Posted in: Android, Misc gadgets

Google Glass torn down, regular smartphone guts found inside, save for the fancy display

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Google Glass is available only to a select few and one of them agreed to sacrifice the $1,500 smart glasses in the name of science. By which I mean “people who want to see gadgets disassembled.”

Glass was apparently not meant to be torn down but the Catwig team that did the disassembly managed to put it back together in fully operational condition and with only minor cosmetic damage.

Google Glass consists of two main parts – a titanium frame (the “glasses”) and the “pod” that holds all the interesting components.

The bill of materials is fairly similar to that of a smartphone – a TI OMAP 4430 chipset, 16GB SanDisk flash memory, an Elpida mobile DRAM, 5MP camera and Synaptics touch controller. The battery sits behind the wearer’s year, a 570mAh (2.1Wh) battery. Between it and the front of Glass is the bone conduction speaker.

The good stuff is the display – it’s not like anything a smartphone would have. The nHD (640 x 360) display uses clever optics that make the image appear several feet in front of you.

You can read about the whole experience – from receiving a confirmation that Glass was available for pickup, through getting it at a makeshift showroom, to bringing it home and taking it apart over at Catwig.

Note that this is Google Glass Explorer, which is only available to developers. A retail version will hit next year, hopefully at a lower price.

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