iFixit

The front part of the phone opens up like a clam.

The digitizer and display cables still attach the front panel to the rest of the phone, so be sure to lift the display assembly from its top edge if you decide to open your unit.

Thankfully the glass is not fused to the face of the AMOLED display, so you don't have to replace both if just the glass breaks.

The silk screen on the back of the display reads:

• AMS347FF01-0

The silk screen also indicates the display was manufactured February 2, 2010. This thing has been around for quite some time.

The touch screen controller is a Synaptics T1201A. This is the same chip found in the Microsoft Kin Two and RIM Blackberry Torch.

Here's a comparison of the N8's display with an LCD from the 4th generation iPod Touch. You can differentiate between LCD and AMOLED screens by noticing the slightly blue tint the AMOLED display gives off when a light is shone against it.

A couple T6 Torx screws and the upper antenna hold the mid-plane to the inside of the N8.

Six pads akin to steel wool help ground the back of the AMOLED display to the mid-plane.

Nokia got pretty creative with their antenna placement, as this device is primarily encased in aluminum. The main antennas are located near the flat plastic plates on the top and bottom of the phone, as seen in the second and third pictures.

After removing the screws and popping off the antenna, the mid-plane can be removed from the N8.

The design of the steel mid-plane is pretty genius. Nokia integrated a large EMI shield into the mid-plane to protect the main chips. In addition, thermal pads were placed on the inner face of the mid-plane to conduct heat away from the main chips.

As processor speeds increase and devices become more integrated, the need for thermal management becomes critical to ensure longevity and operability in many environments.

After the mid-plane is removed, the motherboard can be simply lifted out of the rear case.

The daughter board at the top of the motherboard has an interesting design in that it is connected to the main motherboard via a ribbon cable that is sandwiched between the many layers of the motherboard.

• On most devices, ribbon cables are attached with ZIF connectors or are soldered to the surface of the board, not sandwiched between layers.

The Nokia N8 motherboard:

• Toshiba THGBM1G7D4FBA13 K23538 (16 GB Internal Memory)
• Samsung K5W4G2GACA - AL54 (CPU + DDR RAM + NAND ROM)
• Broadcom BCM2727 GPU with dedicated 3D Graphics
• 4380044 9920Q VJ (RF Transceiver) from STMicroelectronics
• EPCOS D1053 (RF Front end module)
• RENESAS 09801A (RF Power amplifier)
• 4376057 GAZ0035G (Baseband) from Texas Instruments

With the motherboard out of the rear case, the flash unit simply lifts out.

As opposed to many other smartphones that use either a single or double LED for the flash, the N8 uses a Xenon flash tube similar to the kind of flash found in full-size cameras.

The large capacitor on the flash module supplies the high voltage necessary to produce such a brilliant flash.