The iPad Air vs. the Kindle HDX 7

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Live Teardown: iPad Air and Kindle HD7

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Why do we believe in
repair?

Over 20 million tons of e-waste per year

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We are building an online community of
people sharing repair know-how.

• EASY for anyone to share repair knowledge

• SIMPLE for people to ﬁx their devices

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Repair 1.0
!
1990:  
How to be a mechanic
• Figure it out

• Repair manuals

• Trade school

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Repair 2.0
2014:  
How to be a mechanic
!
Look it up.

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TEARDOWNS

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Tools of the trade
!
!
!
!
!

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So, we like devices...
a lot.
a lot, a lot.

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New Zealand

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Optimus
Goldberg
!
Sam
Lionheart
!

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REPAIRABILITY
!
!
!
!
!
Design Trends:

• Design Anorexia

• Planned Obsolescence

• Big Impact Device

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iPad Air Highlights
!
!
!
!
!
• 9.7-inch, in-plane-switching LCD with 2,048 x 1,536 resolution at 264 ppi
• Dual-core A7 CPU with 64-bit architecture
• M7 motion-tracking coprocessor
• 5-megapixel rear iSight camera capable of recording 1080p video; 1.2-
megapixel 720p front-facing camera
• 802.11n dual-antenna MIMO Wi-Fi
• Support for 14 LTE bands, DC-HSPA+, UMTS, GSM/EDGE, CDMA, and EVDO
• 16, 32, 64, or 128 GB storage

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Kindle HD 2013 Highlights
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!
!
!
!
• 7" HD display; 1280 x 800 at 216 ppi with IPS technology, polarizing ﬁlter, and
anti-glare ﬁnish
• 1.5 GHz dual-core processor with Imagination PowerVR 3D graphics core
• Dual-band Wi-Fi antenna
• Dolby Audio with dual stereo speakers
• 8 or 16 GB internal storage

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iPad Air

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Apple has secured the digitizer glass
in place with more than ample
amounts of adhesive.

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(cringe)

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(cringe profusely)

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Despite the new cable dressing up this home button, Apple's
Touch ID ﬁngerprint sensor is nowhere to be found. It remains
exclusive to the iPhone 5s—for now.

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In contrast, opening the
Kindle HD is as simple
as…

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1

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2

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3

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Batteries

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iPad Air

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!
“It's the worst battery ever.” - iFixitTechnician,Walter Galan

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Kindle HD7

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The 3.7 V, 4440 mAh battery boasts 10 hours of
power during mixed usage—a decrease from the
2012 HD edition. Amazon calls it an increase in
battery life compared to the "previous generation
Kindle Fire."
Kindle HD

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Main Board

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• Apple APL5698 A7 Processor—a slightly different version from the APL0698 in
the iPhone 5s
• Elpida F8164A1MD 1 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM
• Toshiba THGBX2G7B2JLA01 16 GB NAND Flash
• NXP LPC18A1 (Apple M7 Motion Co-Processor)
• Apple 343S0655-A1—from our friends at Chipworks, this looks to be a Dialog
Power Management IC
• USI 339S0213 Wi-Fi Module
• Apple 338S1116 Cirrus Audio Codec, also found in the iPhone 5c
iPad Air

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• Qualcomm M9615M LTE Processor with 1 Gb (128 MB) of DRAM
• TriQuint TQF6514 RF Power Amplifier Module—similar to the 6414
in the iPhone 5s
• Three Skyworks SKY77-series LTE RF Power Amplifier/Duplexer
Modules
• Two Avago A79-series LTE RF Power Amplifier/Duplexer Modules
• 227 LG—likely a Murata Antenna Switch/Filter Module
• Qualcomm WTR1605L LTE/HSPA+/CDMA/EDGE/GPS Transceiver
• Qualcomm PM8018 PMIC

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• Toshiba THGBMAG6A2JBAIR 64 Gb (8 GB) e-MMC NAND Flash
• Micron 3HAI8 D9QQD 8 Gb (1 GB) Mobile LPDDR2 SDRAM
• We believe that the 1.5 Ghz Dual Core TI OMAP4 (4470) HS processor is nested
underneath the Micron SDRAM IC.
• Synaptics S7301B Touchscreen Controller
• Texas Instruments TWL6032 Fully Integrated Power Management with Power
Path and Battery Charger
• InvenSense MPU-6500 6-axis gyroscope
• 347 CB307

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• Broadcom BCM4330 802.11a/b/g/n MAC/Baseband/Radio
with Integrated Bluetooth 4.0+HS & FM Transceiver
• Maxim Integrated MAX98090 Ultra-low Power Stereo
Audio Codec
• Maxim Integrated MAX97236 Audio Ampliﬁer

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iPad Air
Other Components

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Kindle HD7
Other Components

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Kindle HD 2013
•Simplistic, modular design means the few components that might
fail can be easily, inexpensively replaced.

•All the fasteners found inside are Torx T5 screws—one non-
proprietary screwdriver is all you need.

•The LCD is not fused to the display and can be easily removed.

•The rear case is a little difﬁcult to open, but it should be easy
with directions.

•A decent amount of adhesive is used on the battery, meaning
some prying and gentle working is required for disassembly.

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•The glass panel is glued to the front plastic frame,
so a heat gun will be required for replacing
cracked glass (or you have to replace both
components together).

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iPad Air
•The LCD is easy to remove once the front panel is
taken off the iPad.

•The battery is not soldered to the logic board.

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•Just like in previous iPads, the front panel is glued to the
rest of the device, greatly increasing the chances of
cracking the glass during a repair.

•Gobs, gobs, and goblins of adhesive hold everything in
place.This is the most difﬁcult battery removal procedure
we've seen in an iPad.

•The LCD has foam sticky tape adhering it to the front
panel, increasing chances of it being shattered during
disassembly.

•You can't access the front panel's connector until you
remove the LCD.

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www.iﬁxit.com
Cait Emma Smith

Email: cait@iﬁxit.com

Twitter: @CaitEmmaS
Brian Sallee

Email: brian@dozuki.com

The iPad Air vs. the Kindle HDX 7

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