional order.
On that note, many of you have actually challenged us to reverse yesterdays directions and put this thing back together! This is an entirely possible feat, had we not fully removed the shields. Even so, we’ll be putting this device back together (shields and all) in an attempt to prove that you can ENTIRELY disassemble a device to bare IC’s and logic board and still re-assemble for full functionality.
We also wanted to take a moment to talk about the progression of mobile devices (note that in this image the Droid’s PCB is fully naked!). On the right side of this photo we have an old “nameless” Nokia device. Back in the day, a devices size was limited by the PCB and the allocation of it’s parts. On the Droid, there is so much integrated functionality that the PCB is actually one of the smallest parts on the device. Of very interesting notice, the screen on the Nokia device is smaller than the PCB. The absolute OPPOSITE is true on the Droid.
Dr.Wreck has that wistful glean of the past in his eye…. sigh…
Here we have the functional Block Diagram put together by Dr.Wreck for the Motorola Droid.
This device isn’t that much unlike the Palm Pre. The OMAP 3430 is a very promising platform that features the same Imagination Technologies POWERVR SGX graphics core. However, when fully considered there really isn’t much that compares in terms of full scale integration.
Strangely enough, the device backed by one of Verizon’s largest ad-campaigns as the iPhone killer only has 256MB of RAM and 256MB of integrated NAND storage. How will the Android platform ever contend? Well, Dr.Wreck is currently working on his review… stay tuned for that insight. In the case of the Droid, both memories are provided by Japanese Toshiba. The RAM is stacked on top of the OMAP Applications Core.
Here we have the top of the logic board. Unfortunately, it is difficult to identify many of the larger IC’s on this side. Thankfully, Dr.Wreck has X-ray vision and the ability to feel an IC in order to determine it’s functionality.
We can see the TI TWL5030 PMIC which offers integrated USB, Audio Codec and control over that big 1420mAh BP6x battery. We also see the RF multiplexer’s – one from both AVAGO (FEM7758) and Triquint (TQM613029).
Unfortunately the WiFI/Bluetooth chips are unmarked. If any readers have industry knowledge or an opinion of what these chips might be, feel free to share – that’s what it’s all about!
The underside of the PCB reveals a fairly big surprise – the fairly rare QSC6085 BaseBand with integrated GPS and transceiver functionality. We also see the location of the OMAP processor, cleverly buried underneath the un-distinguishable Toshiba RAM. Not only did Motorola not want us to take this device apart, they didn’t want us to find out what makes it run!
Another really interesting tidbit that pops up on the underside of the board is the Toshiba memory with hand-written markings. More interesting is that these markings appear to say “s”, “2″ and “p”! Here at phonewreck, we’ve been contemplating this phenomena and have come to the conclusion that Sanjay (Co-CEO of Motorola) must have personally signed each chip that went into the Droid. More or less a mark of approval we suppose.
In all seriousness though, this is probably the marking of a sample part. Why in the world is Motorola releasing production devices with sample IC’s? This is only conjecture, but the Droid is supposed to do a multi-million unit run. Hopefully there aren’t quality issues relating to device longevity! Am I right?! Am I right?!
Droid antenna, PCB and Camera Module
This last image shows a close-up of the devices sliding mechanism.
And that’s it! Thanks to everyone who e-mailed in with their support from yesterday’s entry!
Be sure to check out Dr.Wreck’s Twitter and subscribe to the RSS in order to get the update on the newest entries!
Until Next time, KEEP WRECKING!
Great job on the teardown. One little mistake on the block diagram though. The baseband is from Qualcomm however the OMAP 3430 is a Texas Instruments Apps processor, the same one used in the Pre
Any idea who’s the manufacturer for the display?
Any idea what the row of solder pads directly above the SD card slot are for? JTAG? Serial Console?
Seeing as this phone is never going to work right again (some components have moved off of their pads, plastic connectors are melted) would you guys be willing to donate the phone to the rooting effort?
@Colin – Thanks for picking that up! That darned copy paste consumed us again!
The phone could work again, Moving the caps back into place should not be a problem. In fact you dont have to put all the shields back on except maybe for the PA section. (by the way the triquint is only Cell band)
From the looks of those shields i also dont think you needed to de-solder some of them? they may pop off
Great job on the teardown and thanks
@ Dr. Wreck
Would you wager to say that the camera can be removed from the Droid without adverse side effects? I did this with a Storm and it worked great.
The removal is for security purposes for my job, and a lot of the “younger” crowd there like the idea of camera removal in order to have a smart phone in the facility.
Great job!
We at Motorola Android think the Motorola Droid is great!
[...] Motorola Droid 手机PCB模块图 标签: Android 手机 Motorola Droid PCB 拆机 原文地址：http://www.phonewreck.com/2009/11/12/motorola-droid-teardown-analysis/ [...]
The Droid contains an accelerometer, digital compass, proximity & light sensors: do you know the model numbers or makes of these devices, or where they are on the pcb?
WL1271A maybe the TI WL1271 revision chip
http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=12762&contentId=29993
Basically, the WL1271 has BT/11bg/FM connectivities.
Article says the device only has 256MB of on-board storage, I thought it was 512MB of flash to hold the OS and apps?
Baffo32: The proximity/light sensors are on the screen top right corner below the notification led. The teardown is missing that part of things.
There are either hall sensors or reed switches somewhere on the device I figgure as magnets put the device in different modes. Could you do a high resolution scan of the PCB both sides kind of like bunnie does (bunniestudios.com) for the name that ware contest. would help with ID’ing the chips.
baffo32: You can write a little program which enumerates the sensors. The system knows the manufacturer and part number of each. On my droid there is:
AK8973 3-axis magnetic sensor
AK8973 temperature sensor (same part as magnetic sensor)
LIS331DLH 3-axis accelerometer
SFH7743 proximity sensor
LM3530 light sensor (and LED driver)
“Orientation sensor” — apparently a software sensor emulator which uses the accelerometer and compass to figure out the orientation of the droid relative to local horizontal and north.
@ Dr Wreck,
Great job on the teardown. Any chance we can get a list of crystals/TCXOs/oscillators on board
Thanks
Anonymous, thank you very much! I do not have a Droid yet to enumerate the sensors myself.
[...] Phonewreck’s analys här [...]
Quick question, if you still have this thing tore down can you look and see if there is a part# or something Identifiable for the LED’s? Trying to figure out max run time at full strength.
So is it accurate that the antenna is located in the keyboard section of the phone at the “bottom” (around the microphone)?
Hey Dr. Wreck, ive taken my phone apart and put it back together about 3 times now, i take all my phones apart, first time seeing your site. Took mine apart first day it came out. I got a full disassembly, i took everything apart, even the LCD screen, i got some pictures if this is of any use to you. How can i get in contact with you to show you? Let me know thanks.
oh ya and forgot to mention my phone IS the Droid
@goobalicious & @Dr. Wreck
It appears that the extra contact pad on the camera module (lower left hand side of the module in Droid12.jpg) is to connect the 3.5mm audio jack. Is that correct? Does the camera itself come off of that module without a soldering iron?
Hi All,
Does any of you know if they are any Infineon parts on this Bill of Material? I’m trying to determine if this German company has had any success selling to enybody else but Nokia.
Who makes the camera?
TIA for your reply.
Yeah…who makes the camera?
The WLAN is a TI WL1271 and the WLAN/BT FEM is a Triquint TQM679002.
[...] [...]
Thanks a lot Dr. Wreck. Which frequency of the TCXO(XO) above the small CSP chip near the “connection to camera” in figure “Droid384.jpg”. Thanks to advise.
[...] Milestone wird zerlegt. Auf phoneWreck wird das Motorola DROID komplett zerlegt und analysiert: phoneWreck Motorola Droid Teardown Analysis! Dabei haben sie auf dem 256 MB Flash-Speicherchip handgeschriebene Markierungen gefunden. Die [...]
@ Nate and @ Dr. Wreck
If I could get a closer look at how the camera is mounted to the board, I could tell if it is removable. I have done this to several Blackberry Storms for people I work with (just used a guitar pick to release the holding tabs in the camera box and wiggled it out).
(please bear with me here as im technilogically challenged)
does anyone know;
1. a way to create (or buy?) a lens cover for the Droid?
2. can the keyboard be taken apart, improved, ie; can you replace the too flat
Droid keyboard with one from another phone?
thanks! B.
[...] noch nicht so ganz einverstanden, es sei denn jemand zeigt mir das zweite Micro auf der Platine. phoneWreck Motorola Droid Teardown Analysis! phoneWreck Motorola Droid Teardown Images! Alles in Allem scheint es ein weit verbreitetes [...]
Hi can the camera be removed from the circut board?
Hello,
Can you pls check if the phone can work without the camera modul?
Thanks
I “guess” the camera module is made by VPT (Flextronics) or SEMCO (Samsung’s devision)…Is there anybody to confirm this?
I have an issue, my micro usb port is too loose to use with PC. I can still charge with it but the touch screen goes berserk when tied into PC. Is it possible to dismantle and replace the port. I would love to be able to do it myself. Verizon says it was from abuse. All I know I did was use phone while plugged into car charger and it pulled on cord. Also it looks like the area around the port where two halves connect is cracked. If it is possible to dismantle my self are there instructions?
Oh, found tear down instructions.
Can the Droid camera be removed without messing up the phone?
Michael I have the same problem with the batt connection that went bad from using the car charger and that’s why I came to this site. My phone will still charge but I cant transfer information to my P.C.How do I change out the battery connection
[...] someone posted a sensor dump here that shows the temp sensor is part of the magnetometer : phoneWreck Motorola Droid Teardown Analysis! __________________ Electronics tools done right: Resistor ID @ AndroLib.com Pro version [...]
What is the connector in the upper right corner of the board with the processors and Flash on it? I ask b/c it looks like an RF connector. That seems strange on a board which only has digital components.
Sorry, I meant upper left.
I’m curious what the antenna connector under the battery cover is for. Can you trace it to see where it goes?
Great job Dr Wreck.
Does anybody knows who is the manufacturer for the Display?
Thank you.
Is there any contact betwen the OMAP and the metal shield ?
Does anybody knows about the display supplier and the touch sensor chip ? Are they using Atmel ?
[...] [...]
I have a friend with a Droid with a functioning screen, but the backlight stopped working. Is this something that is potentially fixable?
I can’t search which one is twl5030. who can tell me.
Which type of the PMIC?
Which type of the PMIC?