Revision as of 23:41, 28 May 2011

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An off-contract device purchased at full price ($550 including shipping to Australia) by Rod Whitby was used in this tear-down. To recoup that cost, your PayPal donation is requested.

<paypal></paypal> Further pictures of the internals of the Veer (including 7MP high resolution shots of the circuit boards) will be added to this page as they are taken.

The current donation total is $566, so the gate is now open to post all pictures as soon as they are taken.

First, here is the rear of the device before disassembly starts. As you can see, it's an AT&T Veer.

To be very clear, this is a device which was purchased at full price off-contract from an AT&T store. There are no strings attached to this device. It was not a free or discounted developer device. The device did not come from HP. There is no NDA, embargo, convenant, or other restriction on this device.

It was used to test Preware, Impostah, Govnah, and other homebrew applications for the Veer. All that was very successful, and I can report that all tested homebrew applications and patches ran safely and correctly on the Veer.

Then it was used for further hard-core command-line investigation into the new "tap to share" interface (which seems to be controlled by an "A6" chip). That's when things went wrong, and the device was permanently bricked.

Hence there are no qualms in dismantling it. So that we shall do now ...

Step 1: Initial keyboard separation

Separate the plastic around the bottom of the keyboard and the sides of the phone using your fingernail or a spudger.

Step 2: Initial lower half separation

Further separate the backplate at the bottom of the phone and along the sides, but do not pull it any further apart than this.

Note that the volume rocker switch is part of the backplate ...

... but the magnetic connector is not.

Step 3: Initial upper half separation

Now separate the plastic around the top of the phone, but do not pull it any further apart than this.

All the switches along the top of the device are part of the backplate.

Step 4: Backplate separation achieved

The backplate is now fully separated, but do not take it further than this at this stage.

In this shot of the top left corner you can clearly see the lanyard attachment opening.

Here is the left-hand side of the phone.

Here is the bottom of the phone.

Here is the right-hand side of the phone.

Step 5: Warranty sticker

Note the white warranty sticker between the backplate and the body of the phone. If this sticker separates from either the body or the backplate, your warranty is voided.

The tiny white rocker switch near the camera is the mute switch. The plastic slider which actuates this is part of the backplate.

Right-hand side.

Bottom.

Left-hand side.

Here you can see the flex cable which connects the circuitry in the backplate (touchstone coil, touch to share, volume rocker, power switch) to the main body of the phone, somewhere underneath the battery.

Step 6: Battery removal

It is possible to remove the battery without dislodging the white warranty sticker.

Step 7: Voiding the warranty

Step 8: Battery cage removal

Detach the magnetic connector flex cable, and then unhook the battery cage latch.

Here is the connector you need to detach before attempting to remove the battery cage.

Step 9: Battery cage removed

Detaching the metal latch on each side allows the battery cage to be removed, exposing the location of the flex cable connector for the backplate connection.

Step 10: Backplate separated

Detaching the flex cable allows the backplate to be completely separated from the body of the phone.

Step 11: Speaker enclosure

Push on the black plastic area between the two metal tabs to release the inside edge of the speaker enclosure.

Difference between revisions of "Veer Disassembly"