Steps 1–21: iPod nano 5th Generation Teardown
Tools
iPod Opening Tools
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Spudger
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Metal Tweezers
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Step 9
There's a thick slab of glass covering the LCD. Unlike the iPhone, we haven't seen issues with broken glass on the nanos.
If you want your screen to look nice, don't touch it. Fingerprints are quite noticeable on the glass.
Step 10
Removing the internals... It's a tight squeeze, but we got them out. Getting this iPod open wasn't easy. We don't recommend trying this at home.
We wish Apple would put a little effort into making iPods repairable, instead of forcing people to throw them away when they break. Recent iPods have become increasingly difficult to successfully repair.
This iPod employs copious amounts of glue and adhesive to hold everything together. That makes it easy for Apple to put together, but hard to take apart.
Step 11
iPod, sans casing.
The tolerances on this iPod are incredibly tight, there's no wasted space inside.
Step 12
The new nano features a larger display (2.2" and 240x376). This is the same width as the 4th Generation nano, but 56 pixels taller. On a pixel basis, that's 17.5% more screen real estate.
Apple keeps putting bigger screens in the same size devices. The footprint of the iPod nano has stayed the same over the last four years, but this display has four times the pixels of the original nano.
Step 13
The battery. Apple warns you right from the get-go that your iPod may melt and/or spontaneously combust: "Potential for fire or buring." We assume they mean burning. It is assembled in China, so we'll give them a little slack.
Supposedly if you burn this battery, it will burn.
It's readily apparent the battery has not changed much. Just compare it to the battery of yesteryear...
Step 14
Here's the speaker. Like the Touch 2nd Gen, the audio simply comes out the bottom of the iPod.
For something only about a millimeter thick, it's not really fair to complain about audio quality.
Step 15
Removing the connector that connects the microphone, speaker, hold switch, and headphone jack to the logic board.
Step 16
Removing the camera.
It's nice to see that the camera's a separate module and not integrated into the board.
Does anyone know where you could get the glass replaced, my had what looked to be a scratch went to rub off and the glass shattered/crack
Hey there.
We have a new nano 5g, now with broken glass. It was just a small drop at the sidewalk and the glass went broken.
Do you know where we kan geet a new glass?
Lennart
Any idea whether the adhesives and glues used in the Nano are designed to withstand repeated exposure to high humidity as often happens when people strap the device against their body while exercising? I owned a Nano Gen 3 that stopped working after only a couple months. Other people at my gym using their Nano the same way I do reported the same problem with their Gen 3. I never had problems with the Gen 1 or 2 and have no experience with Gen 4.
You don't have to throw away an old iPod...you can use the Apple Recycling Program and take your iPod to a retail store and trade it in and get 10% off your new iPod...as long its got nothing wrong with the battery...
anyone know how to replace the backlight? is it possible?
It actually has a typo: "Potential for fire or buring.".
Cutting these batteries with a sharp knife produces neat looking sparks all around the blade. Between the layers of the foil in the battery is a clear slimy/lumpy substance, akin to semi dried alcohol hand sanitizer.
where's the pic of the front of the camera? ? ? ? ?
that space for the microphone by the camera looks really tiny. what kind of microphone is it?
The 'front' of the camera, and the microphone is shown with the speaker in Step 14. They are the two padded components at the bottom.
interesting that the connector says "foxlink" as opposed to "foxconn"
perhaps foxconn only handles the iphone?
Any one offer an extension cable for the camera so it can used in a more creative way?