Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A software company building hardware is Google, and it's Pixel phones show FWIW Google has put a lot of effort in the hardware of their datacenters, and in that sense they're a hardware giant as well. Compared to their datacenter projects, Pixel is a funny hobbby for Google.
Absolutely. The servers in their production racks are nearly 100% custom down to the silicon and involve serious amounts of engineering to make happen.
iPhone X Teardown
321–330 of 372 posts
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://www.ifixit.com/smartphone-repairability Check out all their in-depth guides. Props to the Fairphone 2 for receiving a 10/10 for repairability.
Typing this on a Fairphone 2 right now and I'm a pretty happy customer. It's like the phone equivalent to a thinkpad design where everyone else is using ultra books. It's interesting to see how these phones prioritise different things. Their service is pretty good too by the way. I had a broken bottom module and when I contacted them was sent a new one the same day. Took a week to get here because international shipp…
I hope they sell a shedload, Purism also.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
The hardware engineering is much more deliberate and well planned/orchestrated than the software. IMO it’s less “focus” and more having to rely on third party manufacturers who will push back due to liability. iOS 11 is a beta quality product. One org that I’m familiar with has a 5x increase in help desk calls and replacements, mostly around the voice phone components failing.
Most iOS updates are smooth and trouble free. Still the far best mobile platform in terms of actually receiving software updates and new features. In the case of iOS 11 I would guess all the software changes required for the iPhone X has caused a temporary a dip in quality. I don't think it's representative of the quality of iOS updates overall. Things could be a little bit rocky going forward though as Apple will co…
But the fact is, you can ship glitchy software and fix it later, so they do. Hardware is much more expensive to do that with, so they don’t.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Axiom in the tech world is that "Apple is a software company that builds hardware". " Is that really a common belief? I know many people who think the opposite - apple is a hardware company. In fact Tim Cook went out of his way several times to remind people that apple isn't a hardware company.
Does Apple actually manufacture anything itself? I thought it was all outsourced. That would make them a software and hardware-design company, but not really a manufacturer.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quality comes from feedback control systems. Quality of design comes from management oversight and correction. Fan-in is a concern. Orphaned teams become a concern at a tenth Apple’s scale. Informal networks and approval based on trust of people rather than examination of product is a concern. Executive attention is expensive.
Wow, I can apply every one of those to situations I’ve been in. What is fan-in?
It’s Michael Lopp without the cool/Jerkcity factor.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just curious, why are you getting 100+ emails at once that you can't filter into a low priority/no notification inbox?
The most common case is overnight with a geographically distributed team.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#327Truly impressive. Smaller, yet faster than the competition. Surprising how many of the chips are now internal Apple components: 1. CPU/GPU 2. Auxiliary Machine Learning/AI chip 3. NAND controller 4. IR Deapth sensor & signal processing chip 5. Power management IC (surprising that Apple is doing Analog IC design too!) Axiom in the tech world is that "Apple is a software company that builds hardware". Above is ample ev…
Typing this from a Pixel 2 XL after having been a happy Pixel XL owner. The 2 is truly the greatest phone I've ever owned, and that includes iphones along the way. If this is what you get with a software company building hardware, I'd say keep it up.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#328Re: iPhone X Teardown
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
carrier authentication is huge! do you want someone to be able to subscribe to a network with your phone number? receive your calls? texts? or call or text as if they are you? yes the sim has little relevance to device security for most smartphones. contacts on sim are a great example of supporting legacy features for BC only. but the network is still very important to secure. sims are used for more than just phones.…
Carrier authentication is not huge. The vast majority of communications services today are secure without a SIM, even ones that are tied to your number. Ever notice that iMessage keeps working without a SIM? The SIM card is mostly a relic that is useful to the carrier oligopoly because it increases network switching friction.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would be great if you could attach service providers to your iPhone in iTunes or your Apple account page or something. You could set up service in another country before you even arrive and it will "just work" when you land.
Technically this is already supported via the GSM standard. For example here is a Lithuanian company that lets you roam while there on their network without changing your SIM or paying your providers roaming fees: https://widerfi.com/ The issue is that getting phone providers to co-operate is basically impossible. Not just politics, but everyone has their own way of doing things, so you need a custom implementation f…
They probably anticipate this future where virtual phones will be exported to west.