Verizon iPhone has redesigned vibrator

Verizon's iPhone might look little different to the old model on the outside, but the guts share little in common. iFixit's ripped one up and reports significant differences beyond what's necessary to switch GSM and CDMA radios.

The location and design of the RF components--EMI (electromagnetic interference) shields, connector locations, even board layout--is changed. They redesigned the vibrator--a seemingly minor item, but it takes up a large amount of space inside the phone. My tester said that the "Verizon vibration was quieter, a little softer to feel, and made a better sound on the table." (No, I'm not making a 'That's what she said' joke.)

The real news is that the chipset also supports both GSM and CDMA, suggesting "universal" models may be forthcoming. Verizon iPhone Teardown [iFixit]

• [musicalwoods]

  Arg, I forgot to sign in before posting my technical data. D:

  Well, anyway. I wanted to add that the US cell market is so messed up that even though Sprint and Verizon are on the same CDMA bands, they do not allow you to bring the competitor’s phone to their network. In fact, most carriers don’t allow it. The only carriers I know of that support phones from other networks are T-Mobile and a regional carrier called Cricket.

  Oh, and with CDMA, it isn’t simply trading SIM cards to get on another provider. You have to have the phone’s ESN code released from the old provider and activated with the new provider. Then you have to program the phone with the correct MIN, MDN, and APNs (along with 3G passwords, etc.).

• [Cruxx]

  It’s a weaker vibration than the ATT phone?

  That’s too bad, my ATT iphone already has too weak of a vibration. Don’t go soft on us now, apple.

  • [slamorte]

    I accidentally the whole iPhone. Is this bad?

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  Jeez, that doesn’t look like any vibrator that I’ve ever used.

  • [irksome]

    It’s certainly no Purple Rabbit. And the shape is all wrong.

• [Anonymous]

  Erm, they have to build a new iPhone to get it to work on another network? Is the US mobile phone market completely mental?

  We have four major mobile phone operators in the UK (Orange, O2, Vodafone, T-mobile) and you can use any phone on any network. The networks tend to sell them locked to their network but getting the network lock removed, legitimately, is trivial in time, effort and cost. Walk down any high street and you’re virtually guaranteed to find at least one shop with a sign in the window advertising phone unlocking.

  Actually I just remembered it’s now three major operators. Orange and T-mobile merged last year but have kept the separate branding, for now. Phones which are on Orange actually now use T-Mobile’s network if the signal is stronger and vice-versa.

  • [coop]

    Short answer, yes. Totally mental.

    coop

• [mwschmeer]

  But that’s still what she said.

• [holtt]

  Seconding Anon’s comment. What’s the point of such a big redesign? Are they trying to create a different and unique experience? E.g., “The Version iPhone vibrates different to distinguish it from the AT&T version”

  • [Niklas]

    Or, you know… They may just be improving things that worked but that now works better. Apple does this from time to time, it is absolutely not unheard of.

    • [Niklas]

      I just realized that I needed to add one thing, Apple is definitely not trying to market this as something different, they are trying to market it as the exact same phone on a different network. Look no further than The Waltz Ad.

    • [holtt]

      Sure – but why have they developed this phone in parallel to the AT&T phone? If they are making it better (as opposed to different), why aren’t we seeing the same changes in the AT&T version? Why for example revamp the vibrator and require two separate production systems, one for AT&T and one for Verizion?

      I guess the test would be to wait until they release the “iPhone 4S” and see if it uses design aspects of the Verizon phone.

      • [RyanH]

        Why not in the AT&T version? Because the next iteration of the iphone is less than half a year away. Why would they re-tool their assembly more often than they have to?

        • [Niklas]

          How do we know that the AT&T/Worldwide phones sold since october does not also contain newer equipment? iFIxit compared to a model from june 2010. They had to redesign part of it and use new tools anyway, and this phone is still going to be sold for about 18 months. I also suspect that this form factor is going to be used in iPhone 5 (just as with 3G -> 3Gs form factor).

          Apple has done this before with both displays and computers without marketing any changes they have changes power supply models and even motherboards to newer versions.

      • [zikman]

        the insides are packed very tight. everything has to fit perfectly. the new phone has a cdma chip which likely has a different orientation than the one in the gsm iphone. they had to redesign the layout and the connections to make everything fit perfectly again (like the article said). apparently, this meant that they had to put in a different vibrator… you know, because the other one no longer fit in the new layout.

        there’s no conspiracy behind it.

• [Anonymous]

  Just to confuse everyone a little further, in Europe the standard used for 3G is actually WCDMA (under the name UMTS) vs. CDMA2000 in the US – so what’s requiring two chips and totally different designs is actually just two variations on the CDMA theme!

  (Apparently a lot of the difference is that WCDMA is better for high population densities (as much of Europe has) and is more backwards-compatible with GSM.)

• [Anonymous]

  Narrator: Was it ticking?
  Airport Security Officer: Actually throwers don’t worry about ticking ’cause modern bombs don’t tick.
  Narrator: Sorry, throwers?
  Airport Security Officer: Baggage handlers. But, when a suitcase vibrates, then the throwers gotta call the police.
  Narrator: My suitcase was vibrating?
  Airport Security Officer: Nine times out of ten it’s an electric razor, but every once in a while…
  [whispering]
  Airport Security Officer: it’s a dildo. Of course it’s company policy never to, imply ownership in the event of a dildo… always use the indefinite article A dildo, never YOUR dildo.
  Narrator: I don’t own…
  [Officer waves Narrator off]

  Share this quote

• [Robert]

  I’m trying to play spot-the-difference. The best I can tell is that the Verizon iPhone uses Toshiba and Qualcomm chips while the AT&T iPhone uses Samsung and TriQuint chips. Could be a vendor thing, but that would certainly explain the apparently huge differences between the insides.

• [Anonymous]

  “The real news is that the chipset also supports both GSM and CDMA, suggesting “universal” models may be forthcoming.”

  You mean like all the iPhones sold in Europe since the iPhone 3G???

• [Anonymous]

  What is this, Gizmodo?

• [nixiebunny]

  For the non-engineers out there: CDMA and GSM, the two major phone technologies in the USA, are completely different in every way.

  Qualcomm invented CDMA, Code Division Multiple Access, as an answer to AMPS, the original analog system that Motorola made in the early 1980s.

  GSM is a European standard, and AT&T is an oddball for using it in the USA. Similar to a bit of highway in southern Arizona that’s calibrated in kilometers. Communists. Heresy. Etc.

  • [Jack]

    GSM is not some obscure standard. It’s used all over the world but portions of the U.S. and other countries in which U.S. contractors installed CDMA because that is what they were pushing.

    CDMA should just go away. But it is so pervasive over the U.S. the investment costs to get rid of it make little to no sense.

    GSM forever! THAT IS WHAT SHE SAID!

    • [sisyphus321]

      AT&T & T-Mobile deploy GSM in the US. In exactly what part of the US is GSM unavailable?

      Exactly which US contractors are responsible for CDMA deployment in S. Korea or Latin America?

      • [Jack]

        Cell systems setup in Iraq were CDMA. Nuff said.

        And yes, GSM exists in the U.S.A. I know that. But Sprint and Verizon invested heavily in CDMA tech and they are two major carriers. In the U.S.A. GSM is an outlier.

• [Anonymous]

  GSM/UMTS is like the metric system: The whole world is using it because it is the better system.

  But there is a country that doesn’t care what the rest of the world is doing…

• [turn_self_off]

  Meh, once LTE gets going noone will care as it can handoff to either system.

  • [sisyphus321]

    … except for voice. The only way to carry voice on an LTE carrier is via VoIP (e.g., skype).

    We still care about voice, right?

    • [turn_self_off]

      While true, various carriers and hardware companies sat down a year or two ago and agreed on how to do that voip. So it is likely that any LTE phone will be able to roam with voice capability.

      Not that i would mind being able to just use the network as a dumb data carrier and hook it up to any SIP provider i feel like.

• [Anonymous]

  Jesus, this thread is full of GSM users not understanding CDMA exists.

• [racecarboobtat]

  Apple is not one to hassle with multiple product lines.

  I believe this IS basically the AT&T phone we’ll see in July. It will just be called the 4Gs or something akin to that. Probably running on iOS 4.3 to give it some new features.

  • [sisyphus321]

    … maybe, but the phone doesn’t have a SIM slot. I also have a hard time seeing Apple selling a phone that isn’t LTE capable. Both Verizon and AT&T are deploying LTE for their 4G networks.

    • [zikman]

      “I also have a hard time seeing Apple selling a phone that isn’t LTE capable.”

      how long did apple sell a phone that wasn’t copy/paste capable? or wasn’t MMS capable? they’re not going to adopt LTE right away.

• [cservant]

  What’s with the commentors today, brain drain? Usually Boing Boing attracts a much more technical crowd. Or is it iApple brain drain?
  iApple zombies?

  Anyways to throw into the mix of mobile telephone standards, differences of frequencies, etc,. here is wikipedia’s list.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_phone_standards

  Go through them ALL. Then come back and try to build the same iPhone Verizon version with the same layout. Good luck with that.

  RE: #29) Canada’s GSM/CDMA. At the moment, all three corporatocracy are jumping into the HSDPA+ and trying out LTE. We’re pretty much 3G+ now. In my eyes, we’re dumping the CDMA concept, if anyone wanted to use a smartphone up here, it’s all on the GSM bands. Think 850, 1900, AWS, etc,. Or if you’re still confused, AT&T and T-Mobile smartphones work up here, Verizon smartphones work, but kinda on the very slow side.

• [muteboy]

  And GSM-R is coming in the US as well, perhaps first in California

• [phisrow]

  Revised for her pleasure, he?

• [sisyphus321]

  Ummm …

  I don’t think Sprint and Verizon occupy the same bands. Sprint holds PCS licenses in the 1800 MHz band, but Verizon replumbed their analog holdings in the 800 MHz band for CDMA. But yeah, they are both CDMA operators.

  There are also smaller CDMA operators in the US, e.g., US Cellular in the midwest

• [musicalwoods]

  @sisyphus321

  Verizon is going to start doing Voice over LTE mid-year, Engadget reports. :P I think they also announced plans for that in December at some point as well.

  • [sisyphus321]

    Verizon is trialing VOLGA over LTE, which is an IMS-based VoIP service. We’ll see what the uptake is.

• [Anonymous]

  iPhone, blah blah, whatever. What’s really compelling here is that very cool screwdriver shown. Are those rubber o-rings around the body for grip enhancement? Oh, I want one.

• [Anonymous]

  Verizon: CDMA(850/1900) + LTE(700)
  AT&T: GSM(850/1900) + UTMS(850/1900)
  Sprint: CDMA(850/1900) + WiMax(2500)
  T-Mobile: GSM(850/1900) + UTMS(1700/2100)

  Most of Europe: GSM(900/1800) + UTMS(2100)

  Qualcomm’s Gobi line is the first radio chip to support most frequencies worldwide.

  MDM6600 in the Verizon iPhone:
  Supports all bands in CDMA, GSM, and UTMS

  If the iPhone adopts LTE (4G), the MDM9600 will be the chip they use.

  I am so glad that Gobi chips are out. I am tired of buying a phone and only being able to use it with one carrier. Previously, if you buy an AT&T phone, it doesn’t support UTMS 1700 bands. If you buy T-Mobile, no 850/1900 UTMS bands. If you go CDMA, no GSM.
  The MDM9600 needs to be the next chip in the Google Nexus line.

• [dagfooyo]

  Am I the only one who saw this and thought:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKyAbquXeMo

• [Anonymous]

  Holy cow people, the Earth is a bit bigger than just your backyard.

  GSM and CDMA are two different mobile technologies used throughout the world.

  No, the iPhones currently sold in the European market are NOT “universal” GSM/CDMA. They are GSM only. Just like the ones sold in the US (via AT&T).

  No, AT&T is NOT the only GSM carrier in the US. Surely you have at least heard of T-Mobile?

  No, the US is NOT the only place where CDMA is used. It is used in all of these places:
  http://phone-solutions.pavemyway.com/Cdma-Operators/Cdma-Operators-List.php

  No, Europe is not the only place GSM is used. It is used in all of these places:
  http://phone-solutions.pavemyway.com/Gsm-Operators/Gsm-Operators-List.php

  The US is split pretty evenly between the two. Canada I think is mostly CDMA, as are several Asian nations. Most of Western and Central Europe are exclusively GSM. Japan and Korea are pretty exclusively CDMA. The world is bigger than

  • [Pixelmatsch]

    In Japan, Softbank as the third biggest network uses WCDMA. I guess this is the legacy of being owned by Vodaphone when 3G got rolled out on their network.
    In South Korea, both KT Corporation and SK Telecom support WCDMA. (Both with >=99% population coverage nonetheless.)

    In both countries the WCDMA networks have been operating for over 7 years now, I wouldn’t call that “pretty exclusively CDMA”.