Teardown: Inside Google's Nexus 7 tablet

7/6/2012 4:49 PM EDT

So what kind of touchscreen does out have? Saw mention of the Elan components for a resistive touchscreen. Is this really a resistive screen with the life limitations and only single touch? Capacitive touch is certainly the expected norm in phones and tablets.

7/17/2012 5:15 PM EDT

I suspect that somebody got some bad info about the Elan parts. The entire internet would be in an uproar if Google released this new "Kindle Fire killer" but crippled it with a resistive touchscreen.

The Nexus 7 indeed has a capacitive touchscreen. A big hint is the fact that the LCD is covered with glass.

Those two Elan parts don't show up on Elan's website and the only Google search hits for those part numbers refer to articles about the Nexus 7 teardown.

But a quick glance at Elan's website reveals that they do make capacitive touchscreen controllers -- and they don't appear to offer any resistive touchscreen controllers.

7/6/2012 1:00 PM EDT

more powerful?
386dx40 = 10 mips
tegra 3 = 10000mips

2/28/2013 1:41 PM EST

Rick, you may cease your amazement now... not sure about the quality of Google's tablet but my Lenovo Ideapad K1 died just a month after its 1-year warranty expired! It is true the tablets these days cram a lot of computing power but their reliability leaves a lot to be desired.

In comparison, my HP 17inch laptop that is nearly 10 year old still works like a champ!

MP Divakar

7/6/2012 11:44 AM EDT

@tecoholic - it's 1 GB of DDR3 DRAM. There are 4 2Gbit chips on the Nexus 7 board.

7/6/2012 1:44 PM EDT

Hello Chipmonk, it is DDR3. We were surprised that Google didn't go with a PoP version of the Tegra 3 and integrate LPDDR2. In this case, they are using 4 Hynix H5TC2G83CFR DDR3 DRAM chips.

7/9/2012 1:46 AM EDT

putting a LPDDR2 PoP version on there rather than the better DDR3 would have slowed down the data throughput would it not, so im glad they went DDR3 its still a single channel right ? and so not perfect for gaining extra free speed, at least until the real Wide IO ram makes an appearance.

7/10/2012 1:45 PM EDT

a belated thx. from your photos it appears that the 4 Hynix DDR 3L chips are on both the front and back of the motherboard - 2 a side. Unlike PoP config they are not on the SoC but offset from them as in the iPad3. Like the A5x the Tegra 3 too seems to require a Heat Sink - the consequences of cramming too many Graphics cores with a 45 nm, non HKMG process perhaps ?

7/6/2012 1:45 PM EDT

Hello Sanjib, in an earlier story, we estimated the BOM costs of the device to be $184.

7/9/2012 2:00 AM EDT

is that $184 BOM estimate based on a 1000 pcs or more BTW ?

its still very good for a £159 for 8GB and £199 for the 16GB version in the UK price, released in retail just as the 2012 Olympics start there.

not to forget there's all that new free Virgin media cable/ wireless underground connectivity now put in place ready for the massive games visitors there too so no problem getting any web content and streaming etc you please with it.

even if the UK goggle shop content isn't great right now as the content providers don't seem to want to take your 2012 Olympics games money and actually pay for their online content there.

oh well the end users will be happy anyway a quad core and you can provide your own content, cant stop the net.

7/11/2012 8:12 PM EDT

oh BTW allan how did you arrive at the $184 price that 1000pvs again perhaps ?, when http://allthingsd.com/20120711/googles-nexus-7-costs-152-to-make-ihs-isuppli-teardown-finds/
find such a diference in BOM in isuppli's "$152 to Make" price.

there's a very large price difference there

OC lower is better if your not compromising the components cost and so getting lower data throughput.

7/9/2012 12:20 PM EDT

Good question for this article.

Battery management is big challenge for smartphone or tablet.

My Samsung Galaxy-R can only last for about 5-6 hours if I listening musics,watching moives and using google maps for navigation.

7/13/2012 10:26 PM EDT

Even iPhone nowadays is not known for long lasting battery.

7/9/2012 12:23 PM EDT

Apple always use dialog PMU SoC for iphone or ipad.

I don't know why they change the PMU vendor.

It's not good idea for doing this.

7/21/2012 3:00 AM EDT

iPad and iPhone battery can maintain its quality after years I using. But i I think it is better idea to have replaceable battery.