iRiver Story HD eBook Reader TEARDOWN - EEVblog #189

[artstamos1]

I think you should work for NASA, just kidding, I am from US, just subscribed

[gryzman]

can you actually use that display for other purposes, if you took it apart ? you can pick up an old reader like that for £80, I would be tempted to get one just to play around with some micro controller and e-ink

[EEVblog]

@Ayrton11000 They aren't that expensive. Correct, I'm only an electronics engineer, I don't do heavy current EE, it's not my area of interest.

[UnimplementedTrap]

Do they really use an Epson controller?  The i.MX508 has an on-chip EPD controller, which might perform better and would probably cut costs.

[mrbatu]

The chip in the top-left corner seems to be more like a TPS65180 PMIC.

[heroineworshipper]

Plug a 12V battery into it & see if it triggers a mouse trap.

[rasz]

smaller samsung chip is RAM,

just as you say JTAG at 7.12 you point at pads marked tck tdi trst and so on :) so jtag is in fact easily marked :)

wonder what that fpc connector is for, mmm the mystery

[AxelTiger]

looking at doing an autopsy on a iPad?! I wanna see that! :D

[AxelTiger]

Hacks & Mods quote: "If you cant open it, it doesnt belong to you"

[sciguy14]

Great tear down! Have you played with the device much? How's the usability?

[1dosucol1]

I've had a quick google for spudga bar and nothing comes up except the term for a crow bar /jemmy bar.Any advice to find the product you use dave ?

[PeterCCamilleri]

Interesting stuff! The Boot Mode contacts you noticed seem to be used to control the mode of the processor. See Freescale docs for more details. I've experted an interesting bit (Section 9,4).

BMOD[1:0] Boot Type

00 Internal Boot

01 Reserved

10 Internal Boot – ROM Select

11 Serial Downloader

[TheEPROM9]

Someone will design an e-ink ROM at some point. Once they make colour e-ink. LCD days are numbered.

[UnimplementedTrap]

@TheEPROM9 Colour E-Ink does exist. Search for "e-ink triton" on YouTube to see for yourself. The problem for now is the refresh rate and ghosting. As far as I know, there are very few products shipping now, if any, but prototypes have been seen, like the Hanvon reader.

[astrowanabe]

Perhaps the cutout allows the boards to fit tighter together on a sheet, fitting just a couple more boards per sheet for lower cost?

[EEVblog]

@astrowanabe Yeah, possibly for more efficient panelisation. I wouldn't have though there'd be anything in it at that size though, but maybe optimised for a particular assembly line.

[Knight8365]

Very nice teardown. How does the iRiver compare to the Kindle; is the technology more robust? Guess this will be traded-off with features though. Does the Kindle have an SD card slot too? Thanks for another great video

[Bushougoma]

@Knight8365 Dave already posted an Iriver review and Kindle comparison video prior to this one it's video 188.

[nodariel]

Your HD video is fantastic, especially on the PCB close up. Nice work!

[kildas]

Where did You get this t-shirt "i give only negative feedback" its awesome :D

[EEVblog]

@kildas I designed it myself. Available in my merch chop

[vladimirFNX]

Excellent... I've learn a lot with your videos, and I would like you to talk about Power electronics, you know Triacs and that stuff... it would be great!!

[hoppes9]

Spudger bar? I've never heard of that, but I know I need one!

[jmolesworth]

Hey Dave, you might want to update your credits, it's still copyright 2010.

[EEVblog]

@jmolesworth Yeah, new editor (sony vegas) I goofed and dragged the old clip in.

[Peteworth]

Yes!! return of the "don't turn it on, take it apart!"

[Pagweb]

3:27 How about weight?

[ceriand]

The JTAG test points are clearly labeled on the left side of the processor in the shot where you're talking about the test points.

[EEVblog]

@ceriand Yes, that was noted in my video notes.

[ivaneduardo747]

They could have a PCB upside down pin the panelization. That way they can fit the boards in the panels more efficiently.

[ivaneduardo747]

Hey, the video says it is copyright 2010!

[fingerboy18]

There we go! I was wondering where this was :)

[thishasgottobecrazy]

That cutout seems to be at exactly half way across the pcb so maybe it is there for panelization??? (Like the cutout of one pcb is the part sticking out of another)

[zzzzbest]

Have you looked into a way of liqufying the EEVBlog so I can inject it intravenously?