Some
people adopt quite literally the expression 'shooting holes' in a theory,
argument, or claim. That is definitely the case for video blogger Richard
Ryan, who takes aim at (another firearms expression) an iPhone 5s
with his Barrett M82A1 50 caliber sniper rifle. I know from experience
performing many teardowns of phones, wireless routers, Bluetooth devices,
etc., that getting the cases open can be challenging - particularly
if your goal is to preserve the integrity of the product - but Mr. Ryan's
method does seem a bit extreme. His tactic is no more shocking than,
say, dropping an iPhone 5 in a
kitchen blender. The
approach used by the folks at
RCR Wireless,
Design News, and
Chipworks (most detailed), is a little more useful if you want more
than just the cross-sectional view provided by the 50 caliber hole.
Notable
from an RF perspective is an RF Micro Devices RF3763 PA/Duplexer for
B5, a Skyworks SKY77572 Band 18/19/20 PA, a Skyworks SKY77810 2G/EDGE
PA, an Avago A792503 Band 25/3 PA, a Skyworks SKY77496 Band 13/17 PA,
and a TriQuint TQF6414 Band 1/4 Dual PA. Wow, that is a lot of power
amplifiers! So much for the dream of having a one-size-fits-all PA module.
The transceiver is a Qualcomm WTR1605L LTE / HSPA+ / CDMA2K /
TDSCDMA / EDGE / GPS IC. You might as well not even look on the vendor
websites for details on the devices because typically they are proprietary
to customers like Apple, Nokia, Samsung, etc.
Anyone (except me) can put a 50 cal
hole through the face of an iPhone, but slicing it in half lengthwise
RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling
2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed
formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit
design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at
the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps
while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail"
when a new message arrived...
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