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AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

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Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#101

Post by myself248 »

caturopath wrote: post #31
Exmoor wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's hilarious to a certain extent that they built the thing smaller than all the competition and bulk it up with a wad of leather anyhow. That's essentially how I feel when I see the "Our thinnest iPhone ever" slide knowing that 95% of iPhone owners put it in a bulky case. That said, that's not unique to Apple and the phone is at least usable without a case.

It's not like the choice is "thick and doesn't need a case or thin and needs a case". Even if the phone was thicker, people would be using cases if they bought it, right?

Back when phones were built to survive the outside world without a case, I never put cases on my phones.

The whole Nextel and Nokia and Blackberry era, not a one. They looked a bit worn from a few years each in my pocket with my keys, but they all worked fine, and they'd all survive a drop to the floor.

Today the only phone I'd trust to survive a naked drop would be a Unihertz Titan, but until there's an AOSP ROM for it, I'm not trusting it with my data. So, cases on everything.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#102

Post by dylan604 »

zrail wrote: post #6
Kye wrote: post #2

Do you think they modeled the design after the round Apple campus?

Probably some old Apple product that nobody remembers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_USB_Mouse

Currently, most Apple design shade gets thrown at the butterfly keyboard. This one must be remembered too in all of its horrendous glory.. We will never forget!

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#103

Post by steve_adams_86 »

culturestate wrote: post #10
fblp wrote: post #3

I wonder what the internal discussion at Apple was about whether or not to include a loophole in the product. The fact that fixit has gone out and shown how you can add a loophole rather than wasting $13 on an accessory is a bit of a facepalm moment.

I’ll go out on a limb here and guess that their guiding principle with this was as it is with every other portable device they have now - make it as small as practically possible and let people extend it if and how they want[1] to. Saves a little bit of material, makes manufacturing a little less complicated, and makes the accessory ecosystem a whole lot more appealing. 1. I don’t carry a keychain, for example, but I…

This was my thought as well. I’d probably never put these in a loop - I’ll place one in my bag, on my measuring tape (ha), and my wife will probably use one too... Most likely without attaching it to anything, just sticking it in a pocket or whatever. It’s fine for all of our use cases.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#104

Post by ben-schaaf »

rand_r wrote: post #14
Jpoliachik wrote: post #4

> But why bother putting a real driver in here at all? Magnets not only add weight, they take up a lot of space. Looks like one corner Apple refused to cut on this tiny disk is sound quality. I find it fascinating what tradeoffs are decided upon. Apple is arguably the best luxury brand in the world - and this is why.

Apple’s unique ethos is technology as a means for creative expression. That’s why they’ve excelled in font rendering, colour accuracy, sound fidelity, and input-lag. I think this value came from Steve Jobs, and I hope they never lose it because it imbues Apple with real human spirit. They’re more than just another profit-seeking company.

> That’s why they’ve excelled in font rendering

Not sure about the past, but without subpixel antialiasing they pretty much have the worst font rendering now.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#106

Post by tzs »

gumby wrote: post #81
gmrple wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weakly, yes. Enough to hold its own mass at rest, but I don't think it would work with any type of acceleration. It will stick nicely to a neodymium magnet.

... Which I assume also mutes it?

I'd expect sticking the tag to some ferromagnetic surface, such as a fridge door, by the magnet to have about the same effect as gluing the tag to that same surface would which I would guess would be none.

Generally in a permanent magnetic speaker the permanent magnet is solidly affixed to the speaker housing.

The part that actually moves to make sound (the diaphragm) has a coil attached to it. The signal is sent through that coil, which produces a variable magnetic field that interacts with the fixed magnetic field of the permanent magnet.

This interaction produces a force that moves the coil, and thus also moves the diaphragm producing sound.

You could probably design a speaker where the coil is fixed and the magnet is attached to the diaphragm, but that is generally not done. You want the moving parts to be as light as possible so that it doesn't take a lot of energy to rapidly change their motion.

Consider a speaker playing an N Hz sine wave--it has to change direction 2N times per second, and between each direction change you want it to move far enough to move enough air to for the sound to be easily audible.

If the moving part is too heavy you would need a lot more force to accelerate it enough to move far enough to move enough air in the short time you have in order to reach a specified loudness, and then it would take a lot of energy to quickly change direction and do the opposite movement. Hence, the heavy magnet is fixed and the light coil moves the diaphragm).

Microphones are similar. There are moving coil microphones, but I don't recall seeing moving magnet microphones.

You might think it would also be the same with phonograph cartridges, but there you do find both moving magment and moving coil designs [1].

[1] https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/support/audio-solutions...

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#107

Post by perryizgr8 »

davidmurdoch wrote: post #65
perryizgr8 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason for putting it in a case is not the price tag. People buy 100k cars and don't cover the outer surfaces with protective plastic. The problem is Apple builds the phone in a fragile manner, prone to breaking and scratching. It's true of other phones too.

> People buy 100k cars and don't cover the outer surfaces with protective plastic Yes, they do. Look up Paint Protection Film. Ceramic coating is also very commonly used to protect the car's paint, plastics, and glass.

Is it as common as putting a case on your phone? I doubt it. My point is that Apple and others can easily make far more durable phones for the price they ask, and not need literally everyone to use a case.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#108

Post by zxcvgm »

Disappointed that this teardown was more of a teaser without any PCB photos. Here are some YouTube videos that feature a better look at the PCB of the AirTag:

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63dJ5ytz37w

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1-iKyVyLfU

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeytpQcUHSw

Only video [1] went all the way and removed the PCB from the plastic case, revealing what seems to be an NFC antenna facing the plastic dome. Unfortunately, they struggled with removing the plastic carrier and broke the board in two.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#109

Post by thatguy0900 »

myself248 wrote: post #101
caturopath wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not like the choice is "thick and doesn't need a case or thin and needs a case". Even if the phone was thicker, people would be using cases if they bought it, right?

Back when phones were built to survive the outside world without a case, I never put cases on my phones. The whole Nextel and Nokia and Blackberry era, not a one. They looked a bit worn from a few years each in my pocket with my keys, but they all worked fine, and they'd all survive a drop to the floor. Today the only phone I'd trust to survive a naked drop would be a Unihertz Titan, but until there's an AOSP ROM for…

There's also a line of phones made by CAT, the construction company, that looks pretty durable. I've been thinking about getting one just to have fun with the thermal camera.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#110

Post by WrtCdEvrydy »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #109
myself248 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back when phones were built to survive the outside world without a case, I never put cases on my phones. The whole Nextel and Nokia and Blackberry era, not a one. They looked a bit worn from a few years each in my pocket with my keys, but they all worked fine, and they'd all survive a drop to the floor. Today the only phone I'd trust to survive a naked drop would be a Unihertz Titan, but until there's an AOSP ROM for…

There's also a line of phones made by CAT, the construction company, that looks pretty durable. I've been thinking about getting one just to have fun with the thermal camera.

I like those phones and never had one (either CAT or third party) fail... the issue is that the processor / RAM setup is always a little on the weak side and OS updates are a problem.

I'd probably buy my first ever iPhone if Apple came out with a ruggedized version of the current iPhone SE.

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