Tag Archives: firstgen

Technology

Pixel Watch teardown shows off “ugly” insides, gives strong first-gen vibes

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  • The inside is a far cry from the color-coded Apple products iFixit usually looks at.

  • You’ll have to pry out the battery to remove the display cable.

  • That brown cable goes to the display, from here you can just pop it off.

  • The back of the watch, with the back plate removed.

  • Google’s adhesive for the back comes off in a single piece, which would make applying new adhesive very easy.

What secrets does the inside of the Pixel Watch hold? iFixit—Google’s new repair partner—tore down Google’s first self-branded smartwatch to see exactly how this thing was put together. Like us, iFixit came away with strong “first generation” vibes.

The good news is that it does not look impossible to replace the display. The usual bit of heat and prying pops the top off, but the less-than-ideal layout means you’ll have to remove the battery, too, since the connector is buried under the soft battery pouch. A display replacement is a real concern here, considering the entire top half of the watch is glass. If you bang the watch against something or drop it, there’s a good chance you’ll shatter the all-glass corners. A few people have already done this, with one user reporting Google will not fix the Pixel Watch for any amount of money, so you’re on your own! If you’re worried about the display, one company is already selling a bumper case for the Pixel Watch.

iFixit took a good amount of time in the four-minute video to call Google’s internal construction “ugly.” After cracking open the front, iFixit’s Sam Goldheart noted, “Right away, it’s obvious we’re in Android country. The silver battery pouch and Kapton tape are almost a shock after all our Apple teardowns,” later adding that the welds holding together the haptic feedback buzzer were “kind of ugly.” Apple’s “paint the back of the fence” design philosophy means even the insides of Apple products look good, usually with color-matched, lovingly labeled components. Google, especially in the first generation, isn’t there yet.

iFixit didn’t give the Pixel Watch a repair score, but for the repair-positive aspects, iFixit was happy to see that the back glass pops off just like the front, and it’s not connected to any of the sensors. If you somehow happen to crack the back plate, you wouldn’t have to do much work to replace it. Goldheart was also impressed with Google’s novel new adhesive for the back plate, which came off as one continuous piece that didn’t leave behind any residue. The bad news is that none of the buttons or crown seem to be replaceable.



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Technology

AMD reveals its X670 Extreme, X670 and B650 chipsets for first-gen AM5 motherboards

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AMD 600-series chipsets feature PCIe Gen5, DDR5 support

AMD X670E is the flagship chipset for the new motherboard series.

AMD AM5 infrastructure is based on a new LGA 1718 socket which will natively support CPUs up to 170W. The 600-series platform is equipped for DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen5 for storage and graphics (depending on a chipset).

AMD confirmed that X670E (Extreme) is designed for “Unparalleled Capability and Extreme Overclocking”. It is designed to offer PCIe Gen5 ‘everywhere’. On the other hand we have X670 for “Enthusiasts Overclocking” with Gen5 storage support and optionally graphics. The mainstream platform based on B650 chipset will support PCIe Gen5 for storage only.

AMD 600-series chipsets, Source: VideoCardz

The 600-series motherboards will offer up to 24 PCIe Gen5 lanes for storage and graphics, up to 14 SuperSpeed USB 20 Gbps (TypeC), WiFI-E6 support with DBS/Bluetooth Low Energy 5.2. Interestingly. AMD also revealed 600-series motherboards will be equipped with up to four HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2 outputs. This will come in handy considering desktop Ryzen 7000 series codenamed “Raphael” feature integrated RDNA2 graphics.

AMD SmartAccess Storage

AMD also confirms its new AM5 platform supports a new technology called SmartAccess Storage. We have revealed those plans a few weeks ago, and we were right in our predictions. This technology adds AMD platform technology and GPU decompression for Microsoft DirectStorage Enabled Games.



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First-gen iPhone SE still runs the latest iOS – and it’s good

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Every year, a new iPhone is released with better cameras and faster processor. At the same time, the older iPhone models are still there receiving iOS updates, which is great for people who don’t upgrade their phones every year. But how decent are these old iPhones running the latest version of iOS? Well, I tested a first-generation iPhone SE with iOS 15, and it’s still surprisingly good.

I decided to write this article after seeing a tweet comparing the iPhone 6s with the Samsung Galaxy S6. Both flagship phones were introduced in 2015, but while iPhone 6s came with iOS 9 and runs iOS 15, Galaxy S6 was released with Android 5 and was completely discontinued two updates later with Android 7.

Some may argue that although iPhone 6s will still receive iOS updates, their performance will be compromised by the latest software – so I wanted to see for myself if these old phones are still usable in 2022.

I don’t have an iPhone 6s, but I do have a first-generation iPhone SE. For those who don’t remember, the first iPhone SE was introduced in early 2016 as a cheaper alternative to high-end iPhones. It features the same design and four-inch display as the iPhone 5s, but with the same A9 chip and 12 Megapixel 4K camera as the iPhone 6s.

By comparison, the first iPhone SE was priced at $399 in the US, while the Galaxy S6 was launched at $599. So how is the first-generation iPhone SE six years later?

First-gen iPhone SE and iOS 15

I won’t discuss the iPhone SE design here since the point of this article is to discuss how it performs with iOS 15. This phone was introduced when Apple had zero iPhones with a “borderless” design, and the biggest iPhone you could get back then had a 5.5-inch 1080p display, so keep that in mind.

While Apple has always claimed that the iPhone SE is a “special edition” for those who prefer small phones, it has always been very clear that this phone is designed to be a more affordable iPhone for those who don’t need everything that a high-end smartphone has.

To my surprise, the first-generation iPhone SE is still quite usable even with iOS 15. When using it for basic tasks like surfing the web, listening to music, or opening social networking apps, it’s hard to notice apps that are unresponsive or running slowly. Some things take longer to open when compared to newer iPhones, but it’s nothing like using an iPhone 3G with iOS 4 or an iPhone 4 with iOS 7 (if you’re old enough, you know what I mean).

Having access to the latest version of iOS on a six-year-old phone means that you can get at least some of the same features available on the latest iPhone 13. The iPhone SE has Focus Mode, redesigned notifications, rich Spotlight results, new Emojis, and all the latest privacy and security improvements that come with iOS 15.

You can also download and install most of the apps available on the App Store, which run just fine with the A9 chip. There are a few hiccups in multitasking since the first-generation iPhone SE has only 2GB of RAM, but regular users may not even notice them. Unfortunately, features like Live Text, which require more computing power, are not available on this phone.

The battery can be a problem when it comes to an old phone, but those who still have one of these at home can replace the battery with a new one to give the device a new life.

Wrap up

The thing is, you probably shouldn’t buy a 2016 iPhone SE in 2022. But if you bought this phone when it was released, it still works well for basic things, and it can serve as a good backup iPhone for emergencies – and I’m sure it was definitely worth the price you paid for it five or six years ago.

This is what happens when you have a phone built with the best chip available on the market, and when the same company makes the hardware and software inside it.

Going back to the first iPhone SE with iOS 15 also makes me see why the iPhone SE still has a place in Apple’s lineup. Despite its old design, the iPhone SE still has a lot to offer for people who just want a reliable smartphone for a more affordable price. Thanks to Apple Silicon and the iOS optimizations, users can enjoy their iPhones for many years to come.

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Technology

Google’s Fuchsia OS is rolling out to every first-gen Nest Hub

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Google has started to push out the silent upgrade to its new Fuchsia operating system on first-gen Nest Hub devices (known as the Google Home Hub on release), meaning the secretive project will be broadly used by consumers after years of opaque development. The OS, which unlike Android isn’t based on Linux and uses a microkernel called Zircon, was previously made available to some devices enrolled in a preview program back in May.

Now, Google has confirmed to 9to5Google that a new firmware update for non-preview Nest Hub devices includes the Fuchsia upgrade, meaning that all first-gen devices should be running Fuschia already or very soon. I just checked the one on my desk — which Google explains how to do here — and sure enough, turns out it’s on Fuchsia right now.

You might’ve thought I’d have noticed that a device that I look at and interact with every day is running an entirely new operating system, but Google is attempting to make the experience as close to identical as possible. Even the pokey performance on the first-gen Nest Hub appears to be very similar, for better or worse. The only way to know you have Fuchsia is by checking the “About device” section of the settings menu, and even then the OS isn’t mentioned by name.

That means that the first widespread Fuchsia deployment isn’t quite as exciting as the possibilities imagined when word of the project first started getting out more than five years ago. At the same time, it’s quite impressive that Google has managed to seamlessly replace the core software of a popular product in a way that most people won’t ever notice.

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Technology

Motorola is updating its first-gen foldable Razr — with Android 11

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You could be forgiven for forgetting about Motorola’s folding phones in light of new shiny ones announced by the likes of Samsung, but someone at the company must care about them — a new OS update has been released for the 2019 Razr, bringing it from Android 10, to Android 11 (via Droid-Life). Yes, that’s correct — the OS that started hitting Pixels in September of 2020 is the one that became available for the Razr today.

Note: The original Razr reboot and the Razr 5G both became available in 2020. However, the first one was announced in 2019, so I’ll refer to it as the 2019 Razr to help avoid confusion between it and the Razr 5G.

While it may seem like the update for the 2019 Razr is woefully late, consider this: according to a report from Android Police and Motorola’s updates page, Android 11 started rolling out to the much better 2020 Razr 5G sometime between April and July. For how first-gen the 2019 Razr is, getting the update only a few months after its successor isn’t too shabby (despite the fact that getting it almost a year after it started rolling out is pretty rough, on an absolute timescale).

Motorola’s update issues aren’t limited to its foldables, however. Many of its recent phones only come with the promise of two years of security updates, with some higher-end ones getting one major OS update. Given that the Razr already got an upgrade to Android 10 (in May of 2020), today’s update puts it at two feature updates, which is better than what Motorola promises for some of its non-folding phones. And it should be, given that the phones Motorola promises two years of security updates for cost between $160 and $400 — the 2019 Razr was $1,500 at launch. (Though that isn’t to say that a $400 phone should only get two years of updates.)

Still, if you’re still rockin’ an original Razr reboot, it’s an update you didn’t have before. You can read our full rundown of what Android 11 adds here, but the summary is that it brings chat app bubbles, more granular privacy permissions, and a more feature-packed power menu. Just do yourself a favor and don’t look too much at the features that are getting ready to drop with Android 12, because it’s hard to imagine that it’ll come to the older Razr anytime soon, if at all.

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